Learn CPA Marketing

Cost Per Action/Acquisition (CPA) marketing is an internet marketing strategy where an advertiser pays for a specific action taken by a potential customer. The payout from this action is sent to the affiliate who sent the potential customer to the advertiser's webpage if the potential customer completes the specified action. The action can be anything from actually buying something to simply filling out a form. As an affiliate, you can benefit from earning a small commission each time a customer you send to the advertiser's page completes the action. If you have your own website with good traffic, or think you can set one up, it's relatively simple to monetize it using CPA marketing.

Steps

Learning CPA Marketing

1. Think about enrolling in an internet marketing course at your local community college or Lifelong Learning center. This is essential if you have never done Internet marketing before, as many of the terms associated with CPA marketing will likely be unfamiliar to you. In these courses, you will become acquainted with the major types of internet marketing, including affiliate marketing.
   • You can also get an education in internet marketing online through a number of websites. Just make sure the website is reputable by searching for reviews from past and current users.
2. Consider getting an Associate's Degree or Online Certificate in Internet, Digital, or Online Marketing. If you want to build up a good knowledge base and you learn best in an instructional setting, then signing up for a 1 or 2 year program may be your best option. In this program, you will learn how to start a career as an online marketer, including getting started with CPA marketing.
   • Like most types of online marketing, CPA marketing is changing constantly. Those who are most successful are able to learn through trial and error and constant research into new techniques. It is not necessary to take a degree program in order to be successful.
3. Download an ebook on CPA marketing. Relatively inexpensive (or free) in comparison to regular books, ebooks about technical aspects of marketing are common. Consider titles like "Newbies Guide to Mastering the Secrets of CPA Marketing," "Newbie 411: The Official CPA Marketing Beginners Guide" and "CPA Marketing Simplified." Try searching for these titles on a large eBook website, like Amazon.
4. Understand how you'll make money. With all of the specific information involved with CPA marketing, it can be helpful to have an overall picture of how you can make money doing this. Essentially, you are creating traffic (a flow of visitors to your website) that you redirect to an advertiser. From there, if this traffic (now potential customers for the advertiser) decides to opt in to the advertiser offer, fill out a form, or buy the advertiser's product, you earn a set commission. In many cases, this commission can be anywhere from $1 to $6 per lead (customer action), but in some cases can be as high as $22.

Building Your Internet Marketing Experience

1. Set up a website. You may want to start with a blog in a subject of your choice. In order to become an affiliate and participate in affiliate marketing, you need to have a website with significant traffic. Many affiliate marketers start by creating content and posting affiliate links on their page. You'll have to make sure the website is yours and doesn't ban affiliate marketing by agreement with the hosting service.
   • See how to make a website for more information.
   • You will need to cultivate the ability to start new websites, buy domain names, host pages and make landing pages. These skills will become important as you begin CPA marketing.
2. Learn the basics of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising. PPC advertising allows you to drive traffic to your site by placing ads on other, relevant websites. You pay the ad provider a small amount for each time a web user clicks through your ad to your website. You can learn how this works through YouTube videos, online tutorials or by trial and error. Set up an account in Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter, and pay for some ads that drive traffic to your website, in order to practice while you learn.
   • Pay-per-click advertising can get expensive quickly, especially in a keyword bidding war (when another website or websites also wants to advertise for the same keywords). You also run the risk of routinely paying for clicks that don't lead to sales for you. Always analyze these risk before getting started in PPC.
3. Learn how to use the channels that are often used for CPA marketing. The best way to become a CPA marketer is to learn how to drive traffic to websites. The following are ways that people learn to drive traffic.
   • Practice creating and promoting fan pages and groups on Facebook. If you know how to get "likes," then you are on your way to driving traffic to a lead landing page. This usually takes a passion for staying in touch with followers and trying new creative social media strategies.
   • Practice creating videos and YouTube channels. If you are an expert in a field or you can call on other people to create creative or instructive videos, this content grabs attention. Once you have traffic, you can post links to landing pages where you can gather lead information.
   • Learn how to make and buy Internet ads. If you have graphic design skills and you don't want to create content on a blog or YouTube, then this may be the best option for you. You can find prime ad spaces, through services like BuySellAds, and purchase the ad space for a period of time. If the ad is targeted successfully, people will click on the link and type in their information, giving you leads. You will need to subtract the cost of the ad in order to figure out your return on investment.
   • Become adept at using PPC advertising to get traffic to your landing page. Similar to buying ad space, you will need to bid on keywords in order to place the link to your landing page where you will get noticed. If you have a lot of experience with search engine advertising, this may be the best option for you.
4. Practice driving targeted traffic to your website. Use all of the methods you have learned to try to increase traffic to your website. You'll want to try to bring on a specific type of traffic that is marketable to CPA networks. This type of traffic, that you can turn into leads for your advertisers, is called "targeted traffic." It involves targeting a certain need or type of person and offering what they need or or are looking for. You will not be able to gather leads if you don't know how to bring specific people to your website.
   • For example, you might have a blog or website that reviews phone cases. You would want to target people searching for things like "best iPhone cases" or "durable phone cases."

Getting Started in CPA Marketing

1. Build up an affiliate marketing "portfolio." Launch some marketing campaigns and keep records on your most successful efforts. These can be PPC campaign or use any of the other strategies mentioned in the previous part of this article. To track your progress, keep a record of the number of visitors to your site and the turnover rate to other links you post on your website (the percentage of visitors that click through to other links rather than simply leaving). These other links can simply be ads you've sold on your website or any other affiliate program, such as Amazon Associates.
   • Some CPA networks are competitive, so you should be able to talk, write about and prove your worth while applying.
   • Amazon Associates is a program that allows you earn a percentage commission on sales of products on Amazon.com by posting links to those products. You earn a small commission each time a product you link to is bought.
2. Pick out your niches. Also known as verticals, these are the specific markets in which you will be a successful CPA marketer. This is essentially what your targeted traffic is looking to purchase and a collection of their interests. Example niches include health and fitness, technology and business opportunities.
3. Find a relevant CPA marketing offer. To get started with CPA marketing, you'll need to find an advertiser offering CPA that is relevant to your blog or website and, most importantly, to your traffic. The websites http://odigger.com/ and http://www.offervault.com/ both allow you to search aggregated CPA offers and find one that meets your criteria. Once you've found one you like, you'll have to join the posting's network to begin marketing for that advertiser.
   • Be sure to check that the offer is available in your country and for your traffic type (email, website, etc.). You'll also want to look at the landing page (the page your link will direct traffic to) to be sure that it looks legitimate enough that your traffic will actually use it.
4. Submit an application to the appropriate CPA marketing website. After you've found a good offer, you'll need to apply to the proper website to take advantage of that offer. These sites include MaxBounty, NeverBlue, C2M, ClickBooth, ROI Rocket, Azoogle, Affiliate and Hydra. Take time to fill out your applications carefully, since many first time CPA marketers get turned down. Be sure to include a phone number so that they can contact you, otherwise you might be immediately rejected.
   • If you are just starting out in CPA marketing, you should note that on your application. You should also specify the ways that you are learning and your past affiliate marketing successes.
   • Call the CPA network after submitting your application. This simple act will show that you have great follow through, and it may increase your chances of getting accepted.
5. Incorporate the CPA marketing into your website. Once you are accepted by the CPA network, you're ready to begin marketing your advertiser's product or web page. Find a way to seamless integrate the new CPA material into your old website. That is, don't make it look overly commercial, like you're trying too hard to advertise. For example, you should avoid banner advertising whenever possible.

Tips

• You can still learn how to be successful in CPA Marketing without earning a degree in the field.
• Some of the best CPA Marketers work off the basis of establishing and nurturing the relationship between themselves (the publisher) and the advertisers.

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Sources and Citations

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