How to Start Affiliate Marketing With No Money in Kenya

Last updated on June 13th, 2024 at 03:41 pm

Affiliate marketing has become a popular way to make money online in Kenya and globally. The best part about affiliate marketing is that you can get started with little to no money. All you need is access to the Internet and a website or blog.

In this post, I will provide a step-by-step guide on how to start with affiliate marketing in Kenya even if you have no money to invest upfront. We will cover everything from choosing a niche and affiliate programs to join, getting traffic to your site, promoting products effectively with no budget, and tracking your metrics.

By the end, you’ll have a clear roadmap to launching your affiliate marketing side hustle or business in Kenya!

Define affiliate marketing and how it works

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based type of online marketing where you earn commissions promoting other companies’ products or services.

As an affiliate marketer, you partner with brands by promoting their products/services using a unique referral link or promo code.

When someone makes a purchase through your link, you earn a commission – usually a percentage of the sale amount. Some key players in affiliate marketing include:

• Merchant – The company/brand that sells products or services and offers an affiliate program.
• Affiliate/Publisher – The person who promotes the merchant’s products in hopes of earning commissions. This is you!
• Affiliate Network – A company that connects merchants with affiliates by providing the tracking technology and payment systems.

The basic affiliate marketing process works like this:

1. A merchant provides unique affiliate links to publishers/affiliates.
2. The affiliate shares these links on their website, social media, videos, etc.
3. When a visitor/audience member clicks the link and makes a purchase, the affiliate earns a commission.

So in summary, affiliate marketing allows you to earn commissions by driving sales to someone else’s products or services. The merchant handles product creation, order processing, customer service etc while you focus on marketing their stuff in an effective way.

Benefits of affiliate marketing in Kenya with no money

Some key benefits of starting affiliate marketing without any monetary investment include:

• Low barrier to entry – You literally only need a website or platform to share your affiliate links. No physical products or inventory needed.
• Wide range of products/services – There are affiliate programs for physical products, digital products, services, subscriptions etc. Lots of options to choose from.
• Passive income potential – Your affiliate links can generate commissions months or years after you first shared them if they continue getting clicks/sales.
• Performance-based – You only earn commissions when your marketing efforts directly lead to sales being made. No wasting ad spend.
• Be your own boss – Affiliate marketing allows you to be self-employed and have freedom over your work schedule/hours.
• Work from anywhere – No geographical limitations – you can do affiliate marketing from anywhere with an Internet connection.
• Low risk – You don’t have to invest in product inventory, a physical storefront etc so less financial downside.
• Learn digital marketing skills – Affiliate marketing teaches transferable skills like creating websites, generating traffic, conversion optimization etc.

So in summary, affiliate marketing is appealing for beginners because you can get started easily without big upfront costs and develop valuable marketing skills in the process.

Choosing a niche and affiliate programs

When getting started with affiliate marketing, it’s important to choose a specific niche rather than promoting random products.

Here are some tips for selecting a profitable affiliate niche:

• Pick an area you’re passionate about – Choose a niche you enjoy/understand so content creation is easier.
• Look for high buyer intent – Target niches where people are actively looking to spend money like insurance, travel, software etc.
• Check affiliate program commissions – Prioritize niches that offer high commission percentages per sale.
• Evaluate competition – Some niches are too crowded while others are wide open. Find a healthy balance.
• See what’s selling – Look at clickbank.com and other affiliate networks to see what’s popular.

Some examples of lucrative affiliate niches for beginners include:

• Insurance (life, health, pet insurance etc)
• Credit repair
• Online courses/elearning
• Travel (vacation packages, lodging, airfare etc)
• Dating & relationships
• Software (antivirus, VPNs, project management tools etc)

Once you’ve selected a niche, look for relevant affiliate programs to join. Good places to find programs include Clickbank, Amazon Associates, ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, Rakuten Marketing etc.

Compare commissions, payment terms, program reputations and ease of use to pick the best ones for your niche. Having multiple income streams across several affiliate programs helps diversify your earnings.

Building traffic to your affiliate links

To earn commissions, you need to drive qualified traffic to your affiliate links. Here are some proven free traffic-building tactics:

• SEO optimized blog posts – Ranking blog content related to your niche helps drive organic search traffic from Google.
• Social media marketing – Promote your affiliate offers on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest etc.
• Forum marketing – Provide value on relevant forums related to your niche and add signature/profile links.
• Video content – Create a YouTube channel reviewing products in your niche and link to them.
• Email marketing – Build an email list and promote affiliate offers via newsletters.
• Guest posting – Publish articles with backlinks on other blogs/sites in your space.
• Quora answers – Provide helpful answers to questions in your niche and link to affiliate resources.

The key is providing valuable content and establishing yourself as an authority in your niche to drive targeted traffic. Focus on quality over quantity when it comes to affiliate promotions.

Promoting affiliate products in Kenya with no money

Here are some tips for effectively promoting affiliate products when you have a $0 budget starting out:

• Write in-depth product reviews – Share your honest thoughts on products you genuinely recommend. Include pros/cons and detailed usage experiences.
• Compare product features/pricing in articles – Help readers understand how affiliate products compare to competitors. Create comparison tables.
• Give bonuses for purchases – Offer free tools, resources, or content to those who buy via your affiliate link.
• Create case studies – Show how real customers have gotten results using the affiliate products.
• Make tutorials/guides – Demonstrate how to use affiliate products to solve reader challenges step-by-step.
• Share discounts/promo codes – Let your audience know about any special deals or pricing on affiliate offers.
• Repurpose content across formats – Turn written posts into videos, podcasts and slides for maximum impact.

The key is to provide as much value as possible to build audience trust and get readers excited about purchasing the affiliate products you recommend.

Metrics, tracking and optimizing performance

It’s crucial to track the right affiliate marketing metrics so you can optimize your efforts:

• Conversion rate – Percentage of website visitors that click your links and complete a purchase. Helps find weak spots in funnel.
• Earnings per click – How much commission you earn on average for each click on your affiliate links. Maximizing EPC helps boost revenue.
• Return on investment (ROI) – Comparing earnings to time invested. Look at ROI for each marketing channel.
• Top converting keywords – See which SEO keywords result in the most affiliate sales. Optimize content for those terms.
• Top converting pages – Double down on the types of content/offers that already convert well.
• Affiliate links clicked – Number of total clicks lets you estimate potential earnings.

Make sure to use URL trackers like Bitly or affiliate link cloaking software to properly monitor clicks and conversions. Analyze metrics regularly and make changes to maximize your ROI over time.

Key Takeaways

• Affiliate marketing allows you to earn commissions by promoting other companies’ products online.
• You can get started with no money and build skills like creating websites, generating traffic and conversion optimization.
• Choose a niche you’re passionate about and join relevant affiliate programs with good commissions.
• Build traffic using free strategies like blogging, social media marketing, SEO, video content etc.
• Promote affiliate products by creating in-depth reviews, comparisons, case studies, guides etc.
• Track metrics like conversion rate and ROI to optimize your performance over time.

Read also:

• Can You Watch Ads and Get Paid to M-PESA? EXPLAINED!