There are a lot of traffic sources to choose from, but making the right choice is easier said than done. In this article, we’ll show you the top traffic sources to help you decide which ones are right for you.
Social Media Traffic
Social media is an incredible traffic source, however, as it evoles, it is presenting new challenges. The interent is no longer the lawless wild west that once was, and so stricter rules and regulations creep in every year. therefore, if you want to run ads on any social media site, it’s important to look at the rules and keep up-to-date with any changes. Otherwise, you could find your accounts banned.
One of the great things about advertising on social media is that you can target people where they are most engaged. Plus, there are a huge number of platforms for you to choose from. You can place your ads on Facebook, SnapChat, TikTok, Instagram, VKontakte (Russia’s Facebook equivalent), PlentyOfFish, and many, many more.
The most valuable thing about social media traffic for affiliate marketers is the ability to target accurately. You can put your ads in front of virtually any demographic you want, to see who will bite.
Sounds amazing, right? Unfortunately, social networks are very picky when it comes to approving your ads. Especially Facebook, whose advertising guidelines are giving many affiliates sleepless nights.
The good news is that once you have mastered how to play by the rules (or how to flaunt them if you’re wearing your greyhat), then an almost unlimited volume of quality traffic will be open to you. It is very easy to increase sales on these types of traffic sources as social networks are the place where the majority of people spend most of their time online.
+ Pros
- Quality traffic
- Accurate targeting
- Larger volume
- Cons
- Strict advertising policy
- Very limited customer support
Pop Traffic
Everybody has experienced the unexpected opening of a new window telling them that they have won the latest iPhone, $100 grocery coupon, or have been messaged by the single mother who, unbeknown to them, is now living next door and looking for an affair! Yes, these are all offers being promoted by affiliates on pop traffic. And yes, they still work, even though people have seen them a thousand times before.
There are 4 main types of pops:
- Pop-up – Appears immediately after click in front of user
- Pop-under – Pops under visitor’s browser so it is visible once browser is closed
- Pop tab – Opens a new tab in visitor’s browser
- Exit pop- These pop up are created when a visitor tries to exit a page
Pop traffic is often recommended to newbies as it is relatively cheap and you can gather a lot of data to optimize. But don’t forget to blacklist sources often, as many placements can burn your budget without bringing in a single conversion.
The most popular Pop traffic sources are PopAds, PropellerAds, TrafficJunky and ExoClick.
+ Pros
- Cheap traffic (suitable for newbies)
- Big volume
- Less strict advertising policy
- Cons
- Lower quality
- Frequent optimizing needed
Domain Traffic
Domain traffic is often ignored by affiliates but it can bring you a nice amount of conversions. It recently became possible at Tonic to target according to interests in order to give you a better starting position.
Where does all this traffic come from? When a user types the URL directly into the address bar they can end up in one of 3 places:
- The right domain name where they wanted to go
- An expired domain – In this case they will see a parking site with one of your links or will be redirected straight to your landing page
- A typo domain – He typed the domain name incorrectly and was redirected to your landing page
It is very easy to set up a domain campaign and ZeroPark even enables integration with their popular tracking tool Voluum.
You can buy domain traffic at ZeroPark, Tonic, Trellian, etc.
+ Pros
- Easy to set up and optimize
- Less competition
- Cons
- Lower volume
- Few advertising networks
To find out more about the top traffic sources and how you can implement them in your campaigns then ConvertingTeam is on hand to help. We can guide you through the process of selecting the best sites to improve your traffic and enusure that you maximise your conversions. For more information and to join our global affiliate network Click Here.