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This post was originally published in [2025] and has been fully updated for 2026 with new data and tools. Imagine earning $100 a day without ever having to convince someone to pull out their credit card. That is the unique power of CPA marketing. If you’ve struggled with traditional sales, learning how to be a profitable CPA marketer might be the breakthrough you need. Today, I will share exactly how you can get started, even with 0 experience. Understand what CPA marketing is Choose a profitable niche Join some good CPA affiliate networks Choose some good offers Build a landing page Drive traffic to your landing page Analytics Reinvest your income Do more split testing 3 Largest mistakes to make Content lockers Keep reading, and I'll go over these steps in more detail. Plus, I'll share the 3 biggest mistakes to make as a CPA marketer. CPA Landing Page Auditor Check if your landing page is ready to convert traffic into profit. 1. Headline Strength Vague (e.g., "Welcome to my site") Clear (e.g., "How to get X") Benefit-Driven (e.g., "Earn $100 without Selling") 2. CTA Actionability Passive (e.g., "Submit") Generic (e.g., "Click Here") Direct (e.g., "Get My Free Cheat Sheet") 3. Friction Level (Form Fields) High (5+ fields/Address/Phone) Medium (Name + Email) Low (Email Only or One-Click) 4. Trust Signals Present? Yes, I have testimonials/logos Audit My Landing Page Your Conversion Score: 0% Understand what CPA marketing is? What is truly powerful about CPA marketing is that nobody has to pull out their wallet or credit card for you to get paid. CPA stands for (Cost Per Action). All someone has to do is download a free game, fill out a form with basic information, or do some type of action, and you earn money. It sounds VERY simple, but let me tell you a story. For the last 2 years, I was calling up business owners trying to get them to sign a few boxes for a FREE Quote on FREE money they would receive for staying open during COVID. It wasn't little money, either; it was up to $26,000 per employee. Yes, it was real because I talked to TONS of people who got the money. It sounds like it would be so easy, right? The problem is that some people thought it was too good to be true! Still using the phone worked, and I got 134 people to sign up. CPA marketing has its challenges, but it is still a wonderful tool to add to your toolbox when it comes to earning extra money online. Why it's a good idea to choose a profitable niche for CPA marketing Like the saying goes... The riches are in the niches-Unknown Just like normal affiliate marketing, where you include a link and if someone clicks on it and buys something, you get paid. CPA marketing, you also need a niche to start with. In fact, it's not a bad idea to do both CPA marketing and affiliate marketing, but a niche is a good idea. A niche is a group of products and offers in 1 area. The reason you want a niche is because... Easier to build more trust and authority Easier for you because you build off your education Better conversion rates Simplify your content strategy Easier time with ranking things Easier to cross-promote Easier to find the right affiliate products You save time and energy Avoid the dreaded being labeled a "spammer" Now I admit sometimes this isn't easy. In fact, I'm guilty of having TONS of different interests. This is why a big niche is better, so you don't get "bored." Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash Choose a niche that you are "highly" interested in. Also, it has to be profitable. I wrote a post that goes over in detail how to choose a niche HERE. Join some good CPA affiliate networks The first step is finding products to promote. You want to do this early because if you can't find anything, then maybe choose another niche. There really are a "shit ton" of affiliate networks such as... OGads CPAGrip PerformCB MaxBounty ClickDealer CPA Lead Crakrevenue AdworkMedia AdscendMedia To be honest, Maxbounty is the largest CPA marketplace by far, and might be a good place to start. The bad news is that it can be difficult to get accepted. I wrote a post on exactly how to get accepted into the network and the pros and cons at this post HERE. How to choose some good CPA offers? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSPBUpuSdqA One of the hardest parts in affiliate marketing and CPA marketing is choosing what to offer. The problem is that there are probably only a billion different choices. My rules of thumb would be... Do you feel good about offering it? Would you offer it to your mom or a very close friend? Would you feel a little guilty if you did NOT offer it? If you answered "yes," consider offering it. Of course, there are many things to look at.. Does the offer's landing page look trustworthy? Does it load fast? Is it mobile-friendly? Is the CTA clear? There are also things like EPC (earnings per click) and the conversion rate. It's nice if those are high. For more ideas on how to choose what to offer, I wrote a post on it HERE, with 10 tips. Why you should 100% build a landing page When I got started in affiliate marketing 15 years ago, it was all about the list. Today, it's still about building a list. There are SO SO many benefits to building a list, it's hard to convey in words. The main thing is you sort of own the list. This means if you're getting traffic from 1 place and it changes, you're not as vulnerable because you have this list. Plus... You can promote more than 1 offer Your closing rate can be MUCH higher You can promote other things It's easier to get accepted into affiliate programs List swaps You can contact someone WAY into the future There is much more to. More good news is that the tools to create this list are free are almost free nowadays. So the real question is, why not? It's only going to help you. I get it, you don't know where to start. Well, I'm giving away a bunch of free guides on landing pages, how to do email marketing correctly, and more. You can view these free guides by clicking on the link HERE. How to drive traffic to your landing page Now comes the fun part," traffic." What is so great about traffic is that you have LOTS of options. There are more ways to drive traffic than Elton John has glasses. By the way, it's estimated that Elton John has around 15,000 pairs of glasses (including sunglasses), and at one time could have been MUCH higher. Crazy right? via GIPHY If I had to start from scratch, the 1 traffic source I might look at is "short videos." Short videos are SUPER easy to make and can get a shit ton of views. Even better, 1 short TikTok video can be repurposed into tons of videos for EVEN more views. Plus, it's free! I wrote a guide with 50 tips on dominating with short videos that you can view HERE. Why analytics are important for CPA marketing Analytics is the numbers and knowing what is working and what needs improvement. If you are using free traffic sources, it's good to look at these numbers at times. Just be careful with not looking at them "every" second and going crazy. Free traffic can be slower to get. For example, if you are driving traffic with short videos, look at the analytics of the platform you're using. Look at when people drop off. Basically, see what you can improve and try new things to improve. If you are using paid traffic, then things are a little different. You want a return on your investment! I recommend free traffic to start. This way, you don't hurt yourself. How to re-invest your income with CPA marketing It may be tempting to blow all our income from CPA marketing on fancy vacations, private planes, and ONLY fans (I wish, right?). However, it's not a bad idea to put some of your income back into your business. You can do this through education, paid advertising, or starting a website (that you own). Reinvesting your income means you can grow EVEN faster! Now, if you're at the level of private planes, fancy vacations, and ONLY fans, then CPA marketing might be below you (why are you even reading this?) How to do MORE split testing with CPA marketing Yep, I know this doesn't sound exciting! The good news is there are tools that help with split testing using paid traffic, so it's MUCh easier. This is one of the tools I highly recommend. Split testing is when you slowly tweak things to make improvements. This is one area many people can improve on even more (myself included). 3 Biggest Mistakes of CPA marketers Promoting Random Offers Without a Niche or Strategy - It's easy to jump on everything that pays the most. The reason this is NOT good is that it's harder to target the right people or create consistent content. It just makes everything harder. Ignoring Traffic Quality (Chasing Quantity Instead) - CPA networks ban low-quality traffic sources. Plus, you want the traffic to convert. Paying for people to look at a website does not make you money. Not Tracking or Testing - You’ll never know which ad, keyword, or landing page actually brings in profit if you're not tracking. Not having a list - This is a bonus mistake. Sure, I've made money without a list, but a list just makes everything MUCH easier. Why make your job any harder than it has to be? Content Lockers Content lockers are just an amazing tool for CPA marketing. How it works is you have something of value. A great example is writing an eBook on a topic. Then you lock that eBook up, and in order for someone to get the eBook, they have to complete a free offer that only takes a few seconds. You win, the other person wins! Plus, the company wins! Plus, it adds EVEN more value to what you're offering! So it has to feel good for YOU, the marketer. For content lockers to work, I recommend locking up something you KNOW is valuable! Another KILLER idea is something called PLR. This stands for Private Label Rights, and this means you can own something without creating it. You can turn around and use them however you want. Yes, there are TONS of uses. Something like this HERE, is a great pick because they are videos. Then lock it up and BAM, you can use them for CPA marketing. You can use them to create scarcity for a closing tool. You can sell them for money, give them away, or use them to help with social media! PLR has tons of uses. Closing CPA marketing is a great tool to add to your tool chest when it comes to earning extra money online. I'm a big fan of the "ALL the above" approach. Sure, do some regular affiliate marketing, mix some CPA offers, and try multiple traffic strategies. The more you rely on 1 source for something, the weaker you are. Plus, some platforms and offers just change. I had this 1 affiliate program I LOVED, and then 1 day the creator just pulled it. Actually, this happened to me a few times. Oh, and whatever you are doing online, it does help a TON to build a list. Not only can you earn WAY more money, but you don't have to rely on platforms as much. I have a free guide on building a list HERE. Hope this was helpful, bye for now.