Pay per Acquisition

Cost per acquisition or Cost per action are an advertising model by which the advertiser pay a webmaster advertising them a commission only once the  visitor referred to the advertiser's site becomes a conversion. The conversion can be regarded as a sale or even a registration.

Normally a CPA deal are beneficial to both the advertiser and the affiliate as the commissions received are higher than with the normal PPC deals. Some of the CPA deals can even include life long income share.

The advertiser has a further benefit in that they do not have to pay any advertising money  up front. It also reduces the risk to the advertiser due to the fact that a conversion is required in order for the affiliate to receive payment. If a business is cash stuck it is a very useful way of making sales based on a formula whereby the business can accurately forecast it's return on investment and ensure targeted traffic.