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Affiliate programs

by TheMostCreative
12 replies
Hey guys,

So I own a hosting company and thinking of starting an affiliate program to expand my clients base.
Any ideas or recommendations to make the program successful.
#affiliate #programs
  • Profile picture of the author astral walker
    Originally Posted by TheMostCreative View Post

    Hey guys,

    So I own a hosting company and thinking of starting an affiliate program to expand my clients base.
    Any ideas or recommendations to make the program successful.
    Offer a high commission percentage. Atleast $50 or above if you want to stay in the race

    Approve all valid referrals. Be honest and Transparent

    Set a low payout. like $50

    Get in touch with a graphic designer and design some awesome banners. Make them available to your affiliates

    Provide tips to your affiliates via email

    Run a contest and increase the commission percentage for an affiliate that brings more than 100 successful referrals in a month.

    Contact bloggers and ask to promote your affilaite program. Pay them a money to publish articles on their blog.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheMostCreative
      Originally Posted by astral walker View Post

      Offer a high commission percentage. Atleast $50 or above if you want to stay in the race

      Approve all valid referrals. Be honest and Transparent

      Set a low payout. like $50

      Get in touch with a graphic designer and design some awesome banners. Make them available to your affiliates

      Provide tips to your affiliates via email

      Run a contest and increase the commission percentage for an affiliate that brings more than 100 successful referrals in a month.

      Contact bloggers and ask to promote your affilaite program. Pay them a money to publish articles on their blog.
      Will have to set a minimum time before the referral gets approved, or else everyone will ask their contacts to signup and after they are paid they will cancel.
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      • Profile picture of the author astral walker
        Originally Posted by TheMostCreative View Post

        Will have to set a minimum time before the referral gets approved, or else everyone will ask their contacts to signup and after they are paid they will cancel.
        Of course you will have to do that. Set a 3-month approval period. This strategy is used by all the major hosting affiliate programs.

        If you want to reduce the approval period to 2 months in order to attract affiliates then go for it and see the results.

        Offer money back guarantee on a pro-rata basis even if there is a cancellation.
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        • Profile picture of the author online only
          Originally Posted by astral walker View Post

          Of course you will have to do that. Set a 3-month approval period. This strategy is used by all the major hosting affiliate programs.

          If you want to reduce the approval period to 2 months in order to attract affiliates then go for it and see the results.

          Offer money back guarantee on a pro-rata basis even if there is a cancellation.
          IMHO, a 3 month approval period would be a turnoff for an affiliate. I know many EIG brands or private hosting companies that offer shorter approval periods, such as 15 days to 30 days, but I guess this probably more or less of a supper affiliate privilege.
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          • Profile picture of the author astral walker
            Originally Posted by online only View Post

            IMHO, a 3 month approval period would be a turnoff for an affiliate. I know many EIG brands or private hosting companies that offer shorter approval periods, such as 15 days to 30 days, but I guess this probably more or less of a supper affiliate privilege.
            Yes! It could be a super affiliate privilege. In my opinion, a shorter approval time for the OP won't be a good idea. 2 month period is fine. If he reduces the approval period to a month opr 15 days, people will abuse the system and rip him off
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          • Profile picture of the author Kingfish85
            Originally Posted by online only View Post

            IMHO, a 3 month approval period would be a turnoff for an affiliate. I know many EIG brands or private hosting companies that offer shorter approval periods, such as 15 days to 30 days, but I guess this probably more or less of a supper affiliate privilege.
            And after the company pays the affiliate, the customer either cancels or submits a chargeback. That's exactly what the hold periods are for.

            That's a scam waiting to happen, and affiliates know this which is why there's always complaints about the hold periods. If you want a successful affiliate program in this industry, that's not the way to go about it, you'll end up losing more money in scams and invalid affiliate payments, which will ultimate put you out of business.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nytshade
    I would go to a few people who own popular blogs and offer them 6 months free hosting in exchange for a promotion on their blog and social profiles then give them a certain commission of sales generated from their link. I would also contact forums and then also use their testimonials on the hosting website.
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    • Profile picture of the author astral walker
      Originally Posted by Nytshade View Post

      I would go to a few people who own popular blogs and offer them 6 months free hosting in exchange for a promotion on their blog and social profiles then give them a certain commission of sales generated from their link. I would also contact forums and then also use their testimonials on the hosting website.
      I second you. But the problem is that most popular blogs won't accept the offer as they don't want to risk it with a new hosting provider. In my opinion targeting bloggers who are not that popular but still gets decent traffic is the way to go. I agree with your other points.
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  • Profile picture of the author online only
    First of all,

    Make sure your hosting company is legit - good uptime, nice design, great customer support. This should be your number one criteria before you can start attracting affiliates. I doubt that you can compete with the big sharks like iPage, siteground, webhostinghub etc that offer $150-$200 per CPA.

    But from a affiliate perspective (been doing affiliate marketing for web hosting companies for 4 years), I can tell what I'm specifically looking from a hosting company.

    1) CPA at least $100.
    2) Great affiliate manager that actually stays in touch and helps to raise conversions etc.
    3) Payments on time, preferably via PayPal or straight wire.
    4) Low "on hold" time, which means that you should clear your affiliate earnings within less than 30 days.
    5) Decent TOS about active & inactive customers.
    6) Better than average conversion rates (you should have a decent landing page)
    7) Deep pockets for bigger affiliates who could most likely earn $100k+ p/m from affiliate commissions.
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  • Profile picture of the author a2hosting
    It looks like you have a 30-day money back guarantee. I wouldn't be as much concerned about affiliates scamming you, rather I would be more concerned about making your hold period long enough that you're not paying out on sales of customers cancelling for legitimate reasons.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bvathi
    100% IPAGE AFFILIATE PROGRAM IS SCAM .i am ready to prove it.for that in march month i going start one WEBSITE that website tell the real stories of IPAGE scam reports.
    ipage taken work but NOT ready to pay our affiliate commissions
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  • Profile picture of the author onegoodman
    First, I would highly recommend to look at your competitors affiliate programs, hosting offer very high commission $80 - $100 per new customer, you will need to set a good amount of money for affiliate program ( few thousands ).

    Also, don't run it in house ( you will not attract as many, you will need to an affiliate network ( CJ or SaS ) i would recommend for hosting as majority of other hosting company use these too, LinkShare would be another option
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