CPA stands for: Cost Per Action. What it basically is: you promote an offer and you get paid only when a person clicks on your promotion and then follows through with certain requirements in order to get that free ipod, acai berries or whatever the offer is. There are literally thousands of companies that that have CPA offers. Some pay as little as two dollars per CPA offer, others range into the hundreds of dollars.
The catch is that you have to sign up and get approved by a CPA company, who are the middlemen, and who are supposed to represent the companies who make the offer. Their main preoccupation is to make sure that you, the CPA affiliate, are following their requirements as you capture leads and send people to the CPA offers.
Many people are making a lot of money promoting CPA offers, but as usual, there is a lot of misinformation floating around. So in this series I am going to try to give you the best up-to-date info, and provide you a sort of truth serum to counter the hype, and help you to make money, instead of becoming a victim.
Becoming a CPA Affiliate
To be able to sign up with the better CPA networks you will need to have a quality website or blog up and functioning. The good companies always seem to do two things after you sign up. One is they check out your websites, and if that checks out, then you will receive a personal phone call from one of their reps who will ask you some basic questions to make sure you have at least some basic understanding of what CPA offers are all about and what actions you will be taking to promote them.
Now this is important, make sure that your website will be relevant to the CPA offers you will be promoting and make sure that it is completely a white hat site. If you don't know the difference between white hat web strategies and black hat web strategies, then you probably will be alright as far as getting accepted by CPA networks.
FYI: White hat is when you follow all of the search engine rules and methodology, while black hat strategies often go beyond just pushing the envelope. Some black hat techniques involve outright fraud and this is what the CPA networks are constantly on the lookout for. After all, they are supposed to represent and protect the interests of the company who is initially making the offer.
Beware Of Scam CPA Companies
As much money as there is to be made being a CPA affiliate, imagine running a company that has thousands of affiliates promoting offers. It would be sweet to have your own CPA network with thousands of worker bees making the honey for you.
Now it used to be pretty hard to sign up with a CPA network and get approved, and as far as the better companies, it still is. But because of the increasing money to be made, there are new CPA networks sprouting up everyday and not all of them are to be trusted. What I am saying is don't just sign up as a CPA affiliate with anybody who will take you.
Why?
There is a practice known as 'shaving'. What this means is that you, the affiliate does not always get paid what you are entitled to, and in many cases the CPA network just keeps your hard earned money, and you will have little recourse except to call them names. It doesn't matter if you have been doing everything by the book, its just conventional internet wisdom that as often as politicians 'shave' the truth, CPA companies will continue to 'shave' your profits.
So what you want to do is go with the most reputable companies, the ones who do little or no shaving as long as your promotion techniques are staying within the playing field. There are plenty of smaller CPA networks that are reputable and a little easier to get accepted into, and as a CPA noob, this is where you will want to get started.
The CPA Secret
The important thing to understand is that once you get accepted by a CPA network, the vault is wide open. You will be able to promote anything they offer.
So you need to do your research and find an offer or two that you initally feel comfortable with. And make sure that your site is a good fit to the offer you will be promoting. If you hope to achieve any kind of success with CPA offers this is important from the get-go anyway.
Grouch Marx had a great line, "I would never join a club that would have me as a member."
Keep that in mind as far as signing up with just any CPA network. Be selective. It's you who will be making them money, and you, who will be driving the traffic to their offers. You are very important to their success. So you don't need to feel like you are begging. Because you aren't, so don't feel intimidated
So, you've done your research, selected a reputable company and a CPA offer. Now you will have to fill out their online form, and if that meets with their approval you will get the phone call.
In part 2, I will cover what you will need to know and say about the all important phone call.
In the meantime, get your website or blog looking good before you even try to sign up with any CPA network.
Look over their online form before you fill it out and see what their requirements are.
As I said, there is a lot of money to be made promoting CPA offers, so there is no need for you to waste time and learn the hard way, lets get start on the right track right from the beginning.
Be Fearless
By Billy Ojai
