If you’ve been around the internet marketing scene for a while, I’m sure you’ve noticed three letters stand out: CPA. CPA stands for Cost Per Action and this article gives you the basics of CPA marketing and how you can use it to start making money online.
Although CPA networks have been around for a long time, it’s only recently in the last few years that internet marketers have really started using this as a primary source of online income. The many different offers you can promote via CPA differ significantly from the usual affiliate products you’re used to dealing with.
For cost-per-action or cost-per-acquisition networks, you as a publisher want your visitors to complete some type of action, and when they do, you get paid. The simplest form of action is just a little form, like their name, or maybe even just their zip code, and when they enter that information, you get paid. This is called pay per lead. Depending on the offer, you can get paid from a few cents to a dollar or several dollars per lead.
The other main type of action is selling. This is where CPA is most like traditional affiliate marketing. It directs the visitor to your home page or ad and when the user buys the product, you get the sale. Sounds a lot like a ClickBank method, right? Well it is, but many times you can have the person request your ‘free trial’ and only pay $4.95 in shipping costs and you can get paid up to $40 or more just from the free trial!
So how to start?
1. Find a niche. There are many different niches that you can promote, from online businesses to health and insurance products. Find one and stick with it.
2. Sign up with a good CPA network. There are many around, and some are better than others. Once accepted, you can start promoting your ads.
3. Start marketing. This could be creating a blog, buying paid advertising, marketing your list, etc.
4. Follow the rules! CPA networks have certain rules where you cannot market certain offers in certain ways, possibly through email or social media among others. Also, most offers are NOT incentivized, so you can’t bribe your user to fill out the form. You will get banned very quickly doing this!