Best CPA Network

Hey Geeks,

I am wondering when CPA ads are most effective? I personally don’t like them,because most companies use CPA ads as free branding.
Thanks.

Comments (When are CPA ads most effective?)

1.The most effective ways of running CPA ads are through text links, newsletter ads, or anything where you can give a personal endorsement of what you are trying to sell/get people to sign up for. Probably one of the least effective ways to do it is to just run a simple banner/other graphical ad.

2.

CPA are efective where you can target them.

If you have a site about a spesific topic with articles about special items then it’s very good to use CPA ad’s targeted to the topics/products at your site.

Showing CPA to a big general audiance (Humor/Entertainment) will probably not yeld good results (Like Lil_Red can tell you).

3.

CPA ads can work when:

1. They are TIGHTLY targetted. This also means having a very very clear, focussed idea in your own head of exactly what your site is about, and exactly what each individual page is about.

2. You use text links, preferably integrated into the content. Lots more work than just slapping in a banner, but also lots more money potential.

3. Some CPA banners may get some results, but only if very targetted and with lots of traffic. And, if possible, I just use them as a last resort after at least one or more CPM network defaults, or on a forum where I can’t qualify for CPM banners.

I know that it may sound crass, but you should design your sites and your content around pushing a certain category of sponsors. When you are mentally conceiving a site, with its topic/focus, think, “Are there sponsors out there that would be compatable with this content?” Make your site content condicive to visitors who might want to buy related products/services. Make your site’s structure flow towards sales pages pushing your sponsors, and how they can meet specific needs/desires.

As in many things, it is important to diversify. I use every ad format and payment structure that I can get.

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Google’s recent announcement to offer CPA advertising has gotten a lot of attention. On my last entry on this topic. I got an interesting comment asking about accurate tracking and click fraud possibilities.

Tracking:
It will be interesting to see how they offer these types of CPA offers for sale to advertisers. My guess for tracking results is that they will use the conversion tracking technology that they provide as part of AdWords now, where the publisher will be required to place some sort of conversion code on their thank you for ordering page.

Assuming the initial deals are cost per lead, the advertiser would supposedly set an amount they are willing to pay for a lead, and when that confirmation page loads, Google will track this as a lead.

Here are some potential fraud scenarios:

Fake Leads / CPA Fraud:
Obviously there could be a scenario similar to click fraud, where instead of people around the world being paid to click on ads, they would be paid to generate fake leads, thereby generating revenues for Google and the sites hosting these CPA offer ads. I am sure this is a scenario that Google has thought of, and has looked at ways to track and prevent this, it will be much easier for the advertisers to identify fraudulent leads than fraudulent clicks. Google will need to come up with a way for advertisers to report these fraudulent leads. If they are simply using the conversion tracking codes, they will also need to deal with duplicate leads and page reloads the conversion pages.

Broken Site / Leakage Issues
The second type of “fraud” could come from the publisher’s end where they don’t always present the Google conversion code for all transactions, and thereby get clicks for free to their site without paying for “conversions”.

Imagine this scenario. Someone creates a page to capture mortgage leads, and throws a lot of AdSense pay per click ads on their page, and due to some “technical glitch” the customer have difficulties completing the lead form, all they can do is click on the AdSense ads or leave the site. The site owner would then be able to get clicks for free because they would have little to no conversion rates. An advertiser might be willing to pay a lot per conversion if only 1-2% of the clicks actually convert on the page, but the non-converters drive revenues.

This might not be done intentional; there are a lot of sites out there with horrible shopping cards and conversion flows. Additionally many site have multiple revenue sources, and there will be a lot of scenarios that the CPA deal that is tracked is just one of the ways the site is making money, Google and their publishers might not share in a lot of the revenues, and thus allow advertisers to pay less per click for their traffic.

By moving into the CPA deals, Google will be taking on more risk in the transactions. There PPC model is a lot simpler to operate and administer from Google’s end, because there is no transaction risk. In this type of free market, advertisers are willing to pay to the point of not being profitable, and in a perfect world, Google should be maximizing the return in the PPC model.

I guess my point for Google is, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. This transaction risk is what the advertisers and affiliates have been arbitraging on Google for some time using their PPC advertising model. When ads don’t work, we bid less or turn them off, as more and more bidders come into the market, Google’s PPC model seems like the best and simplest way for them to make money.

My guess is that Google will find the CPA world offers more headaches than it’s worth.

But you never know, if they ad a lot of intelligence behind the CPA model like they did with the PPC model, then only the best converting and most money generating ads (for Google) will display throughout the network, and the could open up a whole lot of new revenue sources and put some of these fly by night “CPA networks” out of business.
Posted by Adam Viener

 As the online advertising market is poised to grow nearly $10 billion over the next six years, it’s essential that we remember the importance of measuring the effectiveness of that spending.There’s no point undertaking any marketing or advertising campaign unless you can measure its results. And results are best measured in terms of return on investment (ROI).

Unfortunately, in the world of marketing and advertising, many businesses seem to be losing touch with their general objectives. The tools may have changed, but the principles remain the same - Your advertising campaigns are only successful if they meet the objectives you set out to achieve. So if you’re after increased sales, you need to measure the cost of each sale generated to determine your return on investment.

Fortunately for advertisers, tracking ROI for online advertising is much easier than it is for traditional forms of advertising, such as TV, Radio, Newspaper, Magazine, and Billboard. When you market online, every advertising campaign can be tracked and measured all the way down to the penny. This is why more and more advertising dollars are being spent online every day.

Why Not Cost-Per-Click or Cost-Per-Impression?

When it comes to tracking campaign effectiveness, many businesses rely on Cost-per-Click (CPC) and Cost-per-Impression (CPM) statistics. But what many people forget is that for most businesses, clicks and impressions don’t earn you money. So by tracking clicks and impressions, you’re not really tracking return on investment. The same is true of page stats.

If you’re like most businesses, impressions, clicks, and page views are simply a means to an end. (In fact, without corresponding sales conversions, they’re nothing more than unjustifiable expenses.) If you only earn revenue from sales, you need statistics linking costs and sales. In other words, you need to measure cost-per-action (CPA).

Cost-Per-Action (CPA)

In a CPA campaign, you run an online ad on third party sites and they charge a commission when a lead is generated or converted. It’s performance-based pricing. This means the publisher wears most of the advertising risk, as their commissions are dependent on good conversion rates.

Perhaps the most widespread use of CPA is affiliate marketing. With affiliate marketing, you determine what actions you will reward and how much you’re willing to pay per action. For example, you might engage an affiliate site to promote your business. If they generate sales for your business, you can pay them a commission. Your cost-per-action would then be the cost per sale or lead generated.

Tips on Conversion

The following conversion tips will help you plan your CPA campaign and avoid some common pitfalls.

1) How are sales and leads recorded?

For many businesses, the obvious result which constitutes a conversion is a sale. If your sale is recorded or registered online (e.g. e-commerce), it can be considered a measurable action. This means you can choose a sale as the desired action in your CPA campaign.

Depending on the aim of your campaign, you may want to measure other outcomes in addition to, or instead of, sales. For instance, you might measure leads in the form of membership registrations, newsletter subscriptions, software downloads, or just about any other activity beyond simple page browsing. So when your customer clicks register, or subscribe, or download, etc., the conversion is automatically registered and the details are fed back you’re your CPA campaign.

In either case, at any time, you can log in and view your campaign results in real time.

2) Set up a landing page to capture lead contact details

If you’re paying for leads, you obviously need to know when a lead is actually generated. Generally a lead becomes a lead only when the customer supplies you with their details (name, contact numbers, email, etc.). This means you need to set up a landing page on your site capture these details. Your capture page can be collect contact information or it can be as simple as a signup for a monthly newsletter.

3) Get your CPA provider to set up your landing page

If you don’t have the time, inclination, or resources to set up the necessary forms and database on your own site, the CPA provider can do it on their hosted server. They collect the leads and calculate the statistics. For many businesses, this is the ideal option because it saves them time and money, and there are no tracking discrepancies.

4) Find a CPA provider you can trust

If your CPA provider will be collecting leads and calculating statistics, you need to know you can trust them. There are plenty of trustworthy providers out there; you just need to find them. A trustworthy provider will find out what your exact needs are and spend time researching your niche market online. By performing this marketing analysis, your provider will be able to tell you exactly how much business they can bring you on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. If they can’t provide you with this important information, then this is a good indication that you are not speaking with a professional internet marketer.

Just as importantly, with a trustworthy provider you’ll be able to personally speak with the internet marketer who will be working on your project. This person will be an expert in the field of internet marketing, not just a sales rep.

5) Avoiding excess fees

WARNING: Some CPA providers charge a setup fee ($2,500 to $10,000) and/or a network fee (20% to 30%) for each sale or lead that is generated. Before committing to a provider demanding high fees, make sure you are getting more for your money. Most of the time high fees simply mean the sales rep is getting a higher commission!

6) Measuring your conversion rate

The Formula for measuring CPA is by dividing the total cost per advertising campaign by the total number of actions (conversions) that were received from each ad campaign. For example, if your online ad campaign costs $1,000 and generates 50 sales or leads, your cost per action (CPA) is $20.00 each.

7) Improving your conversion rate

A high conversion rate depends on several factors:

Visitor Interest Level - The interest level of the visitor is maximized by matching the right visitor, the right place, and the right time.

Offer Attractiveness - The attractiveness of the offer includes the value proposition and how well it is presented.

TIP: Small, impulse items typically have a higher conversion rate than large shopping items.

Ease of Process - The ease with which the visitor can complete the desired action is dependent on site usability. Important considerations here include intuitive navigation, contact info capture page, “Buy Now” or “Apply Now” buttons and fast loading pages.

In summary

Because CPA allows you to identify exactly how much it will cost to acquire a customer, there’s no guesswork involved. You have the ability to precisely calculate your ROI. And because online tools and ad serving technologies allow you to monitor effectiveness in real time, you can even tweak campaigns while they’re still running. If you can master effective online advertising, you’ll not only save thousands in implementation costs, you’ll also reap the rewards of a far higher return on investment.

Submitted by Alex Goumakos  Comment | Email