CPA or Cost-Per-Action (or cost per click) affiliates are one of the fastest ways to make money online today. They're also very easy to get started with. You just need an account at a reputable company that allows you to submit links to their site so people will be directed to your offer page when they visit it. Once someone clicks through and purchases something, you receive a commission as long as the customer completes the transaction. The amount of revenue generated depends on how many times the visitor clicked through to your landing page before making a purchase.
If you've ever heard about Amazon Associates, then CPA affiliate might sound familiar. This type of affiliate model has been around since 1998 but was first introduced by companies like eBay who wanted to promote their auctions via other sites. It's still used widely today although some argue that it does not give publishers enough protection against fraudulent traffic as well as being vulnerable to scams.
However, CPA affiliate is more secure than others because you only have control over your own affiliate link which means no third party could use it without your consent. While it may seem daunting to learn new skills if you don't know anything about internet marketing, it doesn't take too long to fully understand everything. If you want to start earning money fast, here are the most popular CPA affiliate platforms out there right now.
The average rate of pay varies depending on where you look and what platform you choose. For example, ecommerce giant Amazon pays between $0.50 - $1.00 per sale while Google AdSense rates range anywhere from $3-$5. In these examples, both parties benefit equally regardless of whether the ad unit is placed on the publisher side or the advertiser side. However, CPM, or cost-per-click, ads tend to yield higher earnings due to the fact that advertisers bid for placement using a CPC bidding system.
When comparing CPA vs PPC, it's important to remember that CPA requires less work and can generate higher revenues overall. There isn't any setup time required, it's easy to set up, and most importantly, you won't incur any advertising costs until you actually see results. On the flipside, however, PPC tends to require more maintenance and takes longer to bring back profits once they're gone. Also, it's difficult to predict the exact number of sales that will result from each campaign unless you have access to analytics tools.
It's pretty simple: all you need to do is register with a reputable CPA affiliate provider and create a unique link. When visitors land on your site, they'll automatically be taken to the merchant's site where they can complete the transaction. Your job is simply to provide them with information about your product or service and encourage them to buy. Most CPA providers allow you to customize your optin form and include different types of content such as pictures, videos, text, etc.
Some CPA models even let you add your own logo to all your pages. Others limit the amount of space available for customization. Some will reward you with bonus commissions if certain actions are completed within specified periods, and others will send you checks every month. But regardless of what kind of compensation plan you end up choosing, you should always focus on maximizing conversions.
Clickbank remains one of the biggest names in CPA affiliate marketing. With millions of products listed across hundreds of categories, it's the largest marketplace for digital downloads on the web today. So why would anyone go elsewhere? Well, aside from having better perks and incentives, you can find lots of free resources to help you build your business on Clickbank including video tutorials, training materials, guides, cheat sheets, templates, quizzes, and forums!
But if you prefer another option entirely, check out our list below of the best CPA networks.
Top CPA affiliate Networks
Here are the top ten CPA affiliate networks currently ranked by Alexa.com
PayDotCom (ranked #2): Paydots CPA Affiliate Network provides its users with the ability to advertise thousands of high quality products. As a member, you can easily manage your campaigns and track performance. Plus, PaydotCom offers various payment options to fit your budget.
EzineArticles (Ranked #8): EzineArticles is one of the oldest CPA affiliate networks on the market. It's been featured in major publications and directories including PC Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, and CNN Money to name a few. And unlike other CPA affiliate programs, EzineArticles gives you 100% full rights ownership to your articles.
ShareASale (Ranked #9): ShareAsale is one of the newer CPA networks on the market. Their goal is to provide everyone with the opportunity to earn passive income online. All you need to enter into the program is a valid PayPal account. Then, you can browse through thousands of products offered by merchants across America and beyond.
Skimlinks (Ranked #10): SkimLinks is owned and operated by HubPages Inc., which is part of the larger corporation known as Wordpress.com. That means you can rest assured that whatever the terms and conditions state, you won't be held accountable for any issues regarding copyright infringement. Like most CPA affiliate networks, SkimLinks rewards customers with bonuses whenever they reach specific goals. These bonuses can come in the form of cash payments, gift cards, or merchandise. But the key thing to note is that the user must complete tasks to qualify for said bonuses.
There are two main considerations for determining whether or not a given CPA is legitimate: transparency and security. Transparency refers to whether or not you can verify the claims made by the vendor and determine if those claims are accurate. Security involves finding out who owns the domain name associated with the affiliate ID. A good way to figure out if a particular CPA is trustworthy is to review its policies and read testimonials written by previous clients.
You should also ask yourself if the CPA makes sense for the niche you're targeting. If you're looking to sell beauty products, it wouldn't make sense to join a CPA network focused on selling fashion accessories. Likewise, if you intend to post links to adult content, you shouldn't expect to get paid for promoting children's books.
Finally, keep in mind that CPA affiliate programs vary greatly in reputation. One company might have stellar reviews while another might barely exist. Make sure you conduct thorough research before joining a CPA affiliate program. Here's a great resource for learning more about CPA affiliate networks.
ClickBank remains one of the greatest choices for CPA affiliate marketers. Its program features hundreds of vendors offering tens of thousands of products ranging from software applications to kitchen gadgets to health supplements. To join, you simply need to sign-up for a free account and select a category to target. After that, you'll need to upload a promotional image, write a short description, and add keywords related to your chosen topic. Finally, you'll need to fill out registration forms and wait for approval.
Once approved, you'll be able to begin submitting links to relevant blogs and websites. ClickBank also includes helpful tools for tracking statistics and generating reports. In addition, you can easily update your profile and change banners on any existing campaigns.
To ensure legitimacy, ClickBank verifies accounts by requiring members to answer several questions about themselves and their businesses. Other factors considered include the size of the company, the presence of trademarks, and the nature of the products sold.
If you'd rather stick with traditional affiliate methods, consider starting a blog. Blogging is a great way to drive targeted traffic to your website and increase brand awareness simultaneously. It's also possible to monetize your blog by placing banner advertisements, linking to your social media profiles, and adding affiliate links wherever appropriate.
You can also try setting up a YouTube channel. Although the process is slightly more complicated, you can leverage your popularity to boost your bottom line. Just be careful not to violate YouTube's community guidelines by posting copyrighted material or otherwise violating copyrights.
CPA stands for cost per action or click-through rate (CTR). This means that a visitor will only be charged once they have clicked on your link and taken some kind of positive action - whether it's signing up to an offer, making a purchase, taking part in a survey, etc.
Affiliate marketers often use CPA as a way of promoting their own products or services at no upfront cost. It can also allow them to generate extra revenue without needing to invest any of their own capital into advertising campaigns.
The downside is that while CPA may seem like a simple and straightforward method of earning income online, there are many factors which need careful consideration before deciding whether it’s appropriate for your business.
So let’s take a look at how CPA works, along with all the pros and cons of using it to make money from home...
When someone clicks on a paid ad on Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Amazon, eBay, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Reddit, Houzz, Medium, or anywhere else where ads appear, they're effectively clicking through to another site and being directed by those companies' algorithms. The advertiser pays a fee to show their ads next to these links. If people then click through and buy something, the company who placed the advert gets paid.
This process is known as Cost Per Action (CPA) or Cost Per Sale (CPS), depending on whether the sale was made directly after clicking on the ad, or if there were additional steps involved between the time the user saw the advertisement and when they actually bought the product. CPA is therefore sometimes referred to as "direct response" whereas CPS is more commonly called “indirect response". For example, if you place an ad on social media, visitors might see it, but not necessarily convert straight away so would fall under indirect response rather than direct. Regardless of terminology, both refer to the same thing – paying for leads/actions.
As well as generating sales, advertisers pay for CPA because it allows them to track exactly how much traffic each campaign generates. So instead of guessing how many new customers they've acquired, they know exactly. While CPC (Cost Per Click) advertising is far cheaper, CPA provides greater accuracy and transparency.
It’s worth noting that CPA is just one type of affiliate marketing model. There are other types such as Affiliates Incentive Program (AIP) and Pay-per-click (PPC) which work in slightly different ways.
For instance, AIP involves affiliates receiving commissions for referring users to their sponsor’s service, regardless of whether or not they end up buying anything. PPC has similar elements to CPA, although generally speaking, the higher the bid price, the less likely someone is to click through. However, you still get paid if they do!
One of the most popular methods of getting involved in CPA is via targeted emails. You could create an autoresponder series which sends subscribers a regular newsletter about a specific topic, or perhaps a list of free resources related to a niche market. These kinds of newsletters usually include a few optin forms, allowing readers to subscribe and receive future content. Once the subscriber signs up, you can start sending out messages every week or month until eventually they become annoyed enough to unsubscribe.
You don't always have to send out multiple emails either. Some businesses will provide prewritten templates which you simply copy and paste onto your blog or website. Or maybe you want to add an image or two. Whatever you decide to do here, remember to keep things professional. Don't go overboard with graphics or images, and avoid including too many call-to-action buttons or links back to your own website. Just focus on providing value to your audience first, followed by asking them to join your mailing list.
If you prefer to write articles and submit them to article directories though, you'll find that the best CPA offers tend to reward this sort of approach. Although you won't earn massive amounts of cash overnight, writing quality posts regularly will help build credibility within your industry, and potentially lead to bigger opportunities down the line.
Yes, absolutely. But like everything else in life, success comes down to preparation. As mentioned above, you should spend plenty of time researching the various CPA offers available. Which ones are offering the biggest rewards, and why? What are the key features? Are there any hidden fees or limitations? And crucially, does the payout meet your expectations?
Once you understand all of the ins and outs of the options on offer, you’ll be able to select the best option for your needs. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to try a couple too…
There are several benefits to choosing a CPA affiliate network over traditional affiliate marketing, even if the latter is more familiar territory for you. One benefit is flexibility. With CPA, you can choose the exact amount of commission you wish to receive per sale. Traditional affiliate marketing models typically set the percentage of the profit earned by affiliates fairly low compared to other channels.
Another advantage is that CPA affords the opportunity to leverage existing data. Many CPA affiliate networks collect information about individual users and their behavior patterns. They can monitor which products consumers prefer, the number of times they visit a particular page, and so on. All of this helps ensure that the advertisements shown to viewers match their interests.
Finally, CPA affords the ability to target very precisely. Whereas general SEO techniques can help increase visibility across the web, CPA marketing is highly focused and delivers results quickly.
Since its inception, CPA has evolved significantly. Today, it’s possible to reach millions of potential buyers with just a single post - and to achieve this, minimal effort is required. That said, you must put in the hours needed to gain valuable experience and develop a strong understanding of the subject matter. Even so, given the right tools and mindset, CPA is certainly a viable alternative to conventional affiliate marketing.
Ultimately, it depends on your goals. Do you want to maximize conversions? Is your main priority building trust with prospects? Or do you want to generate quick returns on investment? As long as you answer yes to these questions, there really isn’t a wrong choice. Each channel has strengths and weaknesses, and finding the perfect mix is important. Ultimately, your primary goal should be to drive maximum engagement among your current and prospective audiences. To maximise conversion rates, you should strive to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Then, when people learn more about you, they’re more inclined to share your message, thus increasing exposure.
The term "CPA" stands for cost-per-action or cost-per-acquisition. This means that you pay a certain amount to get someone to click your link in exchange for something valuable like an ecommerce purchase or newsletter subscription. This method allows anyone with a website or blog to offer their services as an affiliate marketer using CPA advertising.
CPA affiliates can earn commissions by getting people to take specific actions such as signing up for a free trial product, filling out forms, subscribing to newsletters, etc. The payout will usually be determined per action completed. Some CPA networks also allow you to choose how much commission you want to receive when someone clicks your links. You may decide to get paid $1 if they signed up for a 30 day trial but only $0.05 if they just viewed one page (for example). Other top CPA networks offer more complicated structures where you could get paid different amounts depending on which steps the person completes within a specified timeframe. For instance, you might start off at $1 per lead then increase it incrementally after the first three leads were converted into paying customers.
Another key thing about CPA affiliate marketing is that it's easy to set yourself up as an affiliate without any technical knowledge. That way, even those who aren't tech savvy can still use these platforms to generate income from home. So let's have a look at some of the best CPA affiliate networks out there today.
Cost-Per-Action (or Cost-Per-Acquisition) is a type of online advertising business model where advertisers pay a fee each time somebody performs a desired action on their site -- whether that's downloading software, taking advantage of a discount code, or buying a product. In return, the advertiser gets credit for every visitor (known as 'leads') who perform the desired activity.
It's important to note that the fees associated with CPA advertising should not be confused with the usual affiliate marketing terms such as ClickBank or Commission Junction. These two types of businesses work differently because they don't charge you anything for generating sales, rather they charge their clients. However, both models rely on traffic generated via search engines and social media sites.
There are many ways to monetize your content. One of them is through CPA affiliate programs. It’s a very popular option among bloggers, podcasters, YouTube influencers, and other content creators since it doesn’t require massive investments or large followings to succeed. All you need to do is write great content, promote it well, and collect visitors through various channels. Then once you see people clicking your ads, you simply reward them accordingly.
If you've ever wondered why so many online entrepreneurs focus on affiliate marketing instead of traditional methods, here's what you need to know...
You're probably familiar with the concept of affiliate marketing thanks to all the articles, videos, and infographics floating around the internet. But did you know that there are various types of affiliate marketing available? Here are the most common ones and what makes them unique.
Affiliate marketing has been around for quite some time now. And while it was originally seen as a form of direct selling, things changed significantly over the years. Today, it is considered a legitimate source of revenue for thousands of companies across multiple industries. Read below to find out what exactly affiliate marketing entails and how it works!
One of the biggest misconceptions about affiliate marketing is that the company needs huge following before being able to benefit from its popularity. After all, millions of people visit Facebook everyday, yet no one would say that the platform itself generates profits.
So what does it mean to build a successful affiliate marketing campaign? Simply put, it requires patience and persistence. While building a list and gaining followers isn't really rocket science, it takes time. But once you've built your audience base, creating quality content and driving conversions becomes easier than ever.
As mentioned earlier, you typically get rewarded a percentage of whatever sale you bring in. There are lots of different CPA affiliate networks out there offering different types of products such as webinars, coaching packages, books, courses, and membership subscriptions. The main idea behind the whole process is simple: create high value content, drive traffic to your website, and convert them into happy buyers.
Here are some examples of how you may profit from running an effective CPA affiliate marketing campaign:
Webinar – If you host a webinar, you can sell access for a small price directly through your own website. Or, if you prefer, you can partner with another CPA network to reach wider audiences.
Coaching package/membership course – Many CPA affiliate networks feature coaching packages that help educate aspiring leaders about leadership skills. As part of the compensation, you can either sell individual lessons or entire training sessions.
Leadership book – Books written by experts can also prove to be extremely lucrative sources of passive income. Most publishers offer royalties ranging anywhere from 5% to 20%, depending on the length of the book.
E-book – Ebooks are digital copies of physical books that are often sold alongside regular print versions. Publishers typically give authors 50%-75% of ebook sales depending on the author's agreement with the publisher.
Memberships – Subscription boxes that promise members exclusive perks are big sellers on Amazon. Companies like Birchbox, FabFitFun, and Warby Parker are known for earning tens of millions of dollars annually through their affiliate programs alone.
Once you've found a good niche that resonates with your target audience, you'll need to come up with creative ideas for promoting your content effectively. A basic strategy includes writing useful guides and tutorials, hosting live events, creating video series, and participating in relevant communities online. When done correctly, it can quickly become a reliable source of passive income.
While CPA affiliate marketing is definitely less risky than PPC campaigns, it doesn't necessarily guarantee higher earnings. On average, it tends to yield lower results compared to other affiliate options. Still, it's ideal for those looking to supplement their primary incomes.
To be more precise, the earnings potential depends largely on several factors including the size of your existing audience. Your conversion rate (i.e., number of qualified visitors divided by total traffic), competition level, pricing strategies, and others determine how much you stand to gain. With enough dedication, hard work, and perseverance, however, success stories exist everywhere.
For starters, you don't need a ton of subscribers to start making decent money. Just think back to the early days of Pinterest, Instagram, or Snapchat. They started with a handful of users and grew exponentially soon afterwards.
While starting out as an affiliate marketer can be challenging, it won't hurt to try before diving too deep into the waters. Even better, you can join a community of experienced professionals who already share similar interests and goals. By joining groups related to your chosen field, you'll learn plenty about SEO, blogging, podcasting, and more. Plus, you'll meet new friends and colleagues along the way.
Best CPA affiliate networks 2020
The top ten CPA networks include:
Clickable Network - An affiliate network focused primarily on B2B technology solutions. Offers a wide range of vertical niches, such as healthcare, finance, IT, legal, retail, travel & leisure, education, automotive, and more.
Clickspring Networks - Offers a variety of highly targeted landing pages designed specifically for mobile devices. Also provides ad serving and tracking tools.
Pay Per Lead Network - Features a robust suite of marketing automation features, including advanced lead scoring, custom reporting, and multi-channel attribution.
CPAXpert - Provides a full suite of CPA marketing tools geared towards professional affiliates. Includes everything from pre-built templates to sophisticated analytics.
Optimizely Affiliates Program - Designed exclusively for professional microsites owners, Optimizely combines powerful analytics and optimization tools with a generous referral bonus structure.
Vidderz - Offers a diverse portfolio of premium video assets such as original shows, short films, music clips, trailers, TV commercials, and branded entertainment projects.
TigerPress - Tigerpress is a leading vendor of WordPress plugins, themes, and resources. Its flagship product, WPtouch, is a plugin that lets users add HTML5 elements to Wordpress blogs.
TrafficHits - TrafficHits is an established affiliate marketplace dedicated solely to digital downloads. It boasts hundreds of thousands of active publishers and brands working together to provide high-quality products.
Solo Build Academy - SoloBuildAcademy.com focuses mainly on teaching students how to develop eCommerce stores. Their affiliate partners earn 70 percent commission on any purchases made by their trainees.
WiseCash - WiseCash is a global leader in online payments processing, providing merchants with a complete suite of financial technologies. The company specializes in helping retailers accept electronic payments worldwide.
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.