If you have been looking for a low-risk, high-income investment, you might have heard of CPA (cost-per-action) marketing. It is one of the most attractive investment models for new and seasoned marketers.
CPA marketing is your best bet if you want a business model that generates passive income and a high return on investment (ROI). Sit down and relax as I walk you through CPA marketing, how it works, and other things you need to know.
Table of Contents
What is CPA Marketing?
CPA stands for cost per action, sometimes called cost per acquisition or pay per lead (PPL).
CPA marketing is an online advert model in which the businesses target the correct lead and converts them to customers by partnering with a blogger, influencer, or publisher (affiliates) who receives a commission once the targeted lead or audience takes action in patronizing the business.
Usually, the partners or affiliates display the ad banner of the business on their social media accounts or websites.
How Does CPA Marketing Work?
There are three main components of a working cost-per-action marketing model;
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The partner/affiliate/publisher
These are influencers, bloggers, or content creators who can drive traffic to a business website.
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The advertiser or business
These are brands looking to increase awareness and promote their product to get more sales.
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The CPA network
This platform brings the affiliates and advertisers or businesses together and is often responsible for handling payment between them. The CPA network will assess whether the affiliates are qualified and help businesses or advertisers get affiliates who can generate better leads.
Both advertisers and affiliates sign up in a CPA network where the advertisers look for the best affiliates. A better affiliate would be a publisher or influencer with tons of followers and creating targeted content for such followers. The CPA network helps advertisers/businesses to choose the best affiliates; this ensures that the affiliate chosen is already distributing content in line with what the business or advertisers offer.
For instance, if an influencer is a model or fashionista, they can adequately promote businesses that sell fashion products like clothes, shoes, etc. The result is that the affiliates choose the products they can sell best and earn a commission for it while the advertisers or businesses reach a more extensive customer base.
You are reading this to get into cost-per-action marketing as an affiliate who will help advertise businesses on your social media account or websites and get paid once your audiences patronize the business. Ensure you choose a business you can promote because you may only get paid if your audiences perform the right task.
Categories of CPA Marketing Model
The CPA marketing model has three categories or types;
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Pay per action
Pay per action means that you will get paid as affiliates when visitors take action. In this case, the visitor to your website or social media handle will need to complete tasks like watching a video, signing up for a demo, filling out a form, etc., before you get any payment.
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Pay per sale
You will get paid when visitors purchase on your partner’s business website. Different from performing a few tasks in the case of pay-per-action, the visitors who have seen you advertise will need to buy products or patronize the services of your business partner before you get paid.
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Recurring payments
Recurring payment is an income you frequently get (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly) if you repeatedly convince new people to visit and patronize your partner.
Read Also: Information Marketing for Business: A Comprehensive Guide for Nigerians
Differences between CPA Marketing and Affiliate Marketing
Although cost-per-action and affiliate marketing are online business promotion models where you earn by advertising products or services, they are slightly different. In affiliate marketing, you earn when an audience purchases through the link distributed across your website and social media platform. The word you should note here is “purchase” because you will not get paid if your audience clicks the link alone, go through the products, and perform any other task without making an actual purchase.
For cost-per-action marketing, audiences may not necessarily buy the product. Some advertisers only want the audience to complete some tasks, and you get paid when audiences do this. Therefore, affiliate marketing solely depends on product sales, while cost-per-action marketing relies on lead generation through simple actions like app installation, link clicking, etc.
Another main difference is that CPA marketing involves using a CPA network where a manager guides you on choosing the best advert offer and how you can make money by promoting such adverts. There is no one to guide you or choose the best affiliate marketing offer.
Besides this, you often need formal approval before promoting an advertiser’s products or services in cost-per-action marketing. In contrast, in affiliate marketing, you can quickly get the affiliate link once you are part of an affiliate marketing network.
Read Also: 7 Things Entrepreneurs Should Know About Marketing
Top 10 CPA Networks in 2023
If you are wondering how to start cost-per-action marketing, the first step is to join a CPA network. Below are the lists of the top CPA networks;
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Performcb
Performcb is arguably the best CPA network in the world because it is an outcome-based marketing network that generates more than 1 million monthly business conversions.
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Algo-Affiliates
Algo-Affiliates is the leading performance marketing network giving offers like forex/trading, crypto, finance, sweepstakes, dating, etc.
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Cpamatica
Like Olavivo, Cpamatica offers sweepstakes, games, dating, and streaming. You can get paid every week and receive other benefits if you are a loyal affiliate.
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CrakRevenue
CrackRevenue gives affiliates offers in gaming, gambling, cam, dating, health, etc., using highly converting products that guarantee you earn.
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Olavivo
Olavivo empowers affiliates by offering affiliates solutions through crypto, gambling, dating, sweepstakes, etc.
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Datify.Link
With Datify.Link, you can get exclusive offers from direct advertisers, including gambling, finance, game, dating, etc.
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GoldLead
Gold Lead gives affiliates high-converting offers like igaming, sweepstakes, dating, etc.
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Cpark
Cpark is a digital performance marketplace for offers like sweepstakes, dating, mobile, etc. They have different payment methods for affiliates (WebMoney, Payoneer, Paypal, Paxum, etc.), and earnings can be withdrawn weekly or monthly.
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Clickout
As one of the best affiliate networks for crypto, Clickout gives affiliates several crypto-based CPL and CPA offers.
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MyLead
MyLead offers various partner programs that ensure you earn without leaving the comfort of your home. Offers include dating, finance, crypto, gambling, sweepstakes, etc.
Read Also: Influencer Marketing For Business: A Complete Guide for Beginners
How to Join a CPA Network
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Create a domain email
The first step is to create an email address with a personal domain. This is preferable to a free email service provider (ESP) address because it demonstrates your professionalism as a content creator.
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Develop a web page
Although companies accept publishers without a functional website into a CPA network, creating your site to promote content is still a good idea. Although the content of your website can vary, it should describe your background and highlight your achievements and expertise.
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Be dependable and proactive
Successful CPA advertisers daily receive numerous applications. Even if they are interested in working with you as a publisher, you may not hear from them for days or weeks. Therefore, it is essential to be proactive and follow up directly with the advertiser. This can help increase the probability of acceptance.
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Be honest
Always be truthful in your application, providing accurate information about the number of visitors to your website and the size of your online audience. Even a small audience can send a large amount of traffic and leads to an advertiser if the content is relevant and the audience is engaged.
However, if the information you provide is misleading or inaccurate, the advertiser may reject your application.
Pros and Cons of CPA Marketing for Beginners
Before you finally decide to start cost-per-action marketing, you must know about the perks and the challenges it offers.
Pros of CPA Marketing
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High income
Unlike other affiliate marketing types, CPA marketing offers high ROI since payments are made based on the tasks performed by audiences. A typical business or advertiser on the CPA network will pay affiliates between $1 and $50, depending on the type of task.
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Low risk
CPA marketing has a minimal risk for advertisers because they only pay for the conversion. Hence, as an affiliate, you should make the necessary effort to make the audience complete the much-needed tasks.
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Increase in audience reach
CPA marketing offers maximum reach for audiences since all they need to do to complete simple tasks like filling out a form, downloading an app, etc. doing such tasks do not make them lose anything since their wallet will not be involved.
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Lots of offers
As an affiliate, you get a lot of requests to choose from your CPA network because many businesses are willing to promote their products and services.
Cons of CPA Marketing
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Difficulty in joining a CPA network for new affiliates
Entering the CPA network as a new affiliate is very challenging because most advertisers on the network want quick customer conversion. Therefore, it is the job of the CPA network to admit the best affiliate, which may be a challenge for new affiliates.
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Stiff competition
There is high competition among different affiliates and CPA networks, and you may need to be skillful or learn from other experienced affiliates to succeed.
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Issue of website visitors
Most available CPA network pays affiliates whose audiences come from the US or UK. Besides, you can only increase your earning potential if your audiences are from these two countries. Therefore, you should take stringent measures to ensure that your audiences come from the right place.
Conclusion
Cost-per-action marketing is your best bet if you are looking for a high-yield online business model. You only need to research the CPA network(s) that will work for you.
Once you have done this, you can register with them, integrate the CPA link into your website or social media account, and implement strategies that will make your audience perform simple tasks and wait for your payment.
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About Author
- Olawale Moses Oyewole is a digital strategist who stays on top of current events and curate informative and engaging articles for his readers. He helps brand locate their target audience and enhance their online visibility.
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