First, I'm going to be using WHM AutoPilot

Second, I have a few affiliates in mind and want to give them money for each customer they refer and signs up with me.

I origionally wanted to give out the nice one time payment per customer only if the user stays with me for 3 months. WHMAP doesn't support this.

Do I really need to worry about losing customers and them not staying with me after the first month?

My only fear is if I have to pay the affiliate if many customers only stick with me for the first month, but then drop it.

What we do is pay commissions monthly when they reach $50.00 or more per month. This will help in retain those affiliates from abusing us if they are just looking for one time payout and want to move on.

I'm having the same problem. I planned on doing the following.

I have four hosting packages. I was thinking about giving 10% monthly for the lowest, 13% monthly for the next, 17% monthly for the third, and 20% monthly for the fourth.

WHM AP just allows monthly payout, or a one-time payout.

Originally posted by rmMark1
What we do is pay commissions monthly when they reach $50.00 or more per month. This will help in retain those affiliates from abusing us if they are just looking for one time payout and want to move on.

I guess this would help, but for some packages I would be offering $20 per customer on a $10/month package. I guess this is just some risk I might have to take!

I would not payout like that. Offer 50% (or less) of the monthly package. Affiliates love residual, just like we do and they will work harder for you.

We have been paying out 50% for 8 years now and is one of the main reason we have been successful.

Originally posted by rmMark1
I would not payout like that. Offer 50% (or less) of the monthly package. Affiliates love residual, just like we do and they will work harder for you.

We have been paying out 50% for 8 years now and is one of the main reason we have been successful.

You offer 50% of the monthly cost and give that per month?

That is quite a bit, what is your pricing scheme like?

One package is $9.95/month.. affiliate earns $5.00/month
Another one is $19.95/month...affilliate earns $10.00/month
Another $49.95/month...affiliate earns $25.00/month
The low end package is $4.95/month..affiliate earns $2.00/month

We have been paying this out for 8 years with over 2,400 affiliates
221 active and 108 earning checks monthly. We have never decreased or increased our prices in that time. Just added more features to the packages over the years. I remember when a package of 5MB of space and 100MBs of bandwidth went for $10.00 a month back in 1997,1998...

We still have our first customers and affiliates still hosting and earning checks each month from 8 years ago. Not to many host can say that ;)

Originally posted by rmMark1
One package is $9.95/month.. affiliate earns $5.00/month
Another one is $19.95/month...affilliate earns $10.00/month
Another $49.95/month...affiliate earns $25.00/month
The low end package is $4.95/month..affiliate earns $2.00/month

We have been paying this out for 8 years with over 2,400 affiliates
221 active and 108 earning checks monthly. We have never decreased or increased our prices in that time. Just added more features to the packages over the years. I remember when a package of 5MB of space and 100MBs of bandwidth went for $10.00 a month back in 1997,1998...

We still have our first customers and affiliates still hosting and earning checks each month from 8 years ago. Not to many host can say that ;)

That's really good! I wish I could offer that much payout, I'll probably be closer to 25% very likely

Anything more than 10% per month re-occuring is very generous and probably isn't a wise business model.

We have plans from $3.95 - $89.95 with most being between $3.95 and $14.95 and pay a $30 flat fee per account signup with a 30 day wait period.

We offer a large one time payout to affiliates

Originally posted by RossMAN
Anything more than 10% per month re-occuring is very generous and probably isn't a wise business model.

Well, in the 8 years, it has worked out well for us and we are a profitable business. New and old webmasters are looking for a source of extra income and generates new business for us daily. The affiliate program is only one source of revenue for us. We have other sources and letting others here know how well it has done for us. By all means host should payout what they can afford.

So, our business model cannot be measured by this alone. We have other sources for shared/dedicated hosting accounts that come in and are not credited to any affiliates. We do make our own private sales also. :cool:

I would have to agree, paying a monthly residual is the best way to maintain affiliates. The monthly residual gives them a reason to be loyal, which in turn keeps them sign up accounts. Combined this with a low one-time finder fee that gives them instant gratification and you got a great affiliate program.

Do most of these affiliates have hosting accounts with you? If so, do you give them a credit to their monthly hosting or do you actually mail out cheques each month?

Originally posted by peethernet
Do most of these affiliates have hosting accounts with you? If so, do you give them a credit to their monthly hosting or do you actually mail out cheques each month?

Yes they do host and we charge them the full amount and send checks once they reach $50.00 or more. If they are below the $50.00, we carry the balance over to the following month.