What are CPA networks?

Advertising has proven to be effective. That’s why today there are a lot of advertising platforms for advertisers to attract even more customers. CPA networks are a place where you can order advertising from third-party contractors. Therefore, in this article, I decided to understand in more detail what a CPA network is.

Affiliate programmes or CPA networks are a service that acts as an intermediary between an advertiser (seller) and a webmaster (partner) and places ads on its own platforms. CPA (cost per action) stands for cost per action.

CPA networks are platforms where an advertiser pays money if a user performs a necessary action on the website when they go through the traffic channel provided by the affiliate. This can be a purchase, ordering, registration, requesting a callback, downloading an app, etc.

Advertisers are primarily interested in cooperation with pay per lead. Here it is important to choose a CPA network that guarantees high-quality traffic in order not to waste money and drain the advertising budget.

CPA networks bring advertisers and webmasters together on one platform for cooperation. The customer pays the CPA network provider a fixed fee or percentage (specified in the contract) for each targeted action performed by the user.

How to cooperate with CPA networks?

Large companies and brands cooperate with various resources through CPA networks. These can be blogs, news and information websites. CPA networks organise communication between the advertiser and the contractor. Given the number of offers, it is inconvenient to do it manually. That is why “offer aggregators” or CPA networks for webmasters have appeared.

A CPA network enters into an agreement with any online resource for the placement of ad units. The advertiser places an offer or TOR (terms of reference) for the webmaster. After checking it, the CPA network grants access to webmasters. CPA network agents accept the task if it corresponds to the topic of the website or works in a given niche. When a client comes from a certain ad unit and performs a targeted action (conversion), the webmaster receives payment.

CPA networks perform the following functions:

• searching for and attracting advertisers;
• search for responsible webmasters, excluding unscrupulous employees;
• traffic arbitrage, calculation of targeted processes, analytics of advertising efficiency;
• analysis of webmasters’ performance;
• creation of advertising materials, if necessary;
• calculation of the average payment for a targeted action;
• determining the terms and conditions.

The scheme of CPA networks is simple and looks like this: the owner of CPA networks buys traffic, receives leads and resells them to the seller of goods and services. The popularity of the CPA network where the advertisement is placed determines the advertising rate.

Ways to earn money on CPA networks?

To earn money, you can register in any CPA network. The list of CPA networks is wide, so you need to choose which one suits you. There are several ways to make money on CPA networks.

OWN WEBSITE, LANDING PAGE

It can be a simple one-page website with a narrow offer. You can also create an informational or useful blog, a forum, where users will come from. It is worth noting that this method is long-term — you need to promote your website with SEO to increase not only the volume of traffic but also its quality.

Webmasters place links to CPA networks on their own websites and attract traffic directly from search engines. There are practically no risks here, and you can also connect other monetisation methods provided by CPA networks. The disadvantages include the time spent and the complexity of implementation, as you need to develop your project from scratch.

SOCIAL NETWORKS

Posts in groups and personal pages attract interested users to CPA networks. Social networks can be considered a good source of targeted traffic for CPA networks. You can also run targeted advertising here. In order to make money on CPA networks on social networks, you should pay attention to the development of the page, choose thematic affiliate programmes for CPA networks that are close to the niche.

TRAFFIC ARBITRAGE

This is a quick way to make money in CPA networks by selling traffic. The main meaning of this method is: cheap to buy — expensive to sell. To make money on CPA networks, you need to get leads cheaper than the CPA network that will buy them from you.

There are many risks here, as it is possible to waste your advertising budget on traffic acquisition without making a single purchase. On the other hand, you can get a bigger profit from one offer at once.

CPA networks sometimes set restrictions and allow webmasters to use traffic arbitrage. For example, CPA networks do not allow contextual advertising, since the customer already launches advertising campaigns and spends additional funds.

It is normal for beginners to fail to earn a lot of money in CPA networks right away. In this work, you need to improve your skills in working with advertising of this format. To earn income with CPA, you need to spend less on traffic purchase than the webmaster will receive from the advertiser.

Who is a CPA network for?

CPA networks are a part of online marketing. Most often, the CPA network system will be of interest to businesses that are engaged in mass production with a wide geographical distribution and a competitive price. These include online stores, online gaming platforms, bookmakers, travel agencies, booking services, and online learning sites.

Who is not suitable for CPA networks? Companies that offer narrow-profile products or work in the B2B sector. If you decide to use CPA networks for cooperation, it is important to track the completion of the target action. You should also check CPA networks for fraud and install protection.

Payment models in CPA networks

The most popular payment models in CPA networks include:

1. Cost per Lead (CPL) — a payment model that pays only for a lead. This format implies not only conversion but also customers who have confirmed and left contact details for communication.
2. Cost per Click (CPC) — the advertiser pays for a click on the advert that the user clicks on. The cost per click is calculated according to the auction system.
3. CPM (Cost per mille) — the price per 1 thousand ad impressions.
4. CPS (Cost per Sale) — the cost of one paid order, already made sale.
5. CPI (Cost per Install) — the price of installing an application.
   Calculate the price for the target action

To calculate the price for a targeted action in the CPA network, you should use the formula:

CPA = advertising costs / number of target audience * 100% (if you want to calculate the percentage)

What does targeted action mean?

The advertiser pays only for the client who performs the action specified by the advertiser. A targeted action in a CPA network leads to a complete conversion.

It can be:

• conversion of a user who visited the website into a lead;
• sale of goods with payment;
• request for a call;
• subscription to the newsletter;
• installation of an application;
• filling out and submitting a form on the website;
• going to a certain section/page.

Other targeted actions according to the CPA model include watching a video, filling out a questionnaire, adding an item to the basket, downloading a file, or an infographic.

Tools of CPA networks

CPA networks use various tools to attract customers:

• remarketing
• product recommendation service
• promotional codes and discounts
• generation of banners and ads based on feeds
• abandoned shopping cart tracking tool for retargeting and emailing returning visitors
• chat agents

Each of the CPA networks uses different sets of tools, but more often than not, affiliate programmes do not differ in a wide variety and duplicate functions.

How to choose the right CPA network?

This is a key question if you do not know what CPA networks are and how to work with them. This applies not only to beginners but also to experienced arbitrageurs. Here are some tips that will help you choose and work with CPA networks.

It is important to pay attention to:

1. Feedback from other arbitrageurs will help you to understand the weaknesses and strengths of the CPA network and decide whether it is worth working with the affiliate programme.
2. The presence of own offers indicates the level of the CPA network. If the indicator is high, the affiliate offers favourable rates compared to competitors.
3. Percentage of approval in the CPA network. A low rate indicates unfavourable conditions and wasted time.
4. The frequency of new offers and conditions confirms that the CPA network is active.
5. Minimal restrictions on payments in CPA networks.
6. The presence of a CPA network commission. You should consider how profitable it is to withdraw your own funds.
7. The holding period is the time for lead confirmation in CPA networks. Some platforms may delay the approval and pay out money not on time.
8. High-quality support service of CPA networks. Managers should promptly respond to requests in their personal accounts or messengers.
9. Bonuses. Some CPA networks hold prize draws.

The best CPA networks are a list of platforms that combine favourable conditions for offers and high-quality service. The management of CPA networks should support arbitrageurs, webmasters, and advertisers at the same time.

What is an offer in CPA networks and why it is necessary

An offer in CPA networks is a commercial offer for a webmaster. It includes all the important information about traffic sources, as well as a description of the affiliate programme, a portrait of the target audience, and commission data for the target action (conversion).

The structure of an offer in CPA networks consists of:

• name and description;
• traffic restrictions set by the client;
• banner and active link;
• conditions by traffic sources.

All offers in CPA networks are divided into groups based on the subject matter, for example, financial, gaming, product, etc. The price for an offer in CPA networks varies depending on the topic.

The offer of CPA networks implies a detailed condition under which partners should be involved in order to implement actions.

When choosing an offer, you should pay attention to conversion, approval (upvote), and profit from each transition. The source of traffic should be indicated in the application for connection to the offer.