Transcription
If I told you that you could start affiliate marketing on YouTube without any followers or any money? In this video, I’m going to reveal how you could start affiliate marketing on YouTube and potentially start seeing commissions today without any followers and without buying anything new. Hi. My name is Alston Godbolt with alstongodbolt.com. I create content to actually help you make money online and not just to put money into my own pocket.
And, if you want to be added to the globe, comment down below with your city, state, zip code, province, or country and I’ll get you pinned. Now I’m sure you’re wondering what are the first steps to get started? I’m sure you’re also wondering what are the best types of content to create to start earning affiliate commissions. And I’m sure you’re wondering, do you actually have to have the products to start earning affiliate commissions with your YouTube channel? Now I’m gonna answer all of these questions and more.
So make sure that you watch this entire video. Now before I answer these questions, I’m sure you’re saying to yourself, Austin, you need to have millions of followers in order to make any money with affiliate marketing in YouTube. In fact, I know you’re saying it because it’s the number 1 thing that people say to me when I tell them that they can start affiliate marketing on YouTube. Their response is always, you need to have thousands of followers, millions of followers in order to make any money whatsoever. And I’m actually here to show you a few examples of small content creators that are earning affiliate commissions.
Each of the channels I’m about to show you have less than 5000 subscribers but yet they’re still earning affiliate commissions. And the reason is they understand the best type of content to create. And once you understand the best type of content to create, You’ll be on the fast track to earn affiliate commissions with your small YouTube channel. So let’s go ahead and jump into my computer and I’ll show you a few examples of people that are doing this. The first example here is this channel only has 1180.00 subscribers, 678 videos, but you can see their most viewed video from 2 years ago has 20000 views.
This video has 16000 views, and then this 1 has 11000 views all within the last 2 years. This video right here with the Malone VersaRail bare roof cross rail system has 20000 views. Now this content creator only has 346 subscribers, and you can see that they’ve included their affiliate link in this description of the video. This next 1 here, This person only has 69 videos, 18 subscribers. However, their most viewed video has 8600000.0 views.
And if you look at this video closely, Those legs look pretty familiar. And finally, this is my first YouTube channel. I only had 1830.00 subscribers. However, my most viewed video which has generated thousands of dollars in affiliate commissions has 264000 views from 5 years ago. But you might think, hey, that’s 1 off.
You can be multiple times about half of the videos on this channel have at least 5000 views. As you can see, each of these YouTube channels have less than 5000 subscribers but they’re earning affiliate commissions simply because they understand the best type of content to create. And that you see that the subscriber count doesn’t matter. Let’s take a look at the first steps to getting started. Now when I first started my YouTube channel, I made a huge mistake by buying a bunch of stuff that that I wound up not needing.
I purchased a fancy webcam. I purchased a blue snowball microphone. I spent a bunch of money on lighting, and even bought a green screen that I don’t use. I assumed in the very beginning that you needed to have all of this fancy equipment, all of this set up in order to start getting views on your content, which could be further from the truth. In reality, all of that stuff doesn’t matter.
You don’t need a fancy webcam. You may not need a microphone. You certainly don’t need an expensive microphone. Or phone. You certainly don’t need expensive lighting or even a green screen.
In fact, you don’t need to spend any money whatsoever to start your YouTube channel. For example, 1 of the largest YouTubers in the space, Marcus Bromley, he started his YouTube channel without buying any of the expensive stuff whatsoever. So here’s what you actually need to get started. You either need a webcam that came with your laptop or a relatively new smartphone. If you have a relatively newer smartphone, The microphone included is usually good enough.
And instead of getting fancy lighting, just make sure that you are recording your YouTube videos in a well lit area next to a window. For example, recording by a window is how a well known YouTuber by the name of Rachel Pedersen got her start, and she has over a hundred and 75000 subscribers at the time of this video. And, of course, you need a YouTube channel, but I assume that you already have 1. Now, this video will not go into the depths of starting a YouTube channel. And it’s not gonna cover the different settings because that stuff kind of changes over time.
Also, every country’s YouTube back office looks a little bit different And by the time you’re seeing this, the YouTube studio could look completely different. There are tons of videos already on the channel about how to set up a YouTube channel step by step. I’ll refer you to 1 of those. And the last thing that you need is actually video editing software, and you have a few options. Now if you have an or Mac computer.
Each 1 of those computers comes equipped with iMovie. That’s video editing software. If you have a Windows computer, there’s also video editing software included at no additional charge. If you want to use other video editing software, there are 3 options. There’s Canva, there’s CapCut, and there’s another free 1 called open shot.
Now, if you’re only using your smartphone, Canva or CapCut are gonna be your best option. And the final thing that we need are going to be products. After all, how are we gonna start earning affiliate commissions without any product? And this leads me to the next question my viewers ask me seemingly all the time. They say, Austin, do you actually need the product in order to start affiliate marketing on YouTube.
As we know, products are expensive. And if you decide to go out and buy a bunch of products to launch your YouTube channel, that is going to be the quickest way to the poor house. And at the beginning of this video, I said we are going to start earning affiliate marketing with our YouTube channel without spending any additional money. What we need to do is we need to figure out how we’re gonna start affiliate marketing with no money out of pocket. Really, there are 2 options.
There’s the first way which is recommended, and then there’s a second way that can also work as well. The first option which I recommend is to simply go in home shopping. And so what What you’re gonna do is you’re just going to walk around your house and you’re gonna take inventory of the stuff that you have lying around. Now, this stuff could be stand mixers, it could be microwaves, or it could even be a milk frother. It really literally anything.
The next thing you’re gonna do is you’re gonna take I’ll look at your recent orders or purchases from Amazon, Target, Walmart, Best Buy, any big box store that you purchase a bunch of stuff from from your recent orders. Make sure that you find a product that is at least 25 dollars. And what we’re gonna do is we’re simply gonna start making YouTube videos about these products. And just to show you that a YouTube video about milk frothers is getting reviews, take a look at this channel. In this video that I’m about to show you has generated over 43000 views and the content creator only has less than 500 subscribers.
As you can see here, This video, which is 2 minutes and 43 seconds long. This content creator, a hundred and 28 subscribers, 43000 views from 5 years ago. If we take a look once again, you see the Amazon affiliate link. Creating videos about stuff that you already own is great because you already have it. You’re the expert.
You know the good and bad. You know it works and you know it doesn’t work about that product. You know the benefits of the product and it gives you more credibility because you’re gonna be holding the product in your hands. Now for this process, I recommend that you grab or you collect all the products that are within the same niche or the same category. For example, if you are going to start with a milk frother, make sure that you find other kitchen aid or kitchen utensil items to create content around.
Now you can actually create content about random stuff like a stand mixer and a TV but eventually, we want to be known as a subject matter expert and the best way to do that is to create content under 1 category. And when you create content under 1 category, you build authority. You are known as a subject matter expert. Now if you don’t have any products, the second option is to create content without the products on hand. While this is possible, it’s going to take much more work.
What you’re going to need to do is you’re gonna need to do a lot more research. You’re gonna have to do research to find images and videos of the product. You’re gonna have to do research to learn about the product and its competitor, predator, which is going to take much more time than if you have the product lying around. Now, if you don’t have the product, it is really important that you become the subject matter expert for that product or service. And believe me, your audience will know if you aren’t the subject matter expert.
They’ll know if you don’t have the product on hand. Now when you’re doing research, go in-depth. Don’t just settle for the product description on the website. You’re going to want to dig deeper and learn as much as you can about the product or service that you’re gonna create content around. Now don’t be lazy.
Okay? If you are going to be lazy, you will not make money online with affiliate marketing. You’re You’re gonna be frustrated and you’re gonna be angry and you’re gonna say Austin doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about. But, and this is really important before you upload, ask yourself this question. Would I buy from me?
Meaning, is this video good enough to convince me to buy this product or service? If the answer is no, Your audience will not buy it. If you don’t have the product, you will need to compile pictures and videos from around the Internet regarding the product or service that you’re talking about. You’ll need to take those videos and put them into the video editing software that you deem the most user friendly for your skills. You’ll also need to add audio like your voice over into the video editing software.
The final and probably the most important piece is actually getting paid from the content that you create. And to do this, you’ll need to apply to different affiliate program. And there are a few ways to find these different affiliate program. First, you can go to the website where you purchase the product and scroll down to the bottom of the screen. You’re gonna be looking for keywords like affiliate, partner, and work with us.
You can also search the name of the product and affiliate program in Google and see what pops up. For example, you could Google Zulay affiliate program and see if there’s anything that pops up. And And the last potentially worst case scenario is you could head over to chat BT, and you could ask chat BT for a list of affiliate programs based on your niche. For example, type in this prompt. List 20 affiliate programs for the health and fitness niche, and watch chat GBT do its thing.
So now that you’re aware on how to get started, You know that you don’t necessarily need the product, but it’s a nice thing to have. You might be asking what are the best types of content to start earning affiliate commission. And this is actually a really great question, and I stumbled across this answer a few years ago. See, most new YouTubers create content that is too competitive, and and they wind up not getting any views. And believe me, this is the same mistake that I made early on.
I used to make videos that started with who, what, when, and where, why, and how. These are actually the wrong videos to make for a number of reasons. First, people that are typing in who, what, when, where, why, and how in a search bar, they don’t actually know the solution to their problem. People that are searching in these keywords are in the fact finding stage. This is what I like to call the top of the funnel.
Also, there are a lot of people asking in these questions. And wherever there are a lot of people asking questions, you’re gonna see big creators with hundreds of thousands, if not millions of subscribers creating content to help solve those problems. And we don’t want to compete with large creators. We wanna create content where we compete with other small creators or no creators at all. As I mentioned, I I actually learned this on accident.
When I first got started with my YouTube channel, I would create content with who, what, when, where, why, and how. I wouldn’t get any views and I would be frustrated. And when I actually started creating content about individual products, I started getting more views. I got more dedicated views and that’s when my for the commissions actually skyrocket. You see the reason why this works is people that are asking questions about individual products.
They know the problem and they know the solution. They just want to make sure that they’re buying the right thing for their needs. And when you create content here, I call this the bottom of the funnel. It’s called the bottom of the funnel because people are closer to making a buyer decision, thus closer to the money. Like I said, when your audience is ready to by that thing.
They just wanna make sure that they know how to set it up. They wanna make sure that it is the right solution for their problems and that It’s not gonna be too difficult to set up. For example, when I first started creating content on a course called project 24, I was speaking to people that already knew about project 24. These people were ready to buy. They just wanted a firsthand users experience.
And like I said, when I started doing that, that’s when my commissions really skyrocketed. So here are the types of videos that work the best. First thing you’re gonna do is you’re gonna copy the name of the product word from word from Amazon or wherever you purchased it, and you’re gonna paste it right into YouTube. And then you’re You’re gonna look for these search terms. You’re gonna look for words like review, unboxing, first impression, preview, setup, and initial impressions.
For example, both project 24 first impression or project 24 review. If you run out of search terms, you’re gonna go back to YouTube search and and you’re gonna type in the name of the product once again and then versus afterwards. For example, Kajabi versus. Then you’re gonna see a list of search terms where people or comparing the main product that they’re interested in versus their competitors. Now that you know how to start affiliate marketing on YouTube, What if I told you there is still a ton to learn about affiliate marketing?
Watch this 5 series playlist next to learn everything that you need to know about affiliate marketing.