Finding the right web hosting plan for your affiliate marketing journey can be a daunting task. With so many options out there, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by technical jargon and biased recommendations. But fear not, because we’ve got your back.
In this article, we won’t waste your time with lengthy explanations of web hosting or affiliate marketing basics. We know you’re already familiar with the concepts. Instead, we’ll cut straight to the chase and focus on what matters most: helping you find the best web hosting for your specific needs.
But here’s the thing: we’re not like those other sites that fill their recommendation guides with fluff and push you towards the big players in the industry. Sure, services like BlueHost and Hostgator are legitimate web hosting providers, but they might not be the perfect fit for you.
To make your decision-making process easier, we’ve categorized our recommendations into three levels based on your experience as an affiliate marketer. We want to ensure that you choose a plan that aligns with your current needs and goals. Plus, we want to steer you away from the allure of expensive hosting options that might not be necessary, especially if you’re just starting out in the affiliate marketing world.
While it’s helpful to take a peek at successful affiliate marketing websites and analyze your competitors using hosting detector sites, remember that what works for others may not work for you. Each hosting plan is unique, and it’s crucial to find the one that suits your specific requirements.
So, get ready to embark on a journey of discovering your perfect web hosting plan for affiliate marketing success. We’re excited to guide you through the process and help you make an informed decision. Let’s dive in.
Table of Contents
Entry Level Web Hosting for Affiliate Marketers: Affordable Options to Kickstart Your Business
SiteGround: Recommended for Newbies
SiteGround’s “Managed WordPress Hosting” plans start at just $6.99 per month, making it one of the best web hosting deals available right now. The best part? The setup process is incredibly straightforward, which is perfect for those of you who are new to the affiliate marketing game. So, what can you expect from SiteGround?
Affordable Plans with a Couple of Things to Consider
While SiteGround’s “Startup” WordPress hosting plans are currently heavily discounted at $6.99 per month (usually $14.99/pm), keep in mind that the price will double after the first year. Additionally, this price covers hosting for only one WordPress site. So, if you plan on having multiple sites, you’ll need to account for the additional cost. It’s also worth noting that your site will be hosted on a shared server along with other affiliate marketing sites.
Sufficient Resources for New Affiliate Websites
Even with their entry-level hosting plans, SiteGround offers 10GB of web space, which should be more than enough for all but the largest affiliate marketing sites out there. Furthermore, their basic web hosting plan can handle up to 10,000 visitors per month, making it suitable for a basic affiliate website.
Plus, you’ll enjoy additional perks such as a free Content Delivery Network (CDN), free SSL, and daily backups. It’s also worth mentioning that SiteGround’s servers are powered by renewable energy, so you can feel good about the environmental impact of your website.
And for those who are less tech-savvy, SiteGround includes a 1-click install service for WordPress, making it easy for anyone to set up their website. However, keep in mind that a free domain is not included in their plan, so you’ll need to factor in that additional cost.
Help and Support Options
SiteGround goes the extra mile when it comes to customer support. They offer multiple help channels, surpassing certain premium web hosts in this regard. If you have a quick and straightforward question, you can utilize their pinned help, chatbot, or automated solutions for a rapid answer.
But if you need more personalized assistance, SiteGround also offers live chat, phone support, and technical help through their ticketing system.
A2 Hosting: Need for Speed
One of the main reasons A2 Hosting is so popular among this crowd is its blazing-fast server speeds. And you know why? They use SSDs (Solid State Drives) instead of regular hard drives. That means they can offer speeds up to 20 times faster than other comparable web hosts. We’re talking about sub-1-second page load times here, which is like combining a CDN and caching plugin for optimal loading times.
Managed Hosting Plans for WordPress Enthusiasts
When it comes to hosting plans, A2 Hosting offers two flavors for WordPress web hosting: Shared and Managed. Shared plans are great, but you’ll miss out on some perks like backups, website staging, and a Jetpack license. If you want the best possible speeds, an optimized WordPress installation, and additional features like backups, go for their Managed hosting plans.
Pricing and Features
A2 Hosting offers a range of hosting plans, starting at $11.99 per month for a 1-site plan and going up to $36.98 per month for unlimited sites. Keep in mind that the initial price is discounted, and it may increase after your “grace” period ends.
With their basic ‘1-site’ WordPress plan, you get 10GB of storage space, a free SSL certificate, website migration, site staging, automated WordPress installation, and automated backups.
Unfortunately, they don’t include a free domain name, but they do provide a Jetpack personal license as standard. Plus, they seem to offer unlimited visitors to your website each month, although it’s always a good idea to take such claims with a pinch of salt. Remember that the impressive 1-second page load times were likely achieved in an ideal test environment.
Stellar Support for Peace of Mind
A2 Hosting offers 24/7 support via phone, live chat, or ticket system. That’s exactly what you’d expect from a web hosting company in this price range. The good news is their technical customer service receives high praise from their customers. So, rest assured that you’ll be in capable hands if you run into any issues or have questions.
Mid Range Web Hosting
Cloudways Web Hosting
When it comes to web hosting, Cloudways stands out from the crowd. It’s not that cloud hosting is a groundbreaking concept, but Cloudways takes it up a notch by allowing you to customize your hosting package according to your specific needs.
With the option to choose from five different cloud providers, namely Digital Ocean, Linode, Vultr, AWS (Amazon Web Services), or Google Cloud infrastructure, you have the freedom to decide based on your budget and desired speed.
Tailored Pricing for Every Budget
Cloudways may seem quite affordable at first glance. Well, to some extent, that’s true, but only for their most basic cloud hosting package, which costs $10 per month and covers a single website hosted on Digital Ocean.
However, if you’re an affiliate marketer seeking top-notch performance, the real beauty lies in Cloudways’ pricing structure. You can spend anywhere from $10 to $200 per month, depending on your specific affiliate marketing needs. It’s all about finding the right package for you.
Example: The $42/month Digital Ocean Plan
Let’s take a closer look at their $42/month Digital Ocean plan to see what you get for your money. For established affiliate marketing businesses, this is a reasonable amount to invest in a hosting plan.
With this package, you’ll have a server equipped with 4GB of RAM and a 2-core processor.
Additionally, you’ll enjoy 80GB of storage space, 4TB of bandwidth, Cloudways CDN, monitoring services, free site migration, free SSL, staging environments, automated backups, advanced content caching, and regular security patches.
Support That’s Got Your Back
Now, what happens if something goes wrong? Well, fear not, as Cloudways offers 24/7 customer service to support you in such situations.
However, their support system can be a little confusing with its three different tiers. The standard assistance comes for free and includes live chat and a ticketing system, but no phone support. If you’re looking for more, you can opt for their ‘Advanced Support’ add-on for an extra $100 per month.
But if you want to be able to call their technical team or reach them via their Slack channel, you’ll need to shell out an additional $500 each month.
Straddling the Line Between Mid-Range and High-End Hosting
Cloudways walks a fine line between mid-range hosting and high-end solutions, and it actually manages to occupy both spaces simultaneously. It’s no wonder that many in the affiliate marketing industry hold them in high regard, bordering on worship.
They offer a range of features like URL hosting, shared hosting, daily backups, and more. With hosting plans starting at $10 per month for one site, they’ve got something for everyone.
WPX Web Hosting
WPX was founded by Terry Dean, who has extensive experience in affiliate marketing and SEO. He seems to understand exactly what affiliate marketers like us need from a web host. They cut out the marketing fluff and focus on providing features that matter.
Simplified Hosting Plans: No More Overwhelm
Unlike other web hosts that bombard you with endless options, WPX keeps it simple with just three plans to choose from: ‘Business’, ‘Professional’, and ‘Elite’. Finally, some clarity! Their entry-level plan starts at $24.99 per month for monthly payments, but here’s a pro tip: if you pay for a year upfront, it comes down to $20.83 per month. No sneaky introductory pricing here; you pay the full price right from the start.
Features that Make Affiliate Marketers Happy
The basic plan offers 10GB of storage space and 100GB of bandwidth, which should be more than sufficient for multiple WordPress affiliate marketing sites. But here’s where it gets interesting: they also include their very own CDN (Content Delivery Network) at no extra cost. Trust me, that could easily save you $240 per year compared to getting it separately. That’s money you can put right back into your affiliate marketing business.
Premium Features at Budget-Friendly Prices
WPX doesn’t skimp on the good stuff. With their hosting, you’ll enjoy automatic backups, 1-click WordPress installs, staging, site migrations, and daily malware scans. These are features that usually come with a premium price tag, but not with WPX. They want to make sure you have everything you need to succeed without breaking the bank.
Lightning-Fast Support: No More Waiting Games
Let’s face it, as affiliate marketers, we’d rather spend our time making money than dealing with slow-loading sites or technical headaches. WPX gets it. That’s why their average response time on live chat queries is just 30 seconds. Impressive, right? Some other shared hosting services can take days to get back to you, and who has time for that?
Professional Web Hosting
Kinsta Web Hosting
If you’re in search of the ultimate web hosting service, look no further than Kinsta. They consistently deliver top-notch performance, day in and day out.
Unmatched Hosting for Affiliate Sites
When it comes to hosting affiliate sites, Kinsta is second to none. They understand WordPress in a way that 90% of other hosts simply don’t. Whether you have a niche site or a complex affiliate platform, Kinsta has got you covered.
Serious Business Calls for Kinsta
Now, let’s address the elephant in the room: Kinsta is not cheap. If you’re a serious player with substantial traffic or multiple websites, expect to spend around $300 to $400 per month for your hosting. So, Kinsta is definitely geared towards full-time affiliate marketers who have established businesses and aren’t just starting out.
Impressive Features to Boost Your Website
Each of your hosted sites will run smoothly on Kinsta’s SSD-based servers. What’s even better is that your website will be hosted on Google Cloud servers, ensuring lightning-fast page load times.
Plus, you can choose the server location that suits you best. Kinsta includes an SSL certificate, CDN, automatic daily backups, site migration, site monitoring, and automatic optimization of your WordPress databases as part of their hosting plans.
Exceptional Support for Serious Marketers
Kinsta provides 24/7 support for English-speaking customers, along with multilingual technical support during core business hours. While phone support isn’t available, you can rely on their knowledgeable engineers through live chat. What sets them apart is that you’ll always speak to Tier 2 engineers who can promptly address any issues without passing you around.
Unmatched Value for Your Investment
Yes, Kinsta hosting comes with a higher price tag, but it’s worth every penny. They offer an extensive range of features and deliver unmatched support, hosting quality, and website speed. Currently, there’s no competition that can match Kinsta in terms of the services they provide.
Remember, Kinsta is tailored for the most serious affiliate marketers out there. So, if you’re ready to take your business to the next level, Kinsta is the hosting solution for you.
WP Engine Web Hosting
If you’ve heard of WP Engine, it’s for good reason. They are a leading provider of web hosting, powering the websites of 120,000 customers across more than 100 countries worldwide.
In fact, about 5% of all WordPress traffic lands on sites hosted by WP Engine. Their success lies in their focus on WordPress users who require fast, secure, and scalable hosting. Notable brands like National Geographic, RyanAir, Dropbox, major media websites, and many big names in affiliate marketing trust WP Engine for their hosting needs.
Professional Managed WordPress Hosting
WP Engine offers professional managed WordPress hosting that lives up to its name. Their plans start at $30 per month, but it’s important to note that this pricing is for “beginner” sites. If you’ve reached a point where your current host is complaining about your traffic levels, expect to pay around $290 per month to host your website with WP Engine. However, signing up for an annual hosting plan can reduce the cost to $241 per month.
Included Features and Benefits
What sets WP Engine apart from its competitors is that they are the team behind the Genesis Framework and the StudioPress theme, both of which are included with every hosting plan. Their ‘Startup’ plan, priced at $30 per month, provides 10GB of storage, 50GB of bandwidth, and up to 25,000 unique visitors per month for one site.
Additionally, you’ll receive a free SSL certificate, a CDN, staging, development and production environments, free migration for existing sites, and built-in caching for your site.
WP Engine also offers advanced site monitoring and security, claiming to block up to 2 million attacks daily. However, it’s worth noting that daily backups are not listed as one of their standard features, which is a bit unusual.
Customer Support
Should you encounter any issues, WP Engine has a dedicated customer service team available 24/7 through live chat for the ‘Startup’ plan. However, if you prefer phone support, you’ll need to upgrade to the ‘Growth’ or ‘Scale’ plans. While this is a standard practice among premium web hosts, it can be a bit peculiar.
Conclusion
In conclusion, investing in high-quality web hosting is a crucial aspect of running a successful online business as an affiliate marketer. While it may come with a higher price tag, the benefits of reliable hosting far outweigh the potential losses and setbacks that come with cutting corners.
As your business grows, be prepared to upgrade your hosting to accommodate increased traffic and ensure a seamless user experience.