What You Should Know about CPA Marketing
Cost per action or CPA marketing, also known as cost per conversion and pay per action (PPA), is an advertising model where the publishers are paid for each specified action such as double opt-in, form submit, click and impression. This is different from common affiliate marketing methods in a way that you do not have to make sales to earn. Payments are based on lead generation like submitting an email address or phone number to get some information or free products. CPA is considered by direct response advertisers as the optimal way to purchase online advertising because advertisers pay for the advertisement when the desired action was performed.
Methods of CPA Promotion
There are several ways that you can do to promote your CPA campaigns. Some of these ways involve developing your own website and some do not necessarily require it. You have to study the products that you are promoting and decide where you can find a target market that is interested in buying your products or services. This article discusses some of the most commonly used CPA promotional methods.
This is like a direct sales page and it contains a lot of information about the product. Using this type of promotional method is a bit challenging. It is difficult to get the readers signed up to the website owner’s mailing list or to encourage them to click through to the merchant.
Review Website
Usually, review websites contain 3 or more products within a specific niche. A website about losing weight, for instance, may review products like weight loss pills or syrup. Generally, the page contains a brief product introduction, product reviews and star ratings. Usually, these products are ranked in order and each contains links directly to the merchant or a customized landing page.
Fun or Quiz Landing Page
A fun or quiz landing page is almost the same as the splash page but it is a simpler version. It usually contains a question with 3 or more answers. Games are sometimes used in this type of page. The only purpose of this CPA promotional method is to generate a great number of clicks.
Aside from all the methods mentioned above, you can also promote CPA offers by adding links to YouTube videos, emailing contact lists and posting to message boards.
CPA Marketing vs. CPL Advertising
In CPA marketing, advertisers pay for a completed sale through credit cards. This affiliate marketing is publisher-centric. Publishers have control over where they want ads to appear. They choose which brands to run on their websites.
In cost per lead (CPL) campaigns, an advertiser pays for an interested lead. This affiliate marketing is best for direct response marketers and brand marketers who want to engage consumers in a member acquisition program, reward program or community site.
Guide in Choosing a CPA Network
Most of the CPA networks will ask you a lot of questions about your experiences as an online marketer. You should ask them about the support that you will get from them and the person that you would be working with. Some networks offer difficult approvals while others offer easy approvals. Whatever network that you will choose, make sure that it is reputable in the industry.
CPA Network Application
There are some things that you need before applying to a CPA network. These include your home address, phone number, an active website, working email and promotional plans. Considering numerous fraudulent applications, it will be difficult to be approved if you are not a United States of America resident. You should have enough English language knowledge. However, recommendations from the network affiliate manager or older affiliates can help your application. Once you are approved, you have to download and fill out a W-8 (international) or W-9 (USA) form.
Offers
You can check the rates and offers after joining a CPA network. The approval process usually takes one to three business days. Sometimes, it takes more than 3 days if the network is experiencing any technical problems.
The offer payments differ across CPA networks depending on the requirements and quality of leads delivered. You should compare the landing pages and offer payments of different networks. To get the best offer, you should always check the requirement for every lead (action). Moreover, check the browser status bar when clicking links. What type of redirections are used? In some cases, your affiliate network can be an affiliate of another network. In these cases, rates are lower than the other network.
Affiliate Managers
Not all affiliate managers are former affiliates and not all of them can understand or answer your questions about CPA marketing. It is important to find out how much your affiliate manager knows about his job. Peerfly is a reputable network and is fairly easy to get approved.
10 Tips to Improve Your Profit from CPA Marketing
These 10 tips will help everyone who wants to have a successful career with CPA marketing.
1. Stick to your niche.
Establish your website in your niche before you look for a CPA marketing program. Your website needs to have high PageRank if you want to be successful with other income-generating activities online. Sticking with a niche also gets you a bigger chance of attracting more visitors from search engine results.
2. Focus on quantifiable traffic sources before you expand.
There are lots of traffic sources but you can only focus on a few. Concentrating on quantifiable traffic sources can help you analyze your traffic more effectively, and work out the areas where more attention is needed. Facebook and LinkedIn are good traffic sources. Employ social media marketing to open the gateway wider.
3. Choose products that convert better.
Most CPA networks give the option for random placement, but this is harder to manage because you don’t know how specific you should write and what types of visitors you need the most. You will be able to target your visitors more effectively if you know what types of advertisers you need to work for.
4. Don’t jump on the bandwagon.
Going along with hype gives a temporary boost in traffic. However, this traffic cannot be sustained in the long run because people see websites that play with hype often as suspicious. Go with facts and proven topics rather than play along with rumors.
5. Publish timeless articles.
The timeliness of articles appeals to all kinds of readers regardless of age and gender. People will still be searching for your content even five years from now. On the other hand, publishing time-sensitive articles are hard to update and might no longer convert in the future.
6. Write articles that will urge visitors to take an action.
In CPA marketing, actions should be spoon-fed to visitors. This is what call-to-action statements are for. There is no need to be obvious about it, but your intention has to be clear. If you want people to sign up, tell them why they should do it. If you want them to buy something, tell them the good qualities of the product that make it worth their money.
7. Build your own network.
A good CPA marketer uses his own network to attain his goals. His network is already comprised of his own believers. Since trust has already formed between a marketer and his network, it will be easier for him to convince them to do a certain action, like signing up for a newsletter or leaving contact details.
8. Stay away from syndication.
Content syndication is good for promotion and traffic generation. However, the truth is, the traffic obtained through syndication does not convert well. They are not as targeted as what you need them to be. You might as well focus on specific traffic sources like social media rather than expect for general traffic.
9. Ask for support from the CPA networks.
Reputable CPA networks offer free training and supporting information to their members. Ask for help because representatives of the network know their advertisers better.
10. Use A Tracking Software to maximize your traffic.
Know where your traffic is coming from, so you will also know what types of action apply the most.
