Basically, it works a lot like other marketing techniques (which I will dabble into in future Opps).  You drive traffic to a landing page and hope a potential viewer completes an action that you want them to complete, giving you a commission.  These actions range from something atrociously simple like submitting an e-mail or a zip code to more complicated things like signing up for an offer (similiar to the Project Payday stuff) or even buying a product (very rare in CPA).  The commissions are also ridiculously low, sometimes as low as a quarter.  But just think – if you can get like, say, 100 people a day to submit their zip code, it is a potential $25 per day.  A cool $750 a month.  I’ll take it.  But hey, of course you still have to do your due diligence and do keyword research, SEO, backlinks, and all of that good stuff.

However, there is one HUGE roadblock that you will have to somehow, someway overcome.  Yeah, nothing comes easy in this crooked ass game called Internet Marketing.  And in the case of CPA, you have to get accepted into the networks.  And let me tell you – that is extremely hard.  You can’t just fill out a form and then start jumping right in.  The CPA networks will be calling your HOME (yes, you will have to give them your real phone number).  They will also be doing an interview.  Interview?!  Did I just say that?  Tell me I didn’t just say that?!  Yep, they have to talk to you over the phone.  Damnit, this reminds me of those bullshit job interviews!  Okay, back on track before I get pissed off.  So yeah, they call you and ask you some questions on how you plan to drive traffic, how long do you plan on promoting their offers, that sort of thing.  They will also be needing proof that you can drive traffic, meaning you’ll have to disclose some of your traffic stats on some of your sites.  And if you’re a newbie, this is impossible.  They are very hard to convince, meaning that you will have to tell them what they want to hear and show them what they want to see.  They want the best of the best, not just anybody.

If you CAN get over this roadblock, and you know how to drive traffic, CPA can be a very profitable opportunity for you.  The first one I actually recommend, even though I haven’t done it myself (because I don’t have the qualifications just yet).  Do a search on Google for CPA networks.  There’s a shitload of them.  And if you can get into CPA, stick with it and you can make some great cash with it.

And as the phone interview ends with the CPA network, give them these final words: If it doesn’t work for me, it won’t work for you.  Chase the pipe dream.  Live the pipe nightmare.

In a nutshell, a testimonial praises a product.  It is ALWAYS good, and it is only a paragraph or so long.  A review, on the other hand, goes more in depth and picks the bone of the product, pointing out the good and the bad.  Reviews are also much longer than testimonials because of the detail in them.

Because of the testimonial/review ratio out there that favors testimonials, you’re suckered into buying a product, thinking that if these guys say it is good then it has to be good.  But then you realize that the product has less than you bargained for.  You go and ask the product owner questions to the point where he/she loses patience with you, then you realize you’ve wasted your money.  IMO, I don’t buy products based on testimonials anymore unless there is sufficient information on it that draws me in.  Because admittedly, I’ve blew loads of cash on products that the masses say were good but in my eyes they were crap.  If there is a very detailed review of a product, going into the pros and cons, I’d be convinced if the review favors the pros.

Testimonials help product owners sell products without a doubt.  But when the honest and nitpicky son of a bitch comes in and reviews it, there is a possibility that sales go DOWN.  Let me tell you a TRUE story: I bought a site flipping WSO once based on testimonials (call me a sucker if you want).  But I went and reviewed the thing.  One of the guy’s modules in the WSO got a mediocre 3.75 from me because I was honest about it.  And as a result, he went in and updated the module immediately (something other product owners just don’t do) and literally BEGGED me to update my review.  You know why he begged me?  Because his sales were probably decreasing.  Okay, so I updated it.  But I know not to do that again, especially if the WSO is about making money (put your own techniques into action and compromise the lost sales of the product).  Guy ended up flipping the WSO for a cool three grand I think.

So listen: Before you buy your next online product (especially a WSO), wait for reviews, not testimonials.  If there is an EXTREMELY high number of testimonials, just listen to your gut before you plunk down the cash.  Don’t buy on impulse and definitely don’t get suckered into the sales page claims (I have a lot more of that to come in future rants).  And whatever you do – if anyone offers you a review copy but tells you to leave a good review, either don’t take the review copy or take it and leave a TRUE review and not a testimonial.  All that review copy crap on Digital Point shouldn’t be called review copies.  More like testimonial copies.  And even those testimonials at DP suck a old woman’s wrinkled ass.

This is my testimonial: If it doesn’t work for me, it won’t work for you.  Chase the pipe dream.  Live the pipe nightmare.