What Type Of CPA Offers Can I Sign Up For?

If you’re brand new to CPA marketing, it’s important to know exactly what types of offers you can sign up for. There’s a wide variety, and when you read my descriptions, you may instantly realize you absolutely don’t want to get involved with one particular sort – but that a few others are right up your alley!

Knowing what type of offer you’re going to start with will help you focus your keyword research more.

Check out this chart for a quick overview of the types of CPA marketing you can explore (arranged in order of lowest paying to highest.)

Types of CPA Marketing
Zip Code lead captures	Same as above. Both offer around an average of $1 per lead.
Email lead captures	Easiest to get people to do – but it offers one of the lowest payouts – about $1.20.
Lead generation	Involves capturing a little more than just an email address – usually first and last name, address, and perhaps even phone number. Payout between $8-20.
Free Trial offers	These are good to find – people like getting something concrete. Often you are paid on sales, however, just like an affiliate. The average payout is anywhere from $20-40
Sales conversions	High end products with large commissions, these are basically true affiliate sales. But your payout is most rewarding, if you can generate these – as much as $60-300

Zip Code Lead Captures – A zip code lead capture usually comes in the form of a coupon. The viewer submits their zip code to get information about obtaining the product. The lure will be a free gift card, dinner, iPod – you name it, you’ll probably see it.

 Are they dishonest?

Not in the sense that when you click on the offer, it’s a blatant scam – finding this offer through a recognized CPA Network will protect you from signing up unwittingly for anything like that. The “prizes” are real - but usually there’s a “catch” – just like when you go to redeem your “Free Entrée” coupon from your favorite restaurant, only to discover in the fine print that you really need to buy a dessert and drink, in order to qualify. Sometimes it’s a purchase; sometimes it’s joining a membership site, as in the example above.

The bottom line here is that your viewer is a big girl or boy. It’s up the him or her to decide how far they want to proceed in order to “qualify”.

Meanwhile, you’ve been paid your $1.35 commission.

Email Lead Captures – Similar to Zip Code Lead Captures – and slightly more hard to convince people to sign up for and complete the form. 

The key to upping your capture rate is to make sure the email offer is highly targeted to the readers who visit your blog or website.

Lead Generation – Again, the key to capturing these is to make sure you’ve targeted your blog or website to people who won’t mind parting with this information, in order to get what is offered.

Don’t forget you can pre-sell offers too, by writing about them on your blog. 

Relate a personal incident in which you benefited from information or products such as the one offered, and let your readers know in advance any hidden incentives they’ll be eligible for, with the offer.

Free Trial Offers – These are especially good for niches like skin care, weight loss and natural products.  If you have a blog loaded with truly interesting information on this niche, you will have built enough trust for your readers to seriously consider the offer. Your blog will give you a natural avenue to promote the offer – and there’s the incentive of the actual free sample to further encourage readers to click.

Sales Conversions – This type of offer is often combined with lead generation. You capture the person’s information, get paid your tiny commission – but if the person buys, you also get a true sales commission on top of it.

If your list is small, do make sure you have a few of these well-researched, well-promoted offers. It’s your best chance of making real money.

With “easy” methods like simple zip code or email address capture, the commission is so small you really don’t notice a difference unless you’ve got a huge list. 

Don’t be intimidated at the thought of promoting these products and offers – it really is a lot easier than you’d imagine to get this stream of income going; and even though you might have to invest in a chunk of setup time (especially if you’re promoting high end products), once you’ve got your blog (the vehicle you’re going to promote them on) set up and running.