Posted in Affiliate Marketing by Nick Smith on 29th of October, 2008

One important consideration when choosing an affiliate marketing program is the CPA that each offers. The Cost Per Action is the amount you will receive when one of your referrals performs the desired action of the affiliate program's website. While you might believe that this always refers to a percentage of the sale value, and while this may be the most common affiliate marketing CPA, other types do exist and offer a profitable solution to monetising the traffic on your website.

If an affiliate marketing program is looking for new members for their website, then the CPA is likely to be an assigned value for every registration that comes from your list of referrals. With most subscription based sites offering a range of different subscription levels this usually means that there is also a range of potential payment levels. This type of affiliate marketing program can lead to several payments for one referral if that referral renews their subscription within a given period.

Always check the CPA but also consider the likelihood of your referral's performing that action. Check how much it would cost them, for example, to sign up with the website and determine whether you believe it is an appealing rate. Check conversion rates offered by the affiliate marketing program and ascertain whether they will continue to pay you a fee whenever your referrals extend or renew their subscription. Some affiliate marketing websites will offer a range of CPA options so dig as deep as you can to get the full details.

For more information, see our affiliate marketing blog.