I keep seeing this idea floating around that you can kick off affiliate marketing with literally zero spend. Someone in the thread mentioned using social media for free, but let me tell you from real experience: that's a recipe for spinning your wheels for months. Even if you avoid paying for ads, you still need something to point traffic at-a website, a landing page, at least a quality social profile. Hosting and a domain cost money. Period.
Yes, you can join affiliate programmes like Travelpayouts for free, but getting any traction without some investment in content creation, basic tools, or even a cheap course to understand SEO is just wishful thinking. I've seen newcomers waste six months on zero-spend strategies, posting links in Facebook groups, getting zero commissions, and then quitting. The first commission on zero budget? Realistically, three to six months if you're lucky, but more often it never comes.
Free platforms like Medium or YouTube can drive traffic, but they're time sinks and the algorithms favour paid promotion or established creators. The biggest mistake at the zero-spend stage is thinking you can wing it-no strategy, no testing, just link dropping. You need at least a tiny budget to buy a domain, host a basic site, and maybe run a few quid on Facebook ads to validate a product. Start spending on a solid niche research tool or a cheap hosting package first. Nothing else makes sense until you have skin in the game.
