CPA – What’s In It For You?
CPA is different from traditional affiliate marketing because you don’t actually have to sell a product. All you have to do is to provide a ‘lead’ that is someone who is sufficiently interested in the product to take some action to find out more. That action might be signing up to a free trial of the product, supplying an email address or even a zip code. If you can supply a lead to the advertiser, you get paid. So this seems a very attractive way to earn affiliate commissions: how difficult can it be to get someone to enter their zip code?
Well, it can be quite difficult, but more on that later. If you seriously want to get started with CPA there are a few other hurdles you need to cross before you can begin.
The first barrier to entry is getting accepted into a CPA network. These are the organizations who act for the advertisers. It’s their job to match the advertisers with the affiliates who want to promote their offers. And they are very picky about who they will accept. Most require you to go through an application process where you have to supply some evidence of your experience in CPA marketing. But, like other closed shops in business, how can you gain any experience when no-one will give you a chance to get started?
The honest answer is that you have to blag your way in. Try to find someone who will introduce you to a network and vouch for you. Apply to as many networks as you can find. Answer all their questions truthfully but demonstrate your enthusiasm to be accepted. Prepare for more rejections than approvals. If one or two networks accept you then that is enough to get started. If you can get a track record with these networks you’ll be better placed to apply to more.
But getting accepted into a network is just the start. Now you have to find out how to promote their offers. And this is where the difference between CPA and ordinary affiliate marketing becomes apparent. You’ll find that many of the offers are for products that can best be described as impulse buys (or actions): free trials of cosmetics, ringtone downloads, car insurance quotes, etc. Instead of being targeted buyers these are casual surfers and your job is to attract their attention by the force of the offer. The conversion rate is usually low, which means that you have to drive massive amounts of traffic to get a reasonable take-up of the offers.
Ah, traffic all marketing comes down to traffic in the end, and CPA is no different.
So, now you know why the CPA networks are so fussy and why the industry is dominated by a few high-powered figures who know how to drive traffic. Whether the traffic is free, organic traffic from the search engines (difficult and time-consuming) or pay per click traffic from online ad networks (tricky and expensive) it’s knowing how to drive traffic that’s your aim.
CPA marketing is just another variation of affiliate marketing but it requires more specialized skills. It is perfectly possible to earn a six-figure income but you have to learn some of the insiders’ techniques to find out how.
As with any branch of Internet marketing it all adds up to training and experience. To make a success of CPA marketing you need to invest in the best Internet training you can find, set yourself realistic goals and work hard to achieve them. Only then can you expect success.
