CPA Marketing: the Complete Guide (2024)

CPA Marketing: the Complete Guide (2024)

Affiliate Marketing

Written by

Papa Whale

PUBLISHED ON

December 1, 2021

Category

Affiliate Marketing

This guide will tell you all you need to know about making your first steps in the world of traffic monetization and becoming a skillful affiliate marketer.

Forget about buying ads and resorting to expensive marketing campaigns. With CPA marketing, you become the marketing master of your website’s destiny, and you’re in charge of making money with your own traffic! How? Because advertisers will want to pay you for it! And a CPA network knows just how valuable it is!

With this guide, you’ll learn how to make money online with CPA Marketing with promotional content, how to create advertising partnerships, and how to promote the best affiliate offers in order to achieve success with CrakRevenue’s pro tips and cutting-edge ad tools.

First, let’s explain what exactly is CPA Marketing for the rookies.

You may want to jump to the next section if you already know the very basics.

Ready?

What is CPA Marketing?

CPA stands for Cost per Action. CPA Marketing is a business marketing model where an affiliate–also a webmaster–receives a commission based on a specific action completed by his/her traffic (web users). The action can take several forms such as:

  • Clicks
  • Requests for a quote
  • Purchases
  • Forms
  • Video views

Desired actions are set by an advertiser, a brand or a company, that wants to increase its visibility and brand awareness on the web or on social media. The CPA network is the bridge between the affiliate and the advertiser, who both benefit from the partnership, the former to monetize his or her traffic and the latter to get more visibility and sales.

For example, you could be running a blog about food supplements and promote a company’s dietary supplement products on your website. Your audience gets to discover those products as you send them to the company’s website, and you earn a commission each time a user coming from your blog lands on the advertiser’s offer and makes a purchase (completed action). This is literally making the most of your content!

There are multiple ways to monetize your traffic and turn your users into consumers successfully.

Having a strategic vision and looking for innovative affiliate marketing tactics are essential to driving your audience further down your campaign’s purchase funnel. 

Don’t worry; we’ll cover this topic later in this guide.

For now, let’s take a quick look at some of the most important terms of CPA Marketing.

Example of CPA Marketing

In the adult industry, CPA marketing is like having a killer wingman: making connections, getting attention, and sealing the deal.

Here are some examples of how to get the job done:

  1. Review Websites:

    - These sites compare products/services, weighing features, benefits and cons.

    - Ideal for CPA marketing, as you can include product links for easy purchasing.

  2. Splash Pages:

    - Appears during website/app loading.

    - Used by major brands like Apple or Disney to create a strong first impression.

  3. Affiliates and Influencers:

    - Affiliates from various sources (blogs, fundraising pages, cashback sites).

    - Influencers, often on social media and YouTube, leverage celebrity status to boost product sales.

What Are the Different Types of CPA Marketing Models?

The three main categories of CPA marketing include:

  1. Pay Per Sale (PPS):

    - You pocket cash when your referral leads to a purchase.

    - It's like getting a commission for playing matchmaker between customers and products.

  2. Pay Per Action (PPA):

    - Earn bucks when folks take a specific action, like signing up or filling out a form.

    - It's all about getting paid for making things happen. No sales required.

  3. Recurring Payments:

    - Get a steady stream of income for as long as your referral stays subscribed or keeps using a service.

    - It's like the gift that keeps on giving... cha-ching!

How Does CPA Marketing Work?

In the world of CPA marketing, there are three main players:

  1. Affiliate: This is the webmaster, media buyer, social marketer, or e-mailer promoting products to drive traffic and make sales.
  2. Advertiser: The company that works with affiliates to boost sales, conversions or leads.
  3. CPA Network: The platform that connects affiliates and advertisers.

Basically, affiliates connect with advertisers through a CPA network. The affiliate recommends the advertiser's products to their audience, driving traffic to the company's website. When the affiliate's traffic makes a purchase, the affiliate earns a commission.

CrakRevenue is a world-leading CPA network in the adult industry. Affiliates can use CrakRevenue's platform to promote adult sites and products. Now, here's the beauty of it: they earn their keep every time someone takes a desired action. Whether it's signing up, making a purchase, or engaging in some other adult-oriented action, that's the golden moment when the cash register rings.

Affiliates, Advertisers, and CPA Networks

In other words, Advertisers are merchants or companies looking to promote their product(s) / offer(s) and wishing to pay only for the results (the desired action performed by the end users). They work mostly with CPA Networks regrouping worldwide affiliates and/or influencers looking for high-paying affiliate programs and top-converting offers to promote on the web or on social media.

A CPA network is a bridge between the affiliate and the advertiser, tracking conversions and making sure you–the affiliate–get paid for your work and your end-users actions.

It is also a great source of support for affiliates, helping you find the most compatible offers according to your traffic and providing insightful advice to optimize your marketing campaigns

CrakRevenue, for example, is a CPA network that’s been connecting affiliates and advertisers across verticals for more than a decade. With more than 500 offers, and multiple payment methods, we’ve been supporting our affiliates by getting them the hottest offers in digital marketing.

A CPA network has affiliate programs and offers to promote and help you optimize your efforts with data-driven insights and real-time reporting.

Note: There are many other CPA networks out there.

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of other top CPA networks you may want to consider:

  • MaxBounty: a leader in the affiliate marketing industry for more than a decade.
  • Perform[cb]: an innovative and experienced network (formerly known as Clickbooth).
  • Clickdealer: a diverse portfolio of offers, a nice loyalty program, and cool contests.
  • Mobidea: an advertising network specialized in mobile offers, driven by cutting-edge tech and innovation.
  • Advidi: a Dutch network with an emphasis on brand safety, analytics, and design.

Learn more about finding the best CPA network with Affpaying, an online platform regrouping reviews written by affiliates and trusted among marketers and advertisers.

With that being said, CPA Networks are your best asset to build a successful affiliate marketing business and make as much money online as possible- at the lowest cost, whether you’re an affiliate or an advertiser! 

This brings us to our $1,000 question: 

How can I make money online with CPA Marketing? (GUIDE)

You can monetize web traffic through CPA marketing in several ways, depending on which vertical(s) you choose to work with and the traffic type(s) you have.

Promoting one or several offers listed in your CrakRevenue dashboard will allow you to earn money, as long as you respect and follow the set of rules and details included in the affiliate program.

Making money online with CPA Marketing takes time, dedication, planning, and effort.

If you are willing to learn and build on your experience, the rewards will be worthwhile.

This detailed 5-step guide will help you set sail for success.

Let’s get started!

Step 1- Learn, learn, learn

One key to success is mastering the basics of CPA Marketing and getting ready for your first campaign.

Start with our Affiliate Masterclass. It is the best way to avoid false starts and set your first campaign successfully. It will help you set your goals, learn some good practices and get familiar with the affiliate marketer’s language.

Affiliate Forums are also a great way to stay up to date, get software reviews, and benefit from pro affiliates’ experience and expertise even when you get started. Exchange with experienced marketers, affiliate managers, and digital marketing specialists on how to set realistic campaigns with the best type of program suited for your traffic. 

You may already be familiar with the multiple ways to earn commissions and get paid with CrakRevenue.

If not, give this blog post a quick read before jumping to step 2!

If you also have a strong personal presence on social media, consider influencer marketing programs with FansRevenue, a fanbase monetization platform designed for content creators and influencers. It’s the best way to monetize your social media audience by promoting brands’ offers that will achieve the best results with your followers’ actions and engagement.

Step 2- Become a CrakRevenue Affiliate

Signing up to join our network and getting approved on CrakRevenue is simple and easy.

First, create your account and read our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Step 2 - Create your account

Next, you will need to provide information about your traffic, website URLs and marketing strategies you plan to use (content, ads, campaign management, promo tools, etc.).

To ensure fast review and approval, include as many details as possible regarding how you plan to generate more traffic on your site and promote our offers.

Our team will review your application and contact you within the following 7 business days.

Once approved, you will be granted free full access to our all-in-one affiliate platform. Still at no cost, you’ll be able to browse our offers and become familiar with the advertisers and types of ads that lead to interesting payouts. Take a look at our sweepstakes offers or our mobile ones for instance. Browse specific verticals or geos.

Keep in mind that you can always ask your account manager for advice on which type of offer you should start with.

Step 3- Choose your affiliate programs and offers

To find the best offers to promote, log into your CrakRevenue dashboard. You'll see potential advertisers to work with.

In the sidebar menu, click on the Offers tab.

Step 3 - Choose your affiliate program and offers

There you’ll find helpful information and campaign management specific to affiliate marketers.

We continuously update your dashboard with current promotions, top-converting and recently added offers. You can also browse and narrow the list down by adding filters, such as

  • Vertical / Niche
  • Payout type
  • Accepted promotion methods/countries (geos)
  • Approval required

Step 3 - Choose your affiliate programs and offers

Each offer has a page providing specific information about the product or service itself, payout type, EPC, accepted countries, and advertising restrictions.

You will also be able to generate and customize your tracking link and choose among our in-house landing pages, banners, and more!

Step 3 - Choose your affiliate offers and programs

Pro tip: If you’re new to CPA marketing, you may struggle with finding the right offer to promote according to your traffic’s location.

We recommend using our powerful and exclusive Dating Smartlink and Live Cam Widget to work your way around the platform and ensure maximum conversions.

These ad tools are the perfect turnkey solution to convert traffic from anywhere in the world with responsive landing pages and top-converting offers.

All you need to do is work on traffic acquisition and let our business intelligence do the conversion work!

Step 4- Drive traffic to your affiliate offers

Depending on the vertical(s) and offer(s) you wish to promote, you will see some allowed and forbidden traffic types.

There are 6 types of traffic (or channels) you can acquire and use to make money with CPA Marketing:

  • Direct (type-in): users type your domain in their address bar to access your website.
  • Organic: users find your website on a search engine by typing relevant keywords.
  • Paid: users click on a paid link or ad leading to your website/offer.
  • Referral (backlinks): users click on a link from another website that leads to yours.
  • Mailing: users click on a link inside an email leading to your website/offer.
  • Social: users click on a link from any social media leading to your website/offer.

The more traffic types you have, the more likely you are to qualify for different types of offers.

Note: It’s always best to start with building your audience by driving the most direct and organic traffic to your page through SEO content. That’s the widest avenue to build your credibility in the digital world. Once your site is fully optimized, you can start getting new traffic through paid ads, mailing, and backlinks.

Step 5- Test and optimize your funnel

You are now all set to generate your first conversions on your affiliate offers. Congrats!

Now, to ensure maximum sales and revenue on your end, you’ll need to A/B Test everything.

Why? Because even the slightest changes on your funnel can lead to a significant click-through rate (and conversion) boost!

Step 5 - Test and optimize your funnel

Also called split testing, A/B testing enables you to compare variants and see which banner or campaign performs better for maximum return on investment (ROI).

Bonus tip: You don’t always need to spend hours testing new creatives and figuring out which one will best convert your traffic. After all, time is money!

As a CrakRevenue affiliate, you can let us do the work and take advantage of our thoroughly tested in-house creatives and ad tools! Ask your account manager to show you the best ones for your site.

Simply choose an offer and browse through the available designs and landing pages to pick the perfect match for your funnel!

You can even use our performance data to identify the best converting landing page in seconds!

Alternative CPA Marketing Tips

  1. Dig into the Offers: Explore sites that are like treasure chests for killer CPA opportunities. Think of them as CPA search engines that spill the beans on multiple offers from top-notch networks.
  2. Blend in the CPA Vibes: Spruce up your site by weaving in the CPA advertiser's brand. Drop some links leading to their site, toss in banners to flaunt your partner's goods, and make it a cool collaboration.
  3. Traffic Boosting Moves: Do the hustle to get more eyes on both your site and your partner's. Here are some slick moves:

    - Amp up your SEO game with killer keywords.

    - Quick wins with pay-per-click ads to reel in the clicks.

    - Splash engaging ads on your social media – get the buzz going.

  4. Get an Affiliate Partner: Bring in an affiliate manager who's like your secret weapon:

    - They'll check out offers and drop knowledge on partnership strategies.

    - Dish out tips on the ads and links that'll turn heads and wallets.

    - Share some content creation magic to hype up your partner's products.

Common CPA network Terminology You Should know

  • Affiliate Agreement: It's like a friendship pact between you and a company. You agree to promote their stuff, and they agree to pay you for the love you send their way.
  • Above the Fold: Think of it as the VIP section of a webpage – it's what you see without scrolling. So, anything important needs to be there, like your juiciest content or affiliate links.
  • Commission: The sweet cash you pocket for being the matchmaker between a customer and a product. The more successful connections you make, the fatter your wallet gets.
  • Contextual Link: A ninja-like link that smoothly blends into your content. It's not screaming, "Click me!" but when someone does, it's like a secret handshake to more info or products.
  • Conversion Rate: The percentage of people who visit your site and actually do what you want – be it making a purchase, signing up, or any other action you're cheering for.
  • Cost Per Action (CPA): Your payday is tied to actions. Someone clicks, signs up, buys – and cha-ching! You earn your keep. It's like getting paid for making things happen.
  • Cost Per Lead (CPL): Get someone to sign up or express interest, and you cash in.
  • Earnings Per Click (EPC): Ever wonder how much each click on your affiliate link is worth? That's EPC. It's the math that tells you if your clicks are turning into a sweet cash melody.

Btw, here's our full affiliate marketing glossary.


Frequently Asked Questions

What is the income range in CPA marketing?

The bracket is huge because affiliates can promote as many or as few offers as they want. And the bigger their following, the deeper their pockets can get. According to Scaleo, an affiliate in the world makes in average $20K per year from their traffic.

Is CPA marketing still profitable?

Given that 15-30% of companies’ sales come from referrals or affiliate marketing programs (Statista), we would say yes, it is still very profitable. Opportunities in CPA marketing are endless and worth considering if you have a great traffic.

How do I qualify to become a CrakRevenue Affiliate?

It’s simple. To qualify, you must have a plan. Let us know in your application how you think you can generate more traffic to your site. Tell us how you can promote our offers and make the most of them. Be as precise as you can. Also, make sure to give us accurate information on your profile. The more thorough you are, the greater your chances will be!

What types of offers can I find on the CrakRevenue platform?

When it comes to variety, we don’t disappoint. Our major verticals include personal healthcare, CBD products, adult entertainment, dating, gaming, and astrology. Something for everyone. Take the time to browse through our offers on our menu. Remember, you can search offers by payout type, brand, country, niche, or audience.

What are the payout types and currencies used on CrakRevenue?

Affiliates can make money with DOI/SOI (double or single opt-in), PPS (pay per sale), PPI (pay per install), RevShare (commission) offers. Payments are made on a monthly basis, and the minimum for a payout is $100.00. As for the payment methods available, CrakRevenue uses PayPal, Wire, and Paxum to make international payments. Find out more on the currencies that apply to your location here.

Do you have resources out there for new affiliates?

We wouldn’t dare to end this article without sharing a few resources. The first one–you might have guessed it–is our CrakRevenue blog. If you liked this article, there are definitely more where it came from: SEO guides, WordPress tutorials, software recommendations, etc.

We also created an Affiliate Marketing Tools page to answer any questions you may have on affiliate marketing and our CrakRevenue platform.

We’re also on YouTube. Discover our verticals and marketing strategies with innovative short presentations by our teammates on our YouTube channel.

Lastly, never underestimate the power of affiliate marketing forums. Check out this article on the subject to find your tribe of experienced affiliates.

Can I talk to someone for more information on becoming an affiliate?

Who better than our team to answer any question about affiliate marketing? After all, we’re professionals. We work with hundreds of affiliates and advertisers daily, and we still take the time to speak with future affiliates. So reach out by creating an account, and an account manager will get in touch with you.


You now have the knowledge and power to make money online with CPA Marketing!

If you haven’t already, now is the time to join CrakRevenue and gain access to 500+ exclusive and high-converting offers!

Our dedicated team of experts is here to guide you and make sure you get the most out of your campaigns.

I AM READY JOIN CRAKREVENUE

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