The Path To CPA Success: Step 1 How To Choose A CPA Network.

If you are a newcomer to CPA, finding a reputable CPA network that has a solid selection of offers, pays out your commission on time and has knowledgeable staff that will help you sustain and grow your online business can be tricky. At the time of writing this there are over 600+ networks listed on affiliatepaying. So how do you even begin to figure out what is the best network for you?

So in this article we're going to look at a number of key factors that will help you recognise legitimate networks that will help take your business to the next level.

• Presence

Legitimate networks will have a strong online and offline presence as they will want to attract the best affiliates to work with them. To do this they need to put their name out there, keep in touch with key people in the industry and attend respected affiliate events.

It's not difficult to find out which networks are spending heavily on recruiting. It seems at the moment every CPA blog I visit Ryan Eagle's slightly annoying but almost genius banner ads are flaunted in my face, likewise Wolfstorm and NDemand also advertise quite heavily. Basically any network that has the funds to advertise heavily and to host and attend summits is a company that has substantial investment behind it and they are not likely to disappear anytime soon, therefore your commissions are in safe hands.

To find out more about these types of networks you can visit industry blogs and check out CPA summits like Affiliate Summit East to find out who is attending.

• Regularly discussed by other affiliates

One of the true indicators of a good network is going to come in the form of feedback from actual affiliates who are with the network.

As already suggested blogs are a great place to start as the owner will discuss campaigns they are currently running and mention the networks they are working with. Also the warrior forum is a great guide as to what networks are doing a good job for their affiliates, so if you have any queries about joining a network you can simply start a thread and get feedback from other warriors. The network must be doing something right if they get good feeback from their affiliates.

• Transparency

This is a very important quality that is often overlooked, if a network is trustworthy and here for the long haul they will be open with what they're doing and how they can help both new and existing affiliates. Companies like Convert2media, Blamads and CPATank all have very active blogs with the network owners and affiliate managers consistently putting out solid material and advice.

Additionally many of the network AMs will also be readily available and have a presence on popular internet forums like the Warrior forum. By digging into these blogs and the post history of the AMs you can get a feel for the network e.g. what niches they focus on, what sort of knowledge they have with regards to different traffic sources and just a general idea on how the network operates.

• Offers

As a publisher you may already have a vertical that you work in or would like to work in. Different networks will focus more on certain niches than others so if you are looking for a certain offer or vertical to market then use either Offervault or Affiliatepaying to assess the current offers a network runs.

It's also important to ensure the networks you work with not only have a wide range of offers available but consistently brings in fresh offers to promote and continues to recruit more advertisers.

• Payment terms

Before joining a network, make sure you are aware of the payment terms offered to publishers. You will generally want a network that can offer weekly payments for two reasons.

• As stated early it shows they have a significant amount of capital as they can afford to payout each week and therefore they are here for the long term.
• If you hit a high converting campaign and want to drive as much traffic to it as possible you don't want to be sat waiting 3-4 weeks for payment to come through to scale up. By that time you could have missed the boat and potentially lost out on thousands of dollars in earnings.

• Networks that screen new publishers

Generally, you will want to work with a network that will screen new publishers and not offer automatic acceptance. If networks fail to screen new publishers then they are ultimately jeopardizing their own business by opening it up to potential fraud and that could have a direct knock on effect to your own legitimate commissions. Likewise if they accepted all applicants then your affiliate manager is likely to be completely snowed and never be able to give you the attention you need to scale your business.

Likewise, if a network welcomes you with open arms, no questions asked, promising the world it's pretty likely they will suddenly disappear with your hard earned commissions in their pockets.

Overall you want a network that will exclusively work with publishers who are dedicated, serious and motivated to make money. By joining a network you are investing in them as much as they are investing in you so you need to make sure that they are taking their investment in you seriously and are going to be their to support you as you grow and develop your business.


By taking the above points into consideration and doing a little research you should be in a strong position to choose networks that will assist you in growing a profitable online business. Remember, research thoroughly, ask questions and if in doubt seek advice and guidance on these forums.

Good luck