5 Faceless YouTube Channel Ideas for Affiliate Marketing in 2023
YouTube continues to be a popular source of education and entertainment for millions of users worldwide. It’s also a unique way to grow your affiliate business.
As a social network, YouTube is the second most popular platform globally, with over one billion hours of videos watched daily. It is also the second-largest search engine, with users spending an average of 19 minutes each day on the platform.
That means there’s a massive potential audience for YouTube affiliate marketers to tap into. In this article, we’ll dive into 5 “faceless” YouTube channel ideas, where you can cash in from YouTube as an affiliate without ever having to show your face on screen!
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What Is a Faceless YouTube Channel?
A faceless YouTube channel simply means that you’re publishing videos where you don’t show your face. While some content creators and social media influencers will tell stories or share ideas that require an on-camera presence, there are plenty of great opportunities for no-face YouTube videos!
A lot of ClickBank’s clients are a little camera-shy, for one reason or another. So they create videos featuring informational slideshows, screen recordings, scenery videos, animations, or even just a static photo with audio playing over it.
Of course, there are some major advantages to making YouTube videos without appearing on camera. Here’s why so many prefer a faceless YouTube channel:
- It is usually easier to maintain and produce than an on-screen production.
- It protects your identity and privacy from strangers.
- It reduces costs from production equipment like lighting, cameras, mics, backdrops, etc.
- It allows you to build a brand-based business instead of a guru-based one.
In reality, there are plenty of reasons why you’d want to have a faceless channel! One might be having the freedom to experiment or test new ideas without attaching your reputation to them before you’re ready. Another is taking advantage of an opportunity that wouldn’t really make sense coming from you as the on-camera persona (such as a parenting channel coming from a non-parent).
Or you simply might be too nervous to speak on camera, but still have plenty of useful content to share with the world. Whatever the reason, let’s look at 5 types of faceless YouTube channels you can build!
5 Types of Faceless YouTube Channels
It’s crucial to note that the success of any faceless YouTube channel relies on many factors. These include the target audience, the content quality, and the marketing strategy you choose.
However, with the right niche, you can improve your chances of growth, profitability, and success. And as an affiliate, several types of videos can help you draw attention to the affiliate product(s) you are trying to promote!
Here are the top 5 faceless YouTube channel ideas for affiliate marketing in 2023.
1. Product Reviews
Product review videos and channels are popular and easy to create and – if done right – are perfect for driving traffic through your affiliate links! Product review videos target users with a buying intent and tend to have higher conversion rates.
When you create review videos, you help your target audience make crucial decisions. You’ll help answer questions like, “Can the Fat Burning Kitchen’s 24-hour diet transformation help you lose weight?”
You can review anything from a new product series that has been released to unboxing new products and discussing the details. In most cases, all you need is footage of the product you’re promoting using product shots, still images, stock footage, or animations.
And instead of trying to convince your audience that they need the product, you can simply guide viewers in the right direction using a product recommendation or simply affirm their buying decision of a specific product.
Product review videos are also popular because customers often want to see how a product works before getting it. Typically, reviews can be done using a combination of many different faceless presentation styles, including:
- Product photography
- Unboxing clips
- Animation and slides
- Use-case comparisons
Depending on what and how you review, you can show your audience the value of a product through various lenses, with no need to show your face.
Remember to be unbiased while sharing product reviews! Try to convey both the good and bad points about a particular affiliate product while still helping customers see why the product is worth buying.
Most importantly, include your affiliate link for the product you are promoting in the description and mention it during the video to maximize conversions!
2. Tutorials and How-to’s
Tutorials and how-to YouTube videos are a perfect candidate for your faceless YouTube channel! The whole draw of tutorial videos is the information you’re trying to convey, not the person presenting them.
As an example, we have this walkthrough of the ClickBank text-to-speech software product called Speechelo (by our friend Marty Englander). In this video, Marty does show his face, but you can easily see how you could make the same walkthrough without appearing on camera, just by using screen capture.
If you have skills and expertise in a field and in using certain products to solve a specific problem, then one of the most effective techniques is to make tutorial videos where you walk users through how to accomplish something step by step!
What makes this work so well is the fact that you’re subtly highlighting your affiliate product as a solution, but still adding value and teaching your audience something new. Whether you’re promoting a dietary supplement, software tool, or reusable food wrap product, there’s a solution out there in your niche that your audience wants to know about. What’s more, they usually want to learn the ins and outs of a product they’re looking to buy (or have already bought).
With a channel focused on tutorials, there are almost unlimited options for helping solve simple things that your viewers are struggling with by creating videos on them. Think of your faceless YouTube channel as a repository of helpful answers for Google search in your niche!
3. Top 10/Best-Ofs
Tons of successful YouTube channels create affiliate content by doing roundup videos for a specific product category or niche. People like to list and rank things – for example, “The 5 best portable air conditioners you can buy in 2023.”
As an affiliate, this approach works great when you want to promote multiple products in the same category that are relevant to your target market and niche. These videos usually deliver products your audience wasn’t searching for or may have been unaware of, but that can help them decide.
List videos work best on impulse buyers, and the good part is that your face is not needed to create them.
How can it be faceless? Top-10 and Best-Of style videos typically feature the products themselves. There are a couple of ways you can do this for Top 10 or best-of videos:
- Show off your comparison: Talk about how each product stood up to individual tests and use cases, ranked by performance.
- Discuss the specs: Show official tech specifications and rank products by the numbers.
- Compare reviews: Use the reviews of others to rank products by preference. You can even pull brief clips of other people talking about the product to use in your own video.
4. Unboxing Videos
Unboxing is a more recent trend for YouTube channels that is slightly different from giving comprehensive product reviews. It involves simply unboxing a new product and showing viewers how it looks out of the box while sharing some reviews, general features, or initial observations with customers.
Unboxing has a huge market, and you can do it for any niche you choose. These videos give the audience an up-close look at a particular product and usually include commentary on the functionality and features.
Obviously, unboxing is more relevant for physical products, but you can still find plenty of ways to “unbox” a digital product while talking through its features.
One of the key advantages of unboxing videos for affiliate marketers is that they give a first-hand look at the product you are promoting before the customer decides to purchase it. Viewers get a better sense of what it looks like, how the product works, and whether or not it is worth buying for them.
This makes you appear more genuine, making your audience more likely to value your product recommendations or reviews. It also gives you credibility, demonstrating that you are an affiliate who has tried the specific product!
5. Product Comparisons
A product comparison video pits one affiliate product against another, sharing the perks and features of both. These types of videos help your target audience decide which product suits their needs and budget. The customer’s goal is usually to get the highest value out of what they spend!
Product comparison videos, as with product comparison tables, are a perfect way to showcase one or more of the products you are promoting. When done correctly and respectfully, these videos can deliver great benefits, including new buyers and brand loyalty.
This is a digestible type of content that is a great asset for affiliate marketing, as you can easily pitch two different affiliate products at once while still providing value to your audience!
How to Start Your YouTube Channel
Now that you know the type of faceless affiliate marketing channels and videos you should be making, here are 3 simple steps to successfully starting a faceless YouTube channel for affiliate marketing:
1. Choose Your Affiliate Marketing Niche
When we talk about starting a faceless YouTube channel for affiliate marketing, we’re talking about content that you can monetize with affiliate products. This all begins with picking a profitable affiliate marketing niche. Ideally, it should be something you already love or want to learn more about!
For example, if you have the skills and expertise or are passionate about cooking, then the cooking niche would be a great place to start. In that niche, you can easily think of different categories of affiliate products, including digital products like downloadable cookbooks or physical products like cast-iron pans.
Here’s an example of our very own Kyle Kostechka sharing some of the top ClickBank products in the cooking niche. Note that ClickBank has top products in all kinds of niches, so you’re sure to find high-converting affiliate offers for any direction you choose!
If you’re ready to decide on your niche, you can also check out the top affiliate marketing niches and products on ClickBank’s marketplace – and be sure to read our article on how to find the perfect niche for affiliate marketing for more information on affiliate niches!
2. Find Some Products to Promote
Once you have chosen your affiliate niche, you’ll need to find affiliate products you can promote to your target audience. You can then link directly by including your affiliate link in your video’s description!
3. Create Faceless Videos
Faceless videos are captured, edited, and posted on YouTube without showing your face.
This does not mean your faceless videos should be unappealing. Your videos can capture attention by including various elements to make them more entertaining.
Here are some of my top faceless video ideas:
Record B-Roll
B-roll footage, unlike A-roll – where the speaker is showing the face to the camera – is additional footage that helps your audience understand the concept or product you’re talking about. This helps them follow along with the faceless video and still stay engaged.
You can completely ignore A-roll footage and just create B-roll footage for your faceless video where you don’t need to present or speak. You can simply demonstrate how something is done, make something, or walk through steps while promoting a product.
Screen Recording
This is an excellent option for tutorials, as you can show where to tap or click on your device as viewers follow along. It’s easy to make a screen recording on any device and use it to create an engaging faceless video.
This is particularly useful for promoting software products!
Stock Footage
This is a fantastic way to add quality footage to your video without having to show your face in it. In fact, a lot of top ClickBank clients use stock footage when they’re creating video creatives for their Facebook or YouTube ads.
There are so many stock footage sites and services that offer numerous downloadable content that you can use to create faceless videos. Some popular ones include AudioJungle, Shutterstock, and even Canva!
Slide Presentation
Slide presentations using Keynote or PowerPoint can also help create engaging videos. With this approach, you can film and save a presentation as a movie file. Once you have an entire video, you can upload the slide presentation to your editing software!
After it’s edited, you can add titles, graphic elements, and background sounds to make the video more engaging. You can also layer in some B-roll or other footage to break up the slides.
Animations
Cartoon-like or whiteboard-style animations are usually fun and easy to follow. They are also suitable for a wide range of video types and niches. Of course, you should think about who your audience is and consider whether animation videos will persuade them to click your affiliate link.
If so, this is a great faceless video option!
Photos
Transitions and effects can help transform static photos into engaging videos. For example, you can add effects like a slow zoom-in (Ken Burns!) and then add transitions using video editing apps and software to help them flow smoothly.
Or if you don’t want to overcomplicate things, sometimes just a single photo throughout the video is fine if you have something interesting enough to say! Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good.
Conclusion
While appearing on camera for your YouTube channel is a great way to become the face of your brand, it’s just as valid to to go the opposite way. Plenty of successful YouTube channels thrive with high-quality stock footage, animations, or slideshows without compromising quality.
In the end, you don’t have to be a dazzling on-screen personality to make money from your videos on YouTube (or other video platforms) in 2023. If you have audio or written content to share, there are ways you can turn that content into faceless YouTube videos and monetize it.
Best of all, there are a ton of money-making affiliate niches to explore, each with plenty of potential for you to build your business around. Get started and learn more about affiliate marketing inside of Spark by ClickBank, the official affiliate education platform from ClickBank!