Organic traffic is a fantastic way to get traffic without breaking the bank. This approach is especially appealing to beginners because it doesn’t require a large budget, making it perfect for those looking to start making money online with minimal costs. The main expenses are things like proxies, VPNs, and other essential tools – but the traffic itself is free.
Social media platforms are the primary source of free traffic. According to Vidico, short videos account for 82% of all internet traffic worldwide. This means platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels are crucial for capturing this traffic. However, these platforms have strict rules and moderation policies that you need to navigate carefully.
Infographic from Statista: Short videos make up 33% of all video content
Despite the strict rules, experienced affiliate marketers still manage to get traffic from these sources. The trick is to use the platforms correctly. In this article, we’ll explore how to maximize these platforms, the strategies to use, and the tools that will help you quickly find success.
Choosing a platform for organic traffic: TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Stories
These three platforms dominate the short video market, each with its own unique audience and features. Let’s take a closer look at each one.
TikTok
TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms globally, with over a billion users. Most users are aged 18–24, with men being more active than women.
TikTok has a highly engaged audience, with an engagement rate of 2.65% per million users. This means people are very active, liking, commenting, and sharing content. Given TikTok’s high engagement rate, it can attract a lot of organic traffic.
However, TikTok has strict moderation. The platform rarely allows direct advertising, posing challenges for affiliates. To effectively drive traffic to popular areas like dating, gambling, and health products, you’ll need a lot of resources, including proxies, accounts, and tools for unique content creation. Preparing to use TikTok takes time and effort, but with the right approach, it can become a powerful source of organic traffic.
YouTube Shorts
YouTube Shorts is Google’s second most visited platform, with 113 billion visits per month and 2.5 billion users. Most users are aged 25–34. User engagement on YouTube Shorts surpasses even TikTok, and the platform has a larger audience. This means that even though users might be less active, there are more of them to make up for it.
One advantage of YouTube Shorts is its less strict moderation compared to TikTok. The platform’s rules are more lenient, allowing a wider range of content, including direct gambling ads and explicit adult content, at least until complaints are made.
Successfully using YouTube Shorts also requires preparation. High-quality videos and a strategic approach to content placement are necessary. You’ll need resources to get good results here as well.
Instagram Reels
Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, with an audience of 1.5 billion people, mostly aged 18–24. Affiliates can reach almost any audience due to the effectiveness of built-in promotion tools like the feed and Reels.
Instagram also has good user engagement: from 5% with an audience of 5,000 views to 2.5% with an audience of a million users and above. If an affiliate creates captivating content, it can lead to positive results in most cases.
Instagram’s moderation is relatively lenient, allowing even very direct and explicit content, including uncensored adult material. Of course, accounts may eventually be blocked, so having backup resources is essential. But with a pure audience, effective algorithms, and high engagement, it’s possible to find success even with one account.
Which platform to choose
Each platform has its own advantages, and an affiliate may find it more rewarding to use all of them simultaneously. However, each has different algorithms. A video that works well on Reels might be instantly blocked by TikTok, so careful selection is necessary.
The choice should be based on goals, niche, and target audience. Since most of the wealthy adult audience is on YouTube, YouTube Shorts is excellent for gambling, crypto, and e-commerce. Instagram, with its predominantly young female audience, is ideal for products like weight loss solutions. TikTok, often used by young males, is better for dating and adult content. However, remember that TikTok’s moderation is very strict, and explicit content will be quickly banned along with the account.
Additionally, choose the platform based on the target country:
- TikTok is suitable for the US and Indonesia
- Instagram is most popular in India
- YouTube Shorts are frequently watched by people in the UAE, Israel, and the UK
How to successfully promote affiliate offers on social media
When an affiliate picks a platform, they need to choose the right ways to promote their content. Just making a video and hoping for the best isn’t enough. It’s important to understand how the platform’s algorithms work. If you create content that fits well with these algorithms, your videos will perform better and attract more traffic.
Setting up your profile
Setting up your profile correctly is crucial for success on any social media platform. A good profile picture, a catchy channel name, and a clear description help the platform know who you are and who should see your content.
Below is an example of a well-built YouTube profile belonging to an affiliate promoting dating offers. The profile link takes users to Telegram, which then leads them to the offer.
In the description, besides the link, catchy text is used to grab the user's attention. Each video's cover art matches the content, making it clear at first glance what the video is about.
Below is another example of an account created to promote gambling offers. There is nothing in the design that directly indicates gambling. The affiliate disguised the account as a channel about how to make money fast and achieve financial success. This builds more trust, however in reality, this is a classic pattern for driving traffic.
There are several basic rules when creating an account:
- Choose an attractive picture
- Use keywords to make your description engaging
- Make sure each video cover is relevant and appealing
Below is an example of an Instagram account. This account, run by an affiliate promoting dating offers, has a good profile picture, a catchy description, and nice-looking covers and photos. This is the way to go.
Consistency
Consistency is key for successful campaigns. Regularly posting new content is important, but make sure not to overwhelm your audience. Top affiliates often post one video per day, which is considered a good pace.
Creating content
On average, videos should range from 15 to 30 seconds. You need to hook the user at first sight – so that in the first five seconds, they understand what you are trying to convey.
Here’s an example: In the very first seconds of the video, start by showing something exciting, like a Lamborghini, or a big stack of money, and assure them they can achieve success with your method.
Dynamic videos perform better; the more action, the better. Static videos rarely convert or reach a large audience.
Using sound
Sound is important on all social media platforms, especially TikTok. Videos with popular music are favored by the algorithms, similar to how hashtags work.
Using hashtags
While hashtags might seem overused, they still work. For affiliate marketing in grayhat niches, you can use a variety of tags. Even if the account gets banned later, using popular hashtags helps your video reach more people initially.
How to design ad creatives for organic traffic
In general, the process of designing ad creatives for organic traffic is quite similar to making them for paid ads. The strategies might differ depending on the niche, but they all have one main goal: grabbing attention quickly.
Let’s look at some examples to understand how this works.
Clips from gambling streams
A popular way to promote gambling is by showing clips of big casino wins and including a link to the brand in the description. This approach works well because it shows:
- Real emotions: People trust genuine reactions more.
- Proof of earnings: Showing real wins proves that you can earn money and have fun.
This method is still one of the best for getting organic traffic in the gambling niche. It doesn’t cost much to create these videos, requires no editing, and can generate a lot of traffic if they go viral.
Promising big wins
This strategy involves making bold promises, like telling users they will get rich, attract romantic partners, and pay off debts if they follow the link and play a few games.
To come up with high-conveting ad creatives, you don’t always need to focus on the user's problems. Sometimes, just promising money is enough to generate a lot of traffic.
“Looking for a guy” approach for dating
In this approach, you show a beautiful woman in the video and say that she is looking for a guy. Mention that users can meet her through the link in her profile. This method still works well, especially if the woman is attractive and the video is engaging.
Unboxing products
Many popular influencers and bloggers focus on unboxing products, and it works well. They include an affiliate link to the product in the description. For each user who clicks the link and buys the product, the advertiser pays them a commission. Affiliates can use this strategy too.
This approach is different because it’s a legitimate, whitehat method. Unboxing videos are allowed on platforms like YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram Reels. This means you can focus on growing your account without worrying about getting banned. For beginners not ready to try riskier methods, this is an easy and convenient way to start.
While this isn’t purely organic traffic since you need to buy the products, focusing on unboxing inexpensive items can keep costs low. Over time, it becomes easier to make a profit as your audience grows.
Where to get video clips to use in your organic traffic campaigns
Finding video clips to drive organic traffic is often easy because many resources are freely available. Here’s a guide based on different niches:
Gambling
For the gambling niche, try these effective strategies:
- Gameplay clips
- Stream highlights
- Videos promising wealth and success
You can find content for the first two strategies on channels that focus on casino stream highlights. Check out these examples:
Casino Grounds: Features big wins and genuine reactions from streamers.
Casino Big Win: Showcases large jackpots and significant wins.
Lord Trepunin: Offers regular live streams with many highlight-worthy moments.
For the third strategy, search for terms like “happy rich life” or “stacks of money in hands” to find relevant content.
The SN Money YouTube channel specializes in such videos.
Dating
There are many sources for dating-related content on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, and OnlyFans. Look for suitable videos by searching for "beautiful girls."
To create your ad:
- Choose a video.
- Remove the original sound.
- Add new, engaging audio.
- Insert compelling text into the video.
It is recommended to mirror the video in order to avoid copyright issues and bans.
Adult
Driving organic traffic for adult content can be challenging because platforms like YouTube and Instagram quickly ban you from posting explicit content. However, these videos can still attract a lot of traffic.
For adult content, find material on adult websites or webcam platforms. Avoid using very explicit content to prevent it from being removed during initial checks. Softer, more suggestive content can get through and effectively drive traffic.
How to get organic traffic traffic: instructions
Generating organic traffic involves a series of steps that need to be followed in a specific order. As an affiliate marketer, here’s what you need to do:
- Purchase accounts and necessary tools.
- Select one of the prepared accounts and register it.
- Start uploading videos that are optimized for algorithm promotion.
- Continue uploading until the account gets blocked.
- Move to the next account and repeat the process.
Promoting each new account from scratch can be time-consuming, but this strategy can be financially rewarding and help you achieve profitability. The key is to invest time in promotion without hesitation.
To make working with short videos easier and faster, consider using AI tools. Here are some useful tools:
These tools are designed specifically for short video creation and can help you produce dozens of different videos per day from a single source. Just remember, they require a powerful device to run efficiently.
Tips for working with organic traffic
Here are some practical tips to help you succeed in generating organic traffic:
- Be patient: It might take some time to start making good money. Some people spend months without earnings before seeing real results. Algorithms can be unpredictable, so focus on helping your account grow steadily.
- Make unique content: Your videos need to be unique to get organic traffic. Algorithms don’t like copied content, so avoid reusing videos that aren’t yours.
- Study the platforms: Platforms like YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram take time to get the hang of. Watch which videos become popular and learn about what the audience likes.
- Start with whitehat content: Starting with “whitehat” (safe and compliant) content can help you learn the platform more easily. It’s a good way to save money and understand how the social media platform works.
- Use AI tools: Creating a lot of content manually is tough. If you’re working alone, AI tools can help you make lots of unique videos more easily.
- Work with a team: Doing everything alone can be overwhelming due to the time required. Working with a team lets you share tasks and potentially earn more.
Conclusion
Organic traffic is a great way for beginners to start in affiliate marketing because it doesn't require a lot of upfront investment. However, it can be unreliable since accounts can get banned quickly, forcing you to start over from scratch.
To make your income more stable, you'll want to combine organic traffic with other affordable paid traffic methods, such as using advertising networks.
Using advertising networks can provide you with a steady stream of income while you learn the ropes. To avoid fraud and get reliable traffic, consider using the MyBid fully-managed network. MyBid has built-in anti-fraud systems and a trusted pool of websites to advertise on. Plus, you'll get a personal manager to help you set up and scale your advertising campaigns.
