There are a lot of hosting companies that have been able to generate thousands of new customers on a monthly basis only through their affiliates. And, then there are many who struggle to generate even a hundred new customers, despite trying various marketing strategies. So, what is it that really defines success or failure? Marketing experience is certainly one aspect that makes a lot of difference, but that certainly isn’t everything!

Don't Count on Just a Few Affiliates

You may actually be able to generate hundreds, if not thousands of new customers, through some of the affiliate websites, but the success could be short-lived. Google has become quite ruthless, and if only 2-3 affiliate websites generate most of the monthly business for you, then the chances are high that they could be wiped out overnight some bad day. And, that could potentially become the doomsday for your hosting business as well. As the good old saying goes – "never put all your eggs in the same basket", you must also generate new customers through combination of affiliate program, e-mail marketing, SEO, social media marketing, PPC marketing, and $1 flash sales etc.

Of course, you'd always love it when a few affiliate websites bring thousands of customers for your business, but then you must always have a back-up arrangement to generate business even without the affiliates.

Pay Attention to Branding

You can't focus on the branding part when hosting resellers are promoting your packages, but when your affiliates generate new orders, you must always have a strong emphasis on branding.

And, the whole point is that in the process of getting one new customer, your brand must be exposed to at least 100 potential customers. And, the fun part is that many out of those 100 might directly become your customers sooner than later. Hence, you may not have to rely upon only affiliates for generating business in forthcoming years.

Do the Math!

When it boils down to deciding the CPA for affiliate pay-outs, you need to do the math, and arrive on a figure that is enticing enough for the affiliates, and still makes sense for your business too. If you try to be overgenerous, then you could end up hurting your profit margins, and if you get too conservative, then you could risk losing your prospect customers to your competitors, who might pay higher CPA to the affiliates.

The Bottom-Line

Web hosting affiliates certainly play a crucial role for most of the big firms, and they could be extremely valuable for small to mid-size companies that are still struggling to generate business on a consistent basis.

However, you must not totally rely upon them for generating majority of your business, and always diversify your business generation strategy to mitigate risk in the long term. At the same time, it's equally important to keep your affiliates happy, and make sure that your hosting affiliate program is enticing enough to prevent them from running to your competitors.