Would it be worth my company promoting our affiliate program? Do people really want to be an affiliate with web hosting companies?

What percentage would they expect? What would a return be on this type of program?

Anyone have experience with this?

I don't see why not. If you have a solid plan of how you are going to sustain your affiliate program and cash to back it up, it could be a very good idea.

Judging from hundreds of "web hosting review" sites that pop-up like mushroom all over the web, companies that really get noticed are those that offer the largest cash renumeration.

However, you do not have to compete against them. Set the price you are ready to pay and that makes good business sense and use your existing client base to spread the word. Your current satisfied clients is your biggest marketing weapon you have, so utilize it!

Branding is important before you start offering affiliate program.

Yes, and Yes to your first 2 questions. With the amount of affiliates for web hosting companies online now...I would believe there is a growing number of people who want to make some extra money by becoming an affiliate and referring people.

As far as your other questions, that would have to be in your business plan and something you would have to figure out. I doubt to many companies will be providing those kinds of details publicly. Best to research and see who offer some of the top affiliate programs and that should give you some idea to work with on how to setup yours.

Good luck!

An affiliate program can help build a brand too. Hostmonster was nothing, and 6 months or so after they started to pay $100 or so in commissions, their name was almost omnipresent, almost competing in coverage with the likes of ipower, 1and1 etc.

But, not everybody has the budget for that kind of stunt. For the vast majority of hosts, the affiliate program is more of a way to encourage current customers to spread the word, with relatively limited results sales wise.

It all depends on how well your affiliate program is.
Many people will ask themselves,
- Is it legitimate
- Is it worth my time signing up

Those are some questions you should probably take into account.

what is the best script to start something like this?

If you want your own script, I can recommend idevaffiliate. It's a good product, and support is good, too.

idev is a great program. Used it for many years. When we swapped to WHMCS, we used the internal affilate system.

Affiliate programs do work, if marketed correctly. There are companies that give 500% payouts, and there are others that give 10% recurring monthly payouts. I've always found that our customers enjoy the recurring money rather than the quick payout.

Of course, getting 500% payout on a $179 dedicated server is a great promotion - but very few businesses can support such a hole in the pocket! 10% recurring is easier to swallow.

Yes, indeed. There's also another reason to do recurring payments, which is to align everyone's interests over the long term. We want our affiliates to bring good long-term customers, and not to pump our service unrealistically so that people drop out. And we're happy to pay commission month after month to affiliates who bring us such customers.

My recommendation is for flat lump sum commissions.

The % of recurring is nice for the hosting company, however affiliates typically want the lump sum up front. Once the client is in the host's hands, it is up to the hosting company to keep that client and the affiliate has no control over it. They like receiving their money up front instead of relying on the service of the hosting company, which is completely out of their hands.

Affiliate program can be a lethal weapon for massive marketing to hosting business if you position it well. I believe there are quite a numbers of website owners who certainly wanna make extra income. If all they take is to put a banner or link on their website and they could earn attractive referral fee, why not? The problem is, how many website owners, especially newbie really knows such opportunity?

That's where newsletters come in. Self promotion of internal services is something that should be done on a monthly basis to ALL existing customers. How often do you kick on HBO or ShowTime and see them running an add about themselves? It's not becuase they're looking to fill dead space, they're marketing for the future so you don't cancel the service.

Cable companies, electric bills, gas bills and credit card companies are always doing self promotion to existing customers. Did you know you get $20 if you refer someone to Wells Fargo Bank? They do such as bad job marketing this promo that many people don't know about it.

LOL referal for a bank! oh oh when u signup for an savings account please put in my affiliate code!!!

Affiliate program will be good if you have successful firm