Author: Tiara Rea

In late 2006, Lunarpages Web Hosting began automatically signing up all new customers to the Lunarpages Affiliate Program, in the hopes that each new customer could earn, at the very least, $65 for one referral. If we received 100 signups/day, that’s $6,500 paid out every single day, not to mention 100 new customers that we hoped would continue the tradition and refer their friends as well.

But many of our customers say they don’t have time for the Affiliate Program or just aren’t interested in putting a Lunarpages banner on their website. So, I’m here to tell you that it only takes a few minutes to get started with the Affiliate Program and you’re never obligated or required to put a banner on your site! It helps at times to do so, but you can just as easily forward your tracking URL to your friends via AIM, email, etc.

So, no more excuses – let’s make some money! Here are some tips on how to use the Affiliate Program and make at least 1 sale/month!

1. Know Your Product

One of the biggest mistakes people tend to make within affiliate programs is that they are advertising a product they know nothing about! You wouldn’t tell people to read a book you haven’t read yourself, and so you shouldn’t offer a service you don’t stand behind.

Luckily, all of our new affiliates sign up for hosting with Lunarpages first, so your experiences with web hosting are going to be honest and knowledgeable, and people really respect something that’s well thought-out, concise, and sincere.

2. Coupons

If you have a customer who’s already interested in web hosting but just needs an extra push, a coupon will almost 100% of the time do the trick. Any kind of freebie or offer that you can give to your referrals is a step in the right direction.

But beware! For the Affiliate Program with Lunarpages, 99% of coupons out on the internet negate your commissions! To avoid this, we created two web hosting coupons for discounts on Lunarpages Web Hosting products.

25OffHosting will save your referrals $25 off any 12/24month hosting plan and 2FreeMonths will add an additional 2 months to the end of their contract.

Offer these on your site or to your friends, and they’re sure to sign up!

3. Partnerships/Giveaways

If you run a software company, own a product, or offer a service that directly relates to web hosting, you are in the prime zone for making a good amount of extra money every month. If you have products with pricepoints under $65, you’re even more in luck!

Give away one of your products, priced under $65, for free if your clients also choose to host with Lunarpages. This gives the customer an incentive and bonus if they buy, and you get extra money just for referring them our way. If your product costs, say, $40 to purchase, you’ve made a profit of $15/product just by offering it for free.

If your product is a bit more costly, give a discount or free time added to their purchase if they go with Lunarpages. The customer will appreciate the deal and you’ll add extra income via your commission from us.

If you don’t have a software company, not to worry! Join up with other affiliate programs you can find from web design, logo design, and other various software companies and offer all the services on your site. If you find a good one, even let us know and if we partner with them, your referrals get an even better offer!

4. Cheap and Free Promotion

You won’t make any money on your website if nobody ever visits it! So take a look around the internet for free or incredibly cheap promotion opportunities. Most often, text links, Adsense, and sites like the MillionDollarHomePage are going to be the cheapest and will definitely raise your ranks in Google and get you noticed.

Also, here are a couple sites/programs I’ve found that can be helpful:

* LaunchFeed – a great place to officially “launch” your site and get recognition
* Tag-a-Cloud and TagsPage -- two PR6 tagging sites, where you can feature your domain for free or, if you want to get fancy, for pretty cheap
* Del.icio.us – one of the best ways to get people to read what you’re writing – if it’s interesting, informative, and a great deal, there’s always a great chance of promoting it to the frontpage
* Lunarpages Webmaster Tools — learn about Meta Tags, pinging, and more with tools created especially for the Lunarpages customer
* linkbacks – Linkbacks are important, too, so if you have friends who own websites, get them involved and have them put your site on theirs and you can do the same

5. Talk to Your Affiliate Managers

That’s us! Err well, myself and Amy, anyway. We run the Affiliate Program at Lunarpages Web Hosting and we’re always willing to reach out and help new affiliates grow with us. We’d love to see every affiliate succeed on the level that many of our affiliates already have, so shoot us an email, tell us your ideas, and we’ll be happy to help you out.

So give these steps a try, sign up today if you haven’t already, and let us know about your successes. Anything you’ve found that’s helped as well, let us know! Affiliate@lunarpages.com