Frequently Asked Questions
Affiliate Program Questions:
- How do affiliate programs work?
The process is as follows:
- You place a referral link (text or banner) on an Affiliate Site.
- The Potential Customer visits the affiliate site and clicks this link. It sends a request to our Affiliate Program Server with an assortment of variables that define the affiliate transaction (such as the unique ID of the exchange participant).
- Our Affiliate Program Server sets cookies in Potential Customer's browser from which Affiliate Site, text link, banner advertisement, or product link was used in the exchange. This cookie will identify the open transaction.
- Next, a new record is opened in the database of referrals on the Affiliate Program Server. The opened record consists of two parts -- the first one is filled with customer-related data, the second one remains empty.
- Then Potential Customer is redirected to your signup page.
- Once the signup is complete, THC sends a request to each of the Affiliate Servers (if you have more than one). Only one of them (depending on cookie) will start the affiliate program; the other servers will ignore the request. For each Affiliate Program, this request would have to pass different parameters, which have to be configured in THC's interface. At the same time, our Affiliate Program Server reads cookies from the customer's browser.
- The affiliate program finds the related database record using the cookie information and fills it with the received signup data. Then, it opens a new sale transaction.
- I want to refer a friend. Do you offer a referral program?
Yes! Our Affiliate Program offers the ability to earn up to 20% commissions for each and every sale sent to THC. Once your referred accounts have been active over 90 days, we send you money through Paypal during the next immediate pay period.
When you join the affiliate program we issue you an affiliate link. This link will be something like http://affiliates.tophostingcenter.com/click.php?id=test&page=1 and will be your connection between all clicks and sales made under this program.
When you’re ready to refer customers or your friends, give them your link. It will redirect them to THC where they can purchase hosting or dedicated server plans. Your 20% commission will then automatically and immediately show up in your affiliate stats and will be paid out on the next immediate pay period.
- How often do you send out payments through Paypal?
We send payments only by Paypal once/month on the 1st of each month.
- How do you pay our commissions (check, PayPal, wire transfer)?
THC will only pay via Paypal. Why? Because, we do understand that many of our international affiliates will not be able to easily cash a US Check. So that’s why, we offer to pay via PayPal, but only in increments of $200 or more.
- Can my commissions be applied with a discount on my hosting plan?
Unfortunately, at this time, we cannot apply your accumulated commissions with any discounts on hosting plans or dedicated servers.
- How do you track my commissions?
Every affiliate is provided with an Affiliate Tracking URL (or link) with a unique ID upon signup. It will look something like this:
http://affiliates.tophostingcenter.com/click.php?id=test&page=1, and will end with the username you choose upon signup. This link has a cookie attached to it, which remembers your unique affiliate username or unique ID.
When a customer clicks your banner link, the cookie is stored in their browser and follows them all the way to the signup page. After they purchase hosting, your commission of 20% appears in your affiliate stats! This is an automatic and immediate process that tracks every single sale you make.
- What is the minimum payout in your affiliate program?
Our minimum payout is $200 USD. This means that in order to receive a payment by Paypal, we now require every affiliate to reach this amount or more.
- I need a hosting plan; can I refer myself and receive the commission?
No. We do not allow self-referrals in our program, as per our terms of service. We do manual self-referral checks once/month to assure nothing tricky happens, and if we do find a self-referred commission, we will simply delete it. A self-referral consists of matching billing and affiliate name/address and if we see it after we pay an amount of commissions, this amount will be credited during the next immediate pay period.
- What is a “qualified commission”?
A qualified commission is any sale you refer to us, which:
- Was referred via your Affiliate Tracking URL ;
- Is a monthly Shared Basic, Business, Windows Plan or is any (1/3/6/12/24 month) VPS or Dedicated Account
And which does not
- Have a coupon or promo code attached to it
- Have another affiliate’s name attached to it
- Include Reseller accounts, renewals, or add-ons like Dedicated IPs, extra domain names, Tomcat, etc.
In short, any new Monthly Shared account, any VPS/Dedicated account, and any account which you refer our way earn a qualified commission.
- Can I earn commissions on other products like upgrades, sub-domain… ?
No. At this time, we only offer commissions on new accounts purchased with THC. Renewals, add-on domains, sub domains, and extra add-ons like Add Ram etc., Dedicated IPs, ASP, etc, are not eligible for commissions.
- How will I know when my commission has been qualified?
The whole process is as automated as possible, so once you make a sale, an email is generated to the address we have on file in our affiliate backend. This email contains the subject of “Commission Notification – Tophostingcenter.com” and is sent via affiliate@tophostingcenter.com, so be sure to whitelist that address. If you don’t see the sale show up immediately in your affiliate stats and email, write to customercare@tophostingcenter.com so we can look into the occurrence for you..
- How do I place a banner or a link on my website?
It’s all pretty simple, and you don’t need to know anything besides the basic commands of copy and paste.
- Log into your affiliate Control panel and take a look at our banner selection (http://affiliates.tophostingcenter.com/cgi-bin/affiliates/stats.cgi).
- Type your affiliate username into the blank provided and then click on the banner of your choice.
- Your HTML code will be automatically generated for you! Simply copy the code from the box and paste it into your website wherever you’d like it to appear.
- What is my Affiliate ID/Username?
Your Affiliate ID is the username or unique ID you chose upon signup. If you would like to change your Affiliate ID, please contact customercare@tophostingcenter.com and let us know.
- I want to change my username – how do I do that?
Everything in our affiliate program can be altered via your affiliate stats page at http://affiliates.tophostingcenter.com/cgi-bin/affiliates/stats.cgi. Everything except... your username can be changed. We don’t allow affiliates to alter their own usernames, as we need to make sure within our own systems that the username isn’t already taken and for accounting reasons as well.
- Do I need multiple affiliate IDs if I have multiple sites?
Nope! The nice thing about the Affiliate Tracking URL is that it will track your clicks, sales, and commissions from any website at any time. When you login to your affiliate stats, just click on the “overview” tab to see where each individual click and sale originated.
- Do I have to host with THC to become an affiliate?
No. You aren’t even required to have a website to become an affiliate.
- Can I redirect my traffic to specific pages with THC?
Yes! This is a great way to send targeted traffic to the landing page they will be most interested in.
To send your referrals to a specific Web Hosting Plan page, which lists all the features included in that specific web hosting plan, add /goto/PageTitle to your Affiliate Tracking URL.
For example, if you’d like to send your referrals directly to our THC Hosting Special Plan and your affiliate username is “customerID”, your link would be as follows:
http://www.lunarpages.com/id/customerID/goto/THCHostingSpecial/.
Please in other circumstance send us an email at: customercare@tophostingcenter.com
- I lost my affiliate username and/or password. What can I do?
No worries! Just go to http://affiliates.tophostingcenter.com/cgi-bin/affiliates/stats.cgi and follow the instructions at the bottom to have your username and password sent to you. If you’re still having trouble, email customercare@tophostingcenter.com.
