The core of traffic media buying is the purchase and resale of traffic to a targeted audience at a price point that enables the webmaster to profit from the transaction. Therefore, every beginner affiliate marketer or media buyer is faced with the challenge of where to buy cheap traffic. Of course, you can get it from free sources or your own site, but you can’t do it without the need to buy traffic for website for tangible income.
A webmaster does not always need to buy highly targeted traffic for affiliate marketing. Owners of new online resources, who are not inclined to wait for organic users to discover their site, often opt to buy click traffic. This strategy is implemented while they also work on attracting organic traffic.
In this guide, we will explain how to buy website traffic, whether for promoting affiliate offers or boosting visitor numbers on your site, within an application, or on a landing page. We’ve got some expert advice to assist you in selecting the most suitable source for your needs.
What Is The Site’s Traffic Like?
The types of traffic on a site are classified by their sources, which are split into two categories: paid and free (sometimes referred to as shareware).
Free traffic can be obtained from social networks, messaging channels, your own website (organic or SEO traffic), blogs, forums, video hosting platforms, and any other place where links can be shared for free. These sources may generate traffic, but expecting high volumes is unrealistic. Some traffic remains cost-free until the webmaster starts investing in purchasing accounts, proxies, domains, and other essentials. Moreover, managing free sources is a time-consuming endeavor. The webmaster must engage in routine tasks such as account registration and warming up accounts, posting, interacting, sending out mailings, and creating content for articles, videos, and publications.
Traffic from social networks and newsletters, considered shareware, is versatile and suitable for various verticals and GEOs. One can buy quality traffic on social networks ideal for gambling, dating, betting, sweepstakes, and other profitable verticals.
However, each platform is equipped with robust anti-spam systems and moderation, which not all content can pass through. Additionally, certain free channels may be wholly ineffective for generating adult traffic—for instance, classified ad boards and Q&A platforms typically prohibit “adult” content, hence offering little to no target audience. Given the time and indirect financial investments involved, labeling such sources as free is not entirely accurate. They are better utilized as additional channels.
Paid traffic can be sourced in two ways: purchasing from an advertising network or directly from the publisher (the owner of the online platform). If you choose the latter, you must first identify a source that aligns with your target audience. The benefit of this approach is the ability to acquire thematic traffic. Nonetheless, this method can be unappealing and risky: negotiations with the publisher often result in a marked-up price. Advertisers may pay for traffic without assurance of its quality in such scenarios. Even with preliminary testing, such as using residual traffic to gauge potential volume, CTR, CR, and estimating eCPM, obtaining an accurate assessment can be challenging. Test results with residual traffic typically yield lower eCPM than those with full volume, and when an advertiser gains access to the entire site traffic, the results often get worse.
When buying traffic directly from a publisher, the quality can vary significantly. Affiliate networks, on the other hand, rigorously vet sites before partnering and offering their traffic to advertisers, which is a considerable advantage.
Where to Buy Website Traffic for Affiliate Marketing
Let’s look at the sources where you can buy traffic to your website faster and more profitably than going direct.
- Contextual advertising method allows for the purchase of search traffic. Advertisers pay based on the PPC (Pay Per Click) and CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions) models, meaning payment is either per click or per thousand ad impressions. Contextual ads appear in search results, as well as on the websites and applications of partners in these advertising networks, and can be in video, banner, or text formats. These ads are displayed to users based on their search queries, making them relevant not just by keyword but also by other criteria such as GEO, age, and gender. Contextual advertising is suitable for promoting low-frequency queries. However, it may be less effective for highly competitive topics with a low average cost per acquisition. Search traffic can be purchased through the advertising networks of search giants like Google Ads and Yandex.Direct.
- Paid advertising on social networks involves targeted advertising in graphic, text, and video formats. You can also buy traffic from social networks through influencers. The advantage of social media is the ability to target your campaign precisely to a specific audience. Among a vast and diverse audience, targeting allows you to customize the display of advertising to a separate group of people with certain parameters (geo, age, gender, interests). You can buy social traffic on Facebook and Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki. While any social network can be an effective channel, each has strict advertising content requirements that can be challenging to meet. Thousands of accounts are banned daily for minor rule violations. This is especially true for advertising in areas like dating, gambling, and other restricted categories. Affiliates often operate in a gray area, which eventually can lead to a permanent ban. Traffic from social networks is most commonly directed through pre-landers or applications. In the latter case, the pre-lander serves as both a cloaker and a “stub”, funneling users directly into a browser with the offer, where users only have to register. While initially it may seem complex, it’s often more straightforward than using a pre-landing page.
- Teaser networks are advertising platforms that contain sites for placing teaser ads. Teasers are widespread across news portals and information or entertainment platforms, often employing clickbait to garner more attention. Teaser ads typically feature captivating news headlines, intriguing facts, events from the world of show business, or other informative content. Teaser networks might offer some of the cheapest traffic available. While targeting options exist, the quality of the traffic is often considered low-grade. Teasers have not only garnered a negative reputation among users but also face GEO and keyword restrictions. This advertising format is gradually becoming outdated, so if you’re considering purchasing teaser traffic, you should reconsider and evaluate your decision carefully.
- CPA networks (advertising networks) offer “live” conversion traffic at an auction price. Merely attracting traffic to a site is insufficient; the real objective is to ensure visitors convert, for which the affiliate receives a reward. The advantage of CPA networks lies in the fact that advertisers pay for specific targeted actions, such as purchases, subscriptions, installations, downloads, etc. These platforms offer a variety of advertising formats. Affiliates have the option to purchase push traffic, pop traffic, native, and direct click traffic, as well as utilize various advertising tools and test different settings to optimize their campaigns.
- Advertising on marketplaces is the placement of advertisements on online storefronts or directory sites like Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, Etsy, Discogs, and Wish. Marketplaces are popular with buyers because they allow for comparing offers from different sellers, enabling them to choose the most advantageous deal. Utilizing such advertising to promote offers within the eCommerce vertical is an effective and relatively budget-friendly strategy. However, it’s important to note that a portion of the revenue from sales will be shared with the platform. This form of advertising is especially beneficial for tapping into the existing customer base of these marketplaces.
Traffic from Advertising Networks
Buying traffic for affiliate marketing or media buying through an advertising network is often a more practical solution compared to working directly with a site owner, where the owner typically dictates terms. These platforms create an ecosystem facilitating a comfortable and safe interaction between publishers and advertisers. They are referred to as affiliate networks because they offer advertising space on sites enrolled in their monetization programs.
Benefits of traffic from affiliate networks:
- Auction-based bidding – the bid is set under auction conditions. The higher the bid an advertiser places, the better their chances of receiving higher-quality traffic.
- Access to a wide audience – advertisers can reach a vast audience through access to numerous platforms.
- Detailed scheduling – here is the capability to set detailed advertising schedules for specific days and hours tailored to the target audience’s activity.
- Flexible targeting
- Analytics tools
- Quality control and fraud Protection
- Technical support
- Creative design tools
- Impression and click limits.
Advertising networks allow the affiliate to focus on what generates income. For the media buyer and advertiser, this is an opportunity to buy traffic from premium sources at an auction price, which is generally lower than what would be demanded in direct dealings with a site owner. In instances of disputes among market participants, the network serves as an intermediary, facilitating resolution between the involved parties. If you are a beginner seeking to buy traffic cost-effectively without compromising on quality, opting for affiliate networks that operate on a CPA payment model is recommended.
Is Buying Doorway Traffic a Good Idea?
Buying doorway traffic can be a controversial strategy. Doorway pages are created specifically to rank high in search engine results for certain queries. They are optimized for these queries and use a 303 redirect to send users to a landing page. Often, users are unaware they have been redirected through a doorway page.
Doorway sites are frequently part of Private Blog Networks (PBNs), where automatically generated sites are packed with low-frequency and interlinked queries, helping them quickly reach the top of search rankings. In theory, traffic from a doorway site should mimic organic traffic. However, search engines classify these tactics as spam, and as algorithms evolve, the effectiveness and lifespan of doorway pages are diminishing. In addition, there is a risk involved in purchasing traffic from doorways, as they might have been previously used for specific offers or could be misrepresented as legitimate websites. It’s important to check the domain history before investing in such traffic.
In 2023, many view this channel as outdated, yet doorway pages are still used, particularly in affiliate marketing programs. While doorway traffic can be effective, acquiring traffic from an advertising network is generally simpler and quicker than creating or buying doorway traffic.
Clickunder and popunder traffic
Popunders (aka pops) are advertising windows that automatically open beneath the active tab without the user’s permission. Clickunders are similar, appearing after a user clicks anywhere on a site without consent. These formats are among the most aggressive types of advertising, closely following pop-up ads, to which they are closely related. You can buy clickunder traffic from affiliate networks, as they say, “cheap and cheerful.”
Pops are compatible with all devices, can generate vast amounts of low-cost traffic, and don’t require creating advertising materials, only a landing page. To minimize the risk of purchasing bot traffic, choose advertising networks that strictly control the quality of popunder and clickunder traffic.
Where to Buy Push Traffic for Affiliate Marketing
Push traffic is generated using push notifications, a format often termed as new despite the technology being in existence for over 10 years. It’s only relatively recently that advertisers have begun to harness it as a means to reach their target audience. Push technology works like this: when a user visits a website, a small window pops up, requesting the user to subscribe to push notifications:
If a user subscribes, they are automatically added to the subscription database of a specific affiliate network and start receiving relevant advertising in the form of push notifications from advertisers on that platform. Push notifications allow the driving of both desktop and mobile traffic. With the introduction of In Page Push, this type of advertising also reaches users of Safari browsers, providing affiliates with access to a fresh and solvent audience. Push traffic can be purchased not only for directing to a specific offer or Smartlink but also for promoting your own resource or landing page (pre-landing), and it can be effectively combined with other traffic formats.
At TacoLoco, you can buy traffic (both adult and mainstream) in push and In Page formats, with CPC starting as low as $0.001. TacoLoco offers high-quality traffic from premium sites across 200+ GEOs, provides friendly 24-hour support, and boasts over 1 billion daily advertising impressions. If you are looking for a platform to buy push traffic, opting for a stable affiliate program with decent credentials is key for effective and efficient campaign management.
Common Mistakes When Buying Traffic and How to Avoid Them
Regardless of where you decide to buy traffic, remember that the main goal is not just to attract visitors but to convert them. No matter how targeted and “warm” users are, they will quickly leave the site or landing page if:
- don’t find the answer to their search query;
- suspect any deception or encounter vague wording;
- can’t quickly locate the order form;
- experience long loading times for the site;
- face a poor interface, lousy layout, or complex navigation;
- find no useful information;
- encounter text content with grammatical errors;
Therefore, before buying traffic, ensure your website is of high quality and features relevant content. Strive to make the site user-friendly and straightforward. If you’re purchasing traffic for your site, focus on improving its technical specifications and usability. When using a landing page, adhere to best practices for their creation and pay attention to what your competitors are doing. Knowing how to create landing pages is particularly beneficial for affiliate marketers, as not all advertisers and affiliate networks provide pre-made promotional materials. Being proficient in both creating and analyzing landing pages, as well as advertising creatives, is essential for success in this field.
To choose the best website traffic sources, which may even be one of the options for cheap traffic sources, begin with the specifics of your offer. It’s important to purchase advertising where your target audience is present. For instance, you can buy gaming traffic on social networks, where users are often more willing to convert from one entertainment resource to another. People typically expect to see advertisements for services like dating (albeit indirect), games, and utilities on these platforms. News traffic is also a viable purchase on social networks, as users are frequently interested in current events, particularly in turbulent times. However, search traffic is more suitable for products or services with immediate, situational demand, such as tires or tow truck services, as users are likely to reach these advertisements through specific search queries. Buying wap traffic on social networks, video platforms, CPA networks, YAN (Yandex Advertising Network), and Google Ads can be effective for offers involving mobile subscriptions.
Conclusion
The opportunity to buy quality traffic and look for affordable web traffic sources allows business owners to introduce their brand or product to the target audience, increase awareness, and increase sales. Affiliate marketers, on the other hand, make website traffic purchase to target offers and earn commissions on confirmed leads more effectively. Each traffic source comes with its own set of advantages and drawbacks. The key is to test, combine, and find the most effective strategy for attracting your desired audience.
