Financially Awaken

Affiliate marketing is and will be one of the best ways to start a sustainable online business. But do you always need a website to succeed with affiliate marketing?

If that’s what you’re looking to find out – this is the right post for you. In this post, I’ll show you how to do affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a website.

However, this doesn’t mean creating your own website is a bad idea. Therefore, keep on reading to learn more about affiliate marketing, but also the techniques you can use to promote products you believe in without running your own website.

Can You Do Affiliate Marketing Without a Website?

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There are affiliate programs that allow you to join without having a website. Instead of a website, you might have an internet presence on any other platform.

Social media is exploding in popularity and the numbers of users on some of the most known social media platforms are on a constant rise.

If you ever watched a product review on YouTube, the chances are high that the video creator published affiliate links in the description of the video.

In fact, you might come across many more affiliate offers without even knowing it – and there’s nothing bad about it.

But there’s one thing you should keep in mind.

Some affiliate programs don’t allow the use of their affiliate links on social media. A great example is the biggest affiliate program on the internet – Amazon Associates.

They imposed this rule to prevent the spamming of their links across every popular platform on the internet. There is a big difference between providing valuable content and inserting affiliate links than going around the social media platforms and spamming links in the hope to get a sale.

Are You Allowed to Promote Your Affiliate Links on Social Platforms?

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As I’ve mentioned earlier, it’s not always allowed to promote affiliate links on social media platforms. On the other hand, there are affiliate programs that don’t mind you sharing their affiliate links on social media.

Therefore, I highly recommend you carefully read the terms of service of every affiliate program you join.

Even if you don’t know the rules, there will be consequences for your actions and this is one thing that got many Amazon Associates banned from the program.

But what if you are a member of an affiliate program that allows the promotion of affiliate links across social media platforms?

I’d say that then it’s the right time to use social media where you have the strongest internet presence. However, if you’re only a beginner and you’re not sure which social platform to use – I highly recommend Pinterest.

Why? Keep on reading to learn how to do affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a website – but also why is Pinterest my number one choice.

How to do Affiliate Marketing on Pinterest Without a Website

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Pinterest is my favorite choice because it’s a social media platform that works uniquely (more like a visual search engine). Even though it’s considered to be a media platform, it uses a unique system that reduces the number of steps from the discovery of content to the conversion.

How? I think endless scrolling of the homepage full of categorized content, but also the very minimalistic approach of being able to view the content inside the platform. Therefore, clicks are encouraged and are a standard way of using a platform.

Now, why would a social media platform refer people away from the platform? They’re not losing on anything as people will always return and that’s the process I really like.

It doesn’t take as much time or effort to get discovered on Pinterest as you would need to get discovered on other social media platforms so that’s another advantage.

Are you ready to learn how to get your ideas and thoughts across to your new audience and make money in the process?

1. Find an Affiliate Program

The first thing you have to do, if you haven’t already, is to find an affiliate program. Amazon is a no-go, so you’ll be needing an affiliate program that doesn’t forbid marketers from sharing affiliate links on social media channels.

I highly recommend checking out available programs through affiliate advertising platforms:

• ShareASale
• ClickBank
• Rakuten
• PartnerStack

The chances are you’ll be able to find many decent programs that won’t forbid you from advertising on social media platforms.

2. Understand the Rules of Pinterest

Pinterest doesn’t allow link cloaking which means that you can’t shorten the links by using services such as Bit.ly or Pretty Links.

This can only get you removed from the platform so I highly recommend checking out Pinterest’s advertising guidelines.

3. Find Your Niche

Pinterest is a huge platform and while content is neatly organized, you don’t want to be all over the place. Therefore, you should find a niche.

This should be something you’re passionate or knowledgeable about. This way, you won’t be just promoting products you have no idea about.

You’ll know exactly what you’re talking about and you’ll be able to provide valuable content to back up your claims.

Checking out the most popular categories or trends is a great way to find a niche if you’re not sure.

4. Find Keywords Your Audience is Searching For

When you know your niche, you will also be able to get to know your audience a bit more.

This will give you the idea to learn what type of content do they like, what are they searching for and you could almost be able to predict what the next trend might be within the niche.

I highly recommend getting help from keyword research tools such as Jaaxy that will help you learn how competitive a keyword is, what’s the search volume, but also what’s the opportunity like.

Using Pinterest’s search bar is another great way to find out what’s trending and what are people searching for.

5. Optimize Your Pinterest Profile Accordingly

You would want to include keywords on your profile, create boards, fill up your profile, be mindful of your board names, and even pin descriptions.

The organization is key right here so it’s best to try and think of your Pinterest profile as a brand and work your way up from there.

This also applies to the content you will be sharing.

6. Start Creating High-Quality Affiliate Content

When you believe your Pinterest profile is ready, you have an affiliate product you’d like to promote, and you have started building an audience within your niche – the next step is to start producing high-quality affiliate content.

Sharing any content and including affiliate links might not get you far. Therefore, you should also do your best to create content where you won’t post affiliate links directly.

This is where having a website comes in handy – but if you don’t have a website, you can also link out to other websites in the niche.

The point is not to create a Pinterest profile and start spamming affiliate links from day one.

When it comes down to high-quality content – I’d share only content that I think will provide value to others, is interesting to read, and is something I would personally take time to read.

7. Don’t Forget to Disclose Your Partnership

While you have to follow the rules of the affiliate program and the social platform you’re using – you also have to follow the rules of the Federal Trade Commission.

This means that you will have to disclose your partnership with the affiliate program in every post that contains direct affiliate links.

The easiest way to disclose partnership on Pinterest pins is to use hashtags such as #sponsored or #promotion.

This will give people heads-up and let them know what to expect. Most believe this would turn away most people – but that’s not true.

I believe that it’s not the disclosure that turns people away. It’s the poor content that doesn’t provide any value or is too promotional for someone’s taste.

8. Keep an Eye on the Trends

Once you’re all set up and ready – it’s a rinse & repeat process from there. The one thing that I highly recommend is staying consistent.

It’s something every platform requires as all platforms have their own algorithms. However, I also highly recommend paying attention to the trends.

Pinterest has a really great way of promoting quality content within the platform and that’s exactly what you should aim for. Following the trends in combination with high-quality content can help you gain exposure on Pinterest’s homepage.

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From there, it’s all about seeing what works and what doesn’t. Not all your pins will gain the exposure you’d want. And that’s okay. This will give you more information than you need to analyze what works the best for you and within your niche.

On top of that, once you gain a bit of traction, I highly recommend considering advertising your pins that work the best. This will allow you to put up the best pins on a pedestal that will help you gain even more exposure, resulting in possibly more conversion.

Should You Consider Creating Your Own Website?

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I definitely think you should consider creating your own website. Why?

You won’t have to worry about the rules of your own website – if that makes sense. While you have to pay attention to the guidelines of the social media platform, of the affiliate program, and the FTC – once you have your own website, you’ll eliminate one thing to worry about.

Nowadays, it’s very simple to create a website and you can create a website in under 10 minutes!

On the bright side, with a brandable domain name, great design, and high-quality content – you will be able to drive traffic to your site from Pinterest – but also gain organic exposure from search engines if you optimize your website properly.

Your own website will give you more control and you will “own” something on the internet. Even if something happens to Pinterest, if they change their rules, or if you get removed from the platform for accidentally breaking the rules – you’ll still have your own online business in terms of a website.

It will take a lot of time to establish a website, but it’s a process that will pay off in the long run as you’ll be able to earn passive income from posts you wrote years ago.

Conclusion

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If you were wondering how to do affiliate marketing on Pinterest without a website, I hope that you know exactly how to get started and what to expect.

Pay attention to the rules, find a quality affiliate program, and never post a pin you won’t like to consume yourself.

This is the golden rule that you should follow and if you stick to it – you’ll establish a quality brand on any platform. With that being said, an audience that’s ready to buy will gather and you’ll have more chance to increase your conversion rate.

When it comes down to the website, I highly recommend building a website. You can build out your website and Pinterest presence at the same time and yet the results can be twice as good.

What is your favorite thing about Pinterest?