Can you Start an Affiliate Program for FREE? Dispelling the Myths

Affiliate marketing is often described as one of the best online marketing programs that are available to small businesses. If you are wondering why this is, it is because there are little to no risks when it comes to affiliate marketing. In most cases, you only pay after getting results. For a venture that can be quite rewarding, this sounds perfect.

When using an affiliate marketing program, you reach an agreement to pay your affiliate partners commissions for the sales and leads that they generate. Affiliate marketing is a form of partnership marketing because it requires you to partner with others to sell your services or products.

Given how rewarding affiliate marketing is, it is not out of place to want to find out if it is possible to start an affiliate program for free. Well, the answer would depend on what your goals are.

There are numerous affiliate programs available for you to choose from. With so many options, the chances are high that you will find something that fits your budget – or zero budget. One mistake that most people make is believing the idea that starting an affiliate program isn’t possible without spending lots of money. If you belong to this school of thought, it is time to say bye to your old beliefs.

Affiliate Marketing with No Money

Okay, now let’s look into the topic of starting an affiliate program (affiliate marketing) for free. Before getting started, it is important to first understand the true nature of affiliate marketing, which is getting prospects to click on your links to buy your products. And the way to achieve this is through drawing in traffic. The more traffic you pull, the more prospects you are going to get to click on your links.

As someone who is just getting started, chances are you won’t have any traffic, to begin with. If you don’t want to spend money, this means starting with no traffic. The truth is, there are two proven ways of getting traffic; organic methods and paid methods. Since you are looking to start your affiliate marketing for free, you should be looking at organic methods.

Organic Methods

To pull in traffic using this method requires dedication, patience, hard work, and creativity. One of the best ways of pulling in traffic organically is through the use of social media. Yes, you read that right. Social media is a powerful tool in today’s world of marketing. If you are keen on going about affiliate marketing without spending, don’t fail to capitalize on the opportunities of social media.

For example, a platform like Facebook allows you to have up to 5,000 friends. Guess what. You don’t have to pay a cent to use Facebook. Without spending a cent, you can reach 5,000 people!

Now, don’t get the wrong ideas. Nailing affiliate marketing through a platform like Facebook doesn’t stop at setting up an account and adding friends. If you are serious about succeeding, your actions have to be intentional.

Your page has to paint a clear picture of what you represent. If your kind of business is in the fashion industry, put up posts that are related to fashion. More importantly, make connections with people who are interested in fashion, and engage them with fashion-related content.

As your connections and engagements grow, you can start leaving your affiliate links.

Inexpensive Affiliate Programs

Even if you are keen on not spending money, the time will come when you will have to. This is because you can’t completely avoid using affiliate programs, especially when affiliate marketing starts paying off. You need an automated system to make your job easier and to stay on the path of success, but this doesn’t mean you have to break the bank.

Below are some of the most inexpensive affiliate programs available:

ClickInc

This is an excellent option if you want to launch an affiliate program on a tight budget. You will be given a 30-day free trial, and they start you off with a program that affords you unlimited affiliates and impressions but only up to 50K clicks per month. For a meager monthly fee of $25, you can start using this program. It’s not exactly one of the cutting-edge affiliate programs, but it is perfect for a beginner.

Interneka

Having so many tools and features, Interneka gives you so much control and flexibility. You have the option to set things up to work just how you want. This program places a lot of emphasis on good global commerce. It has a built-in multi-currency support system and several other useful global options. If you have $29 to spare per month, you can start enjoying this platform.

HitPath

HitPath is one of the most flexible affiliate managers out there. You will get an insane number of features, but unlike most affiliate platforms, this one won’t force you to pay for all the available features. This means that you can choose the features you need and pay for those features only.

iDevAffiliate

iDevAffiliate has commission variety, customizable systems and dashboards, several marketing options for affiliates, good reporting, and good security. This platform also integrates with over 150 systems, ranging fromShopify to Stripe. The pricing is flexible; a monthly cloud-based version will cost you $39 per month. You can grab the standard version for a one-time purchase fee of $199 (it doesn’t include plugins). For an additional fee of $100, you get a discount on plugins. If you can cough up $399, you will be granted access to all the features on the platform.

Affiliate Pro

This is another flexible platform for affiliate marketing. Affiliate Pro is packed with so many options. There are different levels of commission options, including commissions based on first sale percentage, to choose from. The reporting is detailed and available for you and your affiliates (if there are any). You can also make payments through bank transfer, PayPal, and a few other payment services. What is best is, Affiliate Pro costs just $49. The catch is, you have to get most things done yourself.

Conclusion

You don’t always have to spend big to make money. As you have learned from this article, you can start making money by starting your affiliate marketing with little or no money. Put in the work and you will be well on your way to the top of successful affiliate marketing.

Further read on:

Affiliate Marketing with No Money

Organic Methods