CPA Marketing: The Ultimate Guide (All Time) 2021
When it comes to monetization, I've tried everything.
I started with Adsense ... but was disappointed with the low CPCs.
Then I promoted affiliate products ... but I couldn't convert the traffic.
Then I tried CPA marketing ... and quickly realized it was THE best way to monetize.
(In fact, CPA helped one of my sites go from 0 to $ 10k / month in record time)
And in this post, I'll show you everything you need to know about CPA marketing.
- What Is CPA Marketing?
- Why CPA?
- Step #1: Find an Offer
- Step #2: Join a Network
- Step #3: Design Your Site Around CPA
- Step #4: Drive Traffic To Your Site
- Bonus: CPA Pro Tips
What Is CPA Marketing?
Cost-per-action (CPA) marketing is an affiliate model where a commission is paid when a user performs a specific action. These actions include filling out a form, obtaining a quote, signing up for a trial, or making a purchase.
Why CPA?
There are two main reasons why I prefer CPA to banner ads, Adsense and most of the other affiliate marketing strategies.
1. Higher in the value chain
To get the most out of your site, you want to rank high in the value chain.
Here's what the value chain looks like for digital products (using a $ 100 course as an example):
As you can see, Adsense, banner ads, and CPC / CPM put you at the bottom of the value chain.
On the other hand, selling your product, being an affiliate and CPA puts you higher in the chain.
Keep in mind that physical products have 2-10 times more hands in the pot (distributors, warehouses, suppliers, etc.). That's why Amazon Associates only makes $ 100 when someone buys a $ 2,500 laptop.
Just to be clear:
I'm not saying you should avoid promoting physical products.
Just remember that commissions for physical products tend to be MUCH lower than for digital products.
2. Integrated advertising
The other advantage of CPA is that you don't need to deface your site with bad Adsense blocks or banner ads.
As you will see below, you can seamlessly integrate CPA offers on your site.
That means you run a legit branded site ... while taking advantage of out-of-this-world CTRs and commissions.
Step #1: Find an Offer
The first step is to find an offer to promote.
The question is:
How do you find the perfect deal for your site?
It's easy: use oDigger and OfferVault.com.
They are like the Google of CPA: they add up to thousands of offers from reputable CPA networks.
And you can search by keyword, price, category or network.
For example…
Let's say you run a site in the healthcare space.
Go to Offer Vault and type "weight loss" in the search field:
These are the common terms you will encounter during your research:
- ___ Only: You can only use a certain traffic source, such as email or organic search.
- Display: Includes text links and banner ads.
- Lead: The most common "action" in the world of CPA marketing. Usually someone sends their name, email, phone, address, etc.
- Send email / zip - the easiest CPA offer Great for unaddressed traffic. The user only provides his email and postcode.
- Incent - Short for "incentivized". Incentive means you can "bribe" users with a free product or download.
- Pay per call: You get paid when someone makes a call after clicking on your affiliate link.
- Download / Install: You get paid when someone downloads or installs software.
- Publisher: the person promoting the offer (you).
- Trial: When the user signs up for a free trial of a product or service.
- Pixel Fires - This is what happens when someone clicks on your link (becomes a potential customer).
- US / FR / CA: Offer valid only in that specific country.
- AM: It means "Affiliate Manager". Your AM is the person to contact online
- Sale or revenue share: Get a portion of every sale (one-time or recurring)
When you see an offer that looks good, click on the listing:
So look at the details. Usually the list will give you key information about the offer, such as what the user should do and what type of traffic is allowed:
If the offer looks good, hit the "Full landing page preview" button. This will show you the page that users will see when they click on your link:
So:
What should I look for on a landing page?
First, you want a landing page that is clean and professional.
If it looks cloudy, your traffic will be too ... and it won't convert.
Also, the more fields a page has, the lower its conversion rate.
Said that:
More fields also mean higher fees.
So don't automatically disable with a page like this which takes 6 steps:
If your traffic is sufficiently motivated (for example, your traffic is from people Google searching for "the best online headlines"), I have found that they will fill pretty much anything.
"What if I can't find an offer?"
Depending on your niche, you may not be able to find an offer that fits your site's theme.
In this case, you want to look for CPA offers that are attractive to your demographic traffic.
Let me illustrate what I mean by a real life example ...
I ran a site in the "dating" niche that received 2,000 visitors a day.
I put "quotes" in quotes because it was mostly made up of ninth grade students wondering how to talk to Sally at the back.
(Not the kind of easy thing to monetize)
Even though I tried around 20 different ad themes and placements, I wasn't making ANY money from Adsense.
And when I looked at the ads that Adsense was placing on my site, I realized they weren't dating related at all.
Instead, they were targeted based on demographics.
It was then that I decided to trade Adsense for an email / zip shipping offer with a free Xbox 360.
And so, I started making a lot more money than I made with Adsense.
Step #2: Join a Network
If the offer looks good, it's time to join the network running the offer. You can apply by clicking on the "Join the network" link on the offer page:
When you do, you will see an app like this:
I have to point out something:
You will be asked to provide a phone number ... they will call you.
This is a stumbling block for many people. As an affiliate marketer, we are used to making money online without talking to anyone.
But the reality of the CPA is this:
If you wish to join a CPA network, you will need to speak to someone on the phone. You may also need to fill out some actual documents. It's not a big deal.
How to be accepted by any network
Remember that CPA networks aren't trying to complicate things. They just want to make sure that you are a legitimate company that will send them real leads (which is you).
So it's just a question of transparency.
Here are some tips to help you get accepted:
- Call them before they call you - suspicious affiliates try to go unnoticed. Then call the network right after applying. This shows that you are the real deal. I was accepted into a network literally 10 minutes after applying. Such as? I picked up the phone and called.
- Check your Whois: Some networks check if your site's whois address matches your postal address.
- Be honest - most apps have a section to learn more about your online marketing experience:
Remember: you don't need to be an internet marketing star to be accepted.
In fact, I joined my first affiliate network when I was earning around $ 20 a day on Adsense. They just want you to provide honest answers in these fields.
So if you're new to affiliate marketing, it's okay to tell them.
Step #3: Design Your Site Around CPA
Once you've joined a network and have a CPA offer ready, it's time to integrate it on your site.
One of the things I love about CPA is that it can make your site look like Fortune 500 ... even if you're promoting $ 1.25 email / zip sendings.
In other words:
Don't miss the chance to make your site look legitimate by putting a bad banner.
Believe it or not, but you don't need direct mail to make money from your site.
In fact, I've found that the more you integrate your advertising, the higher your conversions will be.
For example, I own a 100% monetized site with CPA. Most affiliate links are contextual links or are integrated into the site design.
It has very few banner ads.
Despite the obvious lack of advertising, the site has a CTR of 26.4%.
(If I had that kind of CTR with Adsense, Google would probably ban my account!)
Here are two examples of big brand sites that have done such an amazing job with integration that you will hardly notice that they are promoting CPA offers:
Big Brand CPA #1: MoneySupermarket.com
This is a great branded financial site in the UK.
(How big is it? Are they listed on the London Stock Exchange)
And their business model is almost 100% CPA.
But you didn't know I was watching it. The site's CPA offers are seamlessly integrated into the site.
Big Brand CPA #2: NerdWallet.com
NerdWallet.com is a fast growing personal finance site. Like MoneySupermarket.com, they integrate their CPA offerings into useful tools.
This seamless ad integration beats the CTR and conversion rate you would get from banner ads.
To be clear: you can do well with traditional banner ads and contextual links.
But I highly recommend using a custom design that makes your site legitimate.
Step #4: Drive Traffic To Your Site
Now that you've found an offer and joined a network, it's time to drive traffic to your site.
There are millions of ways to generate traffic. But these are the 3 most common traffic strategies used by CPA marketers:
1. SEO
Unsurprisingly, SEO is my go-to traffic strategy.
It takes time to kick off, but once you rank for your target keywords, you get traffic without doing ANYTHING.
If you want to know the ins and outs of SEO, I recommend that you check out these resources:
Keyword Research for SEO: The Ultimate Guide
How to get high quality backlinks (7 new strategies)
On-page SEO: Anatomy of a perfectly optimized page
2. PPC Ads
PPC ads (like Google Adwords and Facebook) are another popular way to drive traffic to your CPA bids.
The big advantage of PPC advertising is that you can get started right away.
(You can literally start getting traffic in about an hour)
The downside is that you have to funnel money into your ads ... Once you stop spending, your income drops to zero.
3. Social networks
Facebook. Instragram. Youtube.
These are all platforms you can use to present your offers to the right people.
As with SEO, it can take some time to build a following on social media. But a popular Instagram profile or Facebook page is an asset that can pay off for YEARS.
Bonus: CPA Pro Tips
Here are some tips I've learned from my experience in bidding as a CPA affiliate.
Be close to your affiliate manager
Your "AM" is your internal network source. Every now and then they call or email you to convince you to run some of their new offers. I am always polite and professional when contacted by:
After all, most AMs are great people who just do their job. And it's a relationship that you can leverage for exclusive deals (as you'll see below).
How to get commission increases
One of the benefits of having a good relationship with your MA is that you can get commission increases.
In fact, so far I have a 100% success rate. And this is because I do two things: a) I maintain a good relationship with my MA and b) I play one goal against another.
From time to time, check to see if the offer you are promoting is from a competing network.
When I see that another network is running one of my offers at a higher rate, I ask my AM that they can match it:
They don't want you to slip away into another affiliate network. So you will usually be hooked:
You may have noticed that this is a $ 0.30 increase over what the network was publicly offering.
It might not seem like much, but let's quickly get to the math:
Let's say you get 50 conversions per day.
50 conversions x $ .30 = $ 15 extra per day
$ 15 / day x 30 days = $ 450 extra per month
$ 450 / month x 12 months = $ 5400 extra per year
Not bad 🙂
Avoid suspicious networks
The dark side of the CPA is that there are many shady operations that scam people. This is why you should be VERY careful when joining suspicious networks.
So, before joining a network, check out the reviews on Odigger.
First, click on the "Network Reviews" tab on the home page.
And find the network you want to join.
Stay away from any network that has really bad reviews.
(Especially if many people report having trouble getting paid)
That said, keep something in mind:
Networks sometimes have legitimate reasons to withhold payment (for example, if someone has sent them fake contacts).
So if you see a few complainants on a stellar review list, it's probably okay to join.
But if you see a sea of negative reviews, you should go with another network (even if the commission is higher with the suspicious network).
My recommended networks
I have joined various CPA networks over the years. But I'm more active in two: MaxBounty and Panthera Network. Both have tons of offers, competitive payouts, and great AMs.
They are both great. But if I had to pick one ... I'd probably go with MaxBounty.
The main difference between the two is that MaxBounty offers weekly payments.
Now:
There are many other big name networks (for example, I've heard good things about Peerfly and Neverblue). But I can't recommend them because I haven't worked with them personally.
Now It’s Your Turn
There you have it: a comprehensive CPA marketing plan.
Now I would like to hear from you:
What has been your experience with CPA?
Or maybe that's just the beginning.
In any case let me know by leaving a comment below right now.
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https://backlinko.com/cpa-marketing
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