Why Hosting Affiliate Programs?
With so many niches out there, why would an affiliate marketer want to focus on promoting hosting products? Well I can think of a number of very good reasons …
- They pay very well — hosting companies are some of the best paying commissions. They are one of the few niches that “pay it forward”. Take WP Engine, if you can refer a visitor to WP Engine and they buy the $35/mo starter package — you get $200. To get $200 from Amazon Associates you would likely need to sell $5000 worth of products! At the other extreme, you have Liquid Web who pays as much as $7,000 for enterprise hosting sales.
- They are a critical need for every company — Literally every business needs hosting. The opportunities are endless.
- It is evergreen — People don’t just buy a hosting plan never to upgrade. New projects, new companies, new applications, growth, all demand new hosting plans.
Oh and one more reason … YOU need a hosting plan! So find a great one and promote it. That is the perfect start … marketing hosting affiliate programs. We also have an article on selecting a hosting plan for your affiliate business.
So there are many reasons to promote hosting plans. In fact, so many reasons that most of the top affiliates and influencers are hosting affiliates. There are a number of companies with in-depth authority content for all aspects of hosting.
It is very competitive but with a good strategy, you definitely make some good money.
Let’s take a look.
What Makes a Good Hosting Affiliate Program
Like any affiliate offer, you must believe in the product and it must be a good fit for your audience. The second issue, of course, is who pays well. The good news is there are many companies that fit both criteria. The bad news is that the fact that hosts pay so well is not a secret. Consider … Pat Flynn at Smart Passive Income, per his income reports, made $27,650 from Bluehost affiliate commissions — in one month!. That’s a nice payday. But this is also what makes it hard. Few sites can go head to head with Pat Flynn for SEO traffic. Then you have lots of grey hat types with PBNs after the big payouts of hosting programs like Bluehost.
Hosting affiliate programs are very competitive. The hosting companies pay so much that the big affiliate marketers and influencers are attracted to the industry. It is also an evergreen industry with new servers and upgrades in constant demand. To compete for any SEO traffic you will need to understand the basics of hosting configuration so that you can fine-tune your keyword research and content marketing.
Go to our affiliate programs page for more program reviews.
16 Best Hosting Affiliate Programs
All of the hosting companies below are industry leaders. You may be able to find a few better paying hosting affiliate programs in second-tier providers. I have no interest in promoting second-tier providers.
Hosting companies pay so well they must pay close attention to fraud and abuse. Of course, cookie stuffing and other technical tricks are not allowed. But almost all hosting companies will not allow coupon sites, rebates or any advertising with those and similar keywords.
A2 Hosting
Commission amount: $85 -$140 (based on your conversion performance)
Cookie length: 90 Days
Sign up link: In-house Affiliate Program
A2 has an interesting affiliate program. They pay on a sliding scale based upon your monthly performance.
- 1-10 Sales = $85
- 11-20 Sales = $100
- 21-30 Sales = $120
- 31+ Sales = $140
There payouts are very generous relative to their plan costs.
They have a two tier affiliate program. You can have new affiliates enroll in the A2 affiliate program from your link. Once accepted that affiliate gets the regular commissions on their sales and you get a $5 override. Not quite as exciting as the WP Engine $50 payment but still a nice bonus.
A2 Hosting has an affiliate dashboard called iDevAffiiliates. Part of the dashboard is