|
Hosting.com
ClickQuick.com Rating: $$$$ out of $$$$
Company Overview:
Hosting.com (formerly known as Virtualis) offers one of the strongest associate programs on the web today. Hosting.com is in the business of providing web hosting services to people like you and me who want there own web site, and Hosting.com will pay you generous commissions to attract people to their service. The program also includes a free web site and email address to promote their service, and is sign-up is fully automated allowing you to begin immediately.
Program Details:
The greatest strength that the Hosting.com associate program has over most others is that it provides you with a reoccurring, residual monthly income for each sale you have made, as long as the people you refer remain customers. Hosting.com is able to offer this since customers are not making a one time purchase, but rather paying a monthly subscription to host their web site. Another of advantage of Hosting.com is that they have a great reputation in the industry. Offering not only the fastest site hosting, but providing excellent, and above the call of duty, 24 hour customer support (average response time=11 minutes!). They also don't charge upgrade fees like most web hosts, making it easy for someone to upgrade to a more powerful web hosting plan as their needs grow. Other features include Front Page support, full CGI support, and a library of pre-built, ready to go, CGI scripts. They also just recently added an industry-leading Shopping Cart program called CartSnap, making Hosting.com an excellent choice for those creating online stores. Hosting.com has also moved aggressively to make their services not only feature-competitive, but also price-competitive. This includes their recent decision to drop all setup costs for new customers. One disadvantage Hosting.com has is that it probably only work well for those affiliates whose sites attract webmasters, small business owners, or retailers. If your site does not attract the type of audience which would be interested in having, and paying for, their own web site, you will not convert many sales. Do note however, that with approximately 20,000+ other affiliates (although many of them are surely not active), you will have other competitors promoting this program. Hosting.com recently added a new policy in order to hopefully cut this number down and remove some of the less than serious affiliates who reduce the value of the program for all of the rest. They are now instituting a 50-question quiz to all affiliates (current and future both). But, don't worry, affiliates can retake the quiz as often as they like until they pass. And it should help to reduce the number of affiliates just looking to make a quick buck, and improve each affiliate's knowledge of the products. For each referral you make, you receive 25% of the referrals monthly fees. This commission ranges from $9-$44 per month, depending on what plan they sign up for. As you can see, selling even just one Mini plan (their smallest) provides you with $108/year residual as long as that customer remains with Virtualis. Selling just one Mini plan per month would provide you $1,296 in the first year alone. Not bad, for a program that will take you all of a few minutes to get up and running. Additionally, and what makes this program so powerful is that the commission sctructure is two-tiered, meaning that for each new affiliate you sign up, you receive 10% of their residual sales. Note that previously, Hosting.com paid 80% commissions on their $96 setup fee, earning affiliates $76.80 immediately per sale. Although that made for a nice upfront commission, Hosting.com management, and Hosting.com affiliates, decided dropping the setup fee would have a very positive impact on sales. I would concur, as I have seen the number of sales made by affiliates I have referred increase probably 10 times during their testing of the no setup fee. Because of the improved results, the setup fee has been waived permanently. And, if you are looking for a host for your web site, sign up as a Virtualis reseller, spend an hour or so looking at their promotional materials and service options, take and pass the Virtual Reseller quiz (it is fairly easy, and you can take it as often as you need to) and then sign up to host your domain from your own VR sign-up page. This way, you will earn commissions on your own service each and every month. Not only will you save money and have the best customer support on the web, but you will be able to begin offering Hosting.com services to others and potentially earn more commissions.
Visitor Feedback:
If your site attracts the type of people who would be interested in creating their own web site, the Hosting.com affiliate program is as about good as it gets. To help with sales, be sure to read Hosting.com' sales guide, and promote the strengths of their services to your customers. Many webmasters have experienced outstanding success promoting this one offline as well. Especially if you work as a web consultant/designer who normally doesn't involve themselves with hosting considerations, a simple recommendation of Hosting.com can go a long way, especially if you hold significant weight in decision making.
Join the
Hosting.com Program |
