Start Here

There are 2 types of people who will read my blog.

  1. The ones who read everything, comment and ask questions, but never do anything.
  2. The ones who decide to take action ASAP.

The second group is going to get results and learn mobile performance marketing a lot faster than the rest. Even if they don't read each one of the articles I write.

Why?

Because to become successful at one thing, you need to do it. And to be good at it, you need to take action and fail several times. This quick start page is crafted for action takers (A.K.A. the ones who'll make money, AK.A. YOU!).

If you want to get started ASAP and launch your first mobile campaign before the end of the week, here's what you need. Let me guide you step by step to get started and then you can learn from my posts and improve your campaigns to get profitable.

If you're running CPA offers already you can skip steps 1-4 and go straight to point no.5.

Pro-tip for starters: Bookmark this page.

2020 Update

If you want to get started fast and launch your first campaign TODAY check out this step by step video I made with the guys from Voluum:

Did you watch the video? Here's what you need right now:

1. Money

Yes! Do make money you need money. How much? I'd say at least $500-1,000 to get started. $2,000 or more is highly recommended but you don't need to have all that money at the beginning. So if you've got $500 or more you can get started.

Don't have enough money? Get a job. Sell a few things. Save some money from avoiding clubs, trips, and similar stuff for a few months. Do whatever you need to save those $500-2000 to get started and come back here to launch your first campaign. I know it sounds harsh but that's what most people do. Don't be foul and think that making money with mobile CPA offers is easy and that you'll spend your first $100 and get back $500. That won't happen.

2. A VPS or CDN account

Not a shared hosting account. Not a dedicated (unless you can afford it and you're doing good volume already). A VPS is a sweet point to get started with CPA marketing. You need fast load times to make sure your visits see your landers and click to your offers. Shared hosting can kill your ROI and a dedicated or a super-fast VPS can improve it a little (I'll release some tests about this later on my blog).

Many affiliates recommend Beyond Hosting, Liquid Web, etc. If you feel comfortable with $50 a month to get started, go for it. But you can also get an unmanaged VPS from Vultr for $5 per month and it will load up as fast as a dedicated. That's up to you. You're just adding landers to your domain via FTP, so there aren't special requirements at this point. What matters is to get started fast and collect data to learn.

3. Ad Network Account

This is where you're buying traffic. A few sources to get started are PopAds, Popcash, Airpush, and MGID. Also, many people recommend getting started because their interface is user-friendly and they have tons of parameters to track. For more networks check out the Resources area.

I'd recommend picking up 1-2 traffic sources maximum and deposit your money there. The first time I got started on mobile I deposited $500 in a traffic source and got a sweet deal for another $500 bonus. The point I'm trying to make clear is that you should pick up 1 traffic source at a time and dominate it. Don't spread your $1000 into 10 traffic sources with $100 deposit each. You'll regret it. I guarantee it.

4. Tracker

A tracker isn't optional. There's CPV Lab, Adsbridge, Thrive, Binom and Voluum (my favorite). If you don't have a tracker already, pick up Voluum or Adsbridge. Adsbridge has a 30-day trial (nobody else has this anymore). Or use Voluum and you've got free clicks if you're running traffic from Zeropark. I prefer Voluum, but Adsbridge is really good too.

5. CPA network with great offers

Not all CPA networks are equal. Some of them have tons of Toolbars and Game offers. Some of them have offers in specific niches like skin, diet, etc. but some are specialized in mobile. That means at least 50-60% of their offers of not all, are mobile.

If you're starting you need a network with a low payout limit and quick payments. Some networks offer weekly payments with a min. amount of $50-100. Make sure you sign up with them if you're low on cash or you're a beginner. Trust me. You don't want to spend $500 in 1 week and then wait 45 days until you get $300 back from your network to launch more campaigns. A few networks that are easy to get in are Furthermobi and Mobpartner. Yeahmobi also pays on a weekly basis but they require you to prove you can make at least $1,000 per month.

If you've been running web/desktop offers before and you've got earning screenshots and cash flow I'd recommend you to try: ClickDealer, Gotzha, Yeahmobi, and Advidi.

Once you get approved add your manager via Skype or send him an email. Ask him/her for the top offers of the last days/week by Volume or Revenue. EPC doesn't matter at this point, so Volume/Revenue is what you need to know. Check the top 50 offers and select 1-3 similar offers in the same niche.

The conversion process can be via Leads Generation (SOI/DOI), CPI (App installation and open), PIN submits (1 Click, 2 click flow, MT FLOW, etc.) or CPS (per sale or revenue share). Select an offer with a low payout (below $2) and 2 similar offers to split test. There are several niches, including coupons, dating, adult, utilities, sweepstakes and more.

Add the offers and landers to your tracker and submit your banners/landers to your traffic source to launch your first campaign!

Congratulations

If you made it this far, you've launched your first of many mobile campaigns. you're already ahead of the rest that didn't take action. The only thing that's worse than failing is not to make anything at all.

Want to learn more? Read my blog articles and subscribe to my weekly newsletter on the sidebar. I'll write weekly articles with tips and case studies to help you learn more and create winning campaigns.

Talk to you later!

98 comments

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Thanks

      Sent from Outlook Mobile. Yes, it works with gmail.

  1. Miguel Angel Arias Perez

    thanks servando has been great help to me all this information .

    I need to learn to make winning campaigns in zeropark and how to select winning bids .

    greetings from Chile

  2. Kai

    Hi Servando. have you used Facebook auto tool that can add friend by geo and gender, then auto reply a message? Thank you/

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Nah, but I've seen a lot of people doing similar strategies with a lot of head aches just to make $5 per day. I was never interested on it.

  3. Ryan

    Hello Servando, I found my way here from your affiliatefix threads. Trying to find the bit where you said you mentioned "I've mentioned which kind of offers work in this traffic source before. it's pretty much the same you can see in all pop traffic sources, including sweeps, av, some casino/bizop, dating, etc."

    What worked best for you in ZP's domain or PPV?

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Ah, I mentioned that in the thread but basically it's apps, sweepstakes, antivirus and a few dating/adult offers.

  4. James Bradfield

    Hey Servando! I'm new to PPC, but I'm hoping to make something out of this. I started looking into trackers, but Voluum is $99/month (no longer free?) and thrive is just as expensive. Would you recommend a noobie with a low budget using those trackers or should I get something like Prosper? Thanks!

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Try Adsbridge as they still have a 30 day trial.

    2. Maxim

      Why don't you try BeMob tracker? We've just launched the service, so we need you to evaluate the advantages of the tracker. Plus if you like it, you get complimentary month access. More info on bemob.com

      1. Servando Silva Author

        I've been testing different trackers lately. I'll add it to my to-do list. Thanks.

  5. Josh Bell

    Hey Servando, great quick start guide. I'm curious, should a person put any content on these sites or just the CPA offers? Thanks!

    1. Servando Silva Author

      This is just for CPA sites with direct landing pages man. No content needed.

  6. joo

    Dear Servando Silva,

    about VPS
    what i need to setup VPS ??
    i have do steps to be ready for hosting my landing page ??

    thank you

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Hello.
      I plan to write a guide about it next week. What are you looking for, exactly?

    1. Servando Silva Author

      I don't recommend it, to be honest. For mobile tracking (carriers, OS, etc) I think Voluum and Adsbridge are your best options.

  7. joo

    Dear Master Servando Silva,

    how Hide & secure My landing page from ( affiliate network and Ads network so from competitors, spy tools, compliance checks and stop people sharing your lp links ??!!!

    thank you

    1. Servando Silva Author

      That's something advanced that normally can't be mentioned publicly.
      Try looking for DMR and also check the STM forums for more info :)

      1. joo

        Master

        kindly Mr.servandosilva explain to us how do DMR

        thank you boss

  8. Neo

    Servando,

    Thanks for the great tips. Do you have any recommendations for offers if using PopAds? I want to get something to convert but haven't discovered the right niche/product yet. Still working on it.

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Hi Neo.
      The best recommendation would be to get a spy tool like Adplexity and see the offers and landing pages that are being run there. You can search by network (PopAds) and geos/OS, etc.

      That way you won't need to discover the right product or niche and you can start with what's already working there.

  9. eslam gaber abd almonem

    Hello,
    i have most of this tips and i tried many times, get profit but the most of campaigns i failed.
    can i know profitable methods.
    waiting your replay.

    1. Servando Silva Author

      This are profitable methods. How many times did you try and how much did you spend so far?

  10. mhub

    hey servando
    what s your opinion about the impact of google chrome built-in adblocker and cpa in the future ?

    1. Servando Silva Author

      They're going to be more difficult for beginners and affiliates will have to adapt or die to new things.
      Right now it's a good time to move to e-commerce or learn white hat traffic sources like FB or Adwords.

  11. Mariano

    Hola Servando, antes que nada quiero agradecerte por todos tus posts con consejos que compartes de manera desinteresada, realmente ayudan mucho.
    Quiero comenzar nuevamente a trabajar con CPA. Anteriormente lo intenté, pero leyendo en distintos blogs (como este!) y foros, me di cuenta que no tenía las herramientas necesarias (por ej. no utilizaba un tracker y ni sabía lo que era). Leí tu comentario sobre una pregunta acerca del futuro del cpa, y que recomendabas ahora mismo comenzar con e-commerce y tráfico de facebook Ads.

    Teniendo en cuenta que estoy por comenzar, ¿me recomiendas empezar a aprender a trabajar con cpa o directamente meterme de lleno con e-commerce? Y respecto a esto último, cuando dices e-commerce te refieres al dropshipping?

    Cualquier consejo será muy apreciado, un saludo y gracias!

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Hola Mariano.
      Gracias por tu comentario. Ecom y en general muchas cosas white hat de este mundo están creciendo en este instante y son el boom, por lo cual creo que si es una buena estrategia para iniciar. En e-commerce puede ser vendiendo tu propio producto, dropshipping, print on demand, etc. Eso ya depende de tí.

      Saludos!

  12. El Hossine

    Hey Mr Servando
    I've tried multiple times mobile CPA marketing but I have problems with traffic sources, I always get bot traffic and it annoys me, wat should I do ??

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Optimize your campaigns. There's always going to be bot traffic there.
      Optimize and block until you're profitable and exclude most of the bot traffic sites.

  13. Mr Rathore

    Sir i have a pharmacy business and i was work with 7 Search but they shut down the business and i was make a account with zeropark but they declined my application.. i am looking keyword targeting PPC .. like i was work with 7 Search there i can check my competitors bid .. can you please help me this .. request to you..

    waiting for your email

    thank you

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Try 50onred. Also you can try bing ads and adwords since you were using search ads before.

  14. Obafemi Agbongbon

    Master Servando,
    I am a newbie and I have been following your posts for long from affiliate fix.In short I love them all...you are great sir.
    I am having adworkmedia,cpagrip,targelon and aragonadvertising CPA networks.Which one can you recommend for me among them and will not land me into regrets.
    Also,facebook ads have a good tracking tool,with that,do I still need the likes of adsbridge and voluum.
    Lastly,you mentioned adplexity tool for spying.what do you think of admobispy and whatrunswhere?
    Please I will appreciate your response as soon as possible.
    Thank you sir.

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Adworkmedia is good and the other I have heard about them but I don't work with them so I can't really say anything good or bad.
      Facebook ads doesn't have tracking tools for a lot of things, so it's always good to use an external tracker.

      Finally, Adplexity is definitely better than whatrunswhere and admobispy. I've tried them all.
      Best Regards.

  15. Raul

    Hola Servando,
    Durante un tiempo, he estado corriendo todo tipo de ofertas CPA con Facebook ADS, pero me gustaría meterme en media buy. Con que tipo de tráfico me recomiendas iniciar? Tengo un presupuesto de unos 1.500$.
    Un saludo, y felicidades por tu gran blog :)

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Hola Raul. Con ese presupuesto te recomendaría tráfico pop.
      Me tienes en skype o email?

      Saludos!

      1. Raul

        En Skype, no te tengo, y en email, estoy suscrito a la newsletter de este blog.
        Si dices que el tráfico pop sería mi mejor, popads es una buena fuente de tráfico para email submit?
        Gracias.

        1. Servando Silva Author

          Si, PopAds es buena fuente.
          Si me respondes a cualquier newsletter de ahi te puedo dar más información en Español. Saludos!

  16. Manuel

    Hola Servando.
    ¿Cómo ves el futuro del CPA? ¿Crees que sigue siendo rentable a día de hoy y lo seguirá siendo por unos años más?

    El tráfico pop sigue siendo rentable, o está muy quemado? Veo que mucha gente le da mucha caña a este tipo de tráfico, pero no se si sigue funcionando.

    Muchas gracias :)

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Hola Manuel.
      Si sigue siendo rentable. Más competitivo pero siempre hay cosas nuevas y tendencias rentables. Pops funcionan, pero además native y eCommerce están creciendo mucho.

      Saludos.

  17. Willy

    Hola servando un placer saludarte, una cunsulta! para campañas de dating o adultos con trafico redirect específicamente (TONIC) recomiendas usar landing page? te pregunto porque la mayoria de ellas ya tienen prelanding. Cual seria tu recomendación, Gracias de altemano...

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Hola. Si recomiendo usar landings para ese tipo de tráfico para aumentar tu tasa de conversión.
      La mayoría tiene pre landing pero hay muchas razones por las cuales te conviene usar de todos modos una LP.

  18. Jin

    I also want to try unmanaged VPS, but they say it is not recommended for newbie. :'(

  19. Ersn

    hi servando, I'm one of your subscribers. Thank you for your Blog and great tips on youtube. ( Mindblowing ) check your FB inbox. I sent you a friend request a week ago. add me Thanks!

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Hi!
      I use FB mostly for family and friends only, but if you want anything business related you can find me on twitter or via email.
      Greetings.

  20. Gal F

    Hi,
    I know getting annoying messages from nudging Affiliate Managers like me must be a pain, but honestly, I believe that my offer to you is way too good to be ignored :-). Bottom line, I believe you will be able to make much more profits with us than with anyone else.
    My name is Gal BTW, and I work for Kamatera (Virtual Private Servers – cloud services). We have an amazing product (that I am sure you will relay to) and I would like to discuss potential marketing opportunities with you.

    Will be happy to tell you more about it :-)

    Looking forward to hear from you.

    Best,
    Gal

    Skype Gal.f1983

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Well, the offer has nothing to do with what we talk about here so....

  21. Roberto

    Hi Servando,
    Do you think zeropark and tonic are good traffic sources for starting in CPA? I've tried popads and popcash, but they have a lot of bot traffic.
    Thanks.

    1. Servando Silva Author

      They’re very similar. PopAds from those would be my choice as it’s easier to get positive campaigns and optimize variables than the rest.
      Bot traffic is always present and it isn’t that bad. Everybody has to deal with it.

  22. Carlos herrera

    Hola servando muy buen blog me encanta te queria preguntar si recomiendas la fuente de trafico zeropark o popads con las ofertas de peerfly y un presupuesto de 1,000 dolares ? espero tu respuesta y gracias por tomarte el tiempo para enseñar

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Hola Carlos.
      Ambas fuentes puede funcionar. Peerfly es una de muchas redes pero lo importante no es de que son, sino el vertical que quieres atacar y para esas redes te recomiendo rifas/Sweeps para iniciar.
      El presupuesto es decente para empezar a aprender.

      Saludos!

  23. Abdulfattah

    Hi.
    Is this article still relevant for this late part of 2018?

    Paying for PVN, do i still need a website?

    Your latest review for Trackers is Binom, should we remove Voluum in this article & replace it with Binom?

    Thank you.

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Yes, this is still relevant although a bit outdated.
      VPNs are good for spying, and you always need a domain for landing pages (A.K.A. website).

      As for trackers you can use whatever you want. I like Binom and it's what I use nowadays but there are dozens of options out there.

  24. Miguel Lozano

    Hola Servando, eres un crack. Quiero iniciarme en este mundo del CPA. Que vertical y que tipo de trafico me recomiendas?. Tengo un presupuesto de $500 dolares

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Con ese presupuesto recomendaría apps o sweeps de países tier2/tier3 en tráfico pop ya que es algo limitado.
      Ten en cuenta que necesitas herramientas como un tracker, servidor, dominios que también tienen un costo mensual.

      Saludos.

  25. Carlos

    Hello Servant, I really like to visit your page. I am starting in ecomerce, do you have any course or 'training in Spanish?

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Hi Carlos. I don't have any eCommerce courses. Are you limited to Spanish only?

  26. Kapr Conteh

    Hi Mr. Silva
    Which ads monetization deals with the views a website make not per clicks of ads.
    Thanks in advance.

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Hi Kapr.
      You're looking for CPM (Cost per thousand impressions) networks. However, you need to understand that the true value of advertising comes not only through views, but also clicks AND conversions.

      If your traffic ever clicks your ads, your CPMs will be super low, or maybe even 0.

  27. Chris Iyke

    Hi Servando, thanks for this great content. Most people package this worth in courses and sell them. I've bought u few on udemy, but it's free here.

    OK. I'm new to cpa marketing and I will be happy if you can help me with this little challenges I'm facing
    1. Most network refuse to approve an account, if you can't show any payment history, are there some few you can recommend that do not require to show history?

    2. How can we spot a high converting offer?

    3. I hear lots of cpa markers talk about cloaker, is this recommend?

    Thanks for your helpful response in advance

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Hi Chris.
      Glad to help a little.

      1. Not all of them require history, but mostly they require you to be honest. So if your first network asks for screenshots tell them you're new, but you're serious and you have an amount of budget per month to make it work with some type of traffic you select.

      2. By asking your manager you can know this directly. You can confirm this while spying with tools like Adplexity or others.

      3. Not for a starter. This only applies if you end up going the black hat route on sources like Facebook. But definitely not something I'd recommend to a newcomer in the industry.

  28. Aline

    Hello Silva.
    Your blog is amazing!

    My name is Aline.
    I represent https://peerclick.com (SAAS ad tracking software).

    How could I reach you out to discuss possible cooperation?

    Thank you in advance. We are looking forward to hearing from you.
    Sincerely yours,
    Aline

  29. German

    Hola Servando, vi tu post sobre Ezoic. Lo empece a utilizar hace un par de años y hace un año lo abandoné porque si bien me generaba ingresos, me descontaba mucho mas en Adsense y en el global no me cerraba, ademas de tener que colocar sus dns. Pero ahora despues de un año estoy notando (sobre todo en estos ultimos meses) que adsense cada dia rinde menos y menos. Y viendo tu experiencia en Ezoic, tal vez merezca otra oportunidad. Tu tienes el contacto de Laura ? la que fue tu manager?. Acabo de loguearme con Ezoic así que mi cuenta aun esta activa. . Gracias por tu ayuda.

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Hola German.
      Si tengo el contacto. Tienes alguno de mis correos para que me respondas por ahi y te lo paso?

      A mi tampoco me gusta mucho lo de colocar las DNS pero de que aumenta el rendimiento vs. Adsense bastante en mi caso, si ocurre.

      1. German Giudici

        Gracias por el reply, el unico correo tuyo que tengo es el del (el del auto responder). No se si ese correo tu lo revisas.

        1. Servando Silva Author

          Si es ese pero sin la o (el mismo del auto responder). Lo borro para que no quede aquí público.
          Saludos!

          1. German Giudici

            ah ok, si, justamente lo escribi mal y espaciado para que no sea tan publico. je. Ok, te escribo por alli entonces.

  30. John

    Hi Servando, great blog. I have pretty short question. Is it even possible to get into paid affiliate marketing with 9-5 job?

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Where there's a will there's a way
      Initially, a lot of people tend to work 30-60 minutes while still having a job to kickstart another project.
      I suggest you do that and once you start seeing results you might want to adjust your working hours.

      If you've got free time to spend on netflix, videogames, browsing the web or simply chilling, you've got time to get started as long as you want it hard enough.

  31. Henning

    Hola Servando, quiero empezar en este mundo del CPA tengo un presupuesto de 3000 USD, dónde empiezo?

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Hola.
      Hay algun tipo de trafico que quieras aprender?
      Tienes buen presupuesto para aprender a monetizar trafico PPV, Push, Redirect.

      En Afflift puedes encontrar buenos tutoriales para iniciarte.

  32. Marina

    Hi Servando,

    I represent the affiliate network affiliate2day.com

    I'd like to discuss cooperation possibilities. Please contact me via email.

    Looking forward to talking to you.

  33. Saray

    Hola Servando, un placer.
    Sigue siendo rentable CPA con popads y vertical apps?
    Que vertical recomienda para iniciados sin mucha inversión? 500€ más o menos...
    Estuve probando un tiempo sin herramientas y quiero volver a probar.
    Un saludo!

    1. Servando Silva Author

      Hola Saray.
      Si es rentable. lo difícil es encontrar buenas apps para promover y que tengan buen payout y cap.

      Yo recomiendo empezar mejor con sweepstakes o mobile content para tráfico pop ya que hay muchas ofertas disponibles en esos verticales.
      Saludos.

      1. Saray

        Gracias, que redes recomiendas para empezar?
        antivirus recomiendas?

  34. GSEO

    Ojala tubieses contenido en español Servando. Soy muy malo en inglés, intento tirar de google traductor.
    Igualmente gracias por toda la info. Estoy intentando diversificar en el mundo CPA, es complicado empezar, pero será pillar el truco.

    Me estoy mirando tu nuevo programa (o similar) , el "Voolum", me lo recomiendas para iniciar o aun no?

    ¿Tienes algun artículo donde expliques acerca de espiar ofertas CPA de otros como comentaste en el directo de JOse Marquez?

    Gracias

  35. Brian

    I have a lander built in Clickfunnels and using Voluum for all the tracking. On my lander page I replace the href destination with the one from Voluum which is https://example.com/click but when I go to the lander and click on the button I am not redirected and I get a 400 bad request error. How does the lander know to redirect to the offer. there are no rules I added in Voluum to do this. Any help will be great.

    1. Servando Silva Author

      It only works when you enter the landing page through the campaign URL you create on Voluum.
      You can't go straight to the lander and click to the offer.

  36. Etame

    Hola Servando, cual el la herramienta espia que recomiendas para Facebook ads?

        1. Servando Silva Author

          Que haya probado yo recientemente, no.
          Muchos han cerrado y nuevos abren cada año.

  37. Gustavo

    Excelente Servando! Voy a poner todo de mi para que esto funcione! Ya comencé mi primera campaña para sentir un poco lo que significa.

    Un saludo cordial...

  38. Ramesh yadav

    Great Post for the beginners, Hope we will get more such content from you.

  39. Ivan

    Hello,  my name is Ivan and I am the representative of advertisment network ConvertADV ( convertadv.com ). We want to start our partnership with you. What are the conditions to be integrated into your tracker?

  40. Ankit Pal

    Interesting! I want to learn more info about affiliate marketing. Where can I get more resources? I have already subscribed to the newsletter. But I didn't receive any mail for more than 1 week.

  41. mazen qoutah

    Dear Servando
    I hope you are keeping fine i am so happy to see some notes about Egypt Adsterra review. i want some one ether work with me to run affiliate marketing or if he is not into this he will train me to do so in Egypt market only.

  42. srujan

    Great resource for anyone starting their journey in digital marketing. Understanding the fundamentals of traffic, funnels, and audience targeting is crucial before scaling campaigns. Tools that help analyze competitor ads and marketing strategies, like AdSpyder, can also give marketers valuable insights to refine their campaigns and improve performance.

Comments are closed.