What is push traffic and how to earn on It

Push traffic appeared on the market relatively recently, quickly gaining the appreciation of affiliates who utilize it across various verticals. This format has its strengths and weaknesses, eliciting mixed reactions among affiliate marketers. While some are not entirely convinced about its conversion potential, others have prematurely dismissed the concept of push notifications. However, as evidenced by the experiences of our advertisers, the push format is very active and thriving, with push traffic affiliate marketing steadily gaining traction.

With this in mind, we recommend delving into what push traffic is, exploring where to purchase it, and understanding how to profit from it. Stay tuned as we bring you all the most interesting and practical insights about push advertising.

What is Push Traffic?

Push traffic consists of users who have opted in to receive push notifications from a push network. Advertisers register on these platforms with the intent to promote their business through affiliate marketing, often selecting push advertising as their preferred method.

Push notifications are small pop-up windows that appear on a user’s screen containing a title, a concise description of the offer, and a small and main image.

The technology behind push notifications has been around for a long time, more than a decade ago. Apple has used it since 2009 to send messages to users from applications or servers. Google and Microsoft followed suit. Users have long been accustomed to receiving pop-up system messages from their operating platform or applications, typically appearing in the corner of the screen.

However, it wasn’t until 2018 that push notifications emerged as a major advertising format. Unlike other more intrusive ads that overlay the working window, push notifications have managed to bypass banner blindness effectively and seamlessly integrate into any page, making them instantly popular. 

How Push Advertising Works

Push notifications have a simple mechanism: a user visits an online platform, and, either immediately or after some time, a pop-up message appears, inviting them to subscribe to push notifications from the site. If the user consents, they are added to the push network’s subscription database and begin receiving advertising from advertisers within that network. This subscription remains active as long as the user is in the database until they clear their cookies or choose to unsubscribe. The frequency of the user’s visits to the resource with integrated push advertising doesn’t impact this. Even if they visited the site just once by accident and have since closed it, they will continue to receive advertising as long as their subscription in the push network’s database is active.

“Important! Push advertising does not entail the transfer of users’ personal data to third parties. It is available in all GEOs and relevant to most business areas.”

Types of Push Notifications

Depending on the mechanism of operation, there are three types of push notifications:

  • Web Push are pop-up advertising messages that users receive using the server by subscribing to push notifications in their browser.
  • In-App Push – push notifications with the technology of sending notifications within applications installed on the device (for example, iOS calendar). This format of pop-up notifications is also gradually starting to be used for advertising, but push notifications from applications do not attract a new audience and only apply to existing users.
  • In-Page Push – pop-up banners that are visually identical to classic push notifications. IPP technology is more similar to the popup format; it gives webmasters access to paying users of iOS platforms who were not previously familiar with pop-up advertising. Inpages appear when the user interacts with the device and does not respond to AdBlock.

Push notifications vary based on their operational mechanisms, and there are three primary types:

  • Web Push is a pop-up advertising message users receive using the server after subscribing to push notifications in their browser.
  • In-App Push involves sending notifications within applications installed on a device, like the iOS calendar app. While this pop-up notification format is increasingly used for advertising, it primarily reaches existing app users and does not attract a new audience.
  • In-Page Push (IPP) is a pop-up banner that is visually identical to classic push notifications. IPP technology is more akin to the pop-up format and offers webmasters access to the paying users of iOS platforms, who were previously unexposed to pop-up advertising. In-page push notifications appear when the user is actively interacting with the device and is not affected by AdBlock.

Pros and Cons of The Push Format

Push advertising is an effective tool for attracting traffic. Nowadays, many global brands and large companies prefer pop-up windows over traditional email newsletters.

Let’s take a closer look at the competitive advantages of this format.

1) 100% visibility

Internet users have become so accustomed to online advertising that they often overlook it, a phenomenon is known in marketing as ‘banner blindness’. Despite the native nature of push notifications, they never go unnoticed.

Whether on desktop or mobile, push advertising pops up in a way that commands attention, making it virtually impossible to ignore.

2) Low Cost

You can buy push traffic at a lower price than other traffic types. For instance, TacoLoco CPC starts at $0.001.

3) Flexible Customization

We are not trying to surprise you with the ability to apply targeting to advertising campaigns– if you’re experienced in advertising, this advantage might not seem groundbreaking. However, push notifications offer more than just targeting based on GEO, operating system, device type, telecom operator, or browser language. Push networks continually enhance their offerings with quicker and more effective campaign optimization options. Therefore, push advertising allows you to:

  • Accurately target the desired audience;
  • Make advertisements more personalized;
  • Save time and budget on campaign optimization.

The TacoLoco push network includes numerous useful features for launching push campaigns, ranging from flexible targeting settings and macros to ad scheduling.

4) Native and Non-Aggressive Format

Push notifications very delicately pop up in the corner of the desktop screen and unobtrusively integrate with the user’s interaction on a mobile device. Unlike banners, they don’t require allocated space. Their compatibility with various advertising formats and not detracting from a website’s design make them appear user-friendly. Consequently, many site owners are keen to monetize their websites with push advertising without worrying about negative reactions from their audience. This trend means more publishers are making their platforms available for push advertising.

5) User Loyalty

Push advertising respects user choice, always offering the option to subscribe to or decline pop-up notifications. Users voluntarily opt into push notifications and retain the freedom to unsubscribe at any time. This unobtrusiveness ensures a high CTR and makes push traffic more convertible than other formats.

6) Large Volumes of Conversion Traffic

TacoLoco has over 1 billion ad impressions across 200 countries. The push traffic from TacoLoco demonstrates high conversion rates in the most profitable verticals, which we will explore in detail below.

7) Huge Selection of Verticals

High-quality traffic from push advertising converts well in any vertical. Notably, even restricted verticals like online casinos or adult dating (adult 18+) can find success through push notifications.

Now let’s take a look at the disadvantages of push advertising:

  • Classic push notifications are transient, disappearing after a few minutes (unlike In-Page Push, which are pop-up banners that remain visible until users interact with them).
  • Achieving high click-through rates and conversions requires a thorough understanding of the target audience to create personalized creatives.
  • Push notifications do not reach users on Safari browsers, whereas IPPs can appear even on iOS devices.
  • Multiple creatives need to be developed and tested within a single advertising campaign.
  • Even the most effective creatives eventually lose their impact over time and need refreshing.
  • Clearing cookies removes users from the subscription database.
  • Browser extensions can block classic push notifications, which does not affect In-Page Push.

To craft effective creatives for push traffic, consider using spy services. These allow you to see competitors’ current advertisements, their creatives, and the outcomes. Free search tools can reveal landing pages and ads in specific GEOs or networks, while paid services offer more detailed insights like targeting settings, keywords, traffic volumes, etc. Spy services are categorized by traffic type; for instance, Adplexity tracks campaigns for adult, pop-up, native, mobile, desktop, e-commerce, and push traffic. Don’t copy others’ creatives; customize and enhance them for successful testing.

What Do Push Notifications Consist of?

A push notification is a small window that pops up over the work tab without obstructing the content. It consists of:

  • a main large image that showcases the offer or its core message;
  • thumbnail image or icon that matches the main image or complements the creative;
  • headline that is both concise and catchy, designed to entice and intrigue;
  • a description that clearly conveys the essence of the offer;
  • buttons for navigating to the landing page or closing the window.

In the TacoLoco editor, they look like this:

And this is the finished push notification:

The Best Verticals for Push Notifications

Push traffic converts well with most verticals, so it is accepted by Push traffic, which is known for its effective conversion across most verticals, making it a popular choice among advertisers from various business sectors. It is particularly successful for products that provide immediate solutions to users’ problems. If you choose offers that target a broad audience with pressing problems and needs, then push traffic affiliate marketing has the potential to generate limitless income. So, what problems are relevant to the general public, and what offers can cover such needs? Well, for example, these:

  • finance, gambling, betting, sweepstakes, e-commerce offers – to achieve financial well-being and social status;
  • nutra-vertical offers “magic pills” that address many concerns – excess weight, baldness, impotence, small breasts, and other imperfect areas of the body. The appeal here is the universal desire for physical perfection, achieved quickly and affordably;
  • dating and all its “derivatives” quickly solve the problem of loneliness; online dating allows anyone to find a partner to satisfy their physical and emotional needs without leaving home;
  • gaming, gambling, VR, and adult verticals cover the need for entertainment;
  • essay-vertical and various subscriptions to horoscopes, weather forecasts, and news enable Internet users to receive online education and current information and stay informed about the world’s events;
  • Utilities, VPN, and other products from the Install vertical are useful for mobile device users, who comprise a large portion of the global population. They offer practical solutions for everyday digital needs.

Push traffic is generally less effective for highly targeted or niche offers and is not well-suited for the B2B sector. Given the increasing prevalence of mobile over desktop traffic, focusing on offers and mobile subscriptions tailored for mobile devices makes sense when considering push traffic affiliate marketing.

The audience subscribing to push notifications is diverse, making it challenging to predict which vertical might perform best. However, when buying traffic from TacoLoco, you can select specific types of push traffic during your campaign setup. For example, for offers designed for an 18+ audience, select the “Dating” traffic type. In this case, push advertising will be displayed on sites with content for an adult audience. In addition, TacoLoco regularly updates TOP GEO with current bids, click-through rates, and impression ratings by country, format, and traffic type.

With push advertising, you can promote prohibited verticals – gambling and adult. But this does not mean that push networks do not have rules. It’s important to avoid using misleading or overly explicit images in your advertising campaigns. A well-crafted pre-landing page can assist in passing moderation, effectively warming up push traffic, and filtering out non-targeted audiences.

Who is Suitable for Earning Money from Push Traffic?

Earning money from push traffic can be highly effective for certain groups, especially with a strategic approach and high-quality traffic:

  • site owners who have chosen push advertising as a way to additionally monetize their online resource (in affiliate networks, they are called publishers or publishers);
  • webmasters who buy it for their offers or other people’s advertising campaigns, making money on push traffic media buying;
  • affiliate marketers and media buyers who redirect traffic from other sources to their own landing page or pre-landing page and want to monetize residual traffic or further monetize users who have responded to the primary offer.

Publishers can collaborate with a push network, register their site, and either receive an affiliate link directing to a subscription-gathering landing page or a special script to activate push notifications on their site. Their main task is to track conversions, which can provide a steady source of passive income. For example, publishers at TacoLoco can earn up to 90% Revenue Share.

Buying push format traffic is attractive to affiliate marketers and media buyers. This avenue doesn’t require navigating through a myriad of verticals and offers to please moderators (as is often the case with platforms like Facebook), nor does it involve complexities like cloaking and pharming, reducing the risk of bans.

Where to Buy Push Traffic?

You can turn to push networks to acquire high-quality traffic from push advertising. Since their ratings vary, we will consider the most popular and stable platforms.


VerticalsTargetingMin BidGEOMin Deposit
TacoLocoDating, Adult, Antivirus, Crypto, Gambling, Betting, e-Commerce, Finance, Forex, Mainstream, Software, Sweepstakes, Travel, NutraCountry, OS, Vertical, Platform, Language, BrowserFrom $0,001200+$100
RichAdsNutra, Sweepstakes, Gambling, Betting, Finance, Utilities, VPN, DatingDevice, Device model, Carrier, Region, City, IP, Language, Browser, Connection Type, Manufacturers, ModelsFrom $0,003
250+$100
MegaPushDating, Gambling, Nutra, Sweepstakes, Binary Options, NewsDeviceFrom $0,001220+$50
MGIDSweepstakes, Dating, Gambling, Finance, Health, BeautyDevice, Region, IP, Browser, Connection TypeFrom $0,003
60+$100
ZeroPackE-commerce, Finance, Coupons, Mobile apps, News, EntertainmentDevice, Carrier, Region, IP, Language, Browser, Connection TypeFrom $0,003170+$200
ExoclickNutra, Dating, Finance, Sweepstakes, E-commerce, Gambling, Pin-submitsDevice, Carrier, Region, Ip, Language, BrowserFrom  $0,001250+$200

How to Choose a Push Network

Selecting a push network is the initial step in purchasing traffic for push campaigns. The rapidly increasing number of these networks highlights the growing demand for push advertising. When choosing a suitable push advertising network, pay attention to:

  1. The size of the subscription base – the larger it is, the better.
  2. The frequency of database updates – fresh subscriptions convert traffic better.
  3. Quality of accepted traffic (for example, TacoLoco does not accept incentivized, bot, or email traffic).
  4. Number of targeting settings.
  5. Quality of support – look for a network where the account manager promptly responds to queries and assists with bundle selection and other issues.

Cases with TacoLoco

You might be intrigued to explore case studies involving push traffic, particularly the results these campaigns have delivered for advertisers and webmasters.

  • Case study: making use of siesta to earn money

In this case study, the author selected the Toluna – ES affiliate program on the MyLead platform. The link came with a rate of $0.85 per lead, and they utilized mainstream push traffic from TacoLoco in Spain, priced at $0.02. The offer’s target action involved evaluating large campaigns for a fee, a task that appealed to the Spanish audience. By targeting all mobile device operating systems, the affiliate earned $631.55 over a month with a DOI offer against an expenditure of $300. This result was considered quite successful.

  • TacoLoco + Exclusive Affmy offers = ROI 30%

In this case study, the authors focused on the most promising GEO – the USA. They opted for push notifications from TacoLoco paired with a dating smart link from Affmy. Over two weeks, they invested $1,685.41 and generated earnings of $2,205.20. Initially, they set the bid at the system-recommended rate of $0.162, then gradually reduced it. The analysis indicated that a rate of $0.07 per click was sufficient to attract ample traffic and maintain an optimal ROI of 30.84% (factoring in all the testing tweaks, with an anticipated increase in payback to 50%-60%). The campaign’s final outcome was a profit of $519.79 in two weeks. The authors of this case study provided their campaign settings, each optimization stage, and their plans for the campaign’s progression in detail. This case offers a wealth of insights for learners.

  • TacoLoco and Aivix: how to achieve 300% ROI?

This is another profitable example from the advertiser TacoLoco, who earned $1,197.81 on a crypto offer. The case study features a bold combination in a less obvious GEO: push notifications from TacoLoco at $0.07 per click and an offer on Aivix, with Peru as the GEO-targeted area. This case is a must-see – the author achieved an impressive 300% ROI.

How to Create a Successful Advertising Campaign with Push Notifications on TacoLoco

The TacoLoco platform offers comprehensive guidance for advertisers on setting up campaigns. This makes it accessible for beginners to buy traffic for their initial campaigns, utilize all available optimization tools, and craft effective creatives.

Here are expert tips from the team at TacoLoco, the top push network, to enhance your results with push advertising:

  1. Test 5-7 creatives within a single campaign. Retain the most effective ones based on test results.
  2. Follow the “one campaign – one GEO” rule. While CTR might be lower, conversion rates tend to be higher.
  3. Differentiate between mobile and desktop push traffic. They have different bid rates, and separating them simplifies optimization.
  4. Pay attention to the ‘age’ of subscriptions. Newer subscribers convert more easily but require higher bids due to increased competition.
  5. Leverage the push network’s diverse options for campaign optimization. Start with 1 impression per hour, then, for better sources, increase the bid and frequency up to 3 times per hour.
  6. If monetizing push traffic on your site, experiment with various push ad displays. Choose the appropriate traffic type to ensure your ads are relevant to your audience.
  7. Listen to your account manager’s advice. TacoLoco provides 24/7 support.
  8. Avoid copying others’ creatives. Select the best from spy tools, personalize, update, improve, and incorporate them into your campaigns.
  9. Set bids higher than recommended. Traffic purchase on push networks often works on an auction basis – the highest bidder per click wins. A higher bid means more ad impressions, clicks, and conversions.
  10. Revive ‘burnt’ campaigns with In-Page Push. Inpages cater to the iOS audience, allowing for the successful scaling of the bundle, as detailed in the manual about the in-page push format.

Examples of Push Notifications

Finally, we will show examples of creatives that effectively convert push traffic, especially within the context of popular verticals.

For dating offers, push traffic is more readily attracted by creatives featuring images of realistic girls, icons of popular instant messengers and social networks, and a YouTube player icon in the main image. Techniques like imitating voice messages, highlighting the proximity of the potential match, and using city macros in the title and description are particularly effective for dating push traffic.

For creatives in push notifications under the nutra-vertical, it’s effective to use images that illustrate the core problem, demonstrate the product’s positive effects, and include ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos and pictures of the product itself and recognizable doctors. Additionally, incorporating images of folk remedies and symbols of a healthy lifestyle can also be beneficial.

For promoting 18+ nutraceutical products, images with subtle sexual undertones and photos of women experiencing intense sensations are appropriate. However, overly explicit imagery might not clear moderation, so consider using images of fruits, vegetables, and objects that subtly suggest associations with the product in your creatives. In the headlines, it’s effective to focus on the audience’s “pain points” and underscore that there is a solution available.

Push notifications for gambling offers are likely to achieve a good Click-Through Rate (CTR) if they display the brand logo, capture people’s emotions following a big win, showcase casino attributes and aspects of a ‘glamorous’ lifestyle, highlight special offers (like bonuses or free spins), and emphasize the urgency of the offer.

For the install vertical, effective triggers often include alerts about potential threats or virus detections on the device, offers of free trial periods, images and icons that symbolize danger, and modified logos and symbols of authoritative companies. These elements serve to capture attention and prompt action from the user.

In push advertising creatives for gaming offers, it’s effective to showcase game features, characters, vivid scenes, and bonuses.

Consider these as sources of inspiration, but remember to add your unique touch if you decide to use them in your own push campaigns. 😉

PS: Despite varying opinions, push traffic remains one of the most popular choices in the market. For advertisers, push advertising is a trusted method for promoting restricted products. For website owners, it’s a way to generate additional passive income. And for affiliate marketers, it serves as an efficient advertising tool. We’d like to remind you that at TacoLoco, you can purchase high-quality traffic, monetize your website with push subscriptions, and pre-monetize the traffic directed to your landing page. TacoLoco offers everyone an opportunity to earn – registration is quick and easy.

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