Google Apps competitor Zoho has launched an affiliate partner program. Can passive partners — everyone from bloggers to SMB web site owners — potentially profit from Zoho’s new SaaS partner program? Here’s some analysis.

Setup seems as basic as basic can be, as per Zoho’s blog entry: give them your PayPal account when you sign up, use the links and banners they provide you on your website, and when people start signing up for Zoho services through your hawking, you reap the rewards.

Zoho pays you when the users themselves pay Zoho, and you even get a cut on the monthly fees for up to 12 months after. It sounds like a good way to make recurring revenue in the most passive way possible — assuming you actually drive traffic in Zoho’s direction.

Right now, the Zoho Affiliate Program is only for Zoho Invoice and Zoho Projects, with more coming soon. The company already offers a partner program, but Zoho’s now showing a willingness to do business with whoever can get them more users.

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