Affiliate marketing without a website

[jayy123]

Hi, I'm new to this site and if anyone could help with some questions about affiliate marketing that would be very helpful. When placing an add on a site or search engine with a link which would be a domain name I create, is it possible to have that domain link in that advertisement I created take the visitor directly to the merchant's website to see their product and services? And if possible is that still affiliate marketing where you can earn commission per "tracked" lead?

Thank you!

[Linda Buquet]

Hi jayy123,

Moved your post out of intros and into the newbie forum where questions are answered.

Well I'm a little confused in the title you say "Affiliate marketing without a website" but then you say "link which would be a domain name I create"

My guess is you are asking if you can have your own domain, with no site on it. And just have a link that looks like yoursite.com/productname that redirects through your affiliate link to the merchant site? To do it that way you'd still have to pay for hosting.

Sure you can do that and it's still affiliate marketing and yes you get paid per lead or per sale depending on the program.

Did that answer your question?

[jayy123]

I'm interested in several merchant websites and becoming an affiliate for them. I have a question though. If I don't have a website but just several domain names that are advertised with search engines lets say, and would include their designated HTML link to their website for their product/services, Can I still earn a commission per each paying customer referred to their site through my advertised domain name while still paying for hosting?

I think your answer for my previously posted question would probably be the same for this one if I'm not mistaken? Thank you!

[Linda Buquet]

Something is not jiving for me I think you maybe aren't understanding how things work or maybe I'm too tired to understand, so I'm going to try to ask for clarification before I explain any more.

"just several domain names that are advertised with search engines"

Are you talking about pay per click advertising like Google Adwords?

"Can I still earn a commission per each paying customer referred to their site through my advertised domain name while still paying for hosting?"

Don't quite understand why paying for hosting would be a concern. Most people pay for hosting.

I still feel like we are losing something in translation here. Maybe you can tell me what you are trying to achieve and more about how you plan to do it?

[jayy123]

I don't own any websites. By signing up as an affiliate to a website to sell a product; I'm wondering if by creating AdWord links and posting them on websites and search engines to refer buyers of products to merchant websites that I would get paid a part of that sale or commission? Not pay per click. I am looking at buying domain names each for designated AdWord links. Once the domain name link in the AdWord is clicked it would refer that viewer to an affiliate website that would pay me should the visitor buy their product. Is this something that is possible?

[Linda Buquet]

Originally Posted by jayy123

I don't own any websites. By signing up as an affiliate to a website to sell a product; I'm wondering if by creating AdWord links and posting them on websites and search engines to refer buyers of products to merchant websites that I would get paid a part of that sale or commission? Not pay per click.

Yes you get commissions. BUT be warned you can EASILY pay more for clicks than you make in commission, if you don't know what you are doing. You can lose a ton of money with Adwords and make $0. So you really need to take time and study not only Adwords but how to pick the right programs, etc.

Originally Posted by jayy123

I don't own any websites. I am looking at buying domain names each for designated AdWord links. Once the domain name link in the AdWord is clicked it would refer that viewer to an affiliate website that would pay me should the visitor buy their product. Is this something that is possible?

Hmmm. Still confused.

NORMALLY the reason you would buy a domain to use with Adwords is this. Your Adwords link goes to a LANDING PAGE on your site which has an ad and/or a review and/or sales copy and contains your affiliate link which takes them to the merchant site to buy.

There is no reason to buy a domain if you are sending traffic direct to the merchant via an affiliate link. In fact if you don't have a site/page on your domain to send traffic to, then you can't use your domain in the link period.

There are ways to redirect a link on your domain to the merchant IF you are doing other types of marketing BUT Adwords does not allow redirects. So either you direct link to your affiliate link which goes to merchant OR you build a page on your site to link to.

Be advised if you want to direct link (place your affiliate link that goes to merchant in your Adwords ad) there are some issues.

1) The merchant must allow direct linking - some prohibit it.

2) Adwords has a rule that makes direct linking really hard. It only allows 1 ad per domain. SO if the merchant is already doing PPC then your link won't show. If several affiliates are doing PPC direct to that merchant then Adwords will pick 1 ad to show based on an algorithm that favors the highest bid/best ad. So chances are if anyone else is bidding on that keyword for that merchant your ad won't show.

Sorry, there are lots of gotcha's and there is lots to learn before even thinking of jumping in. Yes it's possible but...

Jump into our PPC and Adwords forums. There are lots of free resources to help you learn more about PPC.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

[Joseph Ratliff]

Originally Posted by jayy123

Hi, I'm new to this site and if anyone could help with some questions about affiliate marketing that would be very helpful. When placing an add on a site or search engine with a link which would be a domain name I create, is it possible to have that domain link in that advertisement I created take the visitor directly to the merchant's website to see their product and services? And if possible is that still affiliate marketing where you can earn commission per "tracked" lead?

Thank you!

I am just taking a stab at this...take it for what it's worth...

jayy123, the way I understand your original inquiry was you wanted to be a "traffic broker" of sorts...where you simply put up a PPC program and re-direct traffic to the merchant's sales site...getting paid for simply doing the re-direction.

To my knowledge, that doesn't happen (I might be wrong). There is no value for the merchant to have you simply advertise for them when they could simply create another PPC ad themselves...and pocket all the profit.

At minimum, you would create a PPC (pay per click) campaign and send traffic directly to the merchant's sales page...but that visitor would have to complete some sort of action for you to get any commission...like fill out a form, complete a sale, etc...

These are known as Cost Per Action (CPA), or Cost Per Sale programs...depending on the merchant.

This was my interpretation only, could be wrong.