CPA, or cost per action, is one of the hottest ways to make money on the internet today – and surprisingly many internet marketers have never even heard of it. The action that you get paid for is for your site visitor to fill out a form with some personal details, usually an e-mail address or zip code, and submit it. That’s all! No pre-selling, no refunds, no long sales pitches or any of the hundreds of other traditional affiliate marketing woes to worry about. When done correctly, CPA is one of the simplest ways to monetize a website.
A CPA network is what makes all of this possible. CPA networks bring advertisers and publishers together and act as a sort of middle-man, vetting both sides and making sure that the publishers get paid for their efforts. On one side, the advertiser provides an offer, say for car insurance, some marketing materials, and then pays the network a commission for making it available to the CPA affiliates. On the other side, these affiliates market the products via their websites, drive traffic to the sites and generate sales leads. The sweet bit is that, whether the customer actually buys the product, or not, the CPA affiliate still gets paid simply for generating the signup. (more…)