Top Paid Traffic Sources for Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing has been creating quite a buzz lately, although it isn’t new to long-time marketers. It involves referring a product or service from another business to the affiliate marketer’s contacts and followers at a commission, known as the affiliate fee. 

To affiliate market successfully, markets cannot just rely on their followers or organic traffic. Although marketers get started with organic traffic sources, they also need to use paid resources to attract more consumers to their affiliate websites and products.

The image below shows all the sources (both organic and paid) affiliate marketers can use to get more traffic to their websites.

Image Source

This article helps new affiliate marketers understand the different resources for getting consumers. It will also list some of the top paid traffic sources for affiliate marketing that marketers can easily use to grow their business.

How can paid traffic help promote an affiliate website?

Paid traffic is an excellent way to boost sales and increase website engagement. It helps reach and engage with the ideal audience directly and quickly. Paid traffic isn’t the same as bogus users generated by bots or unethical software. Instead, it is a good way of bringing real users to the affiliate site through social media, search engines, other websites, and emails. It is a good way for new affiliate marketers to connect with their target audience.

Top paid traffic sources for affiliate marketing

Imagine this: a new affiliate marketer has created an affiliate website, but nobody seems to be visiting it or buying products from the link. The traffic is low, and they’re not getting the desired sales. Is it because the website is not good, or is it because they aren’t able to target the right market? The latter is true in most cases. 

Therefore, markets should learn about the best-paid traffic sources for affiliate marketing. These will help generate more traffic and, thus, better revenue for the affiliate site.

Search Advertisements

Whenever a user searches for something on Google or any other search engine, the first few results usually have the word ‘Ad’ written beside them. These paid ads pop up when a user types in their targeted keyword. Search ads work on a Pay Per Click basis, i.e., advertisers get charged on the number of clicks they get.

A marketer can directly market their affiliate site or link through search ads. They can receive traffic through this method, but they must be careful about the keyword selection. It is better to conduct thorough keyword research before launching an ad campaign. It is necessary to identify keywords that are frequently searched. However, another ideal method is to look for keywords that are not very competitive or expensive.

Social media advertising

Everyone is on social media. Each platform offers something different. Why not explore this opportunity to market an affiliate website when the world is so actively engaged on social media?

Today, more than 90% of marketers leverage social media to advertise their business and build a community with their target audience. Marketers can run paid display or video campaigns on popular social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube.

The best part about advertising an affiliate link on social media is that it can help directly approach the targeted audience. Aiming the ads toward people sharing the same interests, hobbies or purpose as a particular affiliate link gets better clicks and, thus, more sales. 

Remember, social media users pay attention to only the most engaging content. So, affiliate marketers must choose the right platform and understand the types of content that best attract their target audience.

Guest Posting

Guest posting is both a free and paid affiliate marketing tactic. Paid guest posting is when one shares their affiliate link in a blog on someone else’s website. Google’s policies are strict on guest posting, so one needs to be extra careful when selecting websites that accept sponsored content. Another recommendation by the search engine is to use a no-follow or sponsored content tag on the links added in a guest post.

Something else affiliate marketers can do: Find relevant, high-ranking sites in their niche, then do extensive research and write something that adds value to their audience. Both the readers and Google are impressed. Here is a chart listing some benefits of paid guest posts when done right.

Source

Promotional giveaways

If an affiliate marketer has some exciting products, they can also offer one of them as a promotional giveaway. They can host a contest that resonates with their niche audience, using the trendy product as the reward. 

Marketers can also run a promotional offer for their products, selling them at a discounted price to a select few customers. The discount can be given through the affiliate fee or the affiliate program. Promotional giveaways usually generate the highest traffic during holidays or events celebrated worldwide.

Email marketing

Email marketing is yet another technique of promoting an affiliate link, i.e., if one has an email list of their target audience. If the marketer does not have an email list, they can purchase it through a reliable vendor by citing the common interests of their target audience. 

A good email marketing campaign is a paid activity, where one needs to pay for services like hosting, email design and campaign management. However, the cost is always worth it. Remember not to add too many affiliate links in the email marketing campaign.

Banner advertisements

Banners and plain text links on websites have been quite common for a long time. If placed strategically, banner advertisements can generate traffic and get people to buy affiliate products.

One can use banners and links on social media, websites, and emails. To create profitable link and banner ads, use a powerful call to action (CTA), catchy visuals/text, and a well-planned placement strategy.

Conclusion

The paid traffic sources for affiliate marketing shared above are helpful for new affiliate marketers. Over time, these can help affiliate marketers generate traffic. However, this should not be the only marketing strategy. Affiliate marketers also need to work on organic sources for long-term success. Lastly, to grow an affiliate website, it is recommended that affiliate marketers stay active on social media, provide value to other blogs and optimize their links.

Consistent efforts and connecting with others in the industry help one go a long way in achieving their goals.