What is cost per action (CPA) marketing
CPA marketing is a popular way to earn money online. CPA is short for Cost Per Action sometimes also known as Pay Per Action or PPA. This is an example of online advertising, where the advertisers (those selling a product) pay the publishers (site owners) for a specified action that is carried out by the visitor to the site.
The way it works is you publish links on your website or blog, and when people click on these links and take a certain action you get paid.
That action might be:
- Providing an email address
- Submitting a form
- Accepting a free trial of a product
- Taking a short survey
- Signing up for a newsletter
There are many other actions, but instead of a sale you get paid even if the product is not sold. This is like affiliate marketing, but you get paid when your visitors perform certain actions. You drive visitors to your offer and then send that traffic to the vendors website where they then complete an action.
In general the more actions your visitors are required to take on the vendors site to achieve a conversion the more you will be paid.
When you place a CPA form on your website, you’re promoting a particular product from the vendor. The form normally asks the customer for their name, address, email, telephone number and perhaps their credit card details. As the website owner it’s your job to make the website and the offer look attractive enough for the visitor to submit their information. Once they do, the merchant will pay you the agreed upon amount of money for the lead.
How much money can you earn per lead?
Of course the lead prices vary a lot as this depends on how much the vendor thinks a potential client will earn him over a period of time. Also it depends on the action that has to be taken to be paid. For example, a simple email address might pay $1 or $2 , whereas a full sign up might pay $5 or $7.
Examples of CPA Products
Cost Per Action offers are available for a wide range of products which cover many niches. This is important if you already have a site.
Here is an example of some of the subjects that you can find: fashion, family, baby, business, dating, diet, education, gaming, health and beauty, insurance, mobile, music, software, travel and the list goes on.
How to start
The first thing you need to do is find an offer. The easiest way to find an offer is to go to www.offervault.com, which is like a search engine with CPA offers from the most reputable CPA networks. There you can search by network (if you already have a preference) category, price, country and even keyword.
When you find an offer that you think will be good for you, click on the listing to see more details. If you are happy with the offer you need to join the network that runs the offer.
Getting accepted by the CPA Networks
There is no simple way to get accepted each and every time, but there are certain things you
can do to increase your chances of being accepted. If at first you have a refusal, don’t give up, keep trying until you succeed.
You will have to fill in your personal details including your phone number because often they will phone you. The CPA networks have to vet you to make sure you are a legitimate business that can send them some leads.
Some things that might help you get accepted:
- your own website with a domain email address (yourname@yourdomain.com)
- be honest in all your communications, even if you are a newbie don’t be afraid to say so.
- phone them before they phone you. Most CPA networks will want to speak with you over the phone before approving your account. If you phone them immediately after submitting your application this will show them you are keen and serious.
As always beware! There are some networks that are not too honest, so check reviews and avoid networks that are bad payers.
Integrate your CPA offer into your site
Now you have joined a network it’s time to integrate your CPA offer into your site. Although you can get banners to put on to your site, it looks better and more natural if the links are either related to a post or if they are integrated into the design of the site. To fully integrate your link it might be worth having a custom design with the colours of your site, this can always be something to bear in mind when you start earning some money.
In conclusion
If you are interested in getting started in cost per action marketing find an offer that fits in with your niche and give it a go. You can start getting paid for simply generating leads and not sales!
If you need to create a website take a look my article on creating a website in 30 seconds.
Have you any experience with CPA marketing? If so I would love your feedback. Or if you have any thoughts or comments please leave them below.
To your success.
Peter
Hey Peter,
Thanks for this worthwhile article.
I do have related cause with Oputa Andrew but will like to ask can CPA offer be promote on social network. I do have approval from a network already.
And besides can it be promote on a website without a domain, I mean incorporated with WordPress something like http://hartistportfolio.wordpress.com
Hi,
If you already have a subdomain website, you could write a post about your CPA offer and then link to this post from Facebook or other social media sites.
Post a good comment with a call to action on the social media of your choice so people will click your link, read your post and then may visit your CPA offer.
All the best,
Peter
Hi Peter,
Am a Nigerian, I have read through your comment and have found them very interesting. Can I use Gmail account for CPA marketing? I don’t own a website yet
Hi,
Sorry about my late reply. It may be possible to join a CPA network without a website but they will want to know how you are going to promote their offers. Having no website will probably mean you will have to pay for advertising to get people to click your link, so you will need a budget.
Best of luck,
Peter
Hello, please I don’t know how to create a website and keep it running but I just saw your article and I’ll go through it, but why do they keep rejecting my request to own a CPA account?? Thanks in anticipation.
Hi Joseph,
If you haven’t a website this could be why you are being refused. The CPA networks want to know how you are going to promote their offers so if you haven’t a website or an email marketing list it will be difficult to be accepted into a CPA network.
Hope that helps,
Peter
Hi Peter
Are there any CPA companies that accept people from Nigeria. i can drive lead to any business using the social media and other tools
Hi Claude,
Yes, I believe several of the CPA networks like PeerFly or Maxbounty accept people from Nigeria. First, you need to be verified this will involve checking out how you intend marketing the offers, then email, phone and id verification. This may take a few days but is necessary to try and cut out some of the fraud that is rife online. The networks might be happy with you promoting via social media or they may require you to have a site. There is only one way to find out!
Good luck,
Peter
Hello Peter, I am looking to build a business from my home and CPA looks like the road I will like to follow. I have done extensive research on the do’s and dont’s regarding CPA. Starting from the beginning, what steps do you recommend in pursuing a CPA career or is there any other opportunities out there that can be built from home.
Hi Jerry,
If you decide to do CPA 1.you will need to choose your niche 2.create a website 3.write content to get traffic 4.find offers relevant to your website and 5.get accepted by the CPA network.
Although this might sound easy the hard part is getting traffic, but if you are willing to put in the work it can be done. There are no easy ways to make money online, however, my choice is affiliate marketing which can also include CPA offers. To get an affiliate marketing business up and running it is exactly the same process as for CPA.
If you are starting out Jerry, I recommend the online training course at Wealthy Affiliate, where you learn the correct way to build your business, from choosing your niche onwards. If you’re interested you can try Wealthy Affiliate for free and you even get 2 free websites.
Thanks for your visit and if I can be of any further help please let me know.
Peter
Hi Peter,
I have yet to dive into the world of CPA but it’s good to know that there’s other way of adding to our online income stream. At what stage of a website maturity or development phase would you advice to take opportunity of doing CPA?
Thanks.
Hi Cathy,
CPA can be a good alternative to promoting actual products. With CPA marketing you have to be accepted by the network that promotes the offer you are interested in. As part of the acceptation they will phone you (or better you phone them) to make sure you are a legitimate business, but also to see how you intend to drive leads to their business.
So if you know how you are going to get them real leads (by email list, search, social) it doesn’t really matter about the maturity of your website.
Thanks for your comment Cathy and if I can be of any further help please let me know. Peter