What Are CPA Networks?

CPA networks are companies that work as a middleman between advertisers and publishers. They host CPA offers from their advertisers and then have their publishers (affiliates) push the traffic to these CPA offers and take a percent of the lead value.
For example, an advertiser may pay the CPA network $5.00 for every lead generated on the network and the CPA network may pay a publisher only $4.00 for every lead generated taking a $1.00 commission cut. This is how the CPA networks make money.
Once you login to a CPA network, you have the ability to browse through these CPA offers and decide which one that you would like to promote. For each individual offer, you will be provided with a unique affiliate ID to promote that offer. The CPA network controls all the tracking of leads and commissions on your behalf.
The nice thing about working with a CPA network is that you receive one check from the CPA network for all the commissions that you have generated rather than multiple checks from multiple advertisers.
The number of offers that a CPA network has to offer varies from network to network with some CPA networks having over 1,000 different offers to choose from in various markets (verticals).
CPA networks generally have text, email and banner ads that are already created and ready for you to use. In my experience, using the banner creatives from a CPA network do not perform as well as using your own banners because they are poorly designed and get a low click-thru rate.
A good banner is one that does not look like an advertising banner. That is why text banners generally have a better click-thru rate.
The CPA network tracks all your affiliate data (impressions, clicks, leads, commissions, etc.) and then sends you a check at the end of the month for the commissions generated.
The first step to joining a CPA network is to fill out their publisher application to get started. This application goes through a review process and the network decides whether to accept or reject your application.