I hear you all saying “Mr Green how the heck can I make money with a gate? I have a big one outside my house but it’s never made me a cent…”

What a hilarious misunderstanding! I’m actually talking about a virtual gate. A virtual content gateway. Gateways are not some cute technique to make a bit of extra money. They are a HUGE business. Some PPV networks have been built around this technique.

How the truck do they work?

Well, a gateway is a script you put on your lander that blocks the page to any visitors. Your lander will load, but a box pops up in front of it.  A visitor will only get access to your lander once they have completed one of the CPA offers listed in that pop over box.

CPALead is the most popular gateway provider by far, but LoudMo, Pinball Publisher Network and Adscend are great contenders too.

This is an example of a CPALead gateway:

CPALead Gateway

Ok so now you know the basics of how it works.

Here’s how you make the monies:

Step 1: Find a search term that is new or hot.

Google Trends and Google Insights are great places to start.

Step 2: Create content around that search term.

For example when I looked on Google Trends yesterday I saw “Champions League” (European football league final. Go INTER!!) was the fourth most popular term. So I would probably link to a site where you could watch the Champions League, or if I wanted to be extra cheeky, my landing page would be promoting a watch TV online affiliate offer.

Step 3: Create your landing page.

The trick here is to be a tease. For my Champions League example I would create a landing page mimicking the site that would actually show the streaming game. So I would have a video player with an image of the game in the background, a description about the game, some nice images, and a chat box etc. Users would click the video play button, BOOM, your gateway pops up. This strategy converts a lot better than just popping your gateway as soon as users hit your lander.

landing page demo
This is a very crude example of a landing page which I made on the plane. Most features are there (except for a chat box).

Step 4: Create your content gateway.

Now this totally depends on what content you are providing on your landing page. For this example, I would probably run over to CPALead. You MUST create a custom skin when creating your gateway. Do not chose one of their stock skins. You need to make the gateway as similar and as relevant to your sites design as possible. Yes, this is a tonne of work for every topic you target, but the ROI is so sick it should have its own private hospital. I whipped this example up in 5 minutes:

gateway demo

Make sure you customize the titles and descriptions. Split test split test split test! Get really really creative with wording as to why people should fill out the survey. Think captcha or limited spots…that’s all I’m saying.

content gateway landing page demo

This is roughly what your lander could look like once the content gateway pops up.

You can do this technique with new movies, new software, popular Youtube videos, wallpaper sites, Myspace layouts and games. Possibilities are actually endless. There is no limit to scaling.

CPALead are basically an affiliate network going through another network providing a service that I’m sure they will cut margins off even more. Once you know how to play the game and are doing volume, try make your own gateway. Go to an affiliate network, pick some offers, and get a gateway script made. It is important to note that this is classed as incentivizable advertising. So unless you want to step in the dark zone, don’t run offers unless you get permission from your AM.

Other content gateway providers are pretty flexible and active about getting new offers in or helping you create custom landers. Just ask.

Here are some relevant links:

Summary for A.D.D readers:

  • Find a new/hot topic.
  • Find unique content for that topic.
  • Create a teasing landing page.
  • Create a custom targeted gateway.
  • Once you hit volume, form your own gateway by hand picking offers from affiliate networks.
  • Laugh at suckers that didn’t take action after reading this post.

bush laughing