CPA stands for Cost Per Action or Cost Per Acquisition. In CPA on-line marketing, the advertisers pay a fee for each customer acquired that is the result of the campaign effort. This action can be a lead (Cost Per Lead or CPL), a sale of a product (Cost Per Sale or CPS), or some other pre-defined user action; sometimes only requiring they enter an email or ZIP code. Affiliates earn the majority of the CPA which is paid by the advertiser.

This is the percentage of users who, after responding to a campaign, actually carry out the action which is the aim of the campaign. For example, five users might see a banner or email message, click on it, but only one user fills out a form for a life insurance lead. The conversion rate here would be 20%.

Payout refers to the fee advertisers pay and affiliates earn for each successfully concluded consumer action generated by the affiliate, as reported and verified through Hydra's tracking system, and reconciled with our advertisers' and affiliates' own tracking if available.

More and more advertisers are moving away from paying on impressions (CPM or CPC) because of the speculative nature of such campaigns. Instead, advertisers are willing to pay significantly more to actually get a tangible result from campaigns. This empowers affiliate publishers who maintain a responsive user base to earn significantly higher amounts. A customer acquisition—which you get paid on—can include a lead, a sale, a sign-up, or some other user action as specified in each campaign. Occasionally, a click is the only action required, in which case you are paid for simply a click. So, a lead, a sale, a sign-up, or even a click can all be called actions. Thus, CPA - Cost per Action. Sometimes people also call any type of Action a "conversion".

Hydra Network's proprietary system uses timed cookies and tracking links associated with each affiliate and advertiser campaign to accurately track all traffic and record real-time actions for each account. In addition, affiliates may use self-assigned Sub-IDs to track individual publishing activities or properties. Simply log on to Hydra Network to see your campaigns perform in real-time.

Hydra Network used to be called LynxTrack. When you work with us, you become part of one of the earliest and largest performance-based affiliate advertising networks on the Internet. In 2004, we changed the name of the network to Hydra Network, however, different parts of the proprietary systems platform underneath it still operate on LynxTrack "code", so you will see that name referred to in tracking links and other instances.

We're glad you asked. In fact, we've written a whole page about the varied uses of Hydra.

Hydra can distribute campaigns through web site banners, opt-in email, paid search, incentive path registration and contextual advertising. You can choose to distribute your campaign through all these channels, or whatever mix you want.

Not a problem. Hydra's highly reliable proprietary tracking will only count conversions our affiliates drive to you by marketing to their audience. Or, if you prefer not to compete, you can choose which channels to run with us and/or place limits on search terms that may be used. Our program is totally customizable to your needs.

There are other CPA ad networks make grandiose claims that they reach 70% of all web users. But it is important to know that any reach figure quoted is potential reach. Actual reach depends on how many affiliates choose to run a campaign—and without a team like Hydra's Affiliate Managers actively working with and marketing to affiliates, actual reach will fall far short of potential. Then too, banner ads are not effective with all online users. Some respond better to email as reflected in the higher conversion rates for email vs. web banners.

Through MySpace and Yahoo alone, Hydra can generate hundreds of millions of impressions with a high percentage of uniques. But out of Hydra's thousands of active affiliates, there are many more web sites you can add to those, plus our paid search, email, contextual and other affiliates. In addition, as the largest CPA-dedicated network, we are often asked to bring in and manage other networks on our clients' behalf. So we can easily match or beat any reach others claim. But in the end, the most important thing is results. That's what Hydra delivers and that's all that Hydra charges you for.

Simply use the sign up form on this web site, or call 310-659-5755 and speak to an Account Executive to get started. We do not require an exclusive contract, start-up or set-up fee, or any other money paid upfront. We only require a credit check of new advertisers. Once completed, we can have your campaign up on our network in as little as 48 hours. Your assigned Hydra Account Executive will do all the work to set up the campaign according to your company/brand guidelines to meet your marketing objectives. Note, oftentimes we will recommend that you start by first performing a real market test to optimize your campaign to maximize affiliate acceptance and conversions.

Zero. Hydra does not charge set-up or start-up fees of any kind. Nor is there a minimum spend. You pay only for results as you have defined them. So there's no reason not to test us out.

No. Of course there are advantages to choosing to run exclusively with Hydra and allowing us to manage other networks for you. But unlike others, we do not require you to sign an exclusive contract or be tied into a long-term obligation. If we do not produce adequate results, you can stop running with us, as simple as that.

We only require a credit check of new advertisers. Once completed, or if you are a repeat advertiser, we can have your campaign up on our network in as little as 48 hours.

In short, payouts are determined by the current CPA marketplace in balance with an advertiser's cost of acquisition (COA).

Keep in mind that with CPA, advertisers pay no money upfront to reserve space with affiliates. Since affiliates take the risk, they decide what campaigns to run. To make that decision they will look at not just the payout but also the expected response rate for your campaign. What they project they can earn from your campaign must beat out what they think can earn with all the other campaigns out there to choose from. So the higher the response rate, the lower the payout needs to be. Your Hydra Account Executive can inform you what your payout needs to be to be competitive for any projected response rate.

But you as the advertiser must weigh the market-determined payout against what makes economic sense for you to pay to acquire a customer given the average lifetime value (LTV) for that customer. Whether or not you already have a set COA, your Hydra Account Executive will work with you to set up your campaign to provide a return on investment that satisfies your marketing objectives.

Your Hydra Account Executive is charged with (and rewarded for) making sure your campaign achieves maximum results. So in most cases, he or she will recommend starting with a limited market test to confirm your offer's response or uncover if improvements are necessary. Once your campaign goes "live," your Account Executive will routinely monitor its performance and inform you when and if results fall short so you can correct it yourself—or take advantage of our resources. Hydra has an in-house direct response team that not only can offer consulting on how to optimize your offer, ad creatives, and landing page to achieve maximum response—but also can design it for you. All these resources are available to you at no added cost. You pay only for results.

Yes, as a value-added service to our advertisers, Hydra has an in-house direct response creative team whose primary mission is to refine and refresh ad creatives and landing pages to maximize conversions. They are oftentimes called upon to create ad units and landing pages from scratch on select campaigns. Hydra provides this service to advertisers for no added fee.

Hydra's careful pre-screening of affiliates is one of the best ways we ensure quality response. But we don't leave it that. Hydra employs a full-time compliance department, to monitor and police all affiliate activity. Combining leading third party compliance solutions and our own internal technologies, Hydra:AdControl allows us to uncover and correct compliance issues in 24 hours or less!

Yes. Hydra's compliance department works to assure total and verifiable compliance, using the industry's leading, state-of-the-art tools including full UnsubCentral suppression list support for all clients at no added cost.

At each month's end, Hydra reconciles our campaign tracking reporting with the advertiser's own reporting to reach agreement on the number of conversions, as defined by the advertiser when setting up the campaign, driven by Hydra affiliates for that month. Based on this, Hydra will submit a monthly invoice.

From the moment you say "stop," Hydra can turn off your campaign in 48 hours or less. But note, if you have a set response cap, just tell your Account Executive and we'll stop it for you automatically once your limit is reached.

If you have just joined Hydra Network and are approved to publish, you will receive an email with your log-on instructions. Once logged in, you can browse campaigns and payouts (the CPA amount), select creatives to place, enable tracking, view your performance reports, etc. Also, an Affiliate Manager will be assigned to your account to help you get familiar with using Hydra Network, determine which campaigns to run, how to pull tracking links and creatives, and place them in your media.

We determine the suitability of affiliates for Hydra Network by using a comprehensive and somewhat stringent test that takes a wide range of factors into consideration including monthly uniques, publishing channels, who the affiliate is working with, length of time in affiliate marketing, and more. Also, at times we need to pace new affiliate sign-ups to ensure that we have adequate Affiliate Manager manpower to be able to provide high level, one-on-one support—and ensure a beneficial experience for all affiliates joining our network. If we did not approve your application and you feel that this may have been an inappropriate decision, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to review the decision.

The results of your campaigns will update your reports in real-time, including clicks, actions and other relevant figures. We attempt to audit and process invalid actions nightly, so if any of the actions from your traffic are invalid for any reason, the update to your stats may be delayed by up to 24 hours.

Hydra Network pays on a Net 15 basis. For example, your payouts earned in February would be paid on March 15th. If the 15th lands on a weekend or holiday the payout day defaults to the next banking day. Click here for additional payout information.

Hydra offers three payment types for US-based affiliates: ACH (direct deposit), Check, and Wire. International affiliates are paid only by Wire. Please note that there is a $10.00 fee for domestic wires and $20.00 fee for international wires. Click here for additional payout information.

ACH stands for Automatic Clearing House and is a direct deposit to either your checking or savings account. There is no additional charge for this service and it ensures that you receive your payment promptly. Click here for additional payout information.

If you live in Canada you have two payment options: Check (which may take a week or more to get through customs and be delivered) or Wire Transfer ($20 fee per transfer). If you are an international affiliate living outside of Canada, you may only receive money through Wire Transfer.

Yes. Hydra Network does not pay out until minimum affiliate earnings total $50. If you do not meet this threshold in any given month, your earnings are carried over until you do reach $50.

If you make over $600 a year with Hydra as an affiliate, we must report these earnings to you and the IRS at the end of the year on a 1099 form. The information you give us on your W-9 form (domestic affiliates) is used to complete the 1099. We require our international affiliates to complete a W-8 form per our Terms and Conditions, in accordance with IRS regulations.

Once you are approved, you will not be able to see or run campaigns with Hydra until you send in the applicable tax form. Therefore, we encourage you to send in your form right after you get your welcome email so we can review it and get you started running campaigns without delay!

Our internal Direct Marketing Creative team can design web banners, pops, emails and other creative materials to match your individual needs. Please use our contact form to request creatives.