Affiliate marketers often combine several roles: target marketer, designer, and copywriter. And sometimes even a web developer. In affiliate marketing, there is regularly a need to create whole websites. As a landing page, a cloak, an information resource, etc. Affiliates who drive traffic through their own website even have a special name — webmasters.
And if there is interaction with websites, there is a need for hosting. After all, it is expensive and unreliable to run a site on a home server. And here unprepared webmasters can have difficulties with how hosting works, how to choose it correctly, and what problems may arise in interaction with the hosting providers. Lucky you, you have us. So let’s go through all the important nuances in order.
Hosting basics
Technically, any website is a combination of files and folders. And for a resource to be accessible to internet users, all this heap of material must be stored securely somewhere. There are specialized companies that, for a small fee, provide the capacity of their servers. This repository of information sites is called hosting.
That is, some large provider builds large data center with powerful servers. Using special software they divide each of them into several virtual machines. And rents them out to anyone who wants to use them, including affiliates.
From the moment you start cooperating with a hosting provider, you are technically dependent on him on several parameters:
- speed of page loading and response when working with the site
- continuity of access to a resource
- protection of the hosted web resource from all sorts of network attacks
You should not choose the first met hosting to work. Also, do not rely only on the price or fame of the service. You have to do a thorough analysis of the hosting market and study the history of the brands, so you can sleep well and not worry about the quality of interaction with your target audience.
Eeny, meeny, miney moe: How to choose a hosting provider?
If you already have experience in setting up your hosting, you probably know what to look for. In any case, repetition never hurts. Here are the hosting characteristics you need to pay attention to when choosing a hosting provider:
- Availability. To check this criterion, there are specialized online services that show statistics on the availability of popular data centers.
- Security systems. These are built-in anti-viruses, SSL, and backups. At a minimum, you need DDoS protection and support for encryption protocols.
- Disk space size. That is, how much space is allocated within the paid plan. The more the better. You should also pay attention to the type of drive you are using. SSDs are much faster than legacy HDDs.
- Continuity of service. Optimal rates are 99.9%, and in extreme cases — 98.9%.
- Type of hosting. It should correspond to the peculiarities of your site.
Types of hostings
Once you have decided on the criteria for a reliable provider, it’s time to choose the right type of hosting. The choice is usually based on budget, purpose, need for extra security, and other characteristics. There are three basic types of hosting:
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Shared
In this type of hosting capacity, one server is available for use immediately to many customers. There is no equal distribution of bandwidth. This is the cheapest option but at the same time the most unreliable. After all, if one machine serves 1000 sites simultaneously, there is a high risk of overload. In this case, in “rush hour” your affiliate site will be unavailable. That is why this option is often used for one-page sites. Although in affiliate marketing you do not need much more. Shared hosting is user-friendly for the average user, who only needs a versatile control panel (with a minimum number of settings) for uploading files, backing up the site, etc. Easy to use even for inexperienced users.
Virtual
This model implies the creation of virtual servers with the help of special software. The monthly fee depends on its technical characteristics. A more reliable variant, rather than shared. It is ideal for simple sites. A virtual server ensures the stable operation of the website due to the guaranteed availability of computing power, RAM capacity, etc.
Dedicated
If you’re already a systems administrator with extensive experience, and you’re prepared for both the complexity of installation/management and the high cost, then you can safely choose a dedicated server. This type implies that the affiliate is provided with a whole physical server. It is placed in the data center, and the hosting provider takes full responsibility for its maintenance. This option is suitable for complex sites that require huge bandwidth. A dedicated server can also be used as a remote computer to run specialized software.
What could go wrong?
In today’s realities, the expression “trust but verify” is especially relevant. A huge list of positive reviews and many years of practice does not guarantee the long-term and uninterrupted operation of the hosting. Sometimes you need to diagnose an outage in time and change the provider. Now we’ll tell you what kind of outages we’re talking about.
Server slowdown
Pages open very slowly, and sometimes it ends with an error message. Server speed is one of the biggest pitfalls when choosing a hosting service.
Sensitivity to the flow
If in the evening and in the morning the web resource ceases to open, it is worth thinking about. Such a problem may arise from customers of small hosting providers. Over time, they increase the number of sites served, traffic also increases — respectively, the download speed is reduced. Of course, this is not a mandatory scenario, but it is very likely.
Support service
Any affiliate, sooner or later, will have to contact the support manager of hosting. Questions can vary from simple to technical. It is worth alerting if the provider’s support does not respond to appeals, takes a long time to answer a request, or communicates rudely.
Hidden charges
This is an extra charge for certain services. As a rule, they are spelled out in the contract in small print. Most often, hidden fees are used to limit traffic flow. For example, up to a certain amount of traffic is free, but after that, you have to pay extra money for each megabyte. Or restrictions apply to the use of specific technologies (PHP or MySQL).
Final thoughts
The choice of hosting needs to be tested, as with any other choice in the affiliate industry. It is possible that before you find the perfect provider, you will have to change several services. It is absolutely normal. The long search is worth it because with reliable hosting you will ensure a smooth flow of traffic and measured lead generation without technical failures.
There is also a tip for those who still have a small budget and who are afraid of wasting money in search of the very hosting. Start with services that offer a free trial period. That way you can go this way without critical losses.
