Getting traffic without paying? I used to think it was almost impossible.
When I launched my first blog, I had no extra money for ads. I tried posting on social media, dropping links in forums, even commenting on other blogs—anything that might bring a few clicks. Some things flopped. Others worked better than I expected.
Over time, I figured out which free traffic sources were actually worth the effort. No tricks—just real ways to get more people to your site without spending a dime.
If you're starting out or trying to grow on a budget, this list is for you.
What are the different types of Traffic Sources for Affiliate Marketing?
There are two types of traffic sources in Affiliate Marketing:
1) What are the Paid Traffic Sources?
You push or drive someone to your website or landing page with your paid ads or sponsored advertisements in paid traffic. Basically, you used to purchase traffic.
You don’t have to wait for weeks or months to rank on a particular platform in paid traffic. Instead, it works instantly & gives you quick results.
Google Ads, Bing Ads, and Facebook Ads are a few examples of some best-paid traffic sources.
2) What are the Free Traffic Sources?
You can drive free traffic in two different ways:
You don’t need to spend money or buy traffic from ‘free traffic sources.' Instead, you get organic reach through the platform itself.
Most of the time, people visit your website or web page by themselves. So you don’t need to push or force them.
For this method, you must know SEO techniques, ranking factors & basic algorithms of a particular platform. You also have to create content & make connections with others.
Free traffic takes some time & patience. Blogging, social media marketing, SEO, and YouTube are a few examples of some of the best free traffic sources.
What are the 10 Best Free Traffic Sources for Affiliate Marketers in 2025?
If you are wondering, “Where can I post my affiliate links for free?” be sure to check the following list.
1) Blogging & SEO
Having your blog or website & ranking it through SEO is one of the best free traffic sources for affiliate marketers.
It is always recommended to have your website, but in your initial days, you can start with free platforms like Blogger, WordPress, Wix, Weebly, etc., with a free subdomain.
Your custom web page is the best place to insert your direct affiliate links in your articles or place them on your web pages. It would be best if you chose a niche & wrote different types of articles around that.
There are five types of articles or blog posts I strongly recommend for affiliate marketing:
2) Email Marketing
Email marketing is essential not only for affiliate marketing but also for all kinds of online businesses. Moreover, it’s a free or very cheap marketing method.
My coach (a self-made millionaire) used to say that if he has a targeted email list of 100,000 subscribers, he can generate $10k-15k every month for the next ten years effortlessly.
That’s why you should try to build an email list from day one. It’s a great asset that grows with time. You can send free traffic in bulk to your affiliate products whenever you want for many years.
To get an idea of how email marketing works, you can subscribe to newsletters from different websites or marketers.
Have a look at some screenshots from my email inbox:
If I elaborate on these emails, the first email has many affiliate links. At the same time, the other one is just trying to engage me in their ecosystem. After a few weeks, they may pitch me for some of their products or services.
3) YouTube
YouTube is the second largest search engine on this planet after Google. So, it has huge potential for affiliate marketing. This platform allows you to put all kinds of affiliate links.
Creating a YouTube channel & uploading videos is absolutely free. Making YouTube thumbnails is also very easy these days.
Let me share with you two YouTubers who are doing affiliate marketing in their own way.
The first YouTube channel is all about the latest tech gadgets, where the YouTuber presents & reviews gadgets regularly. If you check their video description, you’ll find many Amazon affiliate links.
While the second channel is dedicatedly focused on a single SaaS product, this digital product is listed on JVZoo. You can find the JVZoo affiliate links in their descriptions.
Many professional YouTubers keep an expensive setup & studio for shooting their videos. But it isn’t mandatory; you can record videos just by using your smartphone.
All you need is consistency & an excellent intention to share valuable & engaging content. Invideo, Lumen5, and Vidnami type tools will be helpful if someone doesn't want to show their face.
YouTube Shorts is a rival of TikTok & Instagram Reels. Shorts are also a great free traffic source for affiliate marketing. You need to post 15-60-second short videos along with your affiliate links.
4) Medium
Medium is the same for content writers as YouTube is for YouTubers. Here ,you can write about anything. It has a high authority & ranks on all search engines very quickly.
You can write product reviews, how-to tutorials, listicle articles, launch jacking (a product review, i.e., yet to launch), news updates, etc.
Medium allows its users to insert direct affiliate links with an affiliate disclaimer/disclosure, but the articles must be unique & valuable.
5) Quora
Quora is the biggest question-answer website in the world. It’s very easy to get more than 50,000 views within a few months with just one answer.
Quora is an evergreen, free traffic source. Once you post your answer, you’ll keep getting traffic repeatedly.
About 3,000 – 5,000 questions are asked every day on this platform. It would help to answer the questions relevant to your affiliate products & niches.
The decent length of one answer is 100-300 words. But if you also want to rank it on Google or other search engines, keep it 1,000 – 2,500 words long.
Here are some examples of how some Quora users share direct or indirect affiliate links in their answers & spaces.
Quora algorithms will stop giving you organic reach if you put links in all the answers. Thus, try to put links only after every 4-5 posts.
Make sure that your answer solves the query & consists of valuable information. Quora Spaces are also very useful to drive traffic & conversions.
6) Pinterest
Pinterest is an outstanding traffic source for affiliate marketing as people use it to search for ideas and creative content and to shop. It is a social media platform but acts like a search engine.
You might be surprised to know that 77% of Pinterest's users are females & their average age is 30-49 years.
Thus it’s a great place to promote the affiliate products of niches like health & fitness, arts, cooking, parenting, spirituality, home & gardening. We have listed some of the best Pinterest affiliate programs on our blog.
A few days ago, I was scrolling through the Pinterest feeds in my spare time & I found some pins which caught my attention. Have a look:
The above Pinterest account belongs to an Indian user trying to promote hosting offers.
In this image, you can see some Pinterest accounts related to woodworking. If you check out their pins, they will redirect you to their blogs or websites.
On their websites, you will find many affiliate links to woodworking products & courses.
Best Affiliate Programs for Pinterest in 2022
Here, you can link your blog, website, or landing page with each of your posts, unlike on Instagram.
7) LinkedIn
Everyone uses LinkedIn for job hunting & professional networking, but you can use this to promote your affiliate links too.
LinkedIn provides you with 7-8 different ways to post your content & links:
You can post content about products or services & their tutorials for better engagement. You can also search & connect with laser-targeted people & potential buyers.
LinkedIn lets you post your content in texts, images, videos, articles, carousels, or slides.
8) Instagram
Instagram is one of the top 3 social media platforms in the world. You will find all kinds of people & businesses on this.
On Instagram, there is only one place to share your links – your bio. However, you can use ‘Link In Bio’ tools to promote several of your affiliate links. For example, you can share informational, motivational, or entertaining posts or short videos.
Check some of the following Instagram accounts & focus on their ‘link in bio.’ The shortened links you’re seeing are affiliate links.
If you click on their links, you will be redirected to some ClickBank products. This is how they're making money.
In affiliate marketing, it doesn’t matter how many followers you have. What matters is how many clicks & conversions you’re getting consistently.
Earlier, Instagram was only known for sharing images, but now it’s pretty famous for its Stories, Reels, Carousels, and Hashtags.
How to Make Money on Instagram Using Affiliate Marketing
To engage targeted people, you should make a niche-based profile or page. You can become an influencer or run a theme page. It isn’t mandatory to show your face for affiliate marketing.
9) SlideShare
SlideShare is a very trusted website by Scribd (earlier owned by LinkedIn), where you will find content in the form of slides & PDF documents.
You can compare this with PowerPoint Presentations or Google Slides. It has enormous organic traffic & a user base of 70-80 million people. Here, you can upload informational or valuable content in slides or PDF files.
Put your website links or affiliate links in your slides or PDFs if you want to use them as a quality, free traffic source. It will take some days to gain views but will certainly give you excellent results.
10) Udemy
Udemy is an excellent platform for all kinds of courses. You will find many high-ticket, low-ticket, and free courses on this portal.
People use this platform for learning or selling their courses. But you can use this as an exclusive free traffic source for affiliate marketing. Here is the trick:
On Udemy, you can create & offer people free courses as a tripwire. In the backend, you can promote the relevant product or offer. In addition, you can share or insert your affiliate links inside your course.
For example, you can sell a free course – ‘How to create amazing thumbnails with Canva’
You can earn substantial affiliate commissions on the back end by promoting Canva affiliate links.
How to Create an Online Course in 10 Easy Steps
Selling something via Udemy is relatively easier than your website as people already trust this platform. In addition, it’s a brand & has authority.
Free Traffic Sources v/s Paid Ads: Which traffic source is better?
There is no proper or direct answer to this question. The need for a traffic source is different for each marketer. Everyone has a different mindset, budget, strategy, offer & requirement.
You will have to figure it out by yourself. You can analyze by observing other marketers who are promoting the same offer.
Both traffic sources work in affiliate marketing. But if you’re a beginner, you won’t have much knowledge & experience. Also, you might have less or no budget.
Like most newbies, you may not want to spend money before making your first dollar. And it’s okay because there’s a significant risk of losing money in your initial days.
Thus, I would also suggest you start with free traffic. In this article, I will share with you the 10 best free traffic sources for Affiliate Marketers in 2025. Let’s get started!
Pros & Cons of Free Traffic Sources
Now let’s move ahead & see what the significant benefits & drawbacks of the free traffic sources are.
Pros
- It’s a newbie-friendly method.
- You can start with almost zero investment.
- It gives you the freedom to target any niche.
- You’re also free to target any type of audience.
- You’ll get ongoing traffic for many years, unlike paid ads.
- You can build authority on one or more platforms.
- People connect & trust you more.
Cons
- It takes some time to show some decent results.
- It’s time-consuming. They have to create lots of content.
- They have to build connections or networks.
- They need to depend on organic reach.
- They have to follow the algorithms & always be aware of their updates.
- Last but not least, free traffic requires lots of patience.
FAQs
What is the best free traffic source for affiliate marketers?
The ‘best traffic source’ is different for different marketers. It depends on their product, niche & content creation. Email marketing is the best traffic source for me if you ask me. It’s either free or very cheap. It works for any niche, product, or type of audience.
Do the free traffic sources really work?
Yes, of course! They take some time to give you the results. But they definitely work. All you need is good effort & some patience. Most affiliate marketers start with free traffic and earn a decent income; later, they shift to paid traffic. Many bloggers & social media marketers are still dependent on free traffic only for their perpetual monthly income.
Why do most Affiliate Marketers start with free traffic but gradually shift to Paid Traffic?
Yes, it’s true! There are three main reasons behind this. First, they know that ‘free traffic’ takes time & they don’t want to wait. Second, free traffic comes with consistent content creation. They don’t have time to create lots of content. Third, all the search engines & social media platforms keep changing their algorithms. It affects the organic reach or free traffic. Pro affiliate marketers don’t want to depend on these algorithms.
How to Choose the Best Free Traffic Source for Your Audience?
You will have to analyze your affiliate offer to choose the best traffic source. You will have to explore where your targeted audience hangs out. So you should focus on that platform. You should also consider content creation. For example, if you’re good at writing content, Quora, Medium, etc., will be better for you. If you’re good at graphic designing, Instagram & Pinterest will be good options. Similarly, YouTube is the best platform for video content.
Are there more free traffic sources available?
There are hundreds of potential free traffic sources available on the internet. Twitter, Spotify, Warrior Forum & many others are also good platforms for free traffic.
Closing Thoughts
So this was the article about 10 Best Free Traffic Sources for Affiliate Marketers in 2025. Every source I mention in this article is a legitimate free source of affiliate marketing. It only takes a tiny amount of effort.
Please note that ‘free traffic sources’ are not for spamming. It isn’t about throwing your affiliate links anywhere on the internet but the right content strategy.
If you work on any of these platforms & implement the proper methods, I’m sure that you will start seeing results & getting affiliate commissions very soon.
Try to connect with targeted audiences and help & engage them with valuable content. You should focus on just one (or max. two) platforms and work on it consistently to earn perpetual affiliate commissions.
