Contrary to what you may think, you do not need a social media following to succeed with affiliate marketing.
While using social media can be fun and bring you free traffic, it isn’t necessary in order to make a steady income online.
In fact, when I got started as an affiliate marketer, I didn’t rely on social media at all. I still don’t rely on it even though I use different platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
The way I was able to bypass any social media was by creating a niche website.
How this online business model works best for beginners.
What is a Niche Website?
A niche website is essentially a blog. It is a type of blog that focuses on one topic (your niche.) You can choose any niche that you want.
Choosing a niche is often the most challenging part for many people when starting their website.
I always recommend choosing a niche that you have a genuine interest in. For example, I really enjoy affiliate marketing. Therefore, I choose that niche for my blog.
Here are some other niche ideas to help you brainstorm:
- Meal prepping for weight loss
- Real estate investing
- Gardening in a small space
- Dog training for beginners
Whatever you have an interest in is likely a good niche for you to go into.
Why a You Don’t Need Social Media with a Niche Website
The key to running a niche website is creating content on a regular basis. The content is in the form of articles that you write (your blog posts.)
It is your content that gets indexed and ranked in the search engine results like Google and Bing.
Over time, your website begins to receive a consistent amount of free targeted web traffic.
Therefore, you never need to rely on social media for free traffic. Best of all, your website traffic is evergreen and can last for years.
Social media traffic is fleeting. You have to post often and your old posts get less traffic as time goes on.
Blog posts can remain in the search results for years depending on how each of your posts ranks in the search results.
There are many affiliate marketers that focus solely on creating content on their blogs without posting to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms.
How to Create Your Niche Website
We’ve already covered choosing a niche. Once you have your niche chosen, you will only need three things to launch your blog:
- Domain name
- Web hosting
- WordPress
You can get all three of these things with any web hosting provider. A low-cost and popular web hosting service is Bluehost.
They can set you up with domain registration, hosting, and installing WordPress on your account automatically.
When your WordPress website is up, you can choose a theme for your design. There are many free themes to choose from.
I use GeneratePress for all of my niche websites. It is easy to use and super flexible.
Writing Blog Posts
Before I write a blog post, I do keyword phrase research so that I can create an article that my niche audience is interested in.
You can use any keyword tool of your choice. My go-to is Google Search and its autosuggest feature.
If you open up Google Search and begin typing in a keyword phrase related to your niche, it will return phrases that users type in.
You can create blog posts around these keyword phrases. Other keyword tools that are free and helpful include Answer Socrates and KeywordTool.io.
Write to Help Your Audience
It is easy to overcomplicate the writing process. I have helped many people with their questions on how to write a blog post.
Often there is a worry that they cannot write well. My response is to write your blog posts as if you’re explaining something to a friend or family member.
Blog posts can be written in a casual manner. You can even insert your personality into your writing.
If you can communicate your message, you can write a good blog post. When you focus on helping your audience, you will be amazed at how much you can write.
Most of my blog posts exceed 1,000 words. It sounds like a lot but it isn’t difficult to do. The more you write, the better you become.
You’ll only need to spend 2 – 4 hours per week on creating content. That is a small amount of time to invest in an online business that can generate passive income.
Making Money From Your Website
There are a number of ways to monetize your website. One way is to recommend affiliate products and earn affiliate commissions.
You can also make money from display ads. Some bloggers make a full-time income from display ads.
There is also the option to sell your website in the future. Depending on the amount of traffic that your receive, you can sell your website for several thousand dollars.
My websites earn income from affiliate marketing using affiliate links and display ads. It depends on the blog and how much traffic it receives on whether I add display ads.
Initially, I had no idea how to earn a consistent income online with a website. It took a job layoff for me to pursue affiliate marketing seriously.
Rather than waste a lot of time trying to figure out blogging on my own, I searched for an online training course and found this one.
Following the training there and taking action on what I learned helped me to transition out of a full-time retail job to work on my website full-time.
Incorporating Social Media
I have social media accounts now including a YouTube channel. These traffic sources are supplemental and I use them to lead people back to my website.
YouTube has been one of the most beneficial in terms of affiliate sales and traffic. It takes a while to get going.
You’ll have to post on a consistent basis just as you do with writing blog posts.
TikTok is another popular platform for affiliate marketers. The key is to create value posts and lead people back to your profile link.
If you don’t like putting yourself on video, you can create faceless videos and still provide value.
Record your screen or piece video clips together with a voiceover. Faceless videos do extremely well on YouTube.
Closing Thoughts
If using social media isn’t your thing but you still want to make money online, it is absolutely possible with a niche website.
The only thing a niche website requires is a time investment of writing blog posts on a regular basis. It is well worth the time and effort.
I like to think of niche websites as a long-term investment. They can produce income for years to come when properly maintained.
Learn how I was able to quit a full-time job to work on my website full-time using affiliate marketing. Click here to learn how.