Affiliate Marketing Program
Whether you are just starting your cheap hosting with domain company or have been in business for some time now, you've heard people talking about how valuable affiliate programs are. People say the Internet is a place for anyone to make money, where you can reach a worldwide audience and capitalize on it. On the other hand, the Internet is also full of scams and get-rich-quick schemes. 
Affiliate marketing programs often promise to make you hundreds of dollars, some claim even more revenue, but is this really possible? Is it really that easy to earn revenue by simply including a banner or box on your site for visitors to click over to their website?
Affiliate Marketing Program: What It's All About
It seems pretty simple: you simply include some sort of link on your cheap hosting with domain website, typically a banner or box in the sidebar with the affiliate's logo or special offer on it, and every time a user clicks on that link to purchase services (called a conversion) you make a certain amount of money.
As lucrative as it sounds, you should know that for as many people who've done well making money from some form of affiliate program, there are just as many who have failed to earn even a dime.
Affiliate Marketing Program: How To Assure Success
Although nothing is guaranteed, there are steps you can take to make the program work better for you and earn revenue for your hosting company:
- Increase your traffic. Think about it: the more people are visiting, the better your odds some of them will click the affiliate links!
- Do your homework. Don't just jump on the first affiliate program that comes your way.
- Seek out those affiliate marketing programs that pay a high commission. Also assure their other customers are satisfied, and that you get paid in a timely fashion. If it takes forever to get the money, look elsewhere. This isn't helping your business.
- Only go with those programs that are offering a product or service that is of value to your customers. Would you buy the product that company is selling? If not, your customers probably wouldn't either.
- Sign on with an affiliate program that offers a product or service directly related to your site's content and also assure it is something your customers will actually be looking for in relation to your hosting services. You wouldn't click a link about cars on a pet-related website, would you?
- Consider inserting links into the text of your site rather than using images. Sometimes, these work better.
- If you rely on Google AdSense and want to add another affiliate, be aware that the revenue of your AdSense might decrease.
- Consider relying on Google AdWords for your affiliate program. If your affiliate program lets you advertise on your own for this program, you can set up AdWords accordingly. Their pay-per-click model allows you to make some decent money if you do it right.
Affiliate Marketing Program: Bottomline
To make sure you actually gain revenue through an affiliate marketing program for your cheap hosting company, all you need to do is go through each option with a fine-tooth comb. See if you can contact anyone who's used the affiliate program in question, and find out if it worked well for them, and what they might have done differently.
In the end, the only way to ensure you are getting some form of value is to try it out for yourself. If it doesn't work, move on to the next on the list. What works for one may not work for another. Don't forget to try different ways of inserting links, either.
Just like starting up your hosting company, signing on with an affiliate marketing program is hard work that requires careful research and planning.
Have you had any positive or negative experiences with affiliate marketing programs? We'd love to hear about them!