Practical Marketer: Earned vs. Paid Traffic

Paid media is the more longstanding approach to generating website traffic. In this method, companies pay for ad spots on other websites or on television, just as they might pay to purchase space in a print publication. Some business owners and advertising teams favor paid media because it allows them to exert more control over their online identity and promotional material, though it is quickly becoming evident that paid traffic may not be enough for a business to keep up with the competition.

The first most popular type of paid traffic is ad traffic. This means traffic that is generated from users clicking on banners, adverts, pop-ups, and videos. Unlike other forms of paid traffic, such as pay per click, advertisers who use ad traffic are usually charged per one thousand impressions. Also known as CPM or cost per mile, this type of advertising does not guarantee any clicks or traffic to your site but instead offers a much lower rate.

Depending on the site you are advertising on paid ad traffic can be bought for as low as $0.5 per a thousand impressions. If one person out of those one thousand impressions clicks your ad, then you paid $0.5 for that one visitor. Obviously, the click-through rate of the ad can greatly affect this number. Sometimes it will be much higher and sometimes it will be much lower.

For some businesses, paid ad traffic can be much more profitable than other types of paid traffic, especially if they have a high converting advert. On the other hand, some businesses end up spending hundreds of paid ad traffic without any results. With no guarantee of visitors for their budget, lots of businesses prefer pay per click traffic instead.

Paid traffic can be generated in a number of different ways. Companies can pay to have a web banner displayed on a related website, or they can offer to sponsor another business in order to gain increased media attention. Paid traffic can also be comprised of “pay-per-click” features on other websites, which are strategically placed advertisements that will take consumers directly to another company website.

Unlike paid traffic, earned traffic is less directly controlled by the business itself. It is web content produced by the consumer. Earned media can, of course, be stimulated by paid media, since a consumer might see a paid ad and then share information about a company via digital word of mouth. In large part, though, earned traffic remains out of the company’s hands.

The most effective forms of earned traffic include Facebook posts and Tweets, social media updates that have the power to reach a wide audience at a rapid pace. Blogs can also generate earned traffic, particularly if they include video feed or a frequent mention of a company’s name. Because these forms of advertisement appear less manipulated by corporations and are more personalized by the consumer, they are often considered to be a more valued or respected form of media promotion.

Paid media is the fastest way to generate site traffic and immediately reach a wide audience, though it does not guarantee customer loyalty. Earned traffic is a bit more difficult for companies to generate, and companies may need to conduct more research into the habits of their consumer base in order to establish a strong company/client relationship. When earned traffic is achieved, however, it can help a business “go viral” and can establish a loyal customer base more successfully than paid media.

Now we’ve covered the main advantages and disadvantages of paid traffic, how does it hold up to other types of traffic?

If you’re new to the world of digital marketing, then it’s important to understand that there are various ways to attract traffic to your website. One of the most popular ways to drive traffic to a website outside of paid ads is most certainly with search engine optimization.

Although it doesn’t directly cost anything to do, businesses invest thousands into improving their sites and increasing their rank on search engines.

This is done by writing content, guest posting, creating backlinks, on-page SEO, and a whole lot more. Of course, in order to do this many businesses pay companies a hefty amount, but the return in traffic is often substantial.

Compared to paid traffic, the results from SEO are not instantaneous and can take a few months to kick in. But once the traffic starts rolling it, for most of the time it remains constant while growing at a steady pace. This means that in the long run organic traffic from search engine optimisation can often work out cheaper. However, with that being said, it’s not that easy to implement an SEO strategy.

Compared to say, pay per click, almost anyone can create a pay per click campaign in a matter of hours. With so many tutorials and resources out there, creating your first ad is literally a breeze. On the other hand, SEO takes a whole lot of skill, patience, and persistence. Leave one of those traits behind and your campaign is also destined to fail.

Why Is Paid Traffic Important?

Unlike organic traffic which is a longer-term investment, paid ad campaigns can be more lucrative in the short term.

All a business has to do is launch a paid ad campaign and theoretically, it will drive targeted traffic to their site.

While some technical knowledge is required to get going in the beginning, paid ad campaigns can be simpler to run with fewer people involved and less long-term planning.

Often paid traffic is a great option if your business can own a high-value trending keyword during peak seasons or when a topic is trending.

How does paid traffic work?

So what exactly is paid traffic and how does it work? In paid traffic, you get visits from those customers whom you have paid for advertising promotions. You can access paid traffic services from diverse platforms such as search engines, social media platforms, and media networks.

Should You Use Paid Traffic?

Now we’ve covered everything there is to know about paid traffic we can finally answer that vital question: is it worth it?

To put it simply, yes it is, but there are a few exceptions;

As we explored earlier, there are various types of paid traffic out there with the main ones being ad traffic and pay per click marketing. Although both can provide excellent results for businesses and generate a lot of traffic, both are also subjective to high levels of fraud.

If you purchase a paid ad on a CPM basis in the hopes of attracting visitors, then the chances are you’ll be disappointed. With so many robots out there constantly viewing the ads and wasting your impressions you’ll be lucky to get a click.

The only way to stop this type of fraud is if the ad network improves their fraud detection, which is very unlikely to happen. This leaves you with two choices, continue buying impressions in the hope of getting a click or invest in a different type of paid traffic.

Similar to paid ad traffic, pay per click traffic also experiences the same type of fraud. Known as fraudulent clicks, this type of fraud occurs when a competitor or user repeatedly clicks on your ads. Since you’re charged per click, you lose money.

However, unlike paid ad traffic, there is something you can do to stop it. Since platforms such as Google Ads allow you to add IP exclusions to your campaigns, it is possible to block users from see your ads altogether. This means you can block users that repeatedly click your ads and save yourself money. Don’t think it’s easy though; the process can be extremely time consuming and tedious. Luckily there’s a much faster and automated way to do it.

To maximize website traffic, it is nearly essential for companies to use a combination of both paid and earned media. A company (especially a start-up) may only be able to create paid traffic in the early stages of promotion, but once word begins to spread, earned media can serve as a lucrative complement to paid advertisements.

Targeted Traffic from WebTargetedTraffic automatically monitors and blocks fraudulent clicks on your PPC campaigns without you having to lift a finger. If you’re currently running or planning to run pay per click ads, then having protection is essential.

Web Targeted Traffic brings you a fully managed website traffic experience tailor-made to your needs, multiple handpicked traffic sources, excellent support, 100% Google Analytics detection, 100% Real and Unique visitors, best rates on the market and to top it all – we make sure that you get the results you need.