In the past I’ve talked about how good Cloudways are for website hosting, the speed, cost, and support are second to none, but did you know they also offer some fantastic affiliate opportunities? If you’re an agency owner, you should always be on the hunt for more ways to make some extra money. This is one way that you may not have considered. When I ran an agency, I had to deal with clients’ hosting and it was a nightmare. Being the middleman between your clients and hosting service is not the best use of your time. For me, it led to a lot of hassle because I had to liaison with support and answer inquiries clients had.
With the Cloudways affiliate program, you can have your clients use Cloudways’ hosting services and make a little extra income. You’re essentially getting money for something you’d already be recommending to your client, so it’s a no-brainer. If you’re more of a visual learner, I have made a video that goes into detail about the benefits of joining the Cloudways affiliate program and how to do so. You can watch the video below or head over to my YouTube channel.
For those of you still reading, I’m going to provide a brief overview of the Cloudways affiliate program, with a particular focus on why it’s great for agencies. I’m definitely not an agency owner anymore, but I really wish that this had been an opportunity back when I did own one. However, if you’re exclusively an affiliate marketer, there is still definitely a lot of money to be made with hosting affiliates so feel free to keep reading too.
If you’re an agency working with a ton of clients, you’ll also have to deal with their hosting. Why? Well, as I’ve often said; most clients are clueless. They won’t know the first thing about websites and where to find good hosting. However, while this does lead to a more reliable website for your clients, it does lead to a massive headache for you. If you have fifty clients, do you really want to be hosting support for fifty different websites? No. Your days will be filled with fixing emails, restoring websites, and trying to figure out why websites have blown up. Alongside that, you’re stuck chasing down clients for payments. Dealing with clients hosting on your own is hell, even if you have a good team behind you.
The great thing about the Cloudways affiliate program is that you don’t have to deal with any of that. Obviously, the commission is something that is very desirable. However, honestly for me, being able to outsource all of that by sending clients to Cloudways is an even bigger benefit. Time is money when you’re running an agency, and you don’t want to waste yours by dealing with clients’ hosting. I’d much rather let Cloudways deal with it.
All that being said, the commission is what affiliate marketing is all about, so I’m sure it’s something you will be eager to learn about. So, Cloudways has two different commission structures that you can choose from. I have a preference, but it obviously depends on your business which one will be more appropriate for you. But before explaining them, if you’re an agency owner it is worth noting that you do get a first-month joining bonus. Each referral gets you $150 during the first month, so you should move your clients over as soon as possible to take full advantage of that.
So, now we’ve got the joining bonus out of the way, I will explain the two types of commission structures that the Cloudways affiliate program offers. The two types of commissions that Cloudways offers are; the Slab commission structure, and the Hybrid commission structure.
The slab commission structure has four performance-based structures and corresponding commissions. So, the starting offering is $50 per referral. However, when you reach five referrals per month, the slab then changes to $75 per referral. Then you’ll get $100 per referral and £125 per referral with the final two slabs. So basically, the more referrals you get per month, the more money you get per referral.
It’s not a bad commission and you do get rewarded for more effort and expertise because of that slab structure. The drawback is that they are one-off fees.
The other option is the hybrid commission structure, which is my preferred structure if I’m honest. A monthly recurring commission for the lifetime value of the customer is the type of affiliate that I love, and it’s what the hybrid commission structure offers. So, you get a $30 upfront per referral and then you’ll also get 7% of the lifetime commissions for the lifetime value of that customer.
This is a fantastic deal as it means extra monthly recurring income, and you’ll have Cloudways taking care of your clients for you.
So, the Cloudways affiliate program sounds great, but how easy is it to apply to and join? All you need to do is hit the yellow ‘join now’ button on the top of the Cloudways affiliate program page and then fill out the agency partner application form. It’s relatively easy, you just need to let them know how many clients you have and your monthly hosting spending. If you have any issues, you can always use the email addresses that I’ve provided in the description of the YouTube video.
However, once you get accepted, you will have access to your affiliate profile. I did go through this on the video if you’re wanting some more detail, but basically, it gives you your URL, payout method options, and your chosen commission structure. It’s a very simple-to-use dashboard, and you’re even given an affiliate manager to solve any problems you may have.
Cloudways’ affiliate program is definitely worth looking into if you’re an agency owner or an affiliate marketer. If you’re dealing with clients’ hosting already, you may as well funnel them to Cloudways so that they can deal with all the issues for you and so that you can make some money. Also, there is a lot of opportunity out there for hosting affiliates. If you have a look at hosting on SEMrush, you’ll see just how much search it gets. It’s something that every website needs after all, so the opportunities are there.
I would recommend the hybrid commission structure if you’re stuck for choice, as a monthly recurring fee is always a good thing.
Sign up for the Cloudways affiliate program.