It can cost a ton of money to advertise your business with paid advertising. The competition is also getting tougher and the guidelines stricter.

This means it's harder to make a profit when you pay for traffic. And this is the case for most people. It is tough to make money online using the most obvious approach to sales. But there are easier ways to do. Read on to find out how.

FYI, some examples of paid advertising are: pay per click advertising (like Google AdWords), Social media advertising (like advertising on Facebook), Media Buy Networks (like AdonNetwork.com), PPV (pay per view) networks (like DirectCPV.com).

What is the wrong way to do it? Most people go for the straight sale which is the wrong approach. Why? Typical conversion rates stand at around 2% (if you're lucky). This means that only 2 out of every 100 visitors buy from your site.

Imagine that, 98 people are leaving your site without buying anything. That is, 98 people that you paid for!

Don't get me wrong, there are people that make good money this way. But they know that they can get higher returns from their ad spend too.

So what is the easiest way to convert paid traffic to sales? It's simple really when you're paying for traffic, you need to get the most conversions (leads, sign ups or sales).

To get the most conversions, you need to set the easiest conversion. Trying to get someone to give you their credit card details on their first visit to your site when they have so many other choices is the toughest conversion to get.

The easiest conversions are those that offer something for free. There are many CPA offers that offer free samples or products. But it usually means filling out a load of offers first or giving their billing details for a continuity program.

The best offer you can give is free content in return for their email address. This is usually a free report, eBook or video targeted to help solve a problem. This is the kind of offer that is hard to refuse. Which means a much higher conversion rate.

So how do you make money? Once someone opts-in to your email list, you can make product recommendations as many times as you like down the line. And apart from the monthly fee you pay for an autoresponder this type of marketing is free.

This is what the most successful internet marketers have used for years and still use today.