Working with a Web Hosting Affiliate

A Web hosting affiliate pays you every time a visitor to your site clicks through to buy their hosting service. Sound easy? For the most part, it is.

You can promote your affiliate program by putting a link and a sales pitch on your site, hoping that your visitors need the service you provide. But there are other ways to pump up the volume of business you drive to your Web hosting affiliate – and your commission as well.

Working with a Web Hosting Affiliate:  First, Be a Customer

Sign up for the service of your choice so that you can more intelligently and convincingly refer your website visitors.

Know the ins and outs of the service, such as how do they protect you and your customers’ sites from hacker infiltration? Where does it house its servers? What disaster recovery plans does the affiliate have? What are the limitations – or are there any limitations – as to the size of website hosted through the affiliate? Does it have any add-on services, and, if so, how much are they?

Even if your visitors never ask the questions, you still need to know the answers. It’s your reputation on the line if one of the customers you refer to your affiliate has a problem. If they were referred through your website, they’ll remember you, not the host affiliate. So make sure that what you are working with is solid, honorable, and trustworthy — and has proper security measures.

Working with Web Hosting Affiliates: Sell Websites

Talk about hand in glove — sell websites and you can sell the service provided through your host affiliate. If you’re a website designer you don’t have to learn HTML, either, to design websites and become a Web hosting affiliate. With all the freeware available today designed to make website design easier, you can easily design a site with a content management system. Then, refer your customers for ongoing hosting of their brand new website.

Working with a Web Hosting Affiliate: A Website about Websites

To earn your chops and drive traffic to your website — your website needs to be about websites and the Internet. Hackers spend countless hours writing code to attack innocent users. You can be the knight on a white horse — instead of a Trojan horse — if you help to conquer the threats that lurk with every click. Know a thing or two about what makes sites rise higher on search engine rankings? Share your knowledge with articles and blogs on your website.

With users flocking to your site for everything from the latest virus to Internet marketing, you will drive maximum traffic to your affiliate. Not to mention that your users will have no qualms about buying from you either. In fact, they will feel safe about giving you their business.

You can even sell other website related products (e.g., ecommerce software, reporting tools, SEO/SEM consulting) either directly or through other affiliate programs — as long as it is not forbidden. Adding other streams of revenue helps you become a more holistic solution for your customers. Add product reviews for each item, and place links next to all relevant content on your site.

Working with a Web Hosting Affiliate: Monitor Your Customers’ Experience

The most important thing to remember is this: Monitor your customers’ experience with your Web hosting affiliate and respond as appropriate. It’s really yourself that you are selling – with any affiliate program.

Make sure your customers have a good experience. If something bad happens, do everything in your power to make it right between the customer and the Web hosting affiliate, and earn a lifelong fan in the process!