RSS-Powered Affiliate Program: An Old Idea Whose Time May Have Come

Up until 2003, I used to run ISPcheck, a pay-per-click web hosting directory that became HostingCatalog under INetInteractive's management.

ISPcheck got some of its traffic from an affiliate program. In mid-2002, my friend Vlad from AITOC, an outstanding offshore development firm, suggested that I could help affiliates - and ISPCheck itself - generate more revenue by pushing top bids out to their sites via RSS. He explained that affiliates would be able to get a feed that dynamically synchronizes sponsored links on their sites and ISPcheck.

4+ years later, I finally see what a clever idea Vlad had. And I think it's applicable not just to ISPcheck, but any web hosting provider's affiliate program. Instead of regular banners, you could set up a marketing feed and give affiliate partners/ad venues the ability to promote multiple offers through a a customizable RSS widget (kind of like so). Any updates you make will instantly and automatically be pushed out to every affiliate partner's website.

By the way, I think every hosting provider should set up a network status feed also. And allow customers to receive support ticket updates, invoices, newsletters, etc via RSS in addition to email. RSS is 100% opt-in, and you can communicate with subscribers without worrying that your messages are being spam-filtered.

Oh, and give Vlad a call if you'd like to get a head start on cool marketing ideas for 2010 :)