Why CPA Is More Lucrative Than CPC Advertising

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When Google AdSense was introduced to the world of Internet marketing, it looked like it was going to be a real game changer. Undeniably, it has had a monumental impact in how websites are developed, designed, and monetized. Even though CPM (based on page views or impressions) type advertising still exists, AdSense made a huge push toward CPC (based on ad clicks) type advertising. And it proved to be a good system for all parties involved.

Not surprisingly, countless websites are developed specifically to maximize their earnings through a CPC ad network like AdSense, but that is not necessarily the most lucrative route you can take as a website owner nor is it necessarily the best path to take as a potential advertiser. In this day and age of the Internet, affiliate marketing has become one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal. CPA (based on completed actions) can be more effective than CPC advertising.

There are many reasons for this, but I’m going to highlight three of the biggest ones.

More Control Over Advertisers

What happens when you place an AdSense ad on your website? Google crawls the page, takes its best guess about the subject matter, and tries to match it up with a relevant advertiser. While you can try to influence it by tweaking your content, this matching process is largely outside of your hands.

CPA-based affiliate marketing is a distinctly different beast. While there are certainly networks that will let you automatically rotate through advertisers based on a category or niche, it is much more common for you to hand-select the advertisers that you’d like to work with. You can look specifically at what the companies are about, what they offer, and — most important to us — how the payout scheme works.

One of the more popular CPA engines out there is HasOffers and it is used to power a number of affiliate programs around the web. No matter what your niche, you can find a series of different offers that are a great fit for your particular audience. This means that you can get rid of the fluff and focus on what is really relevant.

Versatility of Ad Types and Placements

Yes, CPC networks can give you a good range of sizes and styles too, but CPA advertising is arguably even more versatile and flexible. This is because you can promote these offers well beyond just your website in a regular “ad box” kind of fashion. They can be text links inside posts or banners in the sidebar, but the great thing about CPA advertising is that you have many more options beyond that while still promoting the same offer.

You can develop your own microsites and landing pages for specific CPA offers, for example, tweaking them to improve your conversion rates and increase your traffic. Even without a website, one of the more lucrative ways to make money with affiliate marketing is through a mailing list. Send your custom affiliate link to your subscribers via email (and through social media) and get conversions that way too. The possibilities are many and varied.

Sexiest Looking CPA Ads

Here are some of my favorite looking CPA ads from the Peerfly network, the cool thing about both these ads are that when you move your mouse over the image it makes the person transparent

Higher Payouts

Of course, one of the biggest reasons why CPA is more effective than CPC advertising is simply because it is more lucrative. The payouts are typically much higher, because the advertisers are only paying for results. This way, the budget is better allocated to publishers who send them relevant and motivated traffic, rather than the traffic of just random ad-clickers.

Remember that most clicks on primarily CPC-based ad networks like AdSense usually pay just pennies. There may be a few that are over a dollar, but they are far from the norm. By contrast, CPA offers can easily be $10, $20, $100 or more. Some affiliate programs for web hosting providers, for instance, can be well over $100. There are also affiliate offers that pay an ongoing commission for continued subscriptions.

That’s a lot more money for really the same amount of work. CPC will always have its place, just like CPM has managed to survive the rise of AdSense, but CPA is really the way to go if you want to earn a more substantial online income through Internet marketing and publishing.