The phrase “CPA” sounds about as exciting and attention-grabbing as accounting terms would sound to a quilting enthusiast. It’s usually rattled off in this acronym form, and the assumption seems to be that you’ll know what it is. Acronyms (short forms based on initials of words in titles) intimidate people, so many new internet marketers tend to ignore or gloss over this marketing method – but “CPA” simply means “Cost Per Action” or “Cost Per Acquisition”. Cost Per Action means that your reader just has to take a specific action (E.G. input a valid email address, click on a link, request a free sample, etc.) Cost Per Acquisition means that your reader actually has to buy the product or subscription.
Websites (or reports like this) dryly talking about CPA can hardly compete with “Make a six figure income with no work – 1 week from now!” in excitement factor. But whether you’re choosing to focus on Cost Per Action or Cost Per Acquisition, CPA marketing has one common denominator: It is a form of advertising generated by a third party in which you are paid for hosting or promoting that party’s ad or link, based strictly on actions your readers take. This in turn generates any of the following actions for the advertiser who is going to pay you: New subscriber sign up Purchase of a product Sales lead for your advertiser’s further follow up
