Affiliate marketing has gained popularity as a low-cost method of online advertising. IT used to be super simple and affordable as in the early days the main focus was on banner ads and email campaigns. Costs and competition were low, but the profits were not as big as today's.
While a lot of things have changed and the expected costs have risen with time, this way of marketing can still be successful even with a small budget. With great tools, social media, and free online knowledge, it's more viable than ever to get started!
If you want to succeed with a low budget, there are things you should know and ways how to approach advertising for all of it to work. Luckily, we have compiled all the ways you can start with a minimal investment and succeed with your campaigns!
How To Start On A Small Budget
Modern affiliates have access to a lot of resources that were unavailable before, and these resources are exactly what makes the biggest difference today! If you want to launch your first campaign and start advertising, here is what you should do!
Learn as Much as You Can
The internet has never been bigger than it is today. You can find information about anything online with just a few clicks. As a beginner, you need to learn the basics and learn them fast and efficiently.
The best place to start with this is on YouTube. Here you can find countless videos that explain all aspects of affiliate marketing and what you need to do before you launch your first campaign. Of course, just watching isn't enough, and sometimes you will have questions that need some answers.
This is where free online affiliate forums and Reddit come to shine. On these platforms, you can ask anything you need and there are at least a few people ready to help you at no charge. This is something that affiliates of the past could only dream of, as most information was kept secret and sharing was not encouraged amongst competition.
We recommend you start by learning the basics, how everything works, how you advertise, how to create good ads, find your audience, and optimize. Don’t forget about SEO and copywriting as well, as those can make a real difference!
Choose the Right Niche
In the beginning, focus on one topic and perfect everything you can about it. Try finding a niche that you are at least somewhat familiar with and passionate about, this will help you have a real interest in it. Try finding what the competition there looks like and check if you even have a chance to compete, as not all niches are good for beginners.
You can use tools like Google Trends, Keyword Planner, or Ahrefs to try and analyze your niche and find patterns. Try going specific and dont aim for broad niches where the competition is biggest!
Use Social Media and Create a Website
Social media has never been bigger than today, and you should use it as one of the biggest tools in your arsenal! Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are ideal for finding an audience and establishing yourself.
You should also create a website and/or blog so that you can send people there to interact with your content even more. This also gives you credibility and makes you seem more professional than if you are just on social media without any backing.
Try cross-promoting your audiences on all of the platforms you are active on. Build trust and engagement with your audience without spending on ads. Once you reach a point where organic growth gets limited due to the algorithm, start running limited ads. Once you see a return on your investment, adjust your ads accordingly to get the desired results.
You can also focus more on spreading the word about your work through making tutorials, reviews, and personal experiences with the products and services you promote, which give you a more trustworthy appearance amongst your audience.
Find Free and Affordable Tools
There are so many options for free and affordable tools, that even the established tools are starting to lower their prices and make things more accessible.
The biggest change came with AI. Ever since OpenAI released ChatGPT, marketing has not been the same. With the right prompts and a few personal touches, you can create great ideas, ad texts, and ads for your campaigns.
Of course, AI is not the only thing. Design tools like Canva have changed the game for marketers. Now with just a few clicks, you can effectively create professional-looking content for free! You don’t even need dedicated designers, just a good eye and some style!
The same can be said for simple websites and blogs which you can make in seconds with the help of AI developers. You can also use various tools to analyze your SEO ranking, content, and even ads to get insight into what and how you should change.
Focus On Organic Growth
Even though organic growth has been limited due to algorithm changes that favor paying sites and profiles, there is still a lot of value in having organic growth. The biggest thing that organic growth gives you is a loyal customer base that cares about you and your content.
If people find you and decide to stick with you even if you haven't bombarded them with ads, then you know that these people are high-value potential customers. The way you reach those people is long and tedious, but well worth it.
You need to focus on posting consistently on your social media and website. Share content and engage with your audience. Make them feel like a part of the business, not just a customer. Keep your opinions honest and don’t overpromise and try to deceive your audience. Sooner or later they will find out if you trick them, and once trust is broken, it's hard to gain it back!
Spend most of your time engaging your audience on social media and your page, but also try attracting new people by joining communities and forums where your niche audience hangs out, and promote yourself there. Just keep it simple and dont overpromise anything!
Always Improve and Optimize
Whenever you think that something is going well, remember that it could be going better! Analyze your campaigns and find what you can improve. Work on optimizing and maximizing your results.
Once you get the hang of this, you will have an easy time finding patterns and realizing what you can do to target your audience better! This will help you save a lot of money as you can reach more people and get more conversions by just optimizing everything!
Common Mistakes You Should Avoid
As with anything, there are a lot of mistakes you can make that can cost you a lot of time and money. Here are the most common ones:
- Skipping Research
If you don’t research your audience and niche before vomiting to it you run the risk of not attracting enough people, or being in a space where much bigger competitors already have the market cornered. Do your research before starting to avoid wasting time and money on products and niches that just don’t work!
- Overloading Links
Don’t stuff your affiliate links everywhere you can. Not only do audiences not like this, and often find this behavior disingenuous; but Various ranking algorithms also hate this and they can even lower your visibility when ranking.
- Not Being Consistent
Every platform loves it when you post regularly and often. This means that you also attract an audience base that expects regular updates and news from you. Being consistent doesn’t cost you anything upfront, but it sends your audience a message that you are reliable and always there for them!
Strategies You Can Use For Growth
Here are some things you can try to get a lot from small investments of time and money!
- Collaborate with Micro-Influencers
Try partnering up with smaller creators that have at least some following in your niche. This way you can approach them and advertise to their audience for a fraction of the price that you would need for a bigger creator. You can use the same budget to target a lot of small influencers and gain a bigger reach than targeting one major creator.
- Repurpose Content
Quality content should be something you aim for, and if you have good content, don’t let it go to waste. Try repurposing parts of it post them on different platforms and expand your reach.
- Join Affiliate Communities
People often think that affiliate marketing is a one-man business, but the truth is that you can gain a lot by teaming up with someone and spreading information between yourselves. This is why affiliate communities like specialized forums or Reddit subs are so great!
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing is still one of the most cost-effective ways to market products and services and make money off of their sales! Strategies and expectations have changed a lot, but even with all the changes, it can still be affordable and simple to get started, all you need to know is how!
What are your best tips for affiliates that are just getting started? Share your tips with us in the comments below!