CPA Marketing On The Inside

The big difference between CPA and traditional affiliate marketing is that you don't actually need to sell the product. You only have to generate a 'lead', which consists of details of someone they can contact. Typically these details will be a zipcode, an email address or a sign-up for a free product trial. When you generate a lead for an advertiser you get paid. This sounds a very tempting way of earning an income: it can't be that difficult, can it?

Actually it can be quite difficult to get people to part with this information. But that's not all. There are a few other problems you'll have to overcome before you can succeed with CPA.

The first difficulty you'll probably encounter is signing up to a CPA network. There are many networks who represent advertisers that provide CPA offers for affiliates to promote. But you'll find that they are very choosy about who they will accept. Ideally, they want people with websites that attract thousands of visitors a day. They are not interested in newbie marketers who can't supply traffic. So how do you get started?

The answer is that you just have to be persistent. If you can find someone who is already in the network who can introduce you, then fine. Otherwise just apply to as many networks as possible. Fill in the application forms as far as you can and try to show that you are professional and serious about being accepted. Don't worry if they reject you - just keep on applying to more networks and in the end one or two will let you in and you can get started.

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.

Which explains why the CPA networks are so picky about who they let in and how a few elite marketers dominate the market because they know how to generate traffic. That traffic could be free traffic originating from casual surfers, or bought traffic, paid for by click. Either way, in CPA marketing, you must know how to drive sufficient traffic

CPA marketing is a specific form of affiliate marketing with its own rules and routes to success. If you can master its particular challenges you can join the six-figure earners who dominate the industry.

As with any business enterprise it all comes down to training and experience. To become a successful CPA marketer you have to invest in yourself. Buy the best Internet training you can find, apply the lessons you learn and work hard to achieve your goals. Then you'll find out how to succeed at CPA.