Anyone Make Any Money Through Hostgator Affiliate Black Friday Promotion?

35 replies
Anyone Make Any Money Through Hostgator Affiliate Black Friday Promotion?

I do not promote Hostgator heavily but the easiest thing to promote and you think the most lucrative webhosting?

I have never had much luck promoting there links, banners, etc.... Even though I did not promote it heavily.

I have sold tons of products online too. I am starting to wonder if there affiliate program is not exactly being honest. I would like to see them tracked by a third party site like Clickbank, Commission Junction, etc... How do we know they are being honest? It would be real easy too not credit affiliate commissions if it is your site. I would definitely recommend them for webhosting but there affiliate program I am having doubts about!

I sent an email out to one of my lists which has 2500 active subscribers and nothing even though I had a ton of click thru's....

I had my doubts about sending out to my list but the offer seemed too good so I thought I would give them another try to redeem themselves. But same old story I ditched their affiliate program a while back but just recently threw up a Couple banners etc...

What are you guys experiencing?
#affiliate #black #friday #hostgator #make #money #promotion
  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ator-fail.html

    Just curious - did you tell your list it was a Black Friday sale - very limited quantities on the 80% off and that it was only available to NEW HG users?

    I don't agree with the title of the link I listed above -this is an annual sale and it's a Black Friday sale so limited quantities and short time frame.

    kay
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    • Profile picture of the author entrepreneurjay
      Yes I did here was my email title:
      Hostgator web hosting sale (80% Discount) goes LIVE NOW!

      If that doesn't draw there attention I don't know what will!

      But same old results as a couple years ago nothing! That is why I ditched there affiliate program a few years back.

      I am starting to think I could sell a Ferrari online before one of their hosting packages.

      And like I said before I love there services I would promote them to anyone but their affiliate program is another story!
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by entrepreneurjay View Post

        Hostgator web hosting sale (80% Discount) goes LIVE NOW!

        If that doesn't draw there attention I don't know what will!
        I looked at it differently.

        I didn't see it as a challenge to draw anyone's attention (and would never dream of using a subject-line like that anyway, but maybe my lists are different people from yours). I just wanted to avoid any possibility of telling anyone they were going to be able to get 80% off when I didn't actually think it was very likely anyone I might notify by email was going to manage it. It wouldn't help me at all, if I promoted something that people wanted but weren't really able to buy.

        So although I have no difficulty earning affiliate commissions from Hostgator in the normal course of events (and use them myself and am happy to recommend them), I actually decided to "pass", with this "special offer" and did nothing.
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by drunkenmonkey View Post

          I don't get that...
          Evidently.
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  • Profile picture of the author drmani
    Originally Posted by entrepreneurjay View Post

    Anyone Make Any Money Through Hostgator Affiliate Black Friday Promotion?
    Yes.

    I emailed a few of my lists. 36 people clicked through to the offer. 2 bought.

    All success
    Dr.Mani
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  • Profile picture of the author Emmanuel ED
    67 Orders, 2702 Clicks. . .

    I thought the 80% offer was going to last for a little while, not sure if any of my referred customers where able to secure the 80% deal.

    The Offer came at the right time too - I was thinking of what to promote to a new list I was grooming and It was the perfect offer!

    Great Black Friday afterall.
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    • Profile picture of the author SEOGlobal
      Originally Posted by Emmanuel Inyang View Post

      67 Orders, 2702 Clicks. . .

      I thought the 80% offer was going to last for a little while, not sure if any of my referred customers where able to secure the 80% deal.

      The Offer came at the right time too - I was thinking of what to promote to a new list I was grooming and It was the perfect offer!

      Great Black Friday afterall.
      Do you have a website, what IM strategies did you used, coz I used almost all of the techniques but to no avail. My websites was even ranking in the top 2 to top 10 of main hostgator black friday keywords?
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    • Profile picture of the author SEOGlobal
      Originally Posted by Emmanuel Inyang View Post

      67 Orders, 2702 Clicks. . .

      I thought the 80% offer was going to last for a little while, not sure if any of my referred customers where able to secure the 80% deal.

      The Offer came at the right time too - I was thinking of what to promote to a new list I was grooming and It was the perfect offer!

      Great Black Friday afterall.
      Sounds too good to be true. Hey, your website is still under maintenance.
      Wow, that's fantastic to have that many sign-ups yet your website is still under maintenance.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEOGlobal
    I think they screwed up on Their Hostgator Black Friday Sale because the 80% only lasted for 8 minutes and the website had technical problems, when I tried to buy it, the screen showed error.

    I even promoted this SALE heavily thru my networks and article marketing and PPC. Hundreds of clickthroughs, top 10 listings in Google for the main keywords but no orders whatsoever. Which is quite interesting because I felt like this was the time sales would be coming in and I think because of the false assumptions of the 80% which should last for more than an hour at least but didn't really frustrated a lot of people including affiliates.
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    • Profile picture of the author Intrepreneur
      Few clicks, didn't email a list though, but no sales.

      Did whoever got sales, use CJ affiliate links or direct HG links?
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      • Profile picture of the author Emmanuel ED
        Originally Posted by Intrepreneur View Post

        Few clicks, didn't email a list though, but no sales.

        Did whoever got sales, use CJ affiliate links or direct HG links?
        I used Direct HG Links, just cloaked them. I would have used CJ, but I forgot my password(haven't gone in there in while) - Password Recovery email came wayyy too late.
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        • Profile picture of the author CyberSorcerer
          Originally Posted by Emmanuel Inyang View Post

          I used Direct HG Links, just cloaked them. I would have used CJ, but I forgot my password(haven't gone in there in while) - Password Recovery email came wayyy too late.
          You should get RoboForm. As an IMer myself, I have WAY TOO MANY accounts to remember all my logins and RoboForm is much faster too. Saves a bundle of time in the long run.
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  • Profile picture of the author humbledmarket
    Banned
    Originally Posted by entrepreneurjay View Post

    I have sold tons of products online too. I am starting to wonder if there affiliate program is not exactly being honest. I would like to see them tracked by a third party site like Clickbank, Commission Junction, etc... How do we know they are being honest? It would be real easy too not credit affiliate commissions if it is your site. I would definitely recommend them for webhosting but there affiliate program I am having doubts about!
    [/B]
    They actually do have CJ.com affiliate offer. They also pay more through CJ so I guess that might be an advantage.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEOGlobal
    I used GOCodes as cloaker, I checked on my affiliate system and I was able to track them but no sales. I wonder if its the Hostgator time-outs and website tech problems that probably ruined it.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Rogers
    I just checked. Looks like we have 17 active out of 31 signups. I know a number of people weren't happy about the offer being for new customers only.

    I'll think I'll run it one more time for the cyber monday sale to see if we can pick up the 4 more needed to make the $125 level.

    I used the hostgator affiliate program, not commission junction, and I used a direct link in an email.

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author Intrepreneur
    So everyone who succesfully earned used the HG direct links rather than CJ? I used Cj but now thinking something fishy about it, because I was ranked for the keywords most related to the deal, and was also for other black Friday hosting keywords.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ntech25
    I only had 2 new members and happy with that lol. Well not really 67 sounds a lot better.
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  • Profile picture of the author moneey
    I did not try till now...
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    • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
      I have a miniscule IM list as I'm in just about every (well, I couldn't be in every) niche, thats nothing to do with MMO. I did email them though and got one sale out of appx 50 people on the list. What I don't get is the person who bought this has his account, he's using it because I've spoke to him but in my affiliate console thing it says that the payments "inactive"...

      The reason they say is...

      Cancelled - A cancelled commission means that the customer has cancelled his or her account with us, this commission will not be eligible to be paid.


      Fraud - Fraud means that either the customer did not verify their account information with us at signup, it can also mean the customer charged back or used a stolen credit card to make their purchase. Fraud accounts are not eligible to be paid, but can change back to active if a customer verifies their account with us.

      Whats odd is the guy in question who bought it, I've been speaking to him and it's all working fine and he said there was no problem with the card. I was hoping and to be honest, it's only one sale, that it'd iron itself out but this thread made me wonder how they're doing things. I'll chat to the guy, maybe he's not being honest but if his card was dodgy why wouldn't Hostgator just close his account?

      Methinks it's time for a chat with them.
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      • Profile picture of the author drmani
        Originally Posted by Intrepreneur View Post

        Did whoever got sales, use CJ affiliate links or direct HG links?
        I used HG aff links, through a redirection link to cloak the affiliate id.

        Originally Posted by Richard Van View Post

        Whats odd is the guy in question who bought it, I've been speaking to him and it's all working fine and he said there was no problem with the card. ... but if his card was dodgy why wouldn't Hostgator just close his account?
        I *think* for this promotion, HG are using verification of all CC orders,
        as someone I know was asked to call to verify a card used to purchase a
        hosting account. This is apparently routine, and they're doing it for ALL
        credit card purchases to avoid fraud. It's supposed to be a simple process
        of calling their helpdesk to provide some info, or faxing it to them.

        Sounds strange to me, especially as this wasn't the case before with HG's
        hosting services - but given the size and reach of this promotion, maybe
        they expect to have to deal with a higher share of inaccurate or fraudulent
        transactions.

        All success
        Dr.Mani
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      • Profile picture of the author SEOGlobal
        Originally Posted by Richard Van View Post

        I have a miniscule IM list as I'm in just about every (well, I couldn't be in every) niche, thats nothing to do with MMO. I did email them though and got one sale out of appx 50 people on the list. What I don't get is the person who bought this has his account, he's using it because I've spoke to him but in my affiliate console thing it says that the payments "inactive"...

        The reason they say is...

        Cancelled - A cancelled commission means that the customer has cancelled his or her account with us, this commission will not be eligible to be paid.


        Fraud - Fraud means that either the customer did not verify their account information with us at signup, it can also mean the customer charged back or used a stolen credit card to make their purchase. Fraud accounts are not eligible to be paid, but can change back to active if a customer verifies their account with us.

        Whats odd is the guy in question who bought it, I've been speaking to him and it's all working fine and he said there was no problem with the card. I was hoping and to be honest, it's only one sale, that it'd iron itself out but this thread made me wonder how they're doing things. I'll chat to the guy, maybe he's not being honest but if his card was dodgy why wouldn't Hostgator just close his account?

        Methinks it's time for a chat with them.
        Same happened to me. It makes me wonder about the transparency.
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        • Profile picture of the author wordwizard
          Well, tomorrow is another hot day for Hostgator promos...

          Wondering if I should sign up for HG through CJ?

          At least that way I get higher commissions per sign-up...

          So far, I've only gotten a handful of commissions for Hostgator total...
          and they were 50 bucks each.
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  • Profile picture of the author chinedu86
    I earned 0 bucks,maybe i didn't put in much effort or got into the promo late.It would be good though to have other means of tracking.
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  • Profile picture of the author MemberWing
    I actually had a naughty thought of making a killing by buying VPS Level 4 + 8 IP addresses @ 80% OFF for 3 years.

    Then I woke up @ 6:20 am EST to cold and hard reality of only 50% OFF and only for first month to VPS and Dedicated servers.

    So I went back to sleep and woke up and apparently made 1 affiliate sale with zero promotion.

    Have to give Hostgator a credit for replying to my support email explaining me that VPS does not mean better or faster than Reseller account (which i currently use to manage my domain mess).

    Gleb
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  • Profile picture of the author MemberWing
    PS: Alexa,
    Change you button to: "Sexy Domain Names For Sale" and see how many more clicks you'll have.

    Gleb
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  • Profile picture of the author AJG
    Hi guys,

    I managed to push 10 sales through a number of methods but for all the effort that i spent before hand, it hardly seemed worth it!

    I feel a little let down by the performance to be honest but hey nothing i can do now.
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  • Profile picture of the author SageSound
    A lot of HG affiliates don't realize that they ONLY pay commissions on *NEW* customerrs. They're pretty good at digging out previous customers based on their contact and CCARD info.

    I got emails from at least two dozen IMers promoting HG hosting on Friday. I cannot for the life of me understand why IMers would try promoting HG hosting to other IMers, since HG is highly regarded and many people try them out at one point or another.

    You're going to do best promoting hosting to people who are not likely to have it, not people who have a tendency to jump from one host to another just to save a few bucks.

    I quit using CJ because they don't track stuff worth a crap. I'd sit people down and have them use my CJ link to sign up for hosting, and I never got credit for any of them. I contacted CJ and they said it's the vendor's fault. The vendor said they're required to use CJ's system and I had to contact CJ. I finally signed up as an affiliate with HG directly and now it's sort of a crap-shoot whether I get a commission or not.

    To their credit, HG did set up a new tracking system several months back, and it makes it easier to track what's going on with referrals. But I've only earned commissions on a small percentage of my referrals.

    I'm sure HG made out like bandits, what with all the IMers promoting to people who aren't going to make them a penny.

    Last year, HG offered the discounts on annual payments, but this time they restricted annual payments to only BabyGator and Reseller hosting plans. VPSs and dedicated servers were only discounting the first month's payment this year. Whoopee.
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  • Profile picture of the author Emmanuel ED
    Originally Posted by SEOGlobal View Post

    Do you have a website, what IM strategies did you used, coz I used almost all of the techniques but to no avail. My websites was even ranking in the top 2 to top 10 of main hostgator black friday keywords?
    I have a list of of Newbie IM'ers I'm coaching(blogging mainly), The Hostgator Offer came quite at the perfect time. I had just sent them an email the previous day explaining the Advantages of Paid Hosting Over Free Hosting so when the Promo Email I simply notified my subscribers of the Offer.

    The Email I sent:


    HOLD! Don't Purchase Hosting Yet, Details Inside (Not much time left)

    G'day [INSERTNAME],

    I'm pretty Excited today and NO it's not because it's Black Friday (as you're probably aware), I received a working Copy of my Software from the developers at Odesk - still many more things to be added but I'm glad at least the developers are coupling it up exactly as I intended (More details of this coming soon).

    Anyway, Let's get down to the main stuff pretty quick.

    In yesterday's email, I explained the Advantages of Paid Hosting and my top three recommended Hosting Companies(including a guide on setting up your wordpress blog).

    Well, If you're yet to get hosting (or still comparing prices and searching for coupons) you're in Luck! Hostgator is currently running a Black Friday Special - 80% Off Everything. But I should warn you. . .There's bound to be very very limited spaces available.

    [My Aff. Link Here]

    Get in and fast as you can.

    Have a great Weekend Ahead!

    Emmanuel.
    Short, Simple yet so Effective.

    A friend of mine was targeting Offline Clients, He simply contacted as many small business in his area as possible offering them a free Website Design. I'm yet to find out his results but I'm sure it wont be so bad.

    All Offers are not meant to be promoted the same way. In my Experience when it comes to Hosting Affiliate Programs as SageSound has rightly said, it's often more profitable to target people who are knew to hosting or have no knowledge of Hosting a site (Offline companies, newbies to internet marketing, bloggers, etc) and then Educate, or rather convince them, maybe add an incentive to quicken them.

    Friday was a great day for me. I'm putting together a pdf on the profits I made and how I made them (Warrior Members Only). I'm sure this might be beneficial to some.
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    • Profile picture of the author SEOGlobal
      Thanks for answering my questions. You were right in targeting newbies and giving them some coaching advice. It is also important to mention that the 80% will be very very limited spaces available so to speak as not to frustrate your potential customers.

      Timing is also everything as they say. I didn't get the website though but thanks anyway.
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    • Profile picture of the author Lothar Evers
      Originally Posted by Emmanuel Inyang View Post

      Friday was a great day for me. I'm putting together a pdf on the profits I made and how I made them (Warrior Members Only). I'm sure this might be beneficial to some.
      Very beneficial! Thanks!
      Will you post it here or in the war room?
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      • Profile picture of the author entrepreneurjay
        Thanks for all your comments I appreciate them. Me, myself I am just gonna stick to their webhosting packages and drop the affiliate aspect.

        Those of you who are affiliates I wish you the best of luck with todays promotion. Let me know how you did?
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      • Profile picture of the author Emmanuel ED
        Originally Posted by Lothar Evers View Post

        Very beneficial! Thanks!
        Will you post it here or in the war room?
        I think I might just offer it as a free WSO.

        Regards!
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  • Profile picture of the author LilBlackDress
    Yes I made some HG sales. As I mentioned in another post, I was not happy that as an existing customer I couldn't get the sale price so I decided to make up for it with sales.

    I shared it around and did well. However, I shared the copy that HG sent me so that people were aware that 80% was limited. In addition I shared why I really love HG.

    So in the end my resellers hosting is paid for plus with my commissions and I feel good about the way I represented this outstanding product.

    Even at full price I love Hostgator!
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  • Profile picture of the author roley
    Be careful with hostgator as an affiliate. THEY OWE people thousands of dollars they have not paid out
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