How to Make Money with CPA Marketing: A 2020 Guide for Beginners (2024)

There are many ways that you can make money online without spending money. You can take part in surveys, play video games for points, and then redeem as cash or downloadable software.

But how much money can you really make from these methods?

On the other hand, if you have some extra cash to invest in methods that help you to multiply your income, that is an option as well.

How does CPA Marketing Work?

What if I told you that for every $1 you spend, you can get $2 or $3 back? If this were true, would you want to learn how to spend money and make huge returns on investment?

There are many affiliate marketers on the internet, including myself, for whom this is true and they do it with something called affiliate marketing or CPA marketing.

Affiliate marketing is promoting or recommending other people’s products for a commission. When you promote or recommend an affiliate product, you get a unique affiliate link that when clicked on and someone purchases the product, earns you a commission.

That commission can range from as low as 4% of the product sale to as high as 75%.

For example, if an affiliate product costs $100 for the consumer to purchase and it came through your affiliate link, you would earn a cool $75 if the commission percentage was 75%.

Now, what if you spent just $1 promoting that product to make that sale? That would mean that you would have a 74x return on investment (ROI).

What Is It and Can You Make Money with CPA Marketing?

CPA marketing is like affiliate marketing and stands for cost per action marketing.

This type of marketing allows you as the affiliate to earn a commission or get paid, based on an action that the consumer takes.

That action may be when a sale is generated, when a lead is created, or even when you get someone to make a call.

Instead of them investing thousands of dollars in their own advertising, companies sometimes seek out the assistance of affiliates to help them generate customers.

This keeps their costs down and they reward the affiliate just for helping them out.

This is another spectrum of making money online and in this CPA marketing guide for beginners, I will show you how I and countless other affiliates make money this way and use paid advertisem*nts to accelerate our success.

The paid advertisem*nts, in this case, are with Bing Ads which is a platform owned by the Microsoft Corporation.

Here’s what you will learn:

  • Where to find affiliate products and CPA offers to promote
  • What the best types of affiliate products and CPA offers are to promote
  • What paid platforms you can use to promote affiliate products or CPA offers
  • How to do CPA marketing using Bing Ads to make money

Where To Find Affiliate Products And CPA OFFERs To Promote

The idea of making money by promoting other people’s products may sound good to you, but where do you actually find these products (CPA offers)?

You can find products from this highest paying affiliate programs list.

Affiliate networks are companies that host affiliate products and are the middleman between you and the owner of the product.

Affiliate networks, therefore, make it easy for you to select products that are attractive and give you guidelines on how to promote the products.

Also, the good thing about affiliate networks is that when you join, you are assigned an affiliate manager who has an interest in helping you.

That is because the more money you earn, the more money he/she earns.

Now you can find these affiliate networks on the internet by doing a Google search, but I strongly recommend joining the following networks since I have already worked with them and know how they operate in terms of providing affiliates with assistance, paying affiliates on time, and recommending great products to help you make money.

Some of the best CPA Marketing networks to work with are:

Before you click on any of the links above, I must warn you that these affiliate networks, whilst I am recommending that you join them, do have a rigid process that you must follow to get in.

For example, most of them will require that you have your own website with content on it.

Most of them will require that you already have some experience with affiliate marketing and that you know what you’re doing.

I recommend that if this is a method that you would like to work with, you do your own research by going to YouTube and searching for information on how to get accepted into these networks.

I hope that what I have said does not deter you because once you are in, the opportunity to add affiliate marketing and CPA marketing as an income stream is very lucrative and can be life-changing.

What Is The Best Type Of Affiliate OR CPA Product To Promote?

So you have been accepted into one of my recommended affiliate networks.

Great! What next?

You need to pick a product and start promoting it.

With a large selection of products, how do you find out which one is the best to promote?

Well, the truth is, there is no best product because you have to test advertising the products. That is because, whether or not you make money from these products depends on a person on the other side of the internet clicking on your affiliate link and buying the product.

I want you to remember that in order to make money from affiliate marketing, real people need to click on your links, submit their credit card details, and buy.

There’s no magic to making money … that’s simply how it works.

Because you cannot tell what someone else is thinking, there is no way you as the affiliate will know whether they will buy your recommended product.

But at least you can put the offer in front of that person and persuade them to buy.

Now I am not saying that you will test the thousands of products that are available in your network. What you can do is ask your affiliate manager for help.

When you join an affiliate network you will have access to their contact details.

Simply reach out to them, introduce yourself, and ask questions.

Here’s what you can say:

“Hi [Affiliate manager’s name]My name is [your name] and I am ready to promote offers by [name of traffic source]. Can you tell me what are the best offers that are converting really well?”

They will then come back to you with a list of offers that are doing well which you can select from. This list may be 10 products. That helps you to narrow down your choices from thousands of products.

What Paid Platforms Can You Use To Promote Affiliate products or CPA offers?

When you think about paid platforms, think about where potential customers hang out. Where do people usually go online and where can you put your offer in front of them that they can see it?

Some places include social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and Twitter. These platforms have a way in which you can buy an advertisem*nt.

Apart from social media platforms, there are other platforms where people search for solutions to problems or specific products using search engines like Google, Bing, or Pinterest.

If you can think about where people show up, it is likely you can buy advertisem*nts and promote the affiliate product.

For this post, however, I will tell you more about Bing Ads.

Bing Ads is an advertising management platform where you can buy space on the Bing search engines and advertise your product.

Here is what an ad looks like on Bing.

You probably saw it already if you use Bing as a search engine, but those ads are highly likely placed there by affiliates.

You can also use Google Adwords which is the ad platform for Google, but Bing offers lower competition and therefore lower prices since not many advertisers use Bing.

To get started with Bing, they offer you ad credit as a new customer. Simply Google the phrase “Bing Ads Coupon” and you will find a selection of websites that offer coupons that you can use the first time you advertise.

How To do CPA Marketing and Use Bing Ads To Make Money

Once you have signed up and have a product in mind, it is time to create your first campaign with Bing.

Setting up an ad with Bing does take a bit of practice but like with anything, once you get the hang of it, it becomes a breeze.

A few things that I would recommend you do when using Bing as your traffic source:

  1. Create more than one campaign so you can test products and see which ones give you the highest conversions.
  2. Always observe your competitors by doing a search of Bing and seeing how they are wording their ads, whether they are linking directly to the affiliate offer, or linking to a custom landing page.
  3. Use a maximum of 10 keywords. It is not necessary to use over 10 keywords in your Bing campaign.

Here is a step-by-step video that I found to help you get started with a Bing campaign (CPA marketing training).

Wrapping Up

Like anything, you may not get it right the first time, but if you keep learning and implementing, eventually it will all make sense and you will start seeing success.

I have been on this affiliate marketing journey since 2016, got my biggest break when I generated over $10k with CPA marketing and Facebook ads, and still never stopped learning.

Watch out for part two where I talk about how to promote CPA offers on Facebook

I went on to learn how to use Bing to promote offers, have been at it since 2017, and finally got the hang of it to the point of feeling comfortable enough to spread the knowledge to you.

I wish you much success and if you choose affiliate marketing, never give up.

Have you used CPA marketing before or know someone who has? Did you like this CPA Marketing for Beginners Guide? Leave a comment below!

Dawn-Marie Nesbitt is a blogger, affiliate marketer, and digital marketing strategist at I Am Dawn-Marie. She helps small businesses and new entrepreneurs grow their business online with digital and social media marketing strategies. Aside from work, she loves to travel, has an eye for graphic design, and is a major foodie. You can follow Dawn-Marie on Instagram and Pinterest.

How to Make Money with CPA Marketing: A 2020 Guide for Beginners (2024)

FAQs

How to make money with CPA marketing for beginners? ›

2. How to begin CPA marketing?
  1. Firstly, create a website.
  2. Implement the right strategies to drive traffic to your website.
  3. Select a niche and begin researching offers.
  4. Join a reputable CPA network.
  5. Incorporate alterations and build your site to best suit the offer.
Nov 23, 2023

Is CPA marketing good for beginners? ›

Cost per Action (CPA) marketing can be a lucrative way to make money online, and there are several strategies that beginners can use to get started: Choose a niche: Select a niche that you are familiar with and that has a high demand for products or services.

How to start CPA as a beginner? ›

The Ultimate Guide to CPA Marketing for Beginners
  1. Step 1: Understand the basics of CPA marketing. ...
  2. Step 2: Choose a niche and select offers. ...
  3. Step 3: Join a CPA network. ...
  4. Step 4: Set up a website or landing page. ...
  5. Step 5: Drive traffic to your offers. ...
  6. Step 6: Track your performance and optimize.
May 14, 2023

Is CPA marketing still profitable? ›

Yes, cost per action marketing is a lucrative way to earn income if you can drive high-quality traffic to your advertisem*nts and convert it into actions.

What do I need to start CPA marketing? ›

To Businesses and Advertisers
  1. Step 1: Identify your desired audience. This is a crucial basis that every marketer should pay serious attention to before anything else. ...
  2. Step 2: Join a CPA network. There are many types of CPA networks that serve specific purposes of the industry. ...
  3. Step 3: Build a specific CPA marketing plan.
Oct 11, 2023

How can I be successful in CPA marketing? ›

Check the quality of publishers' traffic
  1. Define a tracking code for each publisher of your affiliate program.
  2. Use an analytical solution that allows you to analyze the performance of each publisher.
  3. Focus your analysis on the following KPIs: new visit rate, bounce rate, conversion rate.

Is CPA marketing really worth it? ›

CPA marketing is a low-risk form of affiliate marketing because you only pay when you receive a conversion. This ensures any referrals you receive generate value while vastly reducing the chances of an affiliate gaming the system to artificially inflate clicks or website traffic.

Is CPA marketing real or fake? ›

CPA marketing, as a concept, is legitimate. It is a well-established industry with reputable affiliate networks, advertisers, and affiliates. Many legitimate companies and brands leverage CPA marketing as part of their marketing strategy to drive customer acquisition and generate leads.

Which website is best for CPA marketing? ›

CPA Networks
  • Perform[cb] (previously Clickbooth)
  • MaxBounty.
  • CrakRevenue.
  • ClickDealer.
  • CPAlead.
  • Admitad.
  • CPAMatica.
  • Toro Advertising.
Mar 4, 2024

Can I learn CPA by myself? ›

The answer is yes, you can! While the preparation will be tedious, it's definitely doable. The first step is to sign up for your exam. Then, find a CPA exam review course that best fits your needs, use it by yourself and/or with a study group.

How to calculate CPA marketing? ›

Cost per Acquisition (CPA) calculates the average spend on advertising to acquire customers. It's a straightforward formula: total ad spend divided by the number of new customers. This metric is often used for CPA bidding and serves as a litmus test for the financial efficiency of advertising campaigns.

What is the difference between affiliate marketing and CPA marketing? ›

In CPA marketing, you have less control over the offers themselves. Advertisers provide you with the offers, and your success lies in promoting them effectively to your audience. However, with affiliate marketing, you have more control over the products or services you promote.

How do I earn from CPA marketing? ›

CPA marketers can get started easily by promoting the CPA offer affiliate link that is generated for them. For example, by sharing it on their social media is one way to begin earning. CPA marketers can also create their own blog or website as a means to promote their CPA affiliate link.

What is the secret of CPA affiliate marketing? ›

This type of advertising is effective because it is direct and it offers a high return on investment (ROI). The top secrets of CPA marketing include developing an effective ad campaign, choosing the right keywords, and targeting the right audience.

What is CPA cost per marketing? ›

**Definition:**Cost Per Acquisition, or "CPA," is a marketing metric that measures the aggregate cost to acquire one paying customer on a campaign or channel level. CPA is a vital measurement of marketing success, generally distinguished from Cost of Acquiring Customer (CAC) by its granular application.

Is CPA marketing difficult? ›

Also, it offers a low-risk way to test different marketing strategies, as you only pay for the actions that are taken by your audience. However, CPA marketing can be challenging given the competition in this space. You will need to be able to optimize your campaigns for maximum ROI.

How do I market myself as a CPA? ›

Here are 10 ways you can build your personal brand to promote your accounting firm.
  1. Enhance your LinkedIn profile. ...
  2. Expand your social media platforms. ...
  3. Publish your own blog. ...
  4. Develop a newsletter. ...
  5. Write for popular industry websites. ...
  6. Manage your online reputation and reviews.

Is CPA marketing easier than affiliate marketing? ›

In CPA marketing, you have less control over the offers themselves. Advertisers provide you with the offers, and your success lies in promoting them effectively to your audience. However, with affiliate marketing, you have more control over the products or services you promote.

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