The Case for Paid Traffic

Paid Traffic: A method of generating traffic by paying to get in front of people. This might include—but is not limited to—running ads on social media networks like Facebook or managing pay-per-click ads in Google search results.

Paying for website traffic? Sounds so scandalous. Definitely doesn’t sound like the “organic” way to grow your audience, generate leads, or acquire customers.

But let’s think about this together for a hot minute: Tons of traffic already exists on certain platforms like Google, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. I would even venture to guess that one of these places is already a big referrer of traffic to your website. And most of these platforms are set-up so that those companies who pay get better visibility—whether we like it or not!

Think about Facebook: Even people who have liked your business’s Facebook page might not see your posts! So what about those people who have never heard of you?

So if traffic already exists on a platform, and you know that platform already refers some traffic, AND you could pay so that platform refers MORE traffic… why wouldn’t you pay?

But it’s not organic!

First, we’re not talking about vegetables—although I understand the point. But this is very different than buying Instagram followers or email subscribers. Instead of buying fake, unengaged followers, you’re getting your message out in front of people who are likely interested in what you’re doing. 

Running an ad on Facebook or Instagram doesn’t force people to visit your site. You’re simply getting your message or product in front of more people. And even better than that, with platforms like Facebook you’re not only able to get your message in fronts lots of people, but lots of potentially qualified people.

For better or worse, platforms like Facebook are able to collect a lot of data about us. They know the kinds of things we’re interested in, the websites we visit, whether or not we have kids, and the places we visit. And they also allow advertisers to use that information to target their ads.

Serving ads to a super targeted audience that’s likely interested in your message or product sounds pretty “organic” (whatever that means) to me.

But it’s expensive!

You’re already paying to acquire customers. That website you launched, the time you spent blogging, networking, sharing on social media, and the countless other tasks you performed all cost something—either implicitly or explicitly. And you paid for those things so you could acquire customers.

Spending a few hours publishing a blog post and sharing it across social media platforms is an expensive task when you think about it in terms how much your time is worth. Why not run an ad to that blog post so that more people see it? 

There are plenty of ways to get your business in front of new audiences without paying for it such as guest posting and networking. And many of these are things that you should be doing. But while you may not be paying for those things with cash, you’re paying with your time. Paid traffic is just another way to get in front of more people; you’re just using a different currency.

Plus, most platforms have a really low barrier-to-entry, so you could get started running ads for around $5/day.

Where to “Buy” Traffic 

If you go to where people already are hanging out, you’ll generally be able to pay to get in front of them. Think Facebook, Google, Bing, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter—all of these companies have ad managers. Even Snapchat will be rolling out with ad platform eventually.

So where’s your audience hanging out? Facebook is probably a good place to start since as of March 2017 there are 1.28 billion daily active users. And don’t forget there are billions of searches on Google everyday, too.

Businesses have been built without paid traffic, and we’re not here to convince you that it’s something that’s critical to your success. But it can be a very powerful tool when used well. You’re already working hard to get in front of people, and you’re most likely paying for it with your time. Why not get in front of those people with your wallet? If it results in more leads and customers, it’s worth it.

Have you given paid traffic a shot before? If so, how did it go? And if not, what’s holding you back?