Paid Traffic vs FREE Traffic

by 30 replies
37
Hey warriors, Here is what i found when comparing free traffic vs paid traffic.

Free Traffic - not reliable, slow, inconsistent

PAID traffic - Consistent, Fast, reliable

with free traffic you don't have a solid business it can go at anytime. With paid traffic, you'll always get what you pay for Whenever you need it.

Paid traffic WINS
#main internet marketing discussion forum #free #paid #traffic
  • [DELETED]
    • [3] replies
    • we are not talking Adfly traffic here buddy
    • what? what did I read here?

      Are you really into internet marketing world?
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • Paid traffic are not bots, here we are talking about Adword, Facebook traffic which is real. I don't know who told you the above story.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Paid traffic wins in terms of speed, but that doesn't mean you'll make more profits.

    If you don't know what you're doing and you dont have a large budget for testing then i think free traffic wins.

    But then again, if you do have a budget you can use for testing then you can easily expand your business, which is very hard to achieve if you're relying on free traffic.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • I agree, you must be willing to lose a few dollars before finding a profitable network and campaign
  • Paid traffic convert real well if you know how to use it. I recommend newbie start with small budget that they afford to lose to test it out before really pump in more amount of money into the campaign. Many people complaint paid traffic not working because they did not do enough research or choosing wrong keywords.

    Another reason why your paid traffic is better is because you are giving money to them. Of course they will love you more than those using free traffic.
  • Paid traffic is tricky though. If you dont know what you're doing you will waste a TON of money. Free traffic has a safety net...all you lose is time and not money. I like doing a mix of both.
  • Free traffic is slower, but its not always inconsistent or unreliable. What if you built a blog with a large following? This would be free, consistent and reliable, though it takes time.

    Paid is definitely faster but you also need to buy the right kind and test what you're buying first. Paid traffic is not reliable when you don't know what you're doing.
  • It's definitely worth setting up campaigns that profit with paid traffic, but it's also worth creating content that attracts free traffic.

    I buy traffic and invest time into organic traffic.

    Almost always there's a cap for paid traffic, based on kW search volume and social media audience targets. Organic traffic adds more which is all the merrier.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • So long as you know how to use paid traffic and you have a great landing page you can make some good money...but as others have said it takes time and a lot of testing in order to get good results with PPC. I typically start with free traffic and do my best to rank a site.

    Once I get some free targeted traffic I start split testing the landing pages and using heat map tools to find out what modifications I need to do to increase the conversion rate. Once I am somewhat happy with my conversion with free traffic, I will venture into the paid traffic and adjust my targeting until I find something that works. If I start losing too much with paid traffic I just cut my losses and hope to regain something with the free traffic.
  • I don't think you should put your eggs in one basket. I use both forms of traffic as they both work. Yes, I agree that free traffic is slower than paid but both strategies work You just need to make sure that you are getting targeted traffic for the niche that you are going after.
    • [1] reply
    • There is no such thing as free traffic, as you are exchanging your time for traffic

      TIME v MONEY

      ~ if you don't have money, you will need to go for FREE traffic - but it will take you time

      ~ if you have money you can buy PAID traffic, carefully monitoring results

      I don't think there is any right or wrong. It just depends on individual circumstances.

      Regards
  • Someone once said that the difference between a 6figure income and a 7 figure income is paid traffic! This may be becoming less true due to the viral power of social media. Just one good viral post can change your life!
  • I'd pick free traffic from search engines any day. Free traffic is slower to obtain but it converts more depending on the source. It's also reliable if you do things the right way.
  • Its really about the amount that you have to invest. You can't gather up enough data with only a few hundred dollars to spend, and would probably be better off using free traffic sources.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Paid traffic is better in my pointview if you have good products and services to promote, or high paying affiliate offers.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • I don't think so that paid traffic win, paid traffic means we pay per click or impression of our business. Earn free traffic we don't pay anything.

    Mainly we get paid traffic by PPC (pay per click) that was not continued, when we stop paying our traffic automatically stops.

    On other side free traffic came with the help of SEO (Search engine optimization), SMO, SMM that is one time investment, Start SEO work gets ranked, get traffic from SMO, and main thing is that our traffic continues after stoped SEO process.

    I guess now you change your idea about paid and free traffic process.
  • If you're bootstrapping you need to generate free traffic with sweat equity. If you can turn free traffic into money, then you can use paid traffic to scale what you already know works.

    Keep this in mind: if you decide not to scale after you're making money you could wind up regretting it later.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • PAID TRAFFIC IS NOT RELIABLE.

    It takes testing and the right offer for a good paid campaign. Sometimes you hit the jackpot, other times, its a swing and a miss.

    Once you get something going, you can upscale and its very reliable! Takes time, hard work, testing your nuts off, and also a bit of money to burn before you find the winning combination. Not as easy or RELIABLE as you may think.
    • [1] reply
    • Hi Celente, I did not say PROFITABLE, I said RELIABLE as in its there when you need it long as you have the funds to invest.
  • I here quite a few people claim that paid traffic is better than free traffic.

    I actually get most of my traffic for free and it converts very well. It converts better than the paid traffic that I am getting from bing ppc.

    The only reason you should avoid trying to get free traffic is because you don''t have the time or will to work at it.

    But if you are broke and need traffic...Free will work just as well.

    Of course it all depends what kind of traffic it is.
  • Why do most people here think paid traffic is PPC from either Google or bing...there other are types like PPV, Social, Media buy - and these types of traffic sources will profit you instantly.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Banned
    I won't say that's completely correct. There are a lot of other things that need to be factored in - the biggest being the knowhow of the traffic source. you try building a list with 7search or adfly and you'll end up losing money. A lot depends on your own research and how well targeted the traffic is. Same for free traffic. If you are selling Amazon stuff and have a steady flow of Pinterest traffic, you will make bank.
  • Free Traffic - not reliable, slow, inconsistent

    Generally yes...especially SEO.

    But there are people who swear by it and have gotten it to work.

    There are many other free traffic methods that require so much time and effort...and are generally slow.

    PAID traffic - Consistent, Fast, reliable

    Yes...faster and quite reliable.

    Like you know success loves speed...so this is usually recommended.

    But you need to know what you are doing or you will blow all your money.

    Many top businesses use and depend on paid traffic.
  • Both traffic sources can be good it just depends on where you get the traffic. If you pay for cheap traffic your gonna get cheap results. Also if you get free traffic from some places it wont be good at all. It just really depends on how much work you want to put into both ways of getting traffic.
  • I will say with paid traffic, you get a more targeted traffic....

    Paid traffic grant you a great confidence if you are first starting your internet business
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Banned
      Everyone's experience of the comparison between paid traffic and traffic depends on exactly where their free and/or paid traffic has come from and exactly what they've tried to do with it.

      Not on whether or not it was free.

      There are a lot of things stated in this thread that are generally true-ish but have many exceptions.

      The reality is that how good, how reliable, and how responsive traffic is simply ISN'T determined by whether it's free or paid, per se.

      There are some types of free/paid traffic which are better than some types of paid/free traffic for some purposes, at some times, for some marketers.

      For myself, my very best, most profitable and most responsive traffic has always been free (that's been article marketing traffic). My very worst, least profitable and least responsive traffic has also always been free (that's been SEO traffic). My paid traffic (from Google AdWords) has been somewhere in the middle, in terms of targeting, responsiveness, reliability and profitability. It's been profitable for me, but nowhere near as good as article marketing traffic (what is?!).

      It doesn't really help anyone to try to summarize the qualities and value of traffic according to the sole criterion of whether or not it's "free". That criterion just doesn't, in itself, signify anything worth knowing about. It's "more prejudicial than probative". People who are trying to summarize whether "paid" or "free" traffic is "better" are not quite thinking it through.


      .
      • [ 2 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • It all depends on where you are getting your traffic.

    One is not better than the other.

    Paid Traffic: You can find good converting traffic or poorly converting traffic. Paid traffic is usually a lot quicker but there is still a learning curve and you will need a 'daily' marketing budget to 'draw' from.

    Some people strike it rich with paid while other have lost their shirts.

    Free Traffic: If you do free traffic like Blogging or Article Writing which does produce a more valuable and targeted visitor or lead, then the rewards can be better than paid.

    But this method takes time to 'cultivate' and learn in order to Master it. And this method isn't really free because it takes a lot of your time, energy and persistence.
  • There is NO SUCH THING as 'free' traffic. You're still paying in the form of TIME. Time = money.

    Instead of worrying about paying for traffic, focus on RETURN ON INVESTMENT instead.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
Join the discussion

Next Topics on Trending Feed