The Complete Guide To Affiliate Marketing Without Investment

Are you looking to start affiliate marketing without investment?

I can assure you that starting affiliate marketing without investment is completely possible.

In this article, you will discover the 4 simple steps to starting a profitable affiliate business without spending a dollar.

Let’s get started…

What is a target market?

The target market is a group of people that needs specific products and services to solve their problems.

For example,

Individuals with diabetes are a target market because, in this market, diabetic people need products and services related to diabetes to get rid of this illness.

Another term for the target market is "niche market."

The best way to choose a target market is to focus on your passion, skills, expertise, and knowledge about a particular subject.

By selecting a niche that interests you and aligns with your existing knowledge, you can create quality content more easily.

This makes it simpler to promote affiliate offers and generate income.

For instance...

you're a bodybuilder, and you know how to build muscle; hence, you can create a YouTube channel and teach people the best methods to grow their muscles.

In one of your videos, you introduce the best supplement for building muscle, and once the viewers check the supplement and purchase it, you earn your affiliate commissions.

I recommend researching your target market's profitability and demand before starting your affiliate business.

Here is a step-by-step guide to researching your niche for affiliate marketing.

Google Trends is a marketing research tool by Google that allows you to find trending topics, products, and services.

Step 1: Go to Google Trends and put your topic in the search bar and click “Explore.".

Step 2: Choose the “past 12 months” and “web search” options to see how your target market was doing for that period of time.

As you see in the chart, bodybuilding is a hot topic in the Google search engine, and people are interested in bodybuilding-related products and services.

Step 3: Now change the "Web Search" to "YouTube Search" to see if your topic has some popularity on YouTube.

According to Google Trends, bodybuilding is a popular subject on YouTube, and you can choose it as a target market.

By creating videos and promoting bodybuilding-related affiliate products, you have the potential to earn money.

Step 4 (optional): You can compare two topics at the same time to see which one is popular more.

According to Google Trends, CrossFit is more popular than bodybuilding in the Google search engine.

If you create an affiliate website and write quality articles about CrossFit, you can earn good commissions.

Google Keyword Planner is another marketing research tool by Google that shows the amount of search for a specific keyword or topic.

But, you need to create a Google advertising account in order to use Google Keyword Planner.

Step 1: Go to the Google Keyword Planner.

Step 2: Choose the "Discover new keywords" option.

Step 3: Enter your topic into the Google Keyword Planner search bar, select your preferred location, and it will show you the search volume for that topic.

Step 4: Now discover the monthly search volume for the entered topic or keyword.

As you see, the monthly search volume for "Bodybuilding" ranges from 10,000 to 100,000 on Google.

YouTube is the second largest search engine, where people watch videos to solve specific problems or explore their interests.

Step 1: Type your topic or keywords in the YouTube search bar.

Step 2: Select "Filters" in the right corner above.

Step 3: Choose "This Year" in the "Search Filters" to find trending topics from the past year.

Step 4: Return to the "Filters" and select "View Count" to see how many views each video has, which starts from the biggest to the lowest.

Step 4: You can now see the "view counts" for each video, listed from top to bottom.

If you find 10 to 20 videos on a topic that have more than 50,000 views each, it suggests that this topic is a good choice for a niche or target market.

What is a marketing channel?

A marketing channel is a platform where you create affiliate marketing content and promote affiliate products to make money.

Affiliate content can serve two main purposes: to inform and educate your target audience or to promote products for sales and earn affiliate commissions.

Examples of marketing channels include Facebook pages, Facebook groups, Instagram, blogs, Twitter (now X), and YouTube.

My primary marketing channels are my blog and YouTube channel, where I create high-quality articles and videos to teach my audience digital marketing skills.

However, not all marketing channels are beginner-friendly for affiliate marketing. For instance, Instagram is not ideal for new affiliate marketers, as it does not allow links in post captions to promote affiliate offers.

YouTube, blog, and Facebook are the best platforms for affiliate marketing. Let me explain why:

YouTube is the largest video platform, with over 2.7 billion monthly active users as of 2023, which allows you to connect with your target audience.

Moreover, YouTube videos rank on Google which help you to get traffic from search engine as well.

Secondly, YouTube videos remain discoverable for years, generating consistent views and affiliate sales over time.

If you make promotional content all the time on YouTube, your audience will become tired of getting and watching sales videos.

Visit YouTube and create a channel with an appropriate name related to your business.

However, I suggest using your personal name, as it helps build trust with your subscribers, especially when you produce face-to-face videos.

Affiliate commissions happen when a viewer purchases through an affiliate link you put in the video description.

You can earn money by monetizing your channel and allowing YouTube to run ads on your videos.

To become eligible for monetization, you need at least 1,000 YouTube subscribers and 4,000 watch hours within the last 12 months, or 10 million short views in the last 90 days.

Companies pay you to review or talk about their products or services in your YouTube videos. It can be in one video or multiple ones.

What is a blog?

A blog is a website where you regularly publish articles, also called blog posts, on topics that interest your audience.

It’s like sharing helpful information, tips, or reviews to educate or entertain readers.

For affiliate marketers, a blog is the best marketing channel because it builds trust. You can write in-depth reviews of products, compare options, and share personal experiences.

Blogs are great for attracting visitors through search engines, and your content stays online for years, earning passive income.

Plus, you own the blog, so you’re not at risk of losing access like on social media platforms.

You can create a blog for free using platforms like Systeme.io or Google’s Blogger.

Unlike paid platforms like WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace, these options let you launch without spending a dime.

Systeme.io even offers professional blog templates to get started in just a few clicks.

For example, let's say your blog is about bodybuilding. Keywords that people might use to find you would be:

1. Best supplements for bodybuilding

2. Muscle building techniques

3. Vitamins for growing muscle

In fact, the suggested keywords are real terms people use to look for solutions to their problems.

I recommend turning on the incognito mode of your Google Chrome to get fresh data for Google Auto-Suggestions.

After selecting one of the suggested phrases by Google, look at the search results to see the related articles.

As you see above, there is no available article still for the keywords "muscle building techniques" on the first page.

Sometimes the exact keywords may not be shown on the first page of Google; hence you have to follow step 4, which shows the exact match keywords and amount of competition.

As you see above, 719 blog articles already used the exact keywords "muscle building techniques" in their blog post titles.

So it looks so competitive, and you cannot compete as a new blogger; strive for 200-300 for better results.

Therefore, look for other auto-suggest phrases to find low-competition keywords for your blog article.

I recommend checking the three blog articles of your competitors that appear at the top of the search results for your targeted keywords.

Start by researching each article individually.

Identify their weaknesses and aim to create better articles than your competitors from every point.

For instance, if their articles lack unique images, visuals, or videos, make sure to include these elements in your own article.

This approach will help you rank higher on Google than your competitors.

Finally, I recommend always avoiding using duplicate text and images in your blog articles.

Here are 3 ways that you can grow your blog:

1. Facebook Groups: Join facebook groups related to your niche or target market answer people's questions and send them to your blog aritcles for more information.

2. Reddit: Join reddit communities related to your target market. Help people who ask questions with proper advice, build relationship and start linking your blog articles.

Make sure to read the rules of each Reddit community. Some communities will ban your account if you use links a lot.

3. Guest Posting: Guest posting in blogging is writing and publishing an article on someone else’s blog. It helps you gain exposure, build backlinks, attract traffic, and grow your online presence.

To reach a guest posting opportunity, find niche-specific blogs, research their content, contact the owner with a personalized email, propose valuable topics, and highlight your expertise or audience fit.

Using Facebook for affiliate marketing is an effective strategy to reach a vast audience and drive conversions.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to getting started:

An affiliate program is when you choose a company's affiliate product and start promoting it via your marketing channel.

There are 2 ways to join an affiliate program.

New affiliate marketers can easily join an affiliate network, select a high-converting offer, and start promoting it.

An affiliate network is a marketplace where top brands offer their affiliate products for affiliate marketers to promote and earn commissions.

Here are some of the popular affiliate networks:

Moreover, you can get access to the best private affiliate programs by entering “nice + affiliate programs” in the Google search bar.

Secondly, I suggest looking for products that already made at least 1,000 sales because it indicates that the product is interesting and people already liked it.

If you choose a private affiliate program through the Google search engine, contact the company’s affiliate support and ask them how many sales they made.

Thirdly, do some research about the product’s quality, sales page, and copywriting to make sure it’s a good fit for your target audience and converts well.

I love the sales page when there are at least 5-10 video testimonials because it allows the target customers to trust the product by watching real people testifying about it.

Moreover, look at what your competitors are promoting in their affiliate marketing channels.

Check out the recent product that they promoted; look at the comments and reviews to see what people are interested in.

Adjust your promotion strategy accordingly.

Do you know that email marketing generates $36 for every $1 investment, according to recent research?

Top affiliate marketers have a powerful email list that allows them to make consistent sales.

Moreover, an email list is the foundation of every affiliate marketing business due to its high return on investment and complete ownership.

Professional affiliate marketers focus on building email lists because it protects their affiliate business if Facebook or other social media channels ban their accounts due to uncertain policy violations.

Email marketing autoresponders allow you to create opt-in forms, manage your email list, and send email campaigns.

Systeme.io is an email marketing autoresponder that allows you to get access to pre-built opt-in pages and manage 2,000 email contacts for free.

Now go to the systeme.io, select a pre-built opt-in page, and start customizing it according to your needs and wants.

Make sure to give people a free gift (lead magnet) on your opt-in page to encourage them to give you their email addresses.

A free gift can be a free book, free report, video training, a course, or a free membership for a limited time.

If you want to learn how to create a professional landing page for lead generation, check this blog article NOW.

Introduce your lead magnet, mention its key benefits to your audience, and use a call to action to get access to it.

Set up an email follow-up series in your email marketing autoresponder to start promoting the affiliate offer.

Follow-ups are automated emails and can be sent once new email subscribers join your email list.

If you want to learn how to set up a high-converting email follow-up series, check this blog article NOW.

I revealed the 4 proven steps that can help you to start affiliate marketing without investment.

Step 1 is crucial, and I suggest you read it multiple times and take action because it helps you to find the right niche market.

Moreover, I encourage you to be consistent with your content creation and build your email list as fast as possible.

If you want to discover the #1 digital asset for affiliate marketing, download my free book here...

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