The Pros and Cons of CPA Affiliate Marketing

For anyone looking to earn more profits from their blog or website that does not want to sell products or generate the large number of clicks required to make money in pay per click advertising, CPA affiliate marketing is a middle road that should be given serious consideration.

A lot of people are enticed to participate in cost per action or cost per acquisition (CPA) affiliate marketing because of its high payouts in comparisons to other methods of site monetization. In these programs, affiliates are paid for successfully getting their visitors to do certain actions such as signing up for a newsletter or any other such offers, downloading a file or an application, completing a survey or a specially designed questionnaire or registering for a free trial of a product.

To get a better grasp on whether this model is the right one for your site, you may need to understand the benefits and drawbacks of using CPA affiliate marketing.

The Pros of CPA Marketing

It pays more. Since advertisers are getting direct results from CPA marketing, they are more than willing to pay lucrative commissions to their affiliates. Most of these programs pay their affiliates anywhere between $1 and $50, a far cry from what CPC and CPM affiliate programs are paying their affiliates. As such, affiliates stand to earn bigger potential earnings if they promote these offers properly.

There is no need to reach into anyone’s wallet. With CPA marketing, all you need to do is to get visitors to fill out a form or some other task. Needless to say, it is relatively easier to ask someone to give their contact information in exchange for something than to convince the same people to buy a product online. While this still requires the right strategy, the basic model is quite attractive.

There are a lot of CPA offers to choose from. Realizing the cost effectiveness of this affiliate marketing model, a lot of companies are releasing their own CPA affiliate offers to gain new leads for their business. This makes a large variety of products and services available for interested affiliates to choose from.

The Cons of CPA Marketing

Getting accepted to CPA affiliate marketing programs can be quite a challenge. Companies that administer these programs want quality traffic. There are a lot of people who would like to promote their offers, so admission into these networks can be tough. Aspiring affiliates need to comply with some stringent registration requirements before they can qualify for most CPA programs. Some programs even require a telephone interview prior to accepting new affiliates.

Some CPA programs are mere scams. To avoid falling prey to these kinds of programs, you should always read the terms and conditions carefully and ask for a payout as soon as you reach the minimum payment threshold level. A lot of programs have closed down over the years without paying their affiliates.

There is tough competition. Lots of people are attracted to this form of marketing, and the competition, often from very experienced marketers, can be quite stiff. Anyone who wants to be successful needs to know their stuff.

It takes persuasion. While people are not being asked to part with their money, they are still generally resistant to anything that takes time and requires them to give up personal information. CPA requires a lot more persuasion than just getting people to click on an ad.

While the benefits are good, there are pitfalls and success is not guaranteed. Take some time to learn about this form of marketing before jumping into it.

Source by Anthony Leger