Continuing our Opinion-Editorial and Guest Article Series, today we are talking with Dustin B. Cisneros of RackNerd regarding the differences between an affiliate program and being a hosting reseller. If you’re confused between these two terms which with the naked eye seem closely related, we hope you’ll understand the differences after reading this article!
A common misapprehension that we see in the hosting industry is that some folks use the terms affiliates and resellers interchangeably. These two terms are very different in what purpose they serve, and in this post, we will be outlining the differences.
Affiliate Program vs Reseller – What’s the Difference?
At their core, they share many similarities, which is why we commonly see these two terms being used interchangeably. An affiliate program is where you send the business (customer) to a web hosting provider such as RackNerd, and the hosting provider is the one who manages the relationship with the customer. In exchange for you referring the sale to the hosting provider, the hosting provider pays out a percentage to you. Your involvement is limited to only referring the business to the web hosting company. An affiliate program can be considered as a great way to earn passive income, and as an example, RackNerd today has affiliates who make a living off our affiliate program alone. We’ve had some social media influencers, blog/community owners, etc, who shared RackNerd’s deals as an affiliate and enjoy recurring residual for doing so. It’s a great way to increase income and leverage your existing influence.
As a reseller, you’re essentially running your own business. In a nutshell, you’re purchasing hosting services/resources, and you sell them as if they were your own (for a mark up/profit). While this provides you with much more control over your business, as a reseller – you are fully managing the relationship with your customer and you are in charge of marketing your brand. This includes but is not limited to: billing the customer and collecting payment, setting up services, handling technical support inquiries from your customers, etc. However, there are certainly pros involved in being a reseller, as it allows you to create a scalable business and provides you with more control.
In short, it boils down to your specific goals and whether or not you’re looking to create a business or not. If you’re looking to create your own business and be in full control of your business, then becoming a reseller is a great option. If you already run a popular blog, community, or you are a social media influencer, then becoming an affiliate may be a great way to add passive residual to your income stream.
Reseller Program:
If you’re looking to get started as a reseller, the simplest way is to get started with a cPanel Reseller Hosting account. RackNerd offers white label reseller hosting accounts, which would allow you to brand it under your own company and start selling hosting services. Here is a YouTube video that goes over in greater detail on how you can get started as a reseller.
RackNerd has had some resellers who started off with a single/small reseller account with us, who eventually grew to multiple dedicated servers with us. If you’re interested in running your own webhosting business, consider becoming a reseller. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re an existing reseller, we will be there to help support your growth every step of the way!
Affiliate Program:
RackNerd has paid out over 6 figures to its affiliates last year alone and is on track to continue to grow that number! We have some affiliates who make a living off their affiliate earnings alone, it’s a great way to earn passive income. These figures are great for understanding the potential of what RackNerd’s affiliate system can do for you. We wanted to highlight some features of our affiliate program to the community.
If you are looking for a way to add yet another stream of income, become one of our affiliates! Share our promotions with your friends, community, blog or similar – we do the rest to make sure your referral is receiving unparalleled service and support.
Unlike other companies who provide a one-time payout, RackNerd provides a recurring commission structure so that you will be paid every month — get compensated beyond the initial sign-up period! Our system will automatically send you reports, along with your available balance for withdrawal. We value our affiliates and our program is designed to help those who help us!
RackNerd provides affiliate payouts via PayPal or account credit – your choice.
By partnering with RackNerd, you will earn 15% recurring commission by referring customers to purchase any of the following products:
- KVM VPS
- Windows VPS
- Hybrid Dedicated Servers
- Private Cloud
- Disaster Recovery
On the below products, you will earn 10% recurring commission:
- Dedicated Servers
- Colocation
How to Register
Registering is quick and easy! Become a RackNerd affiliate by signing up here: https://my.racknerd.com/register.php
After registration, you can access your affiliate portal (and obtain your affiliate URL) at: https://my.racknerd.com/affiliates.php
How to Withdraw
After 30 days from a referred sign-up, the commission amount will become eligible for withdrawal. RackNerd supports withdrawal via PayPal or account credit (please specify your desired payout method in the support ticket that it creates).
How to attribute a RackNerd ordering link to your affiliate ID
Want to link directly to a RackNerd product? Simply add &pid=XXX to the end of your affiliate URL (replacing XXX with the product ID).
As an example, our 1GB KVM package (order link: https://my.racknerd.com/cart.php?a=add&pid=20) is product ID 20, so you would append &pid=20 at the end of your affiliate URL to directly link to the product while utilizing your affiliate link.
Do you operate a popular website? If so, let us know and we will discuss and build exclusive promotions with special commission rates, just for you!
Questions about our program or how to get started?
No problem! Just contact us at https://www.racknerd.com/contact-us and we’ll get you started!
I also enjoy using LEBs! I have an empire of little guys for VPNs, larger guys for apps, and big guys for databases and storage. When I'm not in front a screen I'm into German Shepherd dogs, quality knives, target shooting, theology, tabletop roleplaying games, and forest hiking.
I enjoy writing technical articles here on LowEndBox to help people get more out of their systems. You can find me on LowEndTalk @raindog308
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Nice article;)
Hi David — Thank You very much! We thought this would be helpful, and glad you’ve enjoyed the read.
We’re here to help and look forward to working with more affiliates and resellers.
For those who still have questions, and or are looking to obtain additional success with RackNerd, just send me an e-mail dustin@racknerd.com
Always eager to help.