How To Make Your First Affiliate Sale (Without An Audience!)

Getting your first affiliate sale is a huge moment all affiliate marketers will remember forever…

Not only will you earn some commissions, but you’ll get the confidence that this business model is legitimate, and super lucrative when done properly!

There’s a massive amount of opportunity out there waiting for hungry affiliates like you to make sales and start earning commissions.

But today’s post isn’t about helping you build a long-term asset like a blog, YouTube channel, or Pinterest…

It’s about getting you a quick win, so you can have proof that this stuff really works.

And to do this, we’ll only be using our personal Facebook profile!

Even if you don’t have an email list, audience or any content out there, you can use this proven approach to get your first affiliate sale.

It’s exactly how I got my first few commissions, so I know it works – let’s get into the strategy! 🙂

Step 1 – Finding a product to promote

At this point, I’d hope you have a general idea of what niche you’re looking to make affiliate sales for.

This is one of the biggest decisions you’ll have to make as an affiliate marketer. Take your time and find something you enjoy that’s also lucrative (people are willing to pull out there wallets to buy)!

Since I’m in the digital marketing niche, I’d look for products that pay high commissions or pay me each month…

Here are a few affiliate products I’d recommend using for this approach if you aren’t sure where to start:

• One Funnel Away Challenge
• Affiliate Secrets 2.0
• Legendary Marketer

Each of these offers meet my requirements since they pay solid commission rates (either high-ticket or monthly) and they’re high quality products.

Once you have a core offer picked out, here’s what you need to do next!

Step 2 – Know everything about the product

When it comes to promoting an affiliate offer, it’s always a good practice to purchase it yourself and go through the material thoroughly so you know what you’re actually promoting.

It’s nearly impossible to promote a product successfully if you don’t know it well, or haven’t used it yourself…

That’s why I always recommend purchasing a product before promoting it (you don’t want to lose trust…)

Now it’s not totally necessary to invest in the highest level products a program offers – an example would be Legendary Marketer, since they offer low priced front-end products and then ascend their customers through a value ladder.

I’ve only purchased a few of the low ticket products they offer, but I promote those cheap offers, and then let Legendary Marketer’s dedicated team close those high-ticket sales that I’ll earn on!

It’s important to know as much about the product you’re promoting as possible, so you can use it to your advantage when selling!

Don’t skip this part, it’s a foundational step to making that first affiliate sale you’ve been looking for.

Step 3 – Craft an irresistible “bonus offer” for this product

Now that you have a product you know about and can promote, you’ll want to separate yourself from the competition.

One of the hardest parts of affiliate marketing is most people are promoting the same products, so you need to create an offer that’ll have people begging to buy using your link!

That’s why you need to have a killer bonus offer in place.

Here’s a few things I’ve found work really well as bonuses:

• Support (whether 1-on-1 or in a group)
• Software
• Templates
• Training

Crafting an irresistible bonus package can be hard, since you’ll need time and effort to create resources people actually want…

I’d recommend offering 1-1 support and some templates or a basic training to start out with, and expand once you start making commissions.

It may take a few days to create the training, but it’ll give them an incentive to use your link.

Now that you have a product to promote and a solid bonus offer in place, we need to start generating targeted leads!

Step 4 – Setup your Facebook profile funnel

Since we’ll be using our personal Facebook profile to generate leads, you’ll need to setup a “profile funnel.”

I could go into detail here here, but this quick video from Derek explains the concept perfectly. Watch this before going to the next step!

This video is packed with value and tips throughout, so be sure to watch the full video!

You should set this up as soon as possible because it’ll help you generate more leads without any additional effort.

Step 5 – Start engaging in relevant Facebook groups

After you have your profile funnel setup and ready to go, you need to start connecting with your target audience.

Get super focused on who you want to help, and think about each of the following questions:

• What issues are they having?
• What pain points can you solve?
• What’s keeping them up at night?
• How can they get better results?

You need to act like you are speaking directly to one person, and find out exactly what Facebook groups they are in.

Now that’ll be different for each of you depending on the niche you’re in, but if took any of my three recommendations above, you’ll be interested in joining these affiliate marketing groups!

I’ve vetted a ton of different affiliate marketing groups since being in this space, and those are my favorite groups to interact and network in.

When it comes to interacting and building connections inside of these groups, you’ll want to position yourself as an authority and simply help others (asking for NOTHING in return)!

Quick tip: Every time you leave a helpful answer or reply in one of these groups, add a variation of the following at the end of each comment – “If you have any questions, feel free to ask!”

You should also create posts every few days providing value, but actual value and not junk motivation or self-promotion posts. Nobody likes those, seriously!

Naturally, you’ll start to get noticed inside of these groups and people will be attracted to your results.

And if you aren’t somebody who likes to wait around, you can always send a quick message to anybody who you add, or anybody who adds you.

Just don’t come off too “salesy,” or you’ll end up getting ignored in most cases!

Step 6 – Build connections, network, and serve

Now that you know where to hang out and find your target audience, you want to start building real relationships and genuinely networking with like-minded individuals.

Adding people you have conversations with inside of the groups or post content you like will help you grow your network, so do that!

When it comes to chatting with people, here’s a few tips.

Always build rapport, see what situation they’re in, how you can possibly help them, and then decide whether or not it’s a good fit! Not every person you come across is going to be your target audience, and that’s okay.

You need to disconnect from the sale, or else you’ll come off pushy and too aggressive which will lead to no sales anyway!

Over time, you’ll start to interact with people you can genuinely benefit from what you’re offering.

That’s when you shouldn’t be scared to present your irresistible offer. On the other hand, you shouldn’t be throwing offers out there if it’s not a good fit!

You’ll become better at assessing situations and deciding what to do with each interaction you have, so get active and start chatting with people.

Anyways, that’s the exact process you can use to get your first affiliate commission without any audience or email list! It’s actually how I got my first few affiliate sales, too.

And if you are looking to learn more about affiliate marketing, check out the Insider’s Guide To Affiliate Marketing Ebook by Dave Sharpe. It costs less than a cup of coffee, and will provide a ridiculous amount of value!

Really hope this helped you out, be sure to leave a comment below with any questions or results you have with this simple approach. 🙂

Hey! Dylan here, I'm the guy behind HustlerSource. After years of building different online businesses from the ground up, I designed this website to help you find the right tools and strategies to grow your own business!