How to Promote a Web Site or Product without an Affiliate Program

Written by Zac Johnson
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What if you have a product that you really like and want to tell others about it, or even create a web site around it and attempt to try and earn a few dollars in the process. The first thing you would do, would be to visit their web site and see if they have an affiliate program. Let’s use Myoplex (energy / protein drink) for example. Before or after going to basketball everyday, I make sure to grab a Myoplex. I love the drink, so I don’t mind giving them some promotion… but when I visit their web site, I see that they don’t have an affiliate program…. what’s a blogger/site owner to do? Here are a few choices you have.

1.) Find another Site with an Affiliate Program
Myoplex is growing in popularity fast, and one of the most popular places to buy the high protein drink is through GNC stores. Let’s head over to GNC.com and see what they have available. As expected, they have over 35 different products for sale on Myoplex. They have the product, but now we need an affiliate program to make it work. Yes, they have one! Now you can earn a nice 11% commission on every referred sale. Now, instead of that free promotion you were just going to give to Myoplex, (or any other desired product), you can now be earning a nice commission on all referred sales. (and not just on myoplex)

2.) Contextual Advertisers
Myoplex was a great example and luckily for this case study, the largest provider (GNC.com), had an affiliate program. What if you can’t find any sites with your product that have their own affiliate program? Visit Google.com and do a search for your desired product. When you search on “myoplex” you will see a ton of advertisers on the page. Instead of promoting an affiliate program directly, you can run Adsense or Yahoo Publisher Network. Based off your heavy content site, Adsense or YPN should trigger exact or related ads. (If you search “myoplex” on Google, you will see both GNC.com and the parent company, EAS.com, both advertising through Adwords. You may not be able to promote EAS.com directly through an affiliate program, however through adsense you can promote them on a per click basis.)


There are many retailers advertising on Google Adwords for “Myoplex”

3.) Direct Contact
If all else fails and the product or company you are looking to promote, doesn’t have an affiliate program and there are no relevant advertisers on Adsense… try contacting the company directly. The only thing you have to lose by contacting the company, is that they don’t reply back or they say “not interested”… and you are back where you started anyway. On the other hand, if they are interested, you can sell them advertising on your site, possibly work out a deal for any referred sales, or at the least, ask them to send you samples or some freebies for your time and promotion.

There is nothing better than a web site that offers a true testimonial. I have no problem telling others about the Myoplex protein shake because I actually use it and would recommend it to others. With the combination of a real testimonial site and information to back it up, the ability to push traffic and sales to the related advertisers should not be a problem at all. Not only is there a high demand for Myoplex out there, but since they don’t have a “direct” affiliate program, it may make it that much easier for you to succeed with promotion. Now think about what other type of products and programs are out there that you can take this same method to and apply it.

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25 Replies to “How to Promote a Web Site or Product without an Affiliate Program”

  1. Along the lines of point #1 that Zac makes, I just wanted to plug the Shopzilla Publisher Program. We list millions of products from thousands of merchants. Often if a certain product or merchant doesn't have an affiliate program, you can search Shopzilla, and if it's listed there, then it is also available through our affiliate program, Shopzilla Publisher.

    Thanks for the tips, Zac!

      2. Big gains with muscle milk – but drink too much you get a big gut too lol

        I'm more of an Optimum Whey guy – uses sucralose, so no sugar

        Throw some creatine in the mix and you get big gains without sacrificing the abs

  3. What a great idea! People can be more convaicive if they promote a product that they like, actually we are doing that all the time when telling our friends about new stuff that we eat or bought in general.

  4. Muscle milk for myself as well 🙂 I'm going to have to check out the shopzilla deal. Thanks for the heads up Christopher.

  5. Great post Zac. I’m not sure if the 3rd works very well, but finding another site that contains the product and has an affiliate program is a great idea.

    Does Myoplex taste good at all? Most protein shakes don’t.

    1. Amazingly enough, Myoplex tastes pretty good. Chocolate and Strawberry are my favorites. They also have vanilla, cookies and cream… and maybe a few others.

    2. Myoplex is great… but if you want taste in protein shakes, go for Muscle Milk. Tons of carbs & fat but tastes fantastic.. only good if you're bulking up – if you're cutting fat, forget it – go with optimum whey chocolate (no carbs/sugar)

  6. Hi Zac,

    Don't forget, a testimonial that you provide on a well known site can also benefit you if it also provides a link back to your site. I've done this several times myself and have been able to get some really powerful links back to a lot of my real estate related sites.

  7. But that requires hard work and would not be as successful..

    Affiliate is a great way to boost sales — (freely)

  9. I read that joining online forum and commenting in relevant blog also a good way to promote. But maybe will be difficult to count the commision…

  10. Great post – I have also had to do this many times with products I am trying to promote. I also agree – testimonials are the way to go – sell what you use and love through your own sites and blogs it makes marketing very easy and commissions roll in.

  11. Great post Zac!

    I have done #3 several times and it does actually worked. I am still using them on one my sites. I found a great letter in Rosalind Gardner's book that I used and that did the trick.

  16. Great product to promote too…

    Bill Phillips, the founder of EAS, also wrote the bestselling Body For Life book. It’s a great company that has really helped many people become fit.

  18. Great Feed Back on the PRODUCT………..!!!

    somewhere, someplace,

    Promoting the product…was waylaid !

    The thing that I wanted to know,

    was,

    "HOW" to Promote the Product !

    – the techniques

    – the strategies

    – the me only methods

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