I have been getting a large increase of traffic to the blog in the last 2 months which has led to an increase in people contacting me with questions and asking for advice in the same certain areas. Many of the questions I receive are duplicate questions and instead of answering the same question multiple times I figured I would just do a post on some of these questions.
Today I will be addressing the issue of getting accepted into a CPA network. It appears that many of the people trying to get accepted into these networks to do legit advertising are being denied because of the fact they simple don’t understand and know how to answer the questions on the application forms.
I myself, have never had any sort of a problem getting accepted into a network. Even when first starting out in this industry, it seemed quite easy to get in and start pumping out work for these companies. Part of that reason is because I learned the industry terms and information and didn’t act like a total “newbie” when approaching the networks.
Just think about it for a second, if you approach a network and tell them you are a total newbie yada yada, they aren’t going to really care if you are working with them or not. They want people who know how to promote their offers and know how to make them money. That is, afterall, why they are running a network, to make some fat cash.
Besides getting up to date on the basics of affiliate marketing, there are some other things that can flag a company from wanting to accept your application. When you first hit an application you are going to have to enter your name, address, city, state, zip, etc. That is all very self explanatory.
The next thing you are going to hit generally is entering an email address. When I signed up I used a gmail address with no problems, however I think times have changed and many companies are flagging accounts using free addresses. What you are going to want to do is appear more like a company or an experienced internet marketer, rather than some joe blow hoping to make some easy cash. This means go out and register a domain so you have a professional looking email, something like [email protected] will work just fine. I would also recomend taking the blowmedia.com and throwing up some sort of a simple site even if its a one page lander so that you look a bit more professional. Even this isn’t necesary but will help you out in the longrun.
TIP: If you REALLY wanted to be on top of things, and plan on taking up affiliate marketing as a full time gig, then I would highly recommend registering and setting up an LLC or S-Corp to make your company legit. The networks love this and almost always automatically accept you, plus they take you much more serious, in turn giving you higher payouts off the bat, and treating you like an asset, and not some newbie wasting their time. Not only is their that benefit, but you will also protect yourself legally and there can be some great tax benefits.
Once you complete that area, the application will generally ask for your EIN or social security number to confirm it’s you and so they can send you you’re 1099 tax information at the end of the year. This is all pretty self explanatory.
Next on the list is a phone number, you are going to want to make sure you enter a REAL phone number. These networks are going to want to call you 99% of the time and quick have a little chat to make sure you aren’t just out to scam them with fraud traffic. If you ignore their calls plan on not getting accepted. You need to talk to them and explain what you want to do, let them know how you plan on promoting, and give them an idea that you are going to bring in mass volume (which you really should) so that they have some sort of a reason to actually WANT you in their network. Another note to make about the phone number is….do NOT have some ghetto voicemail message. You want it to be professional. No company wants to call you and hear some akon ringback tone and then get a goofy ass answering machine message. They will automatically not take you serious.
Now is where most people start to get confused. On these applications almost all of them ask for your website url. Along with the url many networks also want to know what type of a site it is that you run and about how many visitors you get per month. This can be a conflict for many people because they don’t actually own a site yet…or maybe never will. DON’T let this hold you back. You have at least 2 options here to solve this problem. Either enter the domain that you setup for your professional looking email address OR just enter N/A. If the application asks what category your site belongs to, just choose anything, its not important at all. For the field asking for how many visitors you get, I generally just enter something like 100,000 or higher, since I do send at LEAST that much traffic….just not via a specific website. On rare occasions, you will run into a company that doesn’t know jack about affiliate marketing, and if you don’t have a high visitor count, they will flag or deny your app. This is generally due to the fact that whoever is reviewing the application just doesn’t understand the game and is kind of going off a simple algorithm to accepting and denying applications.
Now that you have all of that filled out, you are pretty much done, but there is still one more VERY important thing. The applications will generally ask you in one way or another how you plan on promoting their offers… There may be a drop down form or checkboxes allowing you to select the promotional methods you use, or there may just be an area for comments/site description.
Take me for example, I promote the majority of my offers through paid traffic, being even more specific via PPC and media buys. If the form has checkboxes or drop down forms, I simply check the PPC and Media Buy/Banner options. If the form has nowhere for me to express how I send my traffic, I use the comments/site description box to clarify that I will be sending the majority of my traffic via PPC and media buys. This allows the company to NOT worry about the website I have listed since they now know I will be sending that traffic NOT through a website, but via PPC and media buys.
TIP: One last thing to point out is that I also get many questions referring to what incentivization is. Incentivization is when you offer the visitor something in return for signing up for an offer. This can be anything from money to a free membership to a free report to free pictures/games/screensavors. I would like to make it very clear that MANY networks discourage incentivization and DO NOT like to deal with any publishers/affiliates who play around with it. Incentivization generally brings in lower quality traffic and lower quality leads. You do NOT want to associate yourself with bad traffic or bad leads. I would recomend AGAINST using incentivization and to make SURE NOT to ever indicate on your application that you work with incent offers.
This wraps up the signup process to guarantee yourself acceptance into any network you wish to join!
If there are any other questions, please comment and ask away. I am more than happy to answer any questions regarding the signup process that you may have.
Now go take this information and apply at all of the networks your heart desires. I have provided a great list of proven high quality networks who pay me on time all the time. Rest assured that you will have no problems getting in if you just follow this guide! 🙂
Wow This is awesome 🙂
Now i figured out why my application was declined by one the network i joined few days ago.
Whats the company ll.I,m trying to joing affilate program and their always asking for companies name?
When networks ask for your company name, you would put in your registered company’s name. This is a big industry with big players in it. Any good affiliate hits a point where it is a necessity to be running things as a business, for many reasons.
To answer your question though, if you are operating as a sole proprietor (meaning you haven’t setup anything and are just operating under your name) than you can just enter your full name into the applications when it asks for your company name.
For the record, it’s totally fine to start off as a sole proprietor to test the waters and see if this is your thing, but if/when you start to make some pretty good money it would be very wise to setup an LLC or probably better an S-Corp. Then when you fill out network applications, you look a LOT more legit having an actual company designated to doing the type of business they want, but you also protect your liability and can save yourself a lot in taxes depending how you structure things.
All of the CPA networks I have looked at say they only accept affiliates with experience.
So if you don’t have any experience (or at least haven’t been in an official affiliate program before), how do you break into the affiliate networks?
Do you recommend starting with a specific network or is there a method you recommend to show networks — for example, setting up a demo campaign to show them — that will help one get accepted?
Thanks!
Just study the industry. Read around and do a bunch of research on everything. Understand the overall process (Its simple, you drive traffic to an advertisers site, or a landing page you make to funnel the visitor to the advertisers site) and learn the industry jargon. This way when you talk to the networks, they will assume you have experience since you already know the common industry terms they throw around in the conversation. Keep in mind, you don’t have to tell the networks if you have no experience….its pretty much up to you if they find out about your experience level unless you blow it by not knowing ANYTHING they are talking about.
Just try applying at one network, it will at least give you an idea WHAT they are going to ask so you can know how to answer the questions at the next network you apply at. If you don’t know what they are talking about then take note of it and research it online with google or something.
Its all pretty simple, it just comes down to taking action and learning from your mistakes. Nothing is going to be a big enough mistake to ruin what you want to accomplish.
As for your question about a demo campaign….the answer is no. I do not do anything to impress a network other than talk to them and try to figure out if we can make something work out between us.
I will suggest you start promoting an specific site since they dont pressure you a lot. When you start with a site they give you everything for you to enter in the world of promoting in the internet. You start with friends and family to try the product and then you move on to an specific type of promotion to reach a bigger audience like search engines and then PPC, try social network too and so on. The point is the you build your foundation . That will give you enough experience for the future. In the process you learn and learn and learn. When you finish with the learning and you feel confident about how you promote then you can take on the big challenges. When you work with a CPA network they expect a lot from their affiliates.
A Site? You don’t promote specific sites you promote OFFERS from the cpa networks.
As for promoting the CPA offers to your friends and family, I think this is an absolutely horrible idea. I would never ever do this.
Your point about slowly building your foundation is a good point to be made though, you do learn tremendously from taking small steps and slowly building your empire. The small steps and learning experiences will quickly add up where you can expand out to other areas of getting traffic.
Try to think of it as a simple 3 step process. Find an offer to promote -> Direct link or make landing page -> Send Traffic. You can plug in whatever you want for each step…but that’s really all there is to it.
Great article! I have learnt a lot .
Hi, my name is Francisco and I am trying to generate some income as an affiliate. I understood all the tips needed to be PPA friendly, but the only one that confuses me is the web page ( the landing site )
Any idea of what to put on it?
Better yet, any sample that I can take a look at?
Thank
Francisco
I have used simple websites with an iframe, I have used this blog, I have used sites like nashkellermedia.com (this is a work in progress and may not look functional when you take a look at it).
You can do about anything, just don’t use borderline content. Don’t go make a website with adult content or with poker or something that the cpa network may not allow or be biased against.
Trevor,
Have you heard of Site Build It! ?
If you have, what do you think of it?
Regards,
Ray
No I have not heard of it.
Great Post! Typically many affiliate networks deal with fraudulent sign ups, so if there are particular offers that you are promoting, it helps to bring those up in your application/discussion to ensure acceptance.
One of the best rules to follow when attempting to join an Affiliate Network is to, “Be yourself!” Tell the truth and give the network a realistic picure of your goals. Most networks are willing to train / advise a new publishers who are driven to make money.
Hey Trevor,
Thanks for the tips. I really needed them. In fact I set up my wordpress page the other day (the one for my website showing here) for the sole purpose of getting CPA networks to accept me, so your post gives me great direction on how I need to go about applying for them. Thanks again!
-Jon
Howdy Trevor, Stephen here!
Thank you for the tips in getting started but I still have a problem…how do I work a CPA Network business? Any direction would be appreciated!
Cheers,
Stephen
Hi Trevor
As most of these cpa companies are based in USA/Canada is it more difficult for someone outside US or Canada to apply?. I live in the UK.
Hi Trevor,
Would I still be accepted even if I live outside the US and don’t have a SSN or EIN?
Thanks,
Jimmy
Jimmy, it all depends on the network. I do have many friends from other countries that have no SSN or EIN number who work with a multitude of cpa/affiliate networks. If you are serious about things and are professional you should have no problem getting accepted and working with a network.
really it’s a great information. I hope this information help for me. thanks for sharing