Affiliate marketing can be lucrative if done right. A little expense on the right traffic sources can generate a high return on investment. Knowing the best traffic sources for affiliate marketing is vital so that you don’t waste money. This article will show you exactly that.
What is a traffic source?
A traffic source refers to any platform that can send visitors to an affiliate site, landing page, or CPA offer. It is the medium through which people find a website or offer you promote. Monitoring these sources can help you understand what attracts users and focus on doing more of that to keep the traffic coming. It gives you ample information about the target audience to figure out how to convert them best.
A traffic source can be either organic or paid. Organic traffic comes from unpaid sources, practically free traffic. The most popular type of organic traffic is from search engines like Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo.
Paid traffic, on the other hand, comes to your website after you pay for advertising promotions on social media, search engines, and blogs.
To Contents ↑Paid traffic
Paid traffic covers a wide range of sources you can leverage to drive high-quality traffic to your website or a CPA offer. These include paid ads on popular search engines like Google, social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, and online advertising networks that allow you to demonstrate ads on diverse websites.
Paid ads are usually competitive, so your budget can sometimes be high. However, they offer a high return on investment for affiliate marketers.
Adsterra works with over 35,000 direct publishers that can generate high-quality traffic for CPA offers you promote. You can rely on Adsterra when buying CPM or CPC traffic from 248 GEOs.
To Contents ↑Organic traffic
You don’t need to pay a dime for organic traffic, but it takes time to build, unlike paid traffic. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the most common way to get organic traffic. You should structure your website and posts in a way that makes them rank high on search engines. Use the right keywords, headings, image formats, etc. Backlinks from other websites also help build up organic traffic.
The good thing about this type of traffic is that once you build it up, it has a lot of staying power, unlike paid traffic which disappears once you stop advertising.
To Contents ↑How do you pick a traffic source?
There are many factors to consider if you want to pick a good source of affiliate marketing traffic:
- Cost, or how much you’ll pay for the traffic;
- The amount of traffic you can generate from your sources;
- Advertising regulations across different networks;
- Quality of the traffic source;
- What ad targeting options are available;
- Your target audience and niche.
The cost of the traffic source
Every paid traffic source has a specific cost, depending on its type, quality, the number of locations you target, etc. There’s much competition for websites that bring high-quality affiliate traffic, so they tend to cost more than those of lower quality.
You should have a defined budget and plan an advertising strategy that fits within it. The good thing about affiliate marketing is that small spending can generate big sales sometimes.
The amount of traffic available
The amount of traffic you can generate from different sources isn’t the same. Some sources may give you traffic from only Tier 3 geographical locations with large volumes and lesser costs. Others will let you target Tier 1 GEOs with higher costs. You should decide on the tier of traffic you’re interested in and identify where to get it.
Restrictions, regulations, and rules
Different affiliate advertising networks have different rules for advertisers. Most of the laws concern misleading advertising and product categories. Check the regulations of the affiliate traffic sources you want to advertise on and know what they prohibit. Violations can get you banned from a traffic source for life.
The overall quality of the traffic source
There are two main things that affect the quality of a traffic source:
- Bot traffic is a major problem in many ad networks, making advertisers see large traffic volumes but little or no conversions.
- Some ad networks cater to low-quality audiences, i.e., generate little sales for your product.
Ensure that the traffic source you’re patronizing has a clean reputation or has been explored by someone you know with good results. This will prevent you from falling victim to click fraud and getting little return on your ad spend.
To Contents ↑The targeting options available
Targeting lets you tailor your affiliate marketing campaign to the people most likely to respond to them. Examples of targeting options:
- Age,
- Location,
- Type of device,
- Web browser,
- Language,
- Operating system,
- Gender,
- Time of the day.
Different traffic sources allow different targeting options. For example, some don’t allow advertisers to target by location or more intricate details like age and gender. When you plan your affiliate marketing strategy, list out your most preferred targeting options and ensure you pick sources that support exactly those settings you need. In many cases, OS, device, and location targeting will be enough.
To Contents ↑The niche or audience
This factor is closely related to targeting options, as different businesses serve different niches and audiences. Some traffic sources are best suited for specific niches, e.g., if you’re selling a nutritional product, you should pick social networks as your source of paid traffic. You could create a detailed review of the product in your blog and drive organic, or paid search traffic there.
Likewise, some websites have more traffic from specific locations than others, so it’ll be smart to bank on traffic sources focused on the location you’re targeting. Check everything about your intended traffic source before jumping in to give them money.
If you’re an affiliate looking for high-quality traffic sources, Adsterra is your surefire choice. If you’re in search of massive traffic for your affiliate offers, try the Adsterra ad network. We send 35 billion+ ad impressions from top-selected publishers’ websites monthly.
To Contents ↑10 best paid traffic sources for affiliate advertising
Any marketer needs both paid and organic traffic. But the former is the best for driving significant traffic to your product website and getting sales. You can always pay for traffic using the pricing models that are best suited for you: cost-per-click, cost-per-mille, cost-per-action, etc.
1. Push traffic
Push advertising means delivering ads in the form of push notifications. Push ads are the perfect blend of non-intrusiveness, user-friendliness, and visual appeal, enabling you to easily grab the viewer’s attention.
Push ads can take the traditional Web Push format delivered via web browsers or In-Page Push delivered directly on web pages. In-Page Push is the more advanced version that lets you use customized layouts to attract users. You can run Social Bar ads on Adsterra that combine the advantages of Display and In-Page Push — our ads work with all browsers and don’t require subscriptions like Web Push.
Check our affiliate case study on in-page push traffic:
2. Pop traffic
There are two types of pop traffic: Popups and Popunders. A Popup is when a new advertising window appears on top of a webpage. A Popunder is an ad that loads under the webpage; you can only see it after closing the webpage.
Popunder ads are more effective than Popups because the latter causes interruptions while the former doesn’t. It presents a good opportunity for both publishers to monetize their traffic and advertisers to get better results from their marketing spend.
To Contents ↑3. Banner ads
This type of ad is a simple clickable banner on a website or between posts on a social media platform. It’s an image with a hyperlink that leads anyone who clicks on it to an external URL. It is the most common type of ad that you can use anywhere, including on websites, social media, and even email. The key is to design an eye-catching ad using the right mix of images and text. Any text should also be short and go straight to the point.
A slight problem with banner ads is that people see them too much and have become numb to them. You should think carefully about where to place your banners to get the best results, mostly at the top of a webpage. The best positions for banner ads are usually at the top or left side of a web page, where people are likelier to see them.
To Contents ↑4. Native ads
Native advertisements match the look and feel of your website. They resonate with your traffic source’s audience and don’t have the perceived intrusiveness of many other types of ads, making it a win-win for both the publisher and the advertiser.
5. Video marketing
You can use videos to advertise third-party products. Videos are more likely to capture a reader’s attention than images and text, so use the opportunity to impress the reader and clearly state what your product or service offers to them. Note that video ads tend to cost more than other types of ads, so it’s not suitable for beginner affiliates.
6. Paid search ads
You can place ads for your website on search engines like Google and Bing and pay only when someone clicks on it. You can bid for specific keywords, wherein your link will show when a person searches for them. However, bidding for commonly searched terms like “insurance” or “medical services” is fiercely competitive and drives up the price for intending advertisers.
7. Social media ads
You can advertise on popular social networks like Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn. When someone clicks your display ad, they’ll be redirected to your social media page or an external landing page. Billions of people use social media, so it’s a good platform to reach potential customers.
The best way to use this for affiliate marketing is to write a product review with affiliate links included and promote that review. Most social media platforms don’t allow people to promote affiliate links directly, even with disclosure.
To Contents ↑8. URL shortening tools
A URL shortener is a tool that converts a long URL into a shorter one that’ll still take anyone that clicks it to the same webpage. Some of them offer affiliate services such that whenever someone clicks on a shortened link, they’ll first see an ad before going to the intended website. This ad space is a good medium to generate traffic for your own product or landing page.
Publishers connected to Adsterra generate over 1 billion impressions daily, presenting an ample opportunity to spread the word about your product.
To Contents ↑9. Email marketing
Email is one of the best affiliate marketing traffic sources, but it’s often overlooked. You can advertise in email newsletters that match your desired target audience and get good results. For example, if you’re promoting a finance app, you can advertise on newsletters dedicated to stock market investing. This will likely drive high-quality traffic and visitors to your offers.
You can also build your own email newsletters and place affiliate links in them. However, this method takes much longer than paying to advertise in existing newsletters.
10. PPV traffic
PPV means pay-per-view. In this case, you place ads on an advertising network and pay for each time someone views your ad. It means, a user must watch a piece of content (usually, a popup or a video).
PPV traffic is an effective method of generating traffic and visitors for your affiliate campaign, especially if you’re advertising digital products. You can bid for specific sites and keywords to get the best results.
9 best free traffic sources for affiliate marketing
We’ve talked about paid traffic sources. Now, it’s time to show you the best free traffic sources for affiliate marketing; the ones you don’t need to spend money on. They are mostly social media sites, online forums, and search engines. However, it’s harder to build up traffic on these sources than on paid ones, so you must work creatively with them.
1. TikTok
TikTok is the world’s most popular short-form video app, with over 1.7 billion users worldwide. It is renowned for its algorithm, which feeds users tailored videos they enjoy watching.
You can create TikTok videos to promote your affiliate offers to the perfect target audience. This app doesn’t let you post links directly on non-sponsored posts, but you can post the link in your profile section and direct users to click on it. TikTok is one of the best traffic sources for affiliate marketing because it lets you connect with your ideal customer profile.
2. SEO traffic
If you’re using your website or blog for affiliate marketing, you can’t do without search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines are the biggest drivers of traffic on the web, so it’s essential to optimize your content to make it rank high on them, preferably on the first page.
Each search engine has unique ranking algorithms. But some general rules to improve your website’s rank include using keywords, having backlinks, and adding relevant names and alt texts to images. SEO is a moving target, so ensure to stay on top of industry changes and adapt to them.
3. X (formerly Twitter)
X (formerly Twitter) is one of the most popular social media platforms globally. It’s the first place people go to find out about global events or things happening within their vicinity. X users are all about conversations and don’t like being sold to, so just putting your links won’t suffice. You’ll need to add visuals related to the content behind the link.
Sometimes, one of your tweets can blow up, and you can insert your links at the end of the viral thread. You can also add them to your bio, as you’ll do on TikTok.
4. Instagram
Instagram is a popular social media platform where users share images and videos. To be a successful affiliate marketer on Instagram, you must first build a following rather than just throw links into your content. You can use hashtags and geotags to improve local discovery, get featured on already popular accounts, and etc. Afterward, you can post different types of visual content along with your affiliate links and also on your bio.
5. Pinterest
Pinterest is a social network that revolves around sharing ideas through “pins”. This platform skews towards women, but the gap is getting smaller as more men flock toward it. Many people use Pinterest to look for purchase ideas, so you can post your products as “pins” along with their affiliate links. Anyone that searches for product ideas may see your post and follow the affiliate link to purchase it.
6. Online forums
If you’re into a particular activity, odds are there’s a forum dedicated to it. Like-minded people tend to congregate on forums to discuss relevant topics, presenting an opportunity for you to market your product. For example, if you promote an affiliate offer of exercise gear, you can visit a fitness forum, sign up, join discussions and occasionally include your affiliate links in them.
7. Reddit
Reddit is a collection of forums hosted on a single domain name. Each individual forum is called a “subreddit,” and you can find one for virtually any topic out there. You can post your affiliate links, but some subreddits have clear rules against that and ban people that violate them. Ensure you post links only on subreddits that allow self-promotion, and even with that, don’t do it too much to avoid being marked as a spammer.
To Contents ↑8. Quora
Quora is a questions-and-answers site where people ask for help about various topics and get answers from other users. You can answer questions related to your product category and slot in an affiliate link in them. Ensure that the link is relevant to the user’s question, which makes them more likely to click on it. Remember that the site’s purpose is to help users, not post random links, so play along.
To Contents ↑9. YouTube
Almost everyone knows YouTube, the world’s most popular video-sharing site. Unlike many other platforms, YouTube’s algorithm won’t deprioritize your video if you post affiliate links in the description. Thus, you can create videos relevant to your product or service and include affiliate links to direct people to purchase it. Add a call to action like “Link in the description” in the video to make viewers aware of your link.
To Contents ↑Conclusion
A good thing about the internet is that you don’t need to spend large sums to get noticed. You can get considerable affiliate traffic from the sources we listed, whether free or paid.
But it can take some time to find your perfect target audience and focus on it. We’ve mentioned the most important factors to consider if you want to choose the most suitable traffic source. Adsterra is an example of a high-quality traffic source. You can pay for ad impressions while driving user actions your advertiser pays you for: clicks, orders, installs, and leads.
Affiliate traffic sources FAQs
There’s no one best traffic source for affiliate marketing. It depends on several factors, such as your niche and target audience. As a rule of thumb, search engine optimization and advertising are some of the best ways to generate traffic for your product page. Social media is also a good medium to get high-quality traffic.
You can get affiliate traffic from numerous free and paid sources. Free sources include social media posts, search engine optimization to boost your website rankings, and posting on online forums. Paid sources focus on buying different types of ads, such as Push and Social Bar, to drive traffic to your affiliate offers.
Yes, paid traffic is highly valuable in affiliate marketing. Paid ads are widely used in CPA marketing when you need to drive massive and relevant traffic to a landing page with an offer. iGaming marketing usually involves acquiring loads of such traffic from niche-friendly ad networks. Paid traffic also comes from search engines, social networks, and email newsletters. They enable you to promote offers to your ideal target audience and drive greater sales.
When speaking of making money from your website, aim for at least 500 to 1,000 visitors daily to maximize your success chances. A good benchmark is that 1% of your visitors will purchase the promoted product, so 500 to 1,000 visitors is the ideal range to start making regular sales. If you acquire traffic from an ad network, these numbers will grow exponentially.
Depending on your budget, you could target as high as tens to hundreds of thousands of daily visitors.
