If you are at all serious about making a decent income through affiliate marketing, you will eventually want to set up at least one website, and perhaps, eventually, several. This is principally because websites will bring new people to you through word of mouth, and free search engine listings, but also because many of the better affiliate programs require that you have a website in order to participate.

But while a website is certainly very desirable, and can, in the long-run, lead to greater earnings, it does not mean that you can not generate any affiliate income without one! Some clever affiliate marketers have made many thousands of dollars using other marketing channels - and there's no reason why you can't emulate their example. Even if you intend to eventually setup a website, it's worth exploring these alternate marketing channels as they can be a good way to get started quickly, as well as to test out new products, merchants and affiliate programs.

So what are these other marketing channels, and how can an affiliate marketer take advantage of them? Here are a few ideas:

Email Marketing: Email newsletters, sometimes known as "ezines", are newsletters, delivered via email which people opt-in ("subscribe") to receiving. Of course, nobody wants to read a newsletter which is just a bunch of ads, or is a grab-bag of random topics, so the best ones focus-in on specific topics, and include editorials, articles and product reviews as well as adverts. Affiliate marketers can profit from these newsletters by advertising affiliate products in other people's ezines, writing articles that ezine publishers can use (you allow them to reprint your article for free in return for include your advert at the bottom of the article in a section known as the "resource box"), or even starting their own ezine (which is then used to promote affiliate products).
Writing eBooks: eBooks are downloadable books which are read in electronic form on a computer. Again you want to write about something that people want to read about, but also balance that with promoting your affiliate products. To get your eBook as widely circulated as possible, you could give it away free, allow others to give it away free, or even allow others to resell copies of the eBook (keeping all the money for themselves, but helping spread your eBook more widely).
Discussion Forums: The Internet contains many discussion forums and message boards on all kinds of specialist topic. While it is generally frowned upon to go to a forum and post adverts, many forums do allow you to participate in discussions, and leave a short advert ("sig") complete with a link at the bottom of each post. Obviously you should join forums which tie into products that you wish to promote, check the rules before posting, and properly participate in the discussions rather than just posting to get your sig seen.
Search Engine Advertising: Many affiliate products can be advertised using Google AdWords or pay per click search engines. In both cases, your advert is displayed when people search on appropriate phrases, and a click on your ad, leads to your affiliate link. Not all merchants allow this practise, but many do, so check the affiliate program rules! Those affiliates who are successful with this approach are generally those who are best at writing good ads and finding innovative keyword choices. You should of course remember that there is a risk that any particular advertising campaign could end up costing more than it generates in profits - and take that risk into account in your planning.
Offline Promotion: Many affiliates swear by offline promotion - for example, by creating flyers, placing newspaper classified ads, or even cold calling on the phone (please bear in mind that many jurisdictions have laws/regulations about marketing calls). Not all affiliate programs are well suited to offline promotion - as they may be unable to track offline purchases - so if you are interested in offline promotion, choose only those programs which have been designed with it in mind (for example: DishPronto).

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