Free vs Paid Traffic

As we all know there are many ways to get traffic but I was just curious to see what everyone's thoughts were on paid versus Free methods of traffic. What has worked better for you and what was the source?

 

Paid traffic as well as Free are both very effective. But hands down the quickest way to get Traffic is too
PAY for it. Article marketing as well as videos will do just fine,but keep in mind that these methods will take months
to yield results. You can try PPC platforms like 7search if you just want to get your feet wet. However there is a learning curve when it comes to using paid traffic,and you will lose money in the beginning. At least until you the hang of it.

 

At this point in time, I would NOT recommend using pay per click advertising to get traffic. Here is the deal: most people who try to get traffic via the paid methods will FAIL miserably, and when I say fail, I mean lose lots of money. Whether you are dealing with Google Adwords or another pay per click method, there are many complexities you need to understand before you dive in. In other words, you really need to know what you are doing. Even if you can get traffic to your website, there is no guarantee that the traffic is targeted or that you have a good enough website to convert into sales. Its not an exaggeration to say that 1 or 2 % of people who land on your website will click on any links for the product you are promoting, and only a small percentage of these people will buy. So...I'd stick with the free methods of promotion until you become an expert and can get the free traffic to convert. Once you get the free traffic to convert, then you may want to start looking at PPC advertising.

 

In my experience, I've found free organic traffic to be higher quality than paid traffic over all. That's just my experience though and may differ from person to person and from site to site.

 

Thanks to everyone who responded. This is some great information. I do have to agree that free traffic seems to be of higher quality and that one should always implement free methods of traffic first.

 

You make some great points Vishal. I agree, it is important to make sure your website converts effectively, especially before you pay for any traffic.

 

Paid traffic (PPC] is like heroin, you have to keep paying to get it and if you don't know what you’re doing, you will simply get burnt and lose your money...

Free traffic (SEO) is like having a fruit tree, you need to plant it, grow it and keep watering it but it will continue to grow over time, producing fruit that you never even expected, especially when you consider that SEO today is not like it used to be, now SEO includes social media that makes for a more naturalized following...
Obviously I think that seo is the way to go

 

I would like to add to the above that after you make sure your website converts and that everything under the hood works fine, then it's time to get both kinds of traffic; paid and free.

With paid I mean PPC search and social, buying media, and contextual (ppv, interstitial, ppt ... etc.). As long as you know your audience, and have the money to buy their attention ... go ahead.

That should be your short term traffic generation method.

Parallel to that, it is mandatory to start building perpetual traffic getting machines (SEO, articles .. etc). This kind of traffic generation works for you as long as it is out there. So spending half an hour writing an article and publishing it on several other websites with links to your site is a well spent half-an-hour.

And that should be your long term goal.

Now if you think about it ... SEO and other perpetual traffic generators are not free. If you hire a writer then it's paid in dollars, and if you do it yourself you pay a fraction of your life. For me the latter is the most precious. But sometimes you don't have the choice. If you have more money than time then don't over think it ... go for the paid and outsource the perpetual. If the other way around then set down and do it yourself until you can hire and pay for traffic.

 

In many cases a combination of paid and free traffic is needed. However, I think people look for a magic lead method and there isn't one. You have to market your offer and put people in the pipeline and those that eventually like what you have will "pop" out. This is why online marketing is driven by list building. Too bad many getting going in their marketing think that their autoresponder is a luxury.

All the best!

 

Free traffic is more fruitful than paid traffic. Free traffic sometime takes time to build up but once it is done one will get more targeted visitors than paid traffic..

 

Great advice everyone!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

 

Free traffic is not really "free" It is costing you time and in many cases money. Plus with free traffic you are depending on google. The way google is now with their algorithms I wouldn't want to rely on google. Paid traffic is instant.

 

I agree with KB24 - Paid Traffic is Instant and can make you a lot of money if you know how to do it the rigth way (if not it will be a waste of money!).
Free Traffic is great but you need to be willing to invest a lot of time in it, but once you do it is really great to get sales without spending a dime!

 

The best traffic for me has been when a few of my blog posts went viral on social media and started getting thousands of shares. Social media is by far the best free way to reach thousands and millions of people!

 

This is true about paid traffic that you can lose money quick if you do not know what you are doing. If I had to do it all over again I would look into paid traffic. Like I said paid traffic is instant and with paid traffic you would know if your offer converts or not in minutes rather than spend all that time with free traffic which can take months to see results.

 

Paid traffic is defiantly better if you want instant results. I usually use solo ads.

Free traffic is also good but i think of free traffic as more of a long-term strategy.

 

The best converting traffic has been Google adwords. However with the change of their policy they do not accept my website. Therefore I am working on free traffic like SEO and social media. It takes time but will be worth it in the long run.

 

If you want immediate "FAST" traffic to your website, then the way to go is paid.
However, this is usually, "cold" traffic, and takes a bit more work (follow-up) to convert to sales .... & a good website that actually converts. So it's more than just simply 'getting traffic'.

Free traffic on the other hand tends to be a bit more targeted, as they usually come from articles which may be relevant to your niche, or engagement on social media networks etc, so this is generally easier to convert to sales. The downside is, it takes some time to build up enough of this, if you are just starting out. so each has its pros and cons.

 

Right on the money getagrip.
I agree totally use the free advertising first. There is so much of it around to try out. Just track it for a while and you will find some sites convert to your product better than others. Dump the not so good ones and try another. Eventually you will have so many of them that convert you will not be able to keep up. After all its FREE.
The old saying (a lot of small amounts add up to a big amount).
Good luck DR