Hostwinds Affiliate Overview

The Hostwinds Affiliate Program allows eligible Hostwinds clients to refer customers to Hostwinds using a unique referral link. This overview explains how to use the affiliate area in the Hostwinds client area, what the available fields mean, and how to review referral and commission activity.

For instructions on joining the program, see Getting Started as an Affiliate with Hostwinds.

Accessing the Affiliate Area

After your affiliate account is activated, you can access your affiliate area from within the Hostwinds client area.

Your affiliate area is connected to your Hostwinds client account. You do not need a separate affiliate portal login.

The affiliate area displays your referral link, referral statistics, commission balances, withdrawal option, and referral history.

Affiliate Account view once signed up..png

Your Unique Referral Link

The Your Unique Referral Link field displays the referral link assigned to your affiliate account.

This is the link you can share with your audience when referring customers to Hostwinds. When someone visits Hostwinds through your referral link, the visit may be tracked for affiliate attribution.

Your referral link may look similar to the following format:

https://clients.hostwinds.com/aff.php?aff=XXXXXX

Your actual affiliate ID will be unique to your account.

How to Use Your Referral Link

Copy your unique referral link from the affiliate area and place it wherever you plan to promote Hostwinds, as long as the promotion follows the Hostwinds Affiliate Program Agreement.

Common ways to use your referral link include:

Adding it to a website or blog article
Including it in a hosting guide or tutorial
Sharing it through approved social media content
Adding it to an email newsletter
Sending it to someone who asked for a Hostwinds recommendation

When someone clicks your link, WHMCS uses affiliate tracking to associate that visit with your affiliate account when possible. If the visitor completes an eligible purchase and the referral meets the Program requirements, the referral may earn a commission in accordance with the Hostwinds Affiliate Program Agreement.

Tracking does not guarantee commission. Commission eligibility depends on the referred purchase, payment status, service eligibility, account standing, and the current Affiliate Program Agreement.

Affiliate Statistics

The affiliate area includes real-time statistics to help you review referral activity.

Clicks

The Clicks field shows how many visits have been recorded through your affiliate link.
A click means someone used your referral link to visit Hostwinds. A click by itself does not mean that a customer signed up, purchased a service, or generated commission.

Signups

The Signups field shows the number of signups associated with your affiliate link.
A signup is different from an approved commission. A referred account may still need to place an eligible order, complete payment, remain in good standing, and meet the Program requirements before commission becomes available.

Conversions

The Conversions field shows the percentage of tracked affiliate activity that resulted in signups or qualifying activity as reflected in the affiliate area.
This field can help you understand how your referral link is performing. For example, if you have clicks but no signups, visitors may be reaching Hostwinds but not creating an account or completing an order.

Commission Balance Fields

The affiliate area includes commission balance fields that summarize your current affiliate earnings.

Commissions Pending Maturation

Commissions Pending Maturation shows commission amounts that have been tracked but are not yet available for withdrawal.
These commissions may still be subject to review, payment confirmation, holding periods, service eligibility requirements, fraud review, refund or chargeback checks, or other Program requirements.

Available Commissions Balance

Available Commissions Balance shows the commission funds currently available in your affiliate account.
Once your available balance reaches the minimum withdrawal amount, you can request a withdrawal from the affiliate area.

Total Amount Withdrawn

Total Amount Withdrawn shows the total amount that has already been withdrawn from your affiliate account.
This field is useful for reviewing the amount previously paid out through the affiliate program.

Requesting a Withdrawal

The affiliate area includes a Request Withdrawal button.

You can request a withdrawal once your available commission balance reaches the minimum required amount shown in the affiliate area and described in the Affiliate Program rules.

If your available balance has not reached the required minimum, the affiliate area will display a message indicating when withdrawal requests become available.

To request a withdrawal:

Log in to the Hostwinds client area.
Open your affiliate area.
Review your available commission balance.
Select Request Withdrawal when your balance reaches the required minimum.
Follow the prompts provided in the client area.

Withdrawal requests are reviewed before payment is issued. Hostwinds may require additional payout, tax, identity, or account information before processing a withdrawal.

Your Referrals Table

The Your Referrals table shows referral records associated with your affiliate account.

If no referrals have been recorded yet, this section will display "No Records Found".

When referral records are available, the table may include the following columns.

Signup Date

The Signup Date column shows when the referral was signed up.

Product/Service

The Product/Service column shows the Hostwinds product or service associated with the referral, when available.

Amount

The Amount column shows the payment amount associated with the referral, when available.

Commission

The Commission column shows the commission amount associated with the referral, when available.

Status

The Status column shows the current state of the referral or commission.
A referral may be pending, under review, unavailable for withdrawal, approved, paid, declined, or otherwise updated, depending on its current status and the Program requirements.

Searching Referral Records

The referral table may include a search box, sorting options, pagination, and a records-per-page selector.

You can use these tools to review referral activity once your account has recorded referrals.

The search box can help locate a specific referral.

The records-per-page option controls how many referral records are displayed at one time.

The pagination controls allow you to move between pages of referral records.

Understanding Referral Tracking

Affiliate tracking depends on the visitor using your unique referral link. If a visitor does not use your link, clears cookies, uses a different browser or device, blocks cookies, or signs up in a way that cannot be connected to your referral link, the referral may not be tracked to your affiliate account.

To help ensure referrals are tracked correctly:

Use your exact referral link from the affiliate area.
Do not change or remove the aff value from the link.
Direct visitors to use your link before signing up.
Avoid using misleading redirects, forced clicks, or hidden tracking methods.
Make sure your promotional method follows the Hostwinds Affiliate Program Agreement.

Promoting Hostwinds

Affiliates are responsible for how they promote Hostwinds.

Your promotional content should be accurate, professional, and not misleading. You should not make unsupported claims about Hostwinds pricing, discounts, service performance, uptime, support, guarantees, security, eligibility, or commission approval.

Examples of acceptable promotional content may include:

Hosting reviews
Website setup guides
VPS tutorials
Dedicated server articles
Business hosting recommendations
Social media posts about Hostwinds services
Email newsletters to an audience interested in hosting services

All promotional activity must follow the current Hostwinds Affiliate Program Agreement.

Program Rules and Eligibility

This overview explains the affiliate area, but it does not replace the Hostwinds Affiliate Program Agreement.

The Affiliate Program Agreement governs eligibility, commission and payout requirements, prohibited activities, and all other Program rules.

For details about commission rates, eligible services, tracking cookies, holding periods, payout requirements, tax ID questions, and related topics, review the Hostwinds Affiliate FAQ and the Affiliate Program Agreement.

Need Help?

For affiliate-related questions, contact: affiliates@hostwinds.com