Can you start Affiliate Marketing without a website or blog…………..Yes BUT I wouldn’t!

It’s been a tough week on the home front. My father’s health is becoming more challenging. He slipped in the bathroom and is ok but his care needs have had to be increased. My director at work kindly gave me the rest of the week off to sort out the care for dad.

I chased referrals and the social care people and got carers organised, moved his bed downstairs, obtained equipment to help his mobility. I installed a ring door bell and a camera internally so we get notification if he moves.

The occupational health people said he is not to walk unaided. Old age and dementia are very difficult things. It must be agony for him. All we can do is protect them and make their environment as comfortable as possible. Allah knows best.

On the TikTok front, views are growing and are now at  1,305 followers and 19.1k likes. Thank you all for being part of the journey.

I get asked a lot if we can “start affiliate marketing without having a website or blog”. My short answer would be yes, BUT I wouldn’t. All will become clear as you read on.

Benefit of having a website or blog in affiliate marketing – You ARE in Control

Having a website or blog is crucial for your affiliate marketing business, offering a range of valuable benefits that can significantly boost your success: Look at these benefits;

Increased Visibility: A website or blog makes it easier for potential customers to find you through search engines, social media, and other online platforms, expanding your reach.

Content Control: You have full control over the content you create, allowing you to tailor articles, reviews, and posts to meet the specific needs and interests of your target audience, leading to higher engagement and conversions.

Authority Building: Regularly posting high-quality, informative content helps establish you as an expert in your niche, building trust and credibility with your audience, which can lead to increased affiliate sales.

Branding Opportunities: A well-designed website or blog provides a platform to build and reinforce your brand identity, helping you stand out in a crowded market and create a memorable experience for your visitors.

Analytics: Using tools like Google Analytics, you can track visitor behaviour, preferences, and interactions on your site, allowing you to refine your marketing strategies and improve your content to better meet the needs of your audience.

Monetisation: Beyond affiliate links, a website or blog opens up additional revenue streams such as display ads, sponsored posts, and selling your own products or services, diversifying your income sources.

Engagement with YOUR audience: Blogs allow for interactive features such as comments, forums, and social sharing options, fostering a sense of community and encouraging repeat visits and word-of-mouth referrals.

Flexibility: You can easily update and adapt your content and marketing strategies based on performance data, audience feedback, and market trends, ensuring that your approach remains effective and relevant.

Life without a website or blog – You are NOT in control

Life for an affiliate marketer without a website or blog has its own set of unique challenges and benefits: Challenges first;

Limited Visibility: Without a website or blog, your reach is primarily confined to social media platforms, email lists, or third-party sites. This limits your audience and makes it harder for potential customers to find you through search engines.

Content Control: You rely heavily on the rules and formats of the platforms you use. This can restrict how you present your affiliate products and limit your creativity in content creation. If that platforms closes down or changes drastically, you are at their mercy. It is not YOUR Owned Asset.

Authority Building: Establishing yourself as an expert is more difficult without a dedicated space to regularly post detailed, valuable content. Your credibility might be lower compared to marketers with their own websites or blogs.

Branding Challenges: Without a consistent, dedicated online presence, building and reinforcing your brand identity becomes harder. Your audience may have a harder time remembering you and distinguishing you from competitors.

Lack of Analytics: You have less access to detailed analytics about your audience’s behaviour and preferences. This makes it harder to refine your strategies and understand what is working or needs improvement.

Fewer Monetisation Opportunities: You’re limited to earning through affiliate links only, missing out on additional revenue streams like ads, sponsored posts, or selling your own products directly.

Engagement Limitations: Engaging with your audience is restricted to the capabilities of the platforms you use. You miss out on features like comments sections or forums that can foster a sense of community and encourage deeper interaction.

SEO Disadvantages: Without a blog or website, you miss out on the benefits of search engine optimisation (SEO), making it harder for new potential customers to discover you organically.

Flexibility Issues: Adapting your content and strategies to suit changing trends or feedback is more challenging when you are confined to the rules of external platforms, leaving you less agile and responsive.

However, there are some benefits: What are they?

Lower Costs: You save on the costs associated with creating and maintaining a website or blog, including hosting fees, design expenses, and technical support.

Simplicity: Without the need to manage a website, you can focus more on content creation and direct marketing efforts, simplifying your workflow.

Platform Leverage: You can leverage the existing audience and engagement tools of large platforms like TikTok, Instagram or YouTube, which can help you gain exposure quickly without needing to build an audience from scratch.

Less Technical Maintenance: Avoiding the technical aspects of website management frees up time and resources, allowing you to concentrate solely on your marketing strategies and content production.

What do I do without the website or blog then?

So, you have two strategies and many ways in each that you can choose to you without a website or blog. If you don’t have a website or a landing page you won’t have a way of capturing potential emails and names to build your email marketing list. Also, just being sent to an affiliate link looks like spam, not very good customer experience.

What you can do is:

Paid ads – You pay a daily amount for clicks to your affiliate link. This can be done on:

• • Google ads
  • Facebook ads
  • Solo ads – pay for set number of clicks
  • Microsoft ads

Free or organic method – You don’t pay for ads but you create content and invest your time to find an audience and connect with them:

• • Forums – a place you can discuss your niche or area of expertise with like minded people.
  • Facebook Groups – Join private groups within your niche and talk to people. See what they need help with, add value to them.
  • Facebook messenger – Direct message people from your FB group and start a conversation. See how they are doing and what they need help with
  • Twitter, now ‘X’
  • Instagram
  • TikTok – Short video explaining a benefit for your audience
  • YouTube – Your channel with training, expertise and advice in your niche. Build a following, use the Shorts videos to promote.
  • Podcasting
  • Collaborating with others in your niche, joint article or video etc.

The issue is that with these methods you can’t just post affiliate links, you will be blocked, THAT’S why I would and DO have a blog, I can send people from social media to my blog and then send them anywhere that will provide them value using affiliate link if necessary. 

So, even without a website there are many things you can do. I would say that you should pick just ONE and master it. Don’t keep moving around as you need to be brilliant at the one you chose. Personally I would always have a blog as it’s my owned asset, I control it and own it. It can’t be taken away from me. The choice is yours.

Next time, I want to talk to you about all the different systems and software/apps etc. that I was boarded with within my Affiliate Marketing journey. I’ll explain each one, what they are, what they do and links to them for you to explore for your self.

Please let me know in the comments any thoughts on what you’ve read here and what you think you’ve learnt and what you think you’ll start to do different. What will you stop doing now and what will you start doing? I’d love to hear from you, so please do leave comments below.

Thank you for reading, I hope it helped you in some way. You are only a few steps behind me!

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Until next time, take care.

Atif

#Atif’s Academy