As of this writing, there are over 1.9 billion websites online right now, with more added every single day. Every single one of them lives on a web host somewhere. It’s no surprise then that the web hosting industry is both lucrative and competitive. To help them market their services and hold on to their own piece of this multibillion-dollar pie, many web hosting companies have affiliate programs where affiliate marketers can sign up.
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Affiliate marketers promote these web hosting companies in exchange for a commission from the sales they generate.
Because web hosting is constantly in demand, this niche provides a great opportunity to earn passive income for aspiring affiliate marketers.
Today, we list down some of the best web hosting affiliate programs so you can make an informed decision. In addition, we’ll give you a few tips on how to increase your sales and as a result, your commission earnings.
How Much Can You Earn From Web Hosting Affiliate Programs?
Web hosting packages start at around $2 to $12 per month, but this doesn’t always mean web hosting companies only pay its affiliates a percentage of this package plan. Instead, since hosting packages usually require customers to purchase a minimum length (3-month, 6-month, 1-year service, and so on), web hosting companies can afford to pay commissions somewhere between $50 and $200 per sale.
The only problem is that in order to make a stable income from commissions, you’d have to be able to sell more than one plan each month. You can do this by either promoting multiple web hosting companies (yes, this is the reason why there are hundreds of web hosting comparison sites around), or working hard to become an authority figure so that even if you promote just one web hosting company, you’d be able to receive a sizable chunk from commissions.
12 of the Highest Paying Web Hosting Affiliate Programs
When you’re looking for web hosting affiliate programs, you’ll encounter hundreds of companies with varying commission rates and terms.
Some give a one-off commission per sale, others add a monthly recurring commission (that is, every month the customer you referred continues to subscribe to the service).
Still other hosting companies provide a more complex commission table with sliding commission rates.
Even how they’re being distributed can vary. Some web hosting affiliate programs are in-house, while others are hosted by affiliate networks like CJ or ClickBank.
Working with affiliate networks may mean you’ll have to share a small part of your commissions with them, but it also means that setup is simpler and more often than not, their customer support is more responsive.
If you’re not clear about how affiliate networks work, read up on our article on affiliate marketing basics.
Here are some of the best, highest-paying web hosting affiliate programs to choose from.
1. Bluehost
Known for its superb reputation, Bluehost has its own in-house affiliate program, which pays $65 per sale, up to $130 depending on performance. While the commission rate is lower than the others on this list, note that the company’s solid standing leads to more sales that could quickly add up to your commissions.
Commission: $65 to $130 per sale
Cookie Duration: 90 days
2. LiquidWeb
Aimed at enterprise-level customers, this company pays affiliates 150% of the monthly hosting cost with a $150 minimum.
This means if you refer a $19/month Managed WordPress Plan for one site, you’ll receive a $150 commission; if you refer a $549/month Managed WordPress Plan for 100 sites, you’ll receive an $823.50 commission. You’ll earn even more if you refer dedicated hosting plans.
Commission: $150 to $7000 per sae
Cookie Duration: 90 days
3. WP Engine
This web hosting mainly focuses on WordPress websites, but pays higher and pays consistently.
You can earn even more when you refer customers to their StudioPress themes and other WordPress site tools.
Commission: $200 or 100% of first month payment (whichever is higher) plus bonus commissions for 5 or more monthly referrals
Cookie Duration: 180 days
4. HostGator
HostGator is one of the oldest web hosting providers, with millions of users globally. It’s no surprise that their affiliate program is also one of the most popular.
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Commission: Tiered according to number of monthly referrals; $65 to $125 per sale
Cookie Duration: 60 days
5. SiteGround
SiteGround is another established name in the web hosting industry with a tried-and-tested affiliate program.
In contrast to the usual monthly payout scheme for web hosting affiliate programs, SiteGround pays its affiliates weekly.
Commission: Tiered according to number of monthly referrals; $50 to $100 per sale for up to 20 monthly referrals; custom commissions for 21 and greater monthly referrals
Cookie Duration: 60 days
6. iPage
iPage is well-known for their $1.99/month hosting plans, but you might be pleasantly surprised to know that its affiliates can get up to $125 per sale.
Commission: Tiered according to number of monthly referrals; $65 to $125 per sale
Cookie Duration: 120 days
7. WPX Hosting
WPX is one of the best managed hosting providers around.
Affiliates start out with $70 per sale up to the 25th From 26th to 99th, you’ll get a raise of $15 per sale and take home $85. But if you refer over 100 customers, you’ll start earning $100 for every sale moving forward.
Commission: 1 to 25 referrals: $70 per sale; 26 to 100 referrals: $85 per sale; 101 and more referrals: $100 per sale
Cookie Duration: 60 days
8. Kinsta
Kinsta is a managed web hosting service with cloud servers powered by the Google Cloud platform that is aimed toward online businesses.
Commission: $50 to $500 per sale; 10% monthly recurring commissions for the lifetime of your customer referral
Cookie Duration: 60 days
9. Cloudways
Cloudways is also a managed web hosting service with cloud servers, also aimed toward online businesses.
What makes it different from most other web hosting affiliate programs is that you get to decide your payout scheme.
Under the Slab plan, you can earn up to $125 per sale depending on your Performance Slab; that is, if you refer up to 5 customers in a month, you earn $50 per sale. When you’re able to refer up to 80 customers in a month, you earn $125 per sale. More than 80 and they’ll need to contact you directly, but it’s possible to get $200 per sale if you’re that “super affiliate.”
Under the Hybrid plan, you earn $30 per sale plus 7% commissions on your customers’ monthly subscription for as long as they’re subscribed to Cloudways. The amount of the 7% depends on which cloud service and amount of data they choose.
Commission (Slab): $50 to $125 per sale
Commission (Hybrid): $30 per sale plus 7% lifetime commission
Cookie Duration: 90 days
10. A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting offers various plans to fit everyone, from beginner bloggers to high-traffic business sites.
They offer a tiered commission plan where your earnings per sale increase as your number of referrals increase.
Plus, if you refer other affiliates to their affiliate program, you get $5 for every sale they make.
Commission: $55 to $125 per sale
Cookie Duration: 90 days
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11. Squarespace
Squarespace is a popular web hosting service especially geared toward websites for online stores and services.
Their affiliate program allows you to earn commissions for every website or commerce subscription from every first-time customer you refer.
Commission: $100 to $200 for Squarespace Core
Cookie Duration: 45 days
12. Hostinger
Hostinger offers shared hosting, cloud hosting, and VPS plans, and you get a 60% commission from each sale, with a maximum of $300.
Commission: 60% per sale
Cookie Duration: 30 days
Ways To Earn More Commissions from Web Hosting Affiliate Programs
If you are starting your affiliate program with the best hosting deals out there on a cheap hosting service, it is obvious that you won’t have success. Cheap hosting providers are not reliable and often find your site offline than online. If you are looking for some of the fastest web hosting services, read all about them here.
As you’ve probably learned at this point, there are plenty of web hosting companies and most of them have affiliate programs.
Choosing the highest-paying web hosting affiliate program is but half the battle; promoting your affiliate links and converting them to sales is a huge part of your success in affiliate marketing.
Here are several ways to make more sales from your web hosting affiliate programs.
1. Write blog posts.
Blogging is the most common way of promoting web hosting plans – or any other products or services as part of your affiliate marketing efforts. There are a number of techniques you can do this, such as:
- Feature one web hosting company and its packages offered
- List all authority figures using the web hosting (this is easy since many popular marketers continue to earn from web hosting affiliates, except they only promote the one they actually use)
- Comparison posts get clicks because people in the market for web hosting services have often narrowed their choices to two or three, and they tend to search Bluehost vs. Hostgator. The result would depend on how smart you write your review – are you promoting both (perhaps they’re good for different types of clients) or are you just promoting one? (conclude the post with a solid recommendation for one of them)
- Share your complaints. Instead of focusing on the pros, you can also write about the bad side of a web hosting company. Make sure this is a valid complaint, which means you have to be a client recently. If you want, you can also include a post discussing the reason why you’re moving to another web hosting company.
- Know a popular person or company who uses your preferred web hosting company? Compile this list and show it off to your readers.
2. Create an eBook.
The book doesn’t have to be focused on web hosting per se, but you can always squeeze in details of your recommend web hosting company or plan when it’s relevant.
For example, if you’re writing an eBook about how to start a blog for beginners, you could feature your chosen web hosting company on the chapter where you discuss domain names and hosting.
Many authority figures in the internet marketing or SEO space talk about a wide range of techniques but never forget to include a “tools of the industry” page where they list down tools (products/services) they use to become successful.
This can be the part of an eBook where you place your web hosting affiliate links.
3. Build a website dedicated to reviewing and comparing web hosting plans.
As I’ve mentioned earlier, one of the reasons why you find tons of website comparison sites aimed at web hosting is because promoting multiple companies or hosting plans at the same time increases your chances of bagging a sale.
You can implement this in many ways, such as developing a chart that welcomes visitors with the Top 10 web hosting plans or maintaining a blog with helpful posts like “alternatives to X company,” “pros and cons of InMotion Hosting,” “x company vs y company” and so on. You can choose to make the posts as simple or as comprehensive as you like.
4. Create YouTube videos discussing web hosting plans.
You don’t even need a website with full-length posts to promote web hosting plans. If you’re not much of a writer, you can make a video tutorial highlighting the web host plan or company of your choice.
The great thing about videos is that you can put together a comprehensive guide with the simplest topics, such as ‘installing WordPress on BlueHost’ or ‘exporting your website from company z.’
5. Build a web hosting deals website.
People love deals, and web hosting is no exception.
You can target more people with a deals site: there are people who are new to the web industry and looking for the best web host available, current customers looking to renew their hosting plans, or existing web host customers looking to shift to another company.
As affiliates, you are given discounts by web hosting companies and you can offer these deals to your target audience to increase your referrals and your commissions.
You can use tried-and-tested marketing techniques to promote these deals on shopping holidays such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Contests and giveaways are also good ways to promote these deals.
6. Negotiate with web hosting companies to give your readers exclusive deals.
Aside from the web hosting deals and coupons that you can create on your affiliate dashboard, you can also negotiate with the hosting company for a unique deal you can give away to your readers.
Of course, hosting companies don’t just give in to anyone’s request. You should have the numbers, reputation, and following to back up your request for an exclusive deal.
7. Use social media.
Don’t underestimate Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, or any other social media platforms to promote your web hosting affiliate links.
You can use social media as a complement to your website or use it as a stand-alone promotion technique. Some affiliates don’t even bother with websites anymore and just create a free Facebook page and market their links exclusively on that page and via Facebook ads.
8. Take advantage of ad banners.
One way to promote your web hosting service of choice without hard selling on a blog post, email newsletter, landing page, or other content is to display ad banners on your website.
Web hosting affiliate programs would normally provide ad banners that you can display straightaway, but if you can design your own ad banners that are more attention-grabbing and more customized to your website, you might have a greater chance of converting casual visitors to your site into sales.
9. Teach people.
If you already have an online following, you can try to launch a webinar, podcast, case study, or other teaching method you prefer and link to your affiliate products.
However, note that the more people look up to you, the more you should recommend only trusted products/services that you’ve actually used.
10. Make a guest post on other blogs.
In the online world, networking is a proven way to make it as an authority figure in any field. While it’s important to pinpoint and follow your competition, it’s just as important to build relationships with other people within your niche.
In fact, if you have the chance to guest post on other blogs, find a way to squeeze in your web host affiliate links in there (if it fits). Don’t force the links if you’re talking about something too far away from web hosting.
Also, bear in mind that some blogs do not allow affiliate links in their guest posts, so be mindful of this when you’re creating your guest post.
11. Market your chosen web hosting package via newsletters.
If you already have an existing mailing list, don’t forget about promoting your affiliate links via newsletters.
Marketing via email still works, as long as you practice restraint and focus on what your audience needs. Putting together a product giveaway, offering coupons, or sending an interesting e-mail about a newly published blog post can pique the interest of your readers.
12. Create a unique landing page.
When it comes to web hosting, the landing page should act as your reader’s gateway to awesome web hosting deals.
That said, landing pages don’t have to be boring. With an eye-popping design and an irresistible offer, you’d be able to convince people to buy any product you’re selling.
Sign Up For a Web Hosting Affiliate Program Today!
Web hosting services will always be in demand, and affiliate programs have proven to be good for both the service providers and affiliate marketers.
Now that you know the best affiliate programs for web hosting service providers, take your time choosing, and don’t forget to strategize.
Like the idea of affiliate marketing but web hosting doesn’t really excite you? Check out other high-paying affiliate programs that may be a better fit for you than web hosting.
