How to Start Affiliate Marketing with No Money (5 Steps)

Affiliate marketing is how you earn commissions by recommending products your audience already needs. You create content, place tracked links, and get paid when readers buy through those links. No inventory. No customer service. No product development on your end.

I’ve been running affiliate sites for over nine years. When I first learned you could make money online promoting other people’s products with a blog, my first thought was that blogs were for journaling, not business. Surely you needed serious capital, technical skills, and a marketing degree. The barrier turned out to be much lower than I expected. Startup costs are minimal. The real investment is time, consistency, and learning what your audience actually searches for.

This guide walks through how to start affiliate marketing with no money beyond a few dollars for hosting. If you want the full beginner playbook first, read our affiliate marketing for beginners guide. Then come back here for the lean stack.

Updated 2026.

1Why Start an Affiliate Marketing Business?

The great thing about affiliate marketing is unlimited earning potential. The more qualified traffic you attract, the greater your chances of boosting affiliate commissions. It is performance-based, which incentivizes you to produce the best material for your readers.

You are the middle person connecting buyers with sellers. The only risk you assume is that nobody clicks your affiliate links. That is a real risk early on. But it is also the only risk. You are not holding inventory or processing refunds.

It does not require a degree. The cost of attending a public, in-state college is roughly $10,000 annually, while an out-of-state university is nearly double that. You can launch an affiliate business for a fraction of that.

You can also do it on your time and set your own hours. That means working from a Parisian cafe or publishing after your kids go to sleep. You decide which affiliate offers to promote based on the needs of your audience. Signing up for programs is free, and getting started with a website and hosting can be done dirt cheap.

For operators comparing business models, affiliate marketing is not multi-level marketing. You earn from referrals you send, not from recruiting a downline. If that distinction matters to you, our affiliate marketing vs MLM breakdown explains the difference in plain terms.

2Start Building Your Affiliate Business in 5 Steps

It is cheaper than most people think to start affiliate marketing. Here are the primary steps for building your business from zero.

1. Create a Free Website with WordPress and Sign Up for Hosting

You need a content management system (CMS) to run your blog. Without it, you will struggle to publish, organize, and optimize content at scale. There are many options, but we like WordPress. So does 43% of the internet.

WordPress is free, open-source software used across the web. Niche bloggers and premium news sites run on it. You are in good company.

Its functionality is virtually limitless. Developers continuously create plugins for it. Designers release new themes. Support is world-class with a substantial knowledge base.

The best part: it is customizable, mobile responsive, and SEO friendly.

Sidenote: There are over 55,000 plugins available for WordPress sites.

You can create an account and install WordPress for free, or you can use your site’s hosting provider. Many hosting providers offer one-click WordPress installation when you sign up with them. HostGator is our budget pick for a high-quality, low-cost plan.

They serve over two million sites, offer unmetered bandwidth, deliver free SSL certificates, and have 24/7/365 support. You will also find theme selections with easy drag-and-drop website builder tools.

Right now, you can create an account for $2.75 per month. If you buy a 12, 24, or 36-month plan, you will get a free domain with it.

That is the only expense you will incur if you follow the steps and suggested tools outlined in this article. Hosting for less than $3. That is it.

Sidenote: Sign up at WordPress.org, NOT WordPress.com. The two are drastically different, and the dot com version has many limitations. One big reason: you cannot install plugins and extend your site’s functionality unless you are on the business tier at $25 per month. You are also unable to run ads or connect to Google Analytics using the free plan unless you upgrade.

2. Start with the Right Niche and Products to Promote

Choosing the right niche is essential to the success of your affiliate business. Consider these three ingredients when selecting yours:

• Income potential
• Experience
• Your interests

Start brainstorming different niche ideas and come up with a shortlist of possibilities. It is a good idea to begin with your interests and experience.

Second, consider whether people are searching for it. If your topic is popular, that is a good sign. Try free tools like Ubersuggest or Keyword Surfer to analyze search volume.

Next, examine the income potential of the products you can promote that help solve a problem. These can be tools you have used or popular brands with your readers. One of the easiest ways to find ideas is to look on eCommerce sites popular in your niche or by heading to Amazon.

For example, on Amazon’s site, go to “Shop By Department” and choose a product category. Alternatively, try typing this query into Google:

• Best [your niche] eCommerce sites

For example, if your niche is golf, use the term “best golf eCommerce sites.” Google will populate its search results pages with the best ones. The greater selection of products means more opportunities to make affiliate sales.

Further Reading:

• How to Choose the Right Niche for Your Blog
• 29 Affiliate Marketing Examples That’ll Inspire You to Start

3. Conduct Keyword Research

Keyword research is learning how people talk about (and search for) your topic. Once you know the language people use to find things online, you can create content around that.

You do not want to make things nobody is searching for.

Once you have decided on your niche products, determine what topics you can rank for to get traffic to your blog.

Since your site is new, you want to target words with low keyword difficulty scores and decent search volume.

This way, you know people are already searching for it. Now all you need to do is write high-quality posts that get traffic. Niche keywords are best because they are typically easier to rank for with a more qualified buyers pool.

Aside from tools, you can also see who ranks for organic keywords by looking at the search results. Start by entering some of your keywords into Google and see what your competition ranks for on page one.

Tip: Examine historical keyword data and look at Google Trends to find evergreen topics. Evergreen content brings continuous traffic year after year because people will always search for these terms.

For example:

• How to lose weight
• How to get rich

Our personal finance site has an article about getting rich that remains relevant and generates traffic and affiliate sales. When I open Google Analytics below, you can see that post still attracts a similar number of monthly page views.

I wrote a detailed guide that walks through my experience starting a blog that makes $400k per year. Our affiliate sites earned over $300k in December last year alone, so we feel confident we know what we are talking about.

Once you have a few posts live, run an Opportunities Scan. Most new sites already mention product names in drafts or early articles that are not linked yet. Finding those gaps early saves months of missed commissions.

Further Reading:

• 5 Solid Niche Keyword Research Tactics for Affiliate Marketers

4. Create Quality Content Consistently

You need to show up and demonstrate to your readers that they can depend on you. The amount may vary, but you should aim to contribute regularly.

Next, create an editorial calendar and stick to your topic’s publishing schedule with detailed articles.

If you know your industry well, write down common questions people have and then address those in your posts. You will add value by helping solve problems.

Two high-converting content types to focus on:

• Product reviews
• Tutorials (aka step-by-step guides or how-tos)

These attract qualified readers to your affiliate products because they are either about to buy the product but want to read some reviews first, or they are about to buy but want to see how the thing works.

Where it makes sense, include your affiliate links in these posts. For the mechanics of how those links earn money, see our guide on how affiliate links work.

For example, one of Lasso’s original co-founders, Matt Giovanisci, runs a site dedicated to pool care. His content explains how to clean your pool and includes products he recommends to do it along with relevant affiliate links. This site earns him over $200k in passive income.

Sidenote: If you need help setting up your editorial calendar, check out Matt’s course, Asana for Bloggers.

You can also search for content ideas in Facebook groups or forums like Quora. Quora is a great starting point as the platform is filled with people asking questions. Try searching for your topic or keyword with these filters:

• Questions
• Past week

This way, you capitalize on recent activity. Start conversations and answer questions. It is the quickest way to build relationships and establish your presence.

Further Reading:

• Affiliate Marketing: An EPIC Guide for Beginners

5. Sign Up for Affiliate Programs

There are numerous affiliate programs available, and if you are a beginner, you will not know the good from the bad. However, here are a few things to watch out for.

Free to join: Never pay to sign up for an affiliate program. If you encounter a merchant asking for money upfront, walk away.

Ease-of-use: Everything from signing up to getting paid should be painless. Find another program if it is costing you more time and effort than it is worth.

Sidenote: Our database has 4,000+ affiliate programs in 100+ niches you can join right now. Find yours here.

How will your affiliate income enter your bank account, and how often? Some brands offer a one-time, flat payment, while others are recurring. If it is commission-based, what is the rate?

For example, while noob-friendly, Amazon has lower rates between 1% and 5% for most product categories. Compare that to going directly through the brand’s website and scoring a higher percentage.

An affiliate network like ShareASale or Clickbank might be solid options initially. However, if you are looking for more, our database has nearly 4,000 affiliate programs you can sign up for right now.

Even our WordPress plugin, Lasso, has a high-paying affiliate marketing program at $49 per lead if you are a customer.

For tactical habits once you are publishing, our affiliate marketing tips roundup covers what separates hobby blogs from revenue-generating assets.

Further Reading:

• The 7 Best Affiliate Programs for Beginners to Kickstart Your Income

311 Free Tools for Beginners

Here are some of our go-to tools for running an affiliate website if you are starting with limited funds. For a broader stack once you scale, see our full affiliate marketing tools roundup.

Google Analytics for Performance Tracking

Google Analytics is the best free tool you will use when it comes to understanding your site’s metrics, including where your traffic comes from, your popular posts, and how many visitors you get.

You can use it to see which affiliate links perform best and which pages people enter your site.

You will also see which countries attract the most traffic and by which device. It is an indispensable tool to have in your repertoire.

Ubersuggest for Keyword Research

Ubersuggest lets you find keyword metrics, including:

• Search volume
• SEO difficulty

You can also get keyword ideas, get a competitive analysis to see how you compare against competitors in your niche, as well as content ideas based on your keyword.

The tool also lets you create keyword lists to revisit later. Learning which keywords to target helps for a couple of reasons:

• Targeting words with low difficulty will inform you what you should make to start ranking faster for quick SEO wins.
• Understanding which terms people are searching for helps you create content to match search intent and will be more relevant.

Simple URLs for Link Management

Simple URLs is our free WordPress plugin for link management that lets you create, manage, and track your site’s outbound links.

If you are just starting, this will help you significantly. Not only can you create cloaked affiliate links, but you can also see the number of clicks they get.

Cloaked URLs matter for a number of reasons if you are an affiliate marketer, but three big reasons why they are so important is because they are easier to:

• Share
• Remember
• Track

Uncloaked links are tough to say on a podcast or promote on social media. And considering affiliate marketing happens outside of your website is why having your links lean and clean wins every time.

But let’s suppose you are serious about link management and building a superior site from the ground up. In that case, our premium WordPress plugin, Lasso, not only lets you easily organize and group your affiliate URLs, you can also promote your affiliate offers in beautiful product displays optimized to convert.

We built this tool to help affiliate marketers boost click-through rates, simplify link management, and help run our online businesses.

You can read about how this person tripled his affiliate earnings with Lasso displays.

Further Reading:

• What Is Link Cloaking and How to Use It Effectively

Answer the Public for Content Ideas

Answer the Public is an excellent tool for idea generation. Simply type a broad keyword into the search field, and it will fetch a substantial amount of keyword-related terms and questions.

For instance, when I enter “fly fishing,” I see data that is question-based:

• Are fly fishing reels reversible?
• What’s fly fishing?
• How to tie fly fishing knots?

It will display preposition-based queries with terms, including:

• Fly fishing for beginners
• Fly fishing with lures
• Fly fishing without a net

Alternatively, it will highlight comparison-related searches like:

• Fly fishing vs. bait fishing
• Fly fishing vs. coarse fishing

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. For example, the query “fly fishing” yielded 364 results, so there is no shortage of content ideas if this is your niche.

This works with both YouTube and Google search engines.

Let’s say you are creating a series of “how-to” articles in the coffee niche that is related to using Keurig machines.

Try using the asterisk (*) in your search with words like “how,” “for,” and “with”:

Then, let YouTube autocomplete more suggestions. In this example, you see some exciting ideas, including:

• How to use a Keurig without k cups
• How to use the Keurig frother
• How to use Keurig with ground coffee
• How to descale Keurig with white vinegar

Rinse and repeat this process on Google to see what you get. Then enter them into your keyword research tool to check the search volume.

You do not need a YouTube channel to leverage its search engine for ideas. Though, you can start a YouTube channel and try to promote affiliate links for free. If you want to find out more about this, you can read our guide to affiliate marketing on YouTube.

Further Reading:

• 9 Proven Affiliate Marketing Traffic Sources to Grow Your Audience
• 31 Fantastic Affiliate Marketing Tools to Help You Succeed This Year

Canva for Design

Canva is a free platform for designing marketing materials for your blog from scratch. The tool’s drag and drop features, free templates, and design types are easy to use.

You can create your logos, blog banners, email newsletter templates, and much more with its software. Simply put: it is perfect for those with no design experience.

There is a series of step-by-step tutorials on their website that show you how to make anything, and you will gain access to popular designs for inspiration.

It has been our go-to resource for visual content creation for years. If you are wondering how to create branded shareable marketing materials, Canva can help.

Grammarly for Writing and Editing

Grammarly is an AI-powered writing tool that finds grammatical errors and spelling mistakes within your content. It syncs across all of your apps, whether you are writing a blog post, sending an email, or posting on social media.

It also provides stylistic suggestions such as your text’s clarity, delivery, and tone found in the right-hand column in the below screenshot.

For example, its Tone Detector makes suggestions based on your word choices and phrasing.

It has both free and premium plans.

The free version includes basic grammar mistakes, a spell checker, punctuation, and conciseness. Once you are ready, upgrade to Grammarly’s premium plan as you will access its advanced writing suggestions.

In our experience, the Premium plan is worth the cost.

Further Reading:

• How to Use Conversion Copywriting to Connect with Your Audience

ConvertKit for Building Your Email List

While you are building your audience, start an email list. Email marketing is a great way to connect with people and keep them updated with what you have been doing.

Platforms like ConvertKit let you have up to a specific number of subscribers for free. Once set up, create lead magnets that offer prospects something in exchange for their email address.

Try giving things away, including:

• Checklists
• Templates
• How-to guides

If you are an Amazon affiliate, you are not allowed to include product links in your emails. However, you can create landing pages with certain email service providers (like ConvertKit) to send your referral traffic.

Yoast for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Yoast is a free, all-in-one WordPress plugin that helps with your site’s on-page and technical SEO. It makes it easier for search engines to find your content with suggestions inside your post editor.

Some things it can do, include:

• Adding schema.org data
• Noting whether your headlines and meta descriptions are too long
• Telling you whether you have used any internal and external links
• Informing you of keyword usage across your posts and pages

Bottom line: it helps you create SEO-friendly content by letting you see your mistakes and areas to improve in its analysis tab checklist.

You will need a tool that helps with your technical and on-page metrics; otherwise, you run the risk of getting less traffic.

Cloudflare for Page Speed

Cloudflare is a free WordPress plugin built for boosting site speed using content delivery networks (CDN) and intelligent caching. CDNs act as bridges between computers and servers, so your site’s visitors see your content quicker.

Creating a Cloudflare account is free. When you download the plugin, you are prompted to their home page to set up an account, essentially enabling your site and Cloudflare to talk to each other.

If you are feeling particularly ambitious, for $5 per month, you can upgrade and use its Automatic Platform Optimization (APO) service.

In Cloudflare’s words:

APO puts your website into our network that is within ten milliseconds of 99% of the internet-connected population in the developed world, all without having to change your existing hosting provider.

The result is your server barely has to work because Cloudflare absorbs those round trip requests and server processing times.

To test your site’s page speed for free, try GTmetrix and see how you measure up.

Further Reading:

• 11 Ways to Skyrocket Page Speed with Fewer HTTP Requests
• How Our WordPress Sites Use Cloudflare for Ludicrous Speed

Imagify for Image Compression

Imagify improves page speed by compressing your site’s images. However, since visual content has notoriously slow load times and occupies the most space on your blog, it is best to optimize them.

The benefit of having an image compression tool is that it saves you time because you will not need to format every image you upload manually.

And once you install the plugin, it will automatically compress the images you previously added. The free plan offers 20MB per month (200 images).

Buffer for Social Media Scheduling

Buffer is a social media management tool for publishing content across your social channels. It lets you schedule every post’s publishing date and time (and it will tailor your posts to each network).

It is perfect for entrepreneurs looking to build relationships with industry influencers as part of their marketing strategy.

Its free plan lets you analyze three channels per month. These can be three from the same account or three different accounts.

It comes with a browser extension so you can open the composer on any web page and add posts to your queue. And it will integrate with many apps, including Zapier and Feedly. In addition, there is an extensive knowledge base and speedy customer support via Facebook and Twitter.

You can upgrade for $5 per month per social channel if you want to access its analytics and engagement tools.

4The Future of Your Affiliate Marketing Business Is Bright

You can start an affiliate business with a $3 startup cost if you follow the steps above. That is not hype. It is the actual math on budget hosting plus free tools.

If you still need convincing, look up the search term “affiliate marketing” in Google Trends and see its upward trajectory over the past five years.

According to Statista, affiliate marketing spending reached $8.2 billion by 2022, a nearly $3 billion increase from 2017. And since so many merchants still rely on this model as an advertising source (81% of brands, according to industry surveys), it continues to be a lucrative way of making money online.

The operators who win treat affiliate revenue as infrastructure, not a side experiment. Pick a niche you can write about for years. Publish consistently. Wire up the free tools in this post. Join programs that pay fairly and respect your audience.

We built Lasso because link management, displays, and tracking should not live in five different places once your archive grows. Start with Simple URLs if you are on a zero budget. Upgrade when you are ready to turn recommendations into revenue with product displays that actually convert.

Ready to simplify your affiliate stack? Get started with Lasso today.

Sean Brison

Lasso Team

Sean Brison is a dad, writer, business owner, and Content Lead at Lasso. He's spent the past several years in cahoots with Lasso's founder, Andrew, creating awesome things for people. He's also addicted to perfectly-balanced cocktails, the outdoors, and John…