CPA is a an affiliate marketing system that pays for certain actions completed from the affiliate’s website. CPA means cost per action or cost per acquisition, and while it can include cost per sale, like typical affiliate marketing, it also includes payment for leads rather than actual sales.
CPA affiliates can make more money in less time than the non-CPA affiliate. There are two reasons for this: First, due to the quality of traffic affiliates are expected to provide, CPA networks can charge the merchants more for listing the product, and the network will pass this on to the affiliate in the form of larger commissions. Second, because affiliates are paid per lead, which often requires that the prospect simply enter his or her zip code into a form, it is easier for the affiliate to make money as compared to typical affiliates who must make a sale to earn money.
CPA networks draw advertisers to list their products with them and pay the fee by promising them good results. This means that all leads provided should be motivated to purchase, or to otherwise make the advertiser money. For this reason, CPA networks tend to be harder to join than typical networks.
Affiliates who want to join are required to have a website and to describe how they plan to market the offers. This usually requires some knowledge and experience in online marketing and traffic generation.
Once an affiliate is approved by the network manager, he or she is assigned to an affiliate manager, who will work with the affiliate one on one, to help him or her improve conversions from the traffic produced. In this way, the CPA network and the affiliate work closely together to help each other earn more money.
While more lucrative than the typical affiliate network or program, CPA networks require more specialized knowledge. Accordingly, it is best if you join the typical affiliate networks like Clickbank or Paydotcom and learn how to drive traffic and market products online before attempting to join a CPA network. Once you’ve become a seasoned marketer and you have a good website that draws a lot of traffic, most CPA networks would love to have you.
