Are you gearing to start and make money in the adventurous world of CPA affiliate marketing? You’ve come to the very right place. But first, you’ll need to join a good CPA affiliate marketing network.
The CPA network is where you get offers to promote using paid or free traffic.
In this guide, I’ll teach you how to choose the best CPA affiliate network as well as offer my recommendations for what I think are the best CPA affiliate networks for beginners. So, stay tuned.
What’s a CPA Network?
Simply referred to as an affiliate network, this is where you get offers to promote. Basically, CPA offer networks are offer aggregators. They source for advertisers/merchants and presents them to you under one dashboard.
Some affiliate networks do not source for advertisers but develop their own affiliate offers. These are called in-house affiliate offers.
The term CPA stands for “Cost Per Action” or “Cost Per Acquisition.”
In short, this means that CPA affiliate marketers are paid per action taken by a lead. This is as opposed to CPS based affiliate networks such as Amazon Associates where affiliates are paid per sale.
The “Action” that affiliates get paid for in CPA affiliate marketing ranges from filling a form, downloading an app or software, completing a survey or sending an SMS.
Not all CPA affiliate networks are created equal. The wrong choice when you’re a beginner may mean that you go for months without payment. Or you’re competing for commissions with super affiliates.
So, how do you decide on which CPA network to join? I have made your work easier and listed the best performance marketing for beginners:
10 of the Best CPA Networks for Beginners
- Traffic Company
- MyLead
- Mobipium
- Haka
- Zeydoo
- Adsterra
- Advertizia
- MobitEasy
- TerraLeads
- Golden Goose
1. Traffic Company
- Minimum Payout Amount – $300
- Payment Methods – Direct Bank, PayPal, Paxum
Traffic Company is a solid CPA network and one of the best CPA network for beginners.
Why should you choose Traffic Company?
- First of all, the account opening and approval process is a breeze. No other affiliate network approves beginners at the rate that Traffic Company does.
- You get timely weekly payouts
- They have in-house developed mobile offers
- 5% referral bonus for every affiliate you attract to join Traffic Company
The approval process at Traffic Company consists of 3 questions:
- Where Did Your First Hear About Traffic Company
- What Currently Describes You (Answer: Media Buyer)
- How Much Do Your Expect to Make with Traffic Company per month (Answer: $500)
Once your account is activated, you’ll gain access to all offers on their platform, which include Click2Call, Click2SMS, and Smartlink offers.
Make sure that you go through the steps to set up your account once you’re approved. It’s easy.
Most of the offers on Traffic Company accept traffic all over the world, so you can pick any and start promoting in geos that are less competitive.
With Traffic Company, you also won’t have to worry about landing pages as most of their offers already come with landing pages that are proven to convert.
Click2Call and Click2SMS offers are part of vertical known as mVAS. Or mobile value-added services, and they convert on the user sending and SMS or making a call.
2. MyLead
- Minimum Payout– $20
- Payment Methods – PayPal. Skrill, Bank Transfer, Bitcoin, WebMoney
- Type of Offers – CPA, CPS, COD, PPI, CPL
MyLead Global is another solid CPA networks that accepts affiliates of all levels. You therefore don’t have to worry about your application getting rejected.
What makes MyLead stand out from so many other affiliate networks is the diversity of offers in their inventory. You get everything from COD offers to PPI and CPL offers.
They also have a lot of SOI sweepstake offers in Tier 1 and 2 Geos.
What’s more, you can search through the offers that MyLead Global without signing up to get an idea of the kind of offers they have.
For their PPI (pay per install) offers, MyLead creates their own mobile apps, which translates to higher payout. Also, promoting in-house offers is always a good call as the network can instantly offer feedback on the lead quality.
MyLead also offers excellent support and education to newbies. So, feel free to apply even if you don’t understand much about affiliate marketing as yet.
3. Mobipium
- Minimum Payment – $100
- Payment Methods: PayPal, Payoneer, Wire Transfer, Paxum, Capitalist
- Payout Frequency – Net-30
Mobipium, as the name may imply, is a mobile performance affiliate network. Their main specialty is carrier billing offers.
It’s a beginner friendly CPA Network with an incredibly easy account application process. All you have to do is sign up with your details and wait for an account manager to contact you via Skype or email.
The affiliate manager will ask you questions such as which geos you want to work with, what type of offers interest you the most, and how you intend to drive traffic to the offers.
It helps to be forthright with your affiliate manager as they can then suggest the best offers for you and offer insights into what type of creatives are converting best.
Most of the offers available at Mobipium are in-house offers and they can therefore guarantee a higher payout than most other beginner-friendly CPA networks.
4. Haka
- Minimum Payout – $200
- Payment Frequency – Net-15
- Payment Methods – Bank Wire
Haka.mobi is another great CPA network for beginners, also specializing in carrier billings offers.
Haka’s specialty is in the Click2SMS conversion flow, which is very easy to convert. The user only needs to click on the CTA button, which opens the user’s SMS app, prompting them to send an SMS. A conversion is counted once the SMS is delivered to the user.
They have a knowledgeable team that’s more than willing to help affiliates choose and monetize the best offers.
Additionally, Haka also have some of the best payout amounts for their Click2SMS offers. The payout for every offer on the platform is $0.35, and honestly, I find this to be well suited for beginners, as it takes out one more variable from the equation… That of comparing payouts among offers.
The offers are available for more than 100 countries worldwide, so you’re bound to find an offer that works well for you in a particular geo.
However, their top performing geos include Guyana, Spain, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, Peru, and France.
The best converting niches on Haka are dating and sweepstakes offers.
The only downside of this otherwise good CPA network is that payments are only available by bank transfer. However, with Wise, that small nuance is easily solved.
5. Zeydoo
- Minimum Payout – $100
- Payment Frequency – Bi-weekly
- Payment Methods – Wire, PayPal, Payoneer, WebMoney, Skrill
Zeydoo is a beginner-friendly CPA network with profitable in-house and direct offers.
While it’s often best to check how long an affiliate network has been in the industry before joining and promoting their offers, sometimes we have to make exceptions.
Zeydoo is a relatively new affiliate network compared to the others in this list, but the team behind it has been in the industry for more than 10 years. The network is backed by PropellerAds, which has been a stable traffic source for years.
Zeydoo might not have thousands of offers like other networks, but what they have is a nice inventory of highly converting offers in their respective verticals.
To run their most profitable offers, you’ll have to seek for approval from your affiliate manager, and that’s only after you have proven that you can drive quality traffic to their offers and made at least 3 payouts. Luckily, that’s easier said and done. One of the highly converting offers that I have ever come across is available on Zeydoo and is open to beginners.
6. Adstrerra
- Minimum Payment– $5.00
- Payment Schedule – Weekly
- Offer Types – CPI, CPA, CPL
- Payment Methods: PayPal, Paxful, WebMoney, Wire transfer, Crypto
Adsterra was founded in 2013, and currently serves over 248 Geos. It boosts of more than 33K partners who get timely biweekly payments.
The main attraction for Adsterra is the low $5 payment threshold. However, the $5 payment threshold is only available if you’re using certain payment thresholds, namely Paxful and WebMoney. For any other payment method, the minimum amount is $100, which is still relatively low compared to other CPA networks.
Payments at Adsterra are automatic. However, just in case you miss a payment, you are advised to contact the customer support via the online chat at their website.
Support at the CPA network is available via a 24/7 chat on their website. After proving your performance, you’ll also be assigned an affiliate manager who you can easily reach via Skype.
What Should you Look out For When Choosing an Affiliate Network
Getting Approved
If you can’t get approved into a CPA network, you can’t become an affiliate marketer, right?
Truth of the matter is, some affiliate networks do not want to work with beginners, and we can’t blame them for that.
However, the affiliate networks I have listed above are all very beginner friendly and will accept almost everyone who assures them that they are going to work hard to become successful. These are the perfect training ground to start your affiliate marketing journey before you join other networks along the way.
Verticals Available in an Affiliate Network
What’s a vertical? You ask? In CPA affiliate marketing, a vertical is a niche, market, or industry.
Some of the most common verticals include:
- Sweepstakes
- Dating
- iGaming
- Crypto
- Nutra
- Mobile content
- Etc etc
Some verticals work well for beginners. Others not so much. In the beginning, you’ll want to join a CPA network that has offers in a vertical with an easy conversion flow.
If you’ve noticed something about the CPA networks listed above, almost all of them deal with mobile content offers. These are very easy to convert.
Payout Threshold
Every affiliate network has a payout threshold. This is a minimum amount that you must earn before you request to be paid.
Most have a threshold of between $150-200. But some have very low thresholds of $10-50. When you’re new to affiliate marketing (and depending on your cashflow), you should choose an affiliate network that has a relatively low payout threshold.
If you must work with an affiliate network that does not meet your desired payout threshold, you can always request the affiliate manager to adjust it for you. I have had my thresholds lowered from $500 to $100 by an affiliate network. But for this to happen, you must first show that you can deliver results.
The sweet spot threshold for most beginners is $50 to $100
Payout Frequency
Payout frequency refers to time between payouts. Most affiliate networks will have a net 15 or net 30 payout frequency. This simply means that you will be paid 15 days or 30 days after the applicable payment period closes.
Other affiliate networks will pay you daily. A good example of a beginner-friendly affiliate network that pays daily is Golden Goose.
For most affiliates, the payout frequency is not that important as long as the affiliate network honors its commitment to pay, and pays within the agreed period.
Payout Method
Does the affiliate network support payment methods that you have access to?
The most common payment methods amongst affiliate networks are:
- Direct Bank Deposit
- Payoneer
- Wire Transfer
- PayPal and other e-wallets such as Webmoney and Paxum
- Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Tether
In some affiliate networks, each payment method will have a different payout threshold. Wire Transfers and cryptocurrencies, for instance, have a higher payout threshold (~$200) in most affiliate networks. E-wallets will generally have a lower payout threshold.
Also note that some payment methods will incur a commission when you’re transferring money.
Patrick Mahinge is a prolific digital marketer and "serial webpreneur". He runs multiple profitable niche websites and blogs monetized through affiliate marketing and advertising. Patrick generously shares his expertise in affiliate marketing, blogging, and online business through his Facebook group of over 5,000 aspiring entrepreneurs.
This information about the best CPA affiliate networks for beginners is golden. I registered with Traffic Network, and I have already received my first $345 payout. Thanks Patrick