Buying traffic for your website

Discussion in 'SEO, Traffic and Revenue' started by Kaiser, Jun 9, 2011.

  1. Kaiser

    Kaiser Regular Member

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2010
    Messages:
    6,744
    Likes Received:
    1,132
    Do you buy traffic for your website? There can be many ways to buy traffic such as buying adspace on other forums, paying for clicks/visits.
     
  2. Se7eN

    Se7eN Regular Member

    Joined:
    May 20, 2011
    Messages:
    137
    Likes Received:
    91
    Location:
    America
    I don't, sometimes it can be quite expensive to get clicks. And these days, most people have AdBlock and can't even see it.

    A free way to get results is to put the URL of your website/forum on a slip of paper. Then head over to the library and stick in a book. If you do it in popular manga (One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, etc.) you could put it in front of the ationy or suspenseful part. That way, it's where the reader's eyes are directed. I think it produces less results, but it's free. ^.^
     
    Kevin X Dragon likes this.
  3. Soulwatcher

    Soulwatcher Regular Member

    Joined:
    May 28, 2011
    Messages:
    111
    Likes Received:
    26
    Location:
    Detroit, Michigan
    I spent $150 on a Facebook ad for my old Michigan website. And I even narrowed it down to Michigan residents who like computers and internet. I got a few like but no new members, it was a total waste of money!
     
    Kaiser likes this.
  4. Kaiser

    Kaiser Regular Member

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2010
    Messages:
    6,744
    Likes Received:
    1,132
    Sorry to hear, thats why I would never buy ads on Facebook. You are much better of with Google Adwords.
     
    Kevin X Dragon likes this.
  5. Chris Grigg

    Chris Grigg Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jan 24, 2010
    Messages:
    50
    Likes Received:
    11
    I have never spent money on buying visitors, this is like paying someone to do a job and soon as they get the money, they are done. If that makes sense as an example. It's like people click it and move on. Waste of good money to me. ;)
     
  6. Kevin X Dragon

    Kevin X Dragon Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jan 24, 2011
    Messages:
    26
    Likes Received:
    10
    This is the reason why I will never use Adwords. Buying "sponsor" ad spots is much better.

    Did your forum have at where they could register using Facebook?
     
  7. Trealix

    Trealix Gamer

    Joined:
    Nov 19, 2010
    Messages:
    1,171
    Likes Received:
    198
    Location:
    London
    I would never buy traffic to your site, you either earn the traffic or your site/forum will not be successful
     
  8. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 14, 2009
    Messages:
    3,219
    Likes Received:
    823
    I haven't bought any advertisements for my community, but if I did, I'd use Project wonderful. Google adwords sounds nice to buy traffic/ads from, but I heard its quite expensive.
     
  9. Kaiser

    Kaiser Regular Member

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2010
    Messages:
    6,744
    Likes Received:
    1,132
    Yea Adwords is pretty expensive, I had plans for it but decided not to buy it, I much rather buy adspace on other forums in a similar niche.
     
  10. Box Obsessed

    Box Obsessed Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2011
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    2
    If you dont target the right market its a total waste of money, otherwise it can work really well.
     
    WEfail likes this.
  11. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 14, 2009
    Messages:
    3,219
    Likes Received:
    823
    Ya, that's so true. You should always target your right market - that way you don't waste any money and it can be very effective.
     
  12. Brandon

    Brandon Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2009
    Messages:
    6,602
    Likes Received:
    1,706
    Location:
    Topeka, Kansas
    First Name:
    Brandon
    I've never "bought traffic" like "1,000 hits for 10$" or something stupid like that and I wouldn't suggest anyone to do it.
    I see some people that will buy traffic like that on a site for three months, or "paid posting" for a few months then try to sell the site with the traffic proof and never disclaiming that the traffic was face. (IMO)

    There are plenty of ways to advertising your site..
    I've used Adwords a few time and been very happy with it, I've also had success with facebook advertising as well.
     
  13. Carlos

    Carlos Regular Member

    Joined:
    Apr 20, 2003
    Messages:
    751
    Likes Received:
    251
    Location:
    California
    Adwords and Facebook are really good advertising platforms. Facebook especially, because you have them as fans, and they will follow every thread or post you make. :)
     
  14. tronik

    tronik Regular Member

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2012
    Messages:
    19
    Likes Received:
    7
    I never buy traffic, I prefer promoting myself, it's hard work, but it is much more rewarding unless you have very deep pockets.
     
    DarkGizmo likes this.
  15. DarkGizmo

    DarkGizmo Mr. Awesome

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2010
    Messages:
    145
    Likes Received:
    45
    Location:
    NYC
    I agree 100%. I don't buy traffic for my website. I don't see the point. If you're paying someone to generate 'traffic' for you, it's not real 'traffic' and it's not really guaranteed to bring you any members or further income. It'd only be good if you're filthy rich and have money to burn and want your site to really get out there. Then sure why not.....but generally, i find old fashion promoting the best solution thus far. :-)
     
  16. dojo

    dojo Regular Member

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2012
    Messages:
    250
    Likes Received:
    181
    I don't buy traffic. I work on the site, trying to make it the best i can so that people would join and return there. I link to it from my sites and post in blogs/forums. Even a small initial traffic helps, as long as the site looks good and enticing. I could pay thousands of dollars to get traffic, but, if my visitors don't see a reason to join, I'm just wasting money.
     
  17. Webmaster Boss

    Webmaster Boss Regular Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2012
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    I'd say purchasing ads from Google and Facebook are a waste of money unless it's a huge amount.
     
  18. Brandon

    Brandon Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2009
    Messages:
    6,602
    Likes Received:
    1,706
    Location:
    Topeka, Kansas
    First Name:
    Brandon
    Oh man that couldn't be farther from the truth.
    You can defiantly start off small on both those platforms and see results.
    As with a larger fund, you need to know what your doing and spend your money wisely.
     
  19. Clickfinity

    Clickfinity Regular Member

    Joined:
    Apr 18, 2011
    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    30
    Location:
    UK
    I recently experimented with Adwords for GeeksChat.net using a freebie voucher someone kindly donated (value of around £67 / $102).

    I setup three ads and added around 10 keywords/phrases that I thought would be useful in attracting like-minded geeks and set them running. Well, sort of. The click value I'd assigned to them all was apparently too low and I had to increase it 5 fold to get any of them off the starting blocks. I also aimed all the ads at the homepage - okay for starters, but it didn't contain the density of keywords needed for a good quality ad score so if I did it again I'd create custom landing pages for each specific advert to make them more relevant.

    I capped the spend at £7 per day and got through it very (and I mean very) quickly each day. It is amazing how many impressions Google can serve in an hour, never mind a day. I reckon you could blow thousands of pounds in a day if you really wanted to!!!

    I got an average of around 37 clicks per day until the balance on the account was exhausted and didn't get a single conversion from the exercise (I'd put the conversion tracking code on the post-registration template in XF so I'd know if a sign-up was a result of the ads).

    I enjoyed trying it and feel I've learned something from the experience. The Adwords interface offers amazingly finite tracking and targetting variables and I expect if you've got a big budget and some time to learn how to use it properly it can be a very powerful tool. Landing pages seem very important too, so bear that in mind if you give it a go yourself.

    I didn't have any high expectations because I know GeeksChat is low traffic/content at the moment - if I'd aimed it at cyclists and pointed the ads at CycleChat.net I might have had a better result - but I'm not too bothered as I got a good lesson in Adwords and it didn't cost me anything.

    If I had the money to advertise I'd certainly think about including some Adwords campaigns in my strategy, but I also think it would be a fairly expensive learning curve to begin with.

    Cheers,
    Shaun :D
     
    cpvr and Brandon like this.
  20. dexterlablab1

    dexterlablab1 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2012
    Messages:
    56
    Likes Received:
    15
    Location:
    New York
    There is a certain pitfall people fall into with this.

    When you buy traffic, sure it makes your site look busy. But unless you're using other methods as well, once the money stops, so will your site.

    Not to mention then you also have to constantly worry about the quality of your content because there will be people there only to get paid.
     

Share This Page