When it comes to driving traffic to a CPA offer, it’s really not all that different from driving traffic to any other website. You can utilize all of the same sources, and the conversion rate will depend on the quality of that traffic.
However, there is one key element to keep in mind with CPA offers. More often than not, they will specify a particular type of traffic that they are looking for. So, if you come across an offer that specifies banner ad traffic but then use the offer link in a email ad instead, that would be breaking their terms.
Some CPA offers are not limited. Others will specify types of traffic, such as banner traffic, traffic from emails, or organic traffic only. Keep this in mind as you read on about types of traffic and various traffic sources; you will need to either focus solely on one type of traffic, or use a variety of offers to capture each type of traffic.
One thing you might want to watch for is Incent offers. This keyword, when present in an offer, means you’re allowed to incentivize the traffic in any way you desire. You can, for example, tell users that if they fill out the form, they get a free copy of your ebook or a 10% off coupon for a product.
You might even tell them they can sign up for an exclusive deals mailing list which you use for other offers. Giveaways work as well; record the people who sign up and award a gift card to a few lucky winners each month. If you’re getting enough conversions and your offer pays enough, it’s a small chunk of your available profits.
Driving Traffic
Once you have a site set up with some offers, it’s time to drive some traffic to it. You can do this in a number of different ways.
Organic search
This is the best method for long term growth, but it’s not as good for the quantity-based approach. With organic search, you’re working with SEO to build a brand presence and a trusted reputation, so you need to carefully cherry-pick your offers to avoid scamming your readers.
Search ads
Using Bing PPC, Google AdWords or other search ads allow you access to a huge amount of targeted traffic. The caveat, of course, is that you have to pay for ads and you’re not guaranteed conversions. If your targeting is off or you’re paying too much for ads, you’ll see very few people actually filling out your CPA offer form, so you won’t be earning back the money you spent, let alone making a profit.
Mobile ads
Using mobile ad exchanges like Buzzcity opens your site up to a whole wide world of mobile users. Just make sure that your offers are targeted at mobile users, and that your site works perfectly on all mobile devices. This might require shelling out for a responsive design.
Social media
Organic social media works with the quality-based approach, because you’re building a brand as much as you are an affiliate site. You can curate content, share blog posts and interact with industry veterans through Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, all with the goal of driving traffic to your site and your offers.
Social ads
Much the same as search ads, Twitter, Facebook and other social outlets offer their own PPC ads. Use these to drive traffic to your sites. You can even use targeting information from your audience to run offers you haven’t implemented yet, to give them a trial run.
Mailing lists
Building your own mailing list is great, but you can also buy space in other site newsletters or in newsletters designed to share affiliate sites with interested consumers.
Using a mixture of these traffic sources is ideal, so you’re not relying too much on any one traffic source. Experiment, find where your best conversions come from, and push for growth.
NEXT: Optimizing CPA Affiliate Campaigns
