With any online business traffic is the golden goose when it comes to success. But of course getting traffic is one thing but if that traffic doesn’t turn into buyers then your business will struggle big time.
There is three different types of traffic. Traffic you control, traffic you don’t control and traffic you own. If, I have totally lost you already then read this article first.
Now it doesn’t matter what type of traffic you are aiming to drive to your site the best traffic you can achieve is targeted traffic.
Let’s explain what I mean by targeted traffic.
What Is Targeted Traffic ?
Targeted traffic is where you have used relevant keywords to drive traffic.
Cold traffic would be keywords such as health, internet marketing or weight loss. Although great keywords these are too broad and the competition would be fierce.
Warm traffic would be keywords such as Pain relief, email marketing and keto diet again these are great keywords we are still a bit broad, but if used we would generate some traffic.
Laser Targeted traffic would be longer keyword phrases with a specific goal in mind such as How to relief back pain – Ways to get more leads online – How can I lose 10Lbs Fast as you can see these long keyword phrases are much more targeted as people are searching for a particular issue that they want help for.
Finding these keywords
You can use various methods when it comes to keyword research but I use a tool called Jaaxy.
As you can see there is still over 5300 monthly searches according to Jaaxy with very low competition. now you know what keywords to target let’s look at where you can get this targeted traffic from.
Places To Get Targeted Traffic From
First I want to show you some places where to can get this type of traffic from.
- Search Engine – As you can see from Google there are a huge amounts of searches for long keywords. Using these to get ranked in Google, Bing or Yahoo is going to get you some highly targeted traffic for sure.
- Social Networks – We all know the power of Facebook, Twitter and all the other major players when it comes to social networks again targeting these platforms again will work but beware of linking directly to offers as many social networks don’t like affiliate links Facebook is one for sure but here’s what to do in their case.
- Email List – If you haven’t started building your email list then now is the time to start. There are plenty of email service providers around the one I use and would recommend AWeber which is one of the best.
- Blog Posts – Starting a blog is probably the most popular way to start an online business these days. If you have not created your blog yet then read my building a website for free article. Once you start producing posts there are many sites where you can promote your blog links for free.
- Videos – Video is everywhere today Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and of course You Tube. Being the second largest search engine after Google You Tube would be a definite place to get noticed and get you some amazing targeted traffic. Check out these 5 tips for getting started on You Tube
Paid Traffic
Now you know about targeted traffic, what it is and where you can get it from, let’s now talk about the burning question I asked right at the beginning on the post.
Should I Buy Targeted Traffic ?
Well let’s reword the question. What paid traffic sources would generate me targeted traffic?
If you take the long tail keyword principles I have already covered YES you can buy targeted traffic simple answer I know.
Time now to dive into what paid traffic sources to use.
If, someone wants to sell you a targeted email list with 1000s of email addresses just ask yourself one question… If this list is as great as they are saying, then why are they selling it. 
The truth is NEVER buy an email list no matter how cheap and good they say it is and here are the reasons
- The list is probably years old and most of the emails don’t even exist anymore
- This list has probably been sold numerous times so even if the emails are live they probably will not open them.
- Most of these lists are generated using your COLD traffic keywords like Health or Fitness. As, I have already explained too broad.
- This people don’t know you and have not requested anything from you. You are just spamming them and this will hurt your reputation.
That said no for some great paid traffic solutions.
Search Engine – Paid ads such as Google, Bing and Yahoo Ads although can be expensive for your long tail keywords you will possibly get page one for your ads.
Social Networks – Boosting posts and tweets on Facebook and Twitter is low cost but you are in the lap of the gods with who sees them. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest all have ad platforms which again are fairly cheap depending on the keywords, just be sure to start with a low budget to test and then when you are getting results ramp up.
Videos – Paying for You Tube ads has proved successful for me in the past and like I said it’s the second largest search engine so maybe worth a go.
A quick note regarding all your paid advertising, start slow and test see what works and what doesn’t drop the poor campaigns and ramp up the good ones.
There are other ways of paying for traffic but with what I said about keywords I think these are your best shouts to start with. Remember too you can also get free traffic from all these places too.
Great article! Thanks for breaking it down and explaining things simply. I haven’t tried any paid advertising to generate traffic yet but I may start using Facebook ads. They seem pretty easy to use and you can target them pretty specifically. Do you have any articles with tips on how to maximize the productivity of your Facebook ads? In other words, how to get the most bang for your buck? If so I would love to see it.
Hi Mariah, Facebook is a great place to start with ads, because of what you have said. I don’t have any posts regarding FB ads but check out Kim Garst she has a free course on just this. Search kimgarst.com
The subject of traffic generation is a big worry for newbie bloggers. I’ve also been looking at the possibility of getting paid traffic but I heard that most service providers do not live up to the agreement.
In the meantime, I’ll work harder on my social media marketing and hopefully, I’ll make enough to buy paid leads
Hi Louis social media is a great place to start and of course its free. You can also post your blog links on lots of other sites too
You are right about not buying an email list. Some off the vendors in popular forums simply use softwares to scrape emails off social media channels and sell them to unsuspecting buyers. The best bet is to always build your own list. However, there are still a few solo ads sellers with leads that are targeted especially in the MMO niche. But, you will have to tread with caution and get reputable testimonials before you place your order. Of the paid traffic sources you mentioned, facebook still remains the best in my opinion, but you must learn to do it correctly, otherwise, you’ll be wasting a lot of money. It happened to me countless times when I just got started online
What you say in totally correct and learning Facebook ads before you dive into them is a must
To me the best place I get my traffic from is social media and search engine.i don’t think paid traffic is useful because even if all the people still exit on the traffic been sold they are just set of people that are not interested in your product.
furthermore those that sell this paid traffic are just there to make few bucks.is better you do your work from the start and target the right audience that will give you value for your work.
Glad social media and search engine traffic is working for you. Like I said beware of people selling you traffic, use sites such Facebook and Google how are reputable. Which social media sites do you use ?
Thank you for a wonderful article. For any online business, traffic is the vehicle to success. But getting traffic is one thing but turning them into buyers another. For newbies reading this article, I will not advise you to seek paid traffic as they will end up flooding your site with spam! I have tried several and the result is same – FAILURE! Thanks for this great informative and educative article. If you are reading this especially newbies I advise you take this article seriously! Facebook and Twitter – which is cheaper? Which is more effective?
Thanks for your comments, interesting about your paid traffic, where was the traffic from ? Facebook and Twitter are good solid ad platform to use. I would say that Facebook has the edge with its targeting and retargeting features. Start on long tail keywords which could be cheaper too. Trust this helps
Great piece. I’ve learned some new things from this piece. Let me ask, which of cold, warm or laser traffic target do you recommend especially for someone that is just building his/her website. In addition, I noticed you completely disagree with the idea of buying email list, I think this something has to do with the subject and the frequency of the e-mails. If the subject is interesting especially on money/health and the sender is not spamming your inbox, it does work.
Do you agree?
Hi Tolu, Laser targeted traffic is most certainly the best to get. Like I said never buy email lists, the new GDPR rules state that you have to make sure the person you are emailing has agreed to what you are sending. By buying and then sending cold you are now breaking this law.
When I joined wealthy affiliate I had some questions in my mind how to proceed. This article has certainly given some answers to me. Blogging, search engine and youtube videos are the best sources to generate leads for affiliate programs and online business. Now a days leads from social channels are very poor in quality.
You are right Blogging, search engine and Youtube traffic is a good combination to drive traffic for your affiliate marketing business
You make some great points here. It seems I might be better to generate my own traffic rather then buy it. Old lists would likely just be a waste of my time and money.
It looks like long term traffic is best generated from a blog and use aweber to help build targeted traffic, right?
So is it really that easy to start a blog for free?
Thank you for your advice.
Hey Murray, Thanks for your questions… Definitely for long term traffic build your blog and then use AWeber to build your list. At the end of the day you own your list no one can take that away from you. Check out my review on AWeber it’s a great tool I have used it for years.
I have never used paid traffic or bought emails off any of these vendors. As a newbie in the system, I try to do a lot of research before I make up my mind on what service or product that I’d spend my money on and even with free ones, I still do my research to avoid wasting valuable time.
Paid targeted traffic seems like it would produce some results especially with the big names and the social media sites and I really like your advice about start small and testing. Will definitely keep that in mind.
You are wise to do research lots of newbies can get stung and waste valuable time and money. Sounds like you are doing the right thing keep doing what you are doing 🙂
This article is a practical guide to affiliate marketing.
The key to affiliate marketing is getting traffic, not only traffic but the targeted traffic that can lead to conversion making you wealth.
Cold, warm traffic is successfully explained and really add an awesome value for the new affiliate marketer. I personally enjoy searching for the keyword using Jaxxy. It is well rounded and goes most of the time beyond my imagination. Finding a low hanging, a well-demanded keyword to write a blog or making youtube videos can pay well.
Affiliate marketing is a busy avenue to build wealth and understanding the nuts and bolts will always help. Knowing what not do is equally important as what to do. Particulary, I like the email-list buying scenario. Buying an old outdated email list is useless.
The current world thrives on the internet. Social media has been an integral part of human life. Getting traffic through Social media can pay well for the business.
Thanks for sharing such an informative and engaging post.
Thanks for your comments I am glad you enjoyed the post
I was always of the mind that as soon as I get some money I would buy an email list but what was just said in this post has made me have a rethink on this. I have not really actually thought of those guys selling a cold email list. I was always of the mind that their traffic is always laser targeted and also recent but I guess they are not.
Buying traffic from search engines is something I have not yet tried. I think I am going to give it a try as I heard they can be good. Would definitely go for youtube as per your suggestion as it seems to convert well.
I can definitely say you are right to put your money into traffic from search engine traffic over buying an email list. I made this mistake years ago had over million emails with no results at all.
You did a great review. I think targeted traffic is the most important of all other types of traffic but why are they called also paid traffic? Is it that I need to pay money for me to get some or all of these targeted traffic? I only know that I may need to pay money to run sponsord ads on facebook but what about the rest.
Thanks Kenenchi, Yes paid ads would be Facebook, Twitter, Google etc