Bluehost Affiliate Program Review

The internet has inarguably had a profound impact on mankind – which has not only affected how we live but also how we work. One of the most resonating benefits – besides the endless conveniences – is the ability to virtually work from anywhere and earn an income.

It’s an allure that has attracted thousands of individuals looking to do away with the pangs of working from 9 to 5 – and also those seeking to generate passive income through their blogs or websites. One popular income-generating strategy that has proved to be fruitful is affiliate marketing. 

With this online sales tactic, you recommend another company’s product or service to others – and earn a commission each time someone makes a qualified purchase via your affiliate link. It can be through a link embedded on your blog, website, email, or social media post.

The beauty of affiliate marketing is that you do not have to create your own products or services and there is no limitation to the number of sales you can make.  But don’t get me wrong, affiliate marketing is not a walk in the park. You’ll need traffic and most importantly you’ll need to be cautious about which products you choose to recommend and from which company.

In this review, I’ll show you what the Bluehost affiliate program entails and how you can leverage it to gain financial independence. We invite you to check out our Bluehost hub if you want to learn more about the company before deciding if its affiliate program is for you. If you’re already familiar with the provider, read on for a detailed look at its affiliate program.

About the Bluehost Affiliate Program

The Bluehost affiliate program is no different from other web hosting affiliate programs on the internet. Completely free to join, the program allows you to promote Bluehost’s offerings on your website or blog using unique traceable links and custom banners.

The unique tracking link directs traffic to the merchant’s website (in this case Bluehost). A small text file (referred to as a cookie) is then stored on the visitor’s browser– which Bluehost then uses to track the sale back to you.

Notably, affiliate cookies have an expiration date or what is commonly known as “cookie life” that ranges between 30 days to 120 days for web hosting affiliate programs. Bluehost has a generous 90-day cookie length – which means your referral needs to make a purchase within this period after clicking on your affiliate link for you to be compensated.

Why Join the Bluehost Affiliate Program

According to Statista, there were 1.72 billion active websites on the internet as of 2019 – and the number is still rising as I write this. Each of these websites sits on a web host somewhere –Bluehost being one of them.

So, as an aspiring affiliate marketer, this should spell a huge opportunity for you to get into the web hosting niche. But the question is, how reliable is the web hosting provider that you intend to promote?

Lee Iacocca, one of the greatest automobile executives once said that “You don’t need exemplary marketing skills when you have the right product.” Now, if this ideology applies then you should join the Bluehost affiliate program. But why?

For starters, Bluehost has a huge market demand and a reputable market presence (probably due to its great products and services), which has seen it being ranked as one of the best web hosting providers of the 21^st century. The company also hosts more than 2 million websites on its servers and is the #1 recommended hosting provider by WordPress.

Along with that, the company’s quality customer service, robust hosting packages, low-cost offerings, great uptimes, free SSL certificates, 1-click WordPress installation, and the feature-rich backend explains why most people have chosen Bluehost and why the many partners have decided to enroll into the Bluehost affiliate program.

That said, let’s look at some of the merits and demerits of joining the program.

The Merits and Demerits of Bluehost Affiliate Program

Like most other successful affiliate programs out there, the Bluehost affiliate program has its substantial share of beauty and flaws. Here are the top advantages of the program.

The Merits

Attractive commissions

One striking feature of this program is the attractive commission. Bluehost affiliates receive a one-time commission of $65 for every successful sale, which is better than what some close competitors such as SiteGround and Hostgator offer through their affiliate programs. Both pay $50 per sale. 

Also, there is no cap to the amount of money you can earn through this program. So, the more the customers you manage to drive their way, the better your earnings will be.

To understand this ideology better, let’s use the analogy of Pat Flynn – the gentleman behind the Smart Passive Income blog. In his December 2017 income report, Flynn made a clean $105,619.13 in affiliate earnings – out of which $27,650 originated from the Bluehost affiliate program commissions. Impressive right?

Something else you should note is that payments are processed via PayPal but you can request a Wire Transfer for payments above $10,000. However, as a new affiliate, you must earn a one-time $100 minimum before Bluehost can process your first commission payment. This means that you must make at least two sales to make a withdrawal after which subsequent withdrawals can be done without a limit. 

Also, they have a commission holding period of 45 to 60 days. Payments are also processed between the 16^th and last day of the month. For instance, if you make any qualified sales in August, the commissions would be paid out any day between the 16^th and 31^st of October.

Tiered commission structure

By default, Bluehost commissions start at $65 for each qualified sale. However, you could get your commissions bumped from $65 to as high as $130 per sale. Thanks to the well-thought-out and tiered commission structure intended to reward staunch and successful affiliates.

So, if you are getting more sales, just talk to your affiliate manager and he or she will help you get that commission bump.

No transaction fees

PayPal transactions are subject to a fee. Fortunately, Bluehost covers all the extra charges for you. So, if your commissions for a particular month, say October, add up to $1,000 – Bluehost will send the total amount without any deductions.

Great conversion rates

It’s uncommon not to see Bluehost pop up whenever you scour the internet for the “best shared hosting providers” or for “the best web hosting affiliate program.”  

In my opinion, the program’s massive growth in popularity can be credited to its great conversion rates among other factors such as affordable hosting plans, free SSL certificates, etc. Simply put, the program’s lead to sale ratio is better as opposed to those offered by its competitors.

Discounts and promotions

Bluehost’s seasonal promotions makes it stress-free to market their products. In addition, they offer special discount coupons to affiliates. The coupons can help save your readers a few bucks. To stay updated on Bluehost’s latest offerings, you can subscribe to their newsletter or check their website regularly.

Low barrier to entry

As aforementioned the Bluehost affiliate program is free and very easy to join. All you have to do is visit the Bluehost affiliates page and follow the steps.

The best part is that much of this process is automated but you’ll have to wait for Bluehost to approve your account. It doesn’t take long, though. Once your account is created and you’ll receive a special tracking link and you can start promoting Bluehost’s products immediately.

Keep in mind that some affiliate programs will have stringent entry conditions such as having a certain number of subscribers or page views per month before they can approve your application. However, that is not the case with Bluehost.

Promotional resources

Apart from text links, Bluehost offers a wide selection of promotional resources such as banner ads that effectively complement the look and feel of your website. You can test different banner designs and sizes and see which one delivers the best results.

If your blog or website is built on the WordPress CMS, the Bluehost Affiliator WordPress plugin can help you to effectively place banners and affiliate widgets on your website. Bluehost is an extremely beginner-friendly option for WordPress websites regardless of whether you join their affiliate program or not.

Great support team

Everything that relies on the internet to function breaks down at some point – and it is during this juncture that you need all the support you can get. Bluehost, being an industry leader in web hosting, understands this very well.

With this regard, this web hosting giant has a dedicated and expert support team on standby to assist you with any issues that you may have. In fact, once your account gets approved you are assigned an affiliate manager who is always on hand to offer advice, insight, and support.

Bluehost also has one of the most comprehensive and robust knowledge bases where you can find guides and videos that can help you solve your problem. If you want to learn more about the company’s customer support team you can do so by reading our comprehensive Bluehost review.

Now that we’ve seen the perks of promoting the Bluehost affiliate program, let’s see some of its downsides.

The Demerits   

As great as the program is, it’s not entirely perfect. And here’s why.

Withdrawal limits

Bluehost’s affiliate policy dictates that new affiliates must make two sales or at least have a minimum of $100 before they can be allowed to make a withdrawal. Also, the funds are subject to a commission holding period of 45 to 60 days. Well, this may not sit well with new affiliates but it’s the rule.

You cannot re-apply with the same domain

Once you submit your application to Bluehost – and for whatever reason, it gets rejected – you cannot re-apply into the program using the same domain name.

Highly promoted

In all honesty, I think the Bluehost affiliate program is one of the most highly promoted programs, and to a certain extent saturated, in the web hosting affiliate space. This could easily detract some customers who’d think you are after commissions.

Downgrade penalties

Well, this may sound like a joke but it’s true. So, if one of your referrals – for whatever reason decided to move from VPS hosting to Shared hosting, Bluehost will deduct your commission from your future earnings.

Top-notch SEO skills are required

With affiliate marketing, you will not only be promoting Bluehost’s products but also your content. In essence, you’ll need to know how to create top tier SEO friendly content for your blog or website.

Quality content will not only help your site to rank well in search engine results but will also intensify a high number of click-throughs on your banners and affiliate links. Remember Google “loves” relevance.

How to Promote Bluehost via the Bluehost Affiliate Program

If the Bluehost affiliate program was like pizza, then signing up for the program is just a slice. To start earning, you’ll need to promote the products, which will require you to come up with the best affiliate monetization strategies. This multi-faceted process will require you to put in the time, dedication, and hard work.

There are several strategies that you can use to promote your Bluehost affiliate but I’m only going to share a few of them. So, here we go.

Create how-to guides

As an affiliate, you are not just there to get that commission but also to educate your audience. As such, you can create high-quality and engaging step-by-step guides targeting particular keywords such as:

• How to sign up to Bluehost
• How to build a website on WordPress
• How to improve website security, and similar content.
• How to migrate a website to a different hosting provider

I know you probably thinking, aren’t such posts super competitive? Well, they are.  And for a fact, there are innumerable posts on the web targeting such keywords.

While ranking on the first page or even the second with such keywords might seem like a delusion, especially if your website is still new, such content can still help drive traffic to your blog and help increase the number of click-throughs.

A tried-and-true technique to make such posts visible to your audience is to include a How-To page in your navigation menu. Here, readers can find posts that are relevant to their situation.

Publish a Bluehost review

As a marketer, your role is to convince your customer why the product you are promoting is better than that of the competitor. As such, you should be able to write an honest and authentic review of the company, similar to the one we mentioned earlier.

Avoid being too salesy, but instead, write a review that will trigger the client to click on your link and make a purchase. The idea here is to create a review that will show how the product in question will add value to the customer.

While still on it, you should keep in mind that there are other alternatives to Bluehost and people know about them. In line with this, you can create detailed comparisons of Bluehost and other hosting providers.

For example, you can create a detailed review of Bluehost vs. Hostgator, Bluehost vs. GoDaddy, etc. However, you should keep in mind that these keywords are quite competitive, but they can give you an edge in the competition.

Email marketing

Research studies indicate that more than 90% of internet users have an email account which they access at least once a day. Moreover, most of these users prefer to receive business-related information via email.

However, most of them end up canceling their subscriptions due to several reasons such as too many emails lacking relevant information.

So, be cautious when using this strategy to promote Bluehost. First, ensure that the email carries relevant content. Secondly, don’t forget to mention upcoming promotions such as Black Friday Offers or any other. Also, don’t forget to embed your affiliate link.

When used correctly, email marketing can leverage sales, get you new customers, and more importantly help you to retain them. 

Make videos

Videos are another effective method of generating leads. Ever heard of the visual storytelling? With this strategy, you can create a video tutorial such as “how to set up WordPress on Bluehost.”

The idea is to create an interesting visual narrative. You can use illustrations, graphics, and some calm music in the background. Make sure that your voice is also audible.

Also, make the tutorial easy to grasp. Don’t use too much technical jargon as it will confuse or put off your viewers. Lastly, include targeted keywords in your video description as well as your link with calls to action.

Bluehost Affiliate Program Conclusion

Hopping into the affiliate marketing realm can be overwhelming especially if you are just getting started. But like any other investment, you’ll need to put in some time and effort for you to start reaping the benefits.

The Bluehost affiliate program – thanks to its generous commissions can help you monetize your website and propel you to a future of healthy returns. So, sign up for the program now and get things rolling. Don’t be reluctant. Remember, you will not start earning immediately, but with hard work and dedication, everything will pay off eventually.

If you enjoyed this article head over to our Reviews hub for more like it and don’t hesitate to check out our comparisons hub if you’re curious to see how Bluehost stacks up against other major hosting providers.