Top 15 Best Affiliate Programs for Beginners Without a Website

Have you ever wondered about the best affiliate programs for beginners without a website? Is it even possible to join an affiliate program or network and promote products through channels other than a website?

Well, it’s more than possible! You only need to pick the best affiliate programs to join.

And that’s why we’re here. We researched hundreds of affiliate marketing programs and shortlisted 15 that don’t require you to have a website. Well, keep reading.

15 Best Affiliate Programs for Beginners without a Website

Amazon Associates 

Did you know nearly 10 million merchants sell hundreds of products on Amazon, and the eCommerce giants accommodate almost three-quarters of them on an FBA basis?

With a wide range of products to promote, it’s unsurprising that Amazon Associates leads the charge for beginners who want to make it big as affiliates even without a dedicated website.

Promoting products from Amazon is a cinch because you’ll never worry about quality, especially FBA offerings. The support is also noteworthy, allowing you to feel more confident about your digital marketing skills.

Although Amazon’s commissions are not as “lucrative” as others, you’ll never run out of opportunities to earn additional bucks.

If any, Amazon’s 24-hour cookie duration is making some folks wary. Still, with 350 million products to promote, you’re never at a loss. You will just have to keep promoting products and hope your followers will purchase them within 24 hours.

Amazon Associates has drawbacks but remains the undisputed leader for beginner affiliates, especially those without websites.

BoldDesk

BoldDesk, a comprehensive one-size-fits-all customer service software, stands out as one of the best affiliate programs for beginners without a website worth considering.
Why go for the BoldDesk Affiliate Program as your number one choice among other affiliate marketing programs?
For starters, the sign up to the affiliate program is absolutely free!

That’s not all. BoldDesk also has unbeatable affiliate perks such as a guaranteed 30% affiliate commission for any closed sale within 12 months and a 90-day cookie period.
What’s more, you get a dedicated affiliate manager to hold your hand throughout the affiliate marketing journey. You also get a comprehensive affiliate assets library with assets such as logos, banner images, and more.

With that said, you should get on board with the BoldDesk Affiliate Program, share the affiliate product links, and easily start earning!

eBay Partner Network 

eBay might not be on your mind as an affiliate partner, but many newbie affiliate marketers attest to the platform’s suitability as an Amazon Associate alternative.

Although eBay has a different business model (being a digital “auction” house), its 25 million sellers make it a worthy platform to partner with as an affiliate.

Sellers generate over $400,000 on eBay daily across over 300 product categories and 1.3 billion listings. That’s a mouthful, and an opportunity you don’t want to miss. Its impressive range of products provide affiliates more chances of making extra bucks without a website.

Joining eBay as an affiliate partner requires creating an eBay account, which should be easy. Application takes about two minutes, and the approval within 24 hours.

The user dashboard has everything you need to track your digital marketing activities, including referral actions. You’ll also get a bookmarklet, smart links, link generator, smart placements, creative gallery, and smart share to boost your affiliate activities.

Unfortunately, eBay only pays through PayPal (after all, it owns the payment platform) or electronic funds transfer.

Etsy Affiliate

If you’re into handcrafted items, unique products, and other objects made by independent creators, Etsy is for you.

You might not think you cannot earn income through affiliate marketing with Etsy. You’d be surprised.

Etsy’s principal advantage over other platforms is its uniqueness. Many products on this website aren’t available anywhere else, making it an excellent choice for those who seek novelty.

Although you can only promote vintage items and handmade crafts, these products are high-value stuff. You have to thank Etsy’s dedication to wed out poor-quality products from its lineup.

Etsy doesn’t manage its affiliate platform, sourcing it to Awin instead. You’ll also pay $5 for joining, although Etsy refunds you after your first sale.

Although Etsy doesn’t have an affiliate platform, it has a nice MyAwin Chrome Extension facilitating affiliate marketing activities, including link creation.

The 4% commission might not seem much. However, if you look at how much a vintage item costs, it’s usually pricier than brand new products.

CJ Affiliate 

Commission Junction (CJ) is one of the world’s first affiliate networks, having been founded in 1998.

It’s also under the umbrella of Alliance Data Systems, a Fortune 500 company. That’s how “gigantic” CJ Affiliate is. And it’s one of the best affiliate programs for beginners without a website to try in 2024.

But why should you pick this over others?

CJ Affiliate is a stalwart in the industry, revered for its real-time analytics to keep affiliates abreast of their performance.

You can also customize display options on the dashboard, making marketing more seamless and organized.

And if Etsy’s $5 refundable joining fee upset you, you’ll be glad CJ affiliate doesn’t charge you anything. You could promote virtually anything across 3,000+ merchants using CJ Affiliate’s wealth of marketing tools.

The best part is some companies offer high commission rates. Sounds good!

ShareASale

Brian Littleton established ShareASale about two years after CJ Affiliate, creating one of the most enduring platforms for affiliates.

In 2017, Awin purchased ShareASale, making the brand boost its standing in the affiliate industry. According to ShareASale’s website, the partnership allowed the platform to enjoy over 25,000 advertisers.

Many affiliates love ShareASale for its convenient interface, allowing you to focus more on creating engaging (lead-generating) content than searching for promotion-worthy brands.

Surprisingly, applications have a higher acceptance rate than other platforms. You could join today, and a few days later, you’ll have your affiliate link to use on products you wish to promote.

Unlike other affiliate programs for beginners without a website, ShareASale lets you use various channels to boost income generation. For example, you could leverage your followers on social media or whip up an email marketing storm to your contacts.

ClickBank 

This affiliate program is one of the world’s best. And if you don’t believe it, how about learning how much it paid its affiliates over a quarter of a century? That’s over $6 billion!

You don’t pay this much if you aren’t good!

Present in 190 countries, ClickBank is an impressive marketplace for affiliates and merchants to “talk” on doing business together. You might even see a company offering hotel booking and getting paid for promoting the service.

Signing up is easy and free, although there might be a few days’ wait because of the volume of applicants.

We recommend watching ClickBank’s affiliate course or Beginners Guide while waiting because these resources will help you navigate the digital marketing waters.

Interestingly, ClickBank recently overhauled its commission scheme. You get a RevShare model and a CPA (cost-per-action) system. Here’s the real gem. You could ask a merchant for the best commission for promoting a product.

For example, Revitaa Pro offers at least $170 commission for promoting its products.

Impact

Impact empowers brands to form partnerships with strategic business partners, publishers, mobile apps, influencers, and, yes, even affiliates. And if you look at these partnerships (especially the last two), you don’t need a website to earn extra.

This platform has diverse advertisers, making it an excellent choice for folks looking for affiliate programs for beginners without websites.

Joining Impact is free, and you can access a multitude of resources to boost your commissions even without a website. You get banners, links, and influence-specific resources, which should come in handy when promoting Impact merchants on social media.

Like many affiliate networks, earning money from Impact depends on the merchant’s commission per sale. Hence, we recommend checking out the advertiser’s commission before promoting.

Rakuten Advertising

With over 150,000 top-tier partners offering thousands of products and services, it’s unsurprising that Rakuten is a popular affiliate program.

Rakuten’s advantage over other platforms is its data-driven product recommendations, allowing affiliates to promote a niche-aligned product.

Rakuten is an affiliate platform that makes it easy to become an affiliate with its thousands of advertisers. You can consider Rakuten your bridge to these high-paying brands.

You get to partner with Virgin Holidays, Sephora, Sixt, New Balance, Benefit, and other reputable global brands and earn some money promoting their products.

So, joining depends on how the advertiser or merchant vets your application. The good news is you don’t need a website to join (although having one will increase your acceptance chances). A social media account will suffice.

Moreover, Rakuten Advertising equips you with the right tools for your marketing campaigns, boosting your chances of higher commissions.

Skimlinks

With reputable partners such as Yahoo!, Hearst, Daily Mirror, HuffPost, and Mail Online, who doesn’t want to affiliate with Skimlinks?

The platform has over 48,500 merchants and 60,000 publishers (or affiliates) globally, generating an impressive $2.5 million daily sales.

But why should you pick this platform over other affiliate programs for beginners without a website?

Skimlinks is a content monetization platform allowing you to leverage your social media content to earn additional income.

Of course, you will still need product links to direct leads to partner merchants. But you don’t have to worry because Skimlinks has the process streamlined.

However, we must reiterate that Skimlinks works on an earnings-per-click (EPC) commission model, focusing more on your relationship with the merchant. It also makes calculating a “definitive” commission challenging because only Skimlinks knows the formula.

Still, joining Skimlinks as an affiliate makes sense. After all, it’s one of the few that allows affiliates to promote products from 48,000+ merchants even without a website.

Shopify

Shopify is one of the best affiliate programs for beginners without websites because it offers a monthly recurring commission scheme, unlike others that only pay on a single-tier system.

You’ll have better chances of earning more money with this platform. But how sound is it?

Shopify opened its “virtual” doors in 2006 after its founders found existing e-commerce offerings unsatisfactory. By 2010, Scott Lake and Tobias Lutke started the Build-A-Business competition, allowing entrepreneurs to showcase their business acumen.

Today, Shopify has over 6.3 million Plus stores. And we’re not including the million-plus merchants and businesses across 175 countries using Shopify.

And here’s your cue. Promoting Shopify’s digital stores should be easy. After all, almost everyone wants a digital presence to market and sell their products.

Shopify understands some affiliates might not have websites. So, it allows you to leverage whatever digital channel you have to market its products.

Application is a long wait, however. But once in, you’re in a world of fantastic surprises.

Hubspot

Promoting HubSpot is never challenging because companies are willing to spend at least 10% of their annual budgets on improving customer services. And if you could introduce HubSpot to them, they’ll thank you like heaven-sent.

Big-name brands are not your only target audience. You can market HubSpot to virtually anyone who wants to attract website visitors, convert leads into sales, and close and nurture customers.

Data syncing is automatic and real-time, allowing companies and entities to understand their customer relationship management efforts. And that’s why HubSpot is one of those affiliate programs for beginners without a website worth trying in 2024.

Application approval takes two to three days. Once in, you have the chance to earn a handsome commission for the next 12 months. Imagine if you could close ten new accounts monthly.

But that’s not all. You’ll be glad to know HubSpot offers a 180-day cookie lifespan. Even if your referral doesn’t “buy” now, you’d still get credit for the sale within 6 months.

FlexOffers

Here’s an affiliate network that lets you leverage its extensive advertiser-publisher networks to earn a passive income.

All you need is to encourage advertisers to join FlexOffers’ growing list of 10,000-plus advertisers. You can also motivate content creators to join and get a piece of their revenue.

FlexOffers is a performance-based network rewarding you with higher commissions the more productive you become. A social media account with a robust following is enough.

This platform gives you access to cutting-edge marketing tools that will revolutionize your digital marketing efforts. You have APIs, offer & product feeds, and real-time reporting at your fingertips. Additionally, its support team is impressive.

One huge advantage of FlexOffers is its multiple payment methods. You can pick eCheck, local bank transfer, international wire transfer, check, or PayPal. Now that’s convenient!

Pepperjam

Most affiliate networks position themselves as “performance-based.” Pepperjam isn’t fooling around when it announces its platform is “profit-based.” After all, everything works on profit.

Interestingly, Pepperjam WAS the eBay Enterprise Affiliate Network before the e-commerce giant decided to respin the program, giving birth to Pepperjam.

Signing up requires punching the big orange button for publishers and influencers. As the labeling implies, you only need a “social media” influencer to join. However, you might want to ensure you have a strong following to boost your chances of acceptance.

Here’s a deal-breaker. Although Pepperjam is an eBay subsidiary, its partner network is limited to about a thousand. This observation could limit your promotional activities.

On the bright side, it’s home to some noteworthy brands like Puma, BBC Shop, Nordstrom, and Lindt.

Marketing these products is never an issue, especially if you’re targeting niche markets. You’ll never worry about your affiliate tool either because Pepperjam has them ready once you gain acceptance into the program.

Ultimate Bundles

Unlike other affiliate programs for beginners without a website, Ultimate Bundles offers you three ways to earn money.

You could become the conventional affiliate, promoting Ultimate Bundles’ thousands of digital resources.

Or, you could become a Contributor by making your digital content and publishing it on Ultimate Bundles. You could create an eBook, eCourses, printable learning tools, and other materials related to Ultimate Bundles’ niches.

Lastly, you could become a Bonus Partner by buying an Ultimate Bundles bundle and sharing your experiences. It could be subscriptions, memberships, or physical products. Of course, you don’t want to shell out money as a beginner affiliate. So, you can scrap this option.

Ultimate Bundles’ affiliate dashboard is intuitive, allowing affiliates to organize their assets, banners, and links. The affiliate graphics and swipe copy are also available to affiliates.

Our favorite about Ultimate Bundles is its zero-payout threshold. Sadly, the platform only pays via PayPal.

BlueHost

If you’re into monetized affiliate commissions and not percentage rates, BlueHost could be a wise choice. This platform offers up to $125 per sale and an extended three-month cookie life.

So, if you could promote BlueHost on social media and other non-website channels (i.e., email) and convert ten leads monthly, you’re guaranteed up to $1,250 for that month.

But why should you promote BlueHost?

Most brands require speedy web hosting. However, more and more companies are adding exceptional security to their growing list of web hosting must-haves. And BlueHost’s SSL encryption is second to none.

This attribute should make promoting BlueHost a walk in the park, especially if you drum up the need for increasing a brand’s digital security. Big-name brands can opt for Fort Knox-like security, but small and medium businesses can rely on BlueHost to secure their assets.

And that’s your tip for marketing this program as an affiliate.

Please note Impact manages BlueHost’s affiliate activities. Hence, application approval depends on Impact”s vetting process, which often takes a week.

FAQs

Is it possible to be an affiliate marketer without a website?

You don’t need a website to become an effective affiliate marketer for your preferred brand. Although most merchants require a fully functioning website with plenty of traffic to join, others encourage affiliates to use other channels.

Of course, eliminating a dedicated website off the equation can impact your income-generating capabilities. Here’s the thing! The more leads generating channels you use, the higher your chances of netting a four- to five-digit monthly income.

Is there any fee involved in joining affiliate programs?

No, legitimate affiliate programs never charge you a penny to join, although the screening and vetting processes can be challenging across platforms and networks.

What mistakes should I avoid when promoting affiliate links without a website?

Promoting affiliate links without a website can be daunting because you have limitations on what you can do. However, marketing campaigns should still be identical, regardless of lead-generation method. Moreover, you might want to avoid these common mistakes.

• Not growing followers – You might not have a website, but you must have a social media account. Growing your followers increases your chances of digital marketing success without a website.
• Promoting “poor-quality” products or you don’t believe in – You must be “believable” in your promotions. How can you expect others to buy what you’re promoting if you don’t even trust it?
• Not doing SEO – You might not have a website, but SEOs work on every platform. It’s a proven way of driving traffic even if you only have a social media account.

What are the best affiliate programs for someone just starting out?

Amazon Associate, eBay Partner Network, CJ Affiliate, ShareASale, and ClickBank are excellent choices for someone just starting in affiliate digital marketing.

Conclusion

Making money from affiliate programs for beginners without a website might seem daunting because most platforms require a traffic-rich website.

And although search engines now include social media (i.e., Facebook and YouTube) in search results, landing high on SERPs is nearly impossible without excellent SEO.

So, you might want to integrate sound SEO techniques in your social media campaigns. Alternatively, creating an email list should help you improve the likelihood of monetizing these affiliate programs.

You can also explore other ways to leverage these affiliate programs without resorting to website creation.