Making Money with Ad & Traffic Arbitrage

[IVMG]

My reply talks primarily about traffic arbitrage (not CPA) by affiliating with CSE networks. Yes there are other methods
but this one is relevant and effective as well.

Anyway, sorry for disrupting your thread.

Have a good day

 

[Deleted member 813988]

My reply talks primarily about traffic arbitrage (not CPA) by affiliating with CSE networks. Yes there are other methods
but this one is relevant and effective as well.

Anyway, sorry for disrupting your thread.

Have a good day

As discussed in this thread Traffic Arbitrage has bunch of different ways, even your corer shop does traffic arbitrage in some way.
But yeah, thanks for the input.

 

[WomboCombo]

If you do Facebook ads correctly, you can generate less then .01 clicks. My best month using this method was $18K earnings from about $9K spend. A 50% return on my investment. I begin to staff up and create a business around this. October - December were great months and I begin to generate more and more traffic. Then on December 31st, Facebook banned my ad account. The reason wasn't clear. I opened up a business ad account, and basically begin all over again.

Then when I just begin to gather speed, In April, Facebook began taking longer than 24 hrs to approve my ads, and sometime not at all. The reasoning was very poor and it was hard to get help when ads were not approved. Since the low clicks were based on viral timely news, if my ad got approved after 24 hours, I ended up paying over $.01 per click and could not generate a profit from this.

I have fired my staff and slowed down a bit. I now just build my fan pages (one with 159K and one with 184K); and promote links to my website and earn off the traffic that trickles in. I suspect as I get closer to the 200K mark the traffic would be better. I might run an occasional ad, when I know i have a hot story and make a few $100 from that, but nothing like the end of last year.

I am monetizing by using one CPM network that pays me about $6 CPM, Revcontent and Newsmax media.

If I can arb traffic from somewhere that is more reliable than Facebook that would be cool, but I would have to be able to get quality cheap, which is just not out there. I would probably need $.008 to just break even.

Any suggestion or should I just continue building my fan pages and sending traffic that way?

We've been driving quality paid traffic from FB and Native to our properties for a couple years. It can be done, but you have to when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em on a per source/campaign level. Over the last year we built a reporting dashboard that calculates revenue, effective cost per click, and ROI by device category per source/campaign. We double down on profitable campaigns, and halt spending on the non-profitable ones. There are, of course, other important factors like quality content, share rates, email lists, social followings, etc. that play into the overall success.

 

[WomboCombo]

Try: conversant, amazon cpm, sovrn
You can set minimum CPM and backfill the rest or even backfill one with another and some display network at the end

If a site can get approved by conversant, A9, and sovrn (all have bidders) - they should be running header bidding and backfill with adsense.

 

[WomboCombo]

1. I'm thinking of going with fb advertising as it will be good for long term(increased page likes) and also the niches would work really well there..
There is a ben malol course here on bhw for fb advertising, I think tht this course may give me enough knowledge to start this venture.

Would you please recommend some networksthat would be cheaper than fb ads?

2. I am thinking of putting CPA instead of adsense for monetizing these sites as I think they would be bring more money, I will also put up native ad networks on the site and infolinks, AdRecover also.

Have you used CPA on your sites?

Adsense seems scary and most networks won't pay within 1 week (maybe a relationship wid affiliate manager would increase my chance of getting weekly payments)

Would you please recommend any other way to monetize the sites?

3. Would you recommend a course for me to look at for learning ad arbitage??

4. Have you considered stepping into adult niche as I have heard advertising on TrafficJunky is very cheap..

Thank you so much brother! Maximum respect

Don't focus on cheap traffic. Focus on profitable traffic.

 

[WomboCombo]

Okay.

1)Typically, how many ad units would you recommend having on one page?

2)It seems like this method would be most effective when using click bait content, such as "Top 10 Prettiest Actresses". Have you had any success using this method on sites with informational content, such as "How to Properly Build Links"?

The goal is to maximize revenue per session (RPS). When a user lands on your page your content should be laid out to increase pages per session. I use at least 6 ad units per page - therefore I get 6 impressions per page view. If I can get 3 pageviews per session at 6 impressions per pageview, then I'm doing 18 impressions per session. More impressions per session = higher RPS. Higher RPS = profitable traffic acquisition.

 

[WomboCombo]

Are you guys still managing to pull good numbers with Arbitrage? Seems like networks are cracking down a lot.

Also, do you use re-targeting a lot? I assume people that have already visited your site are more likely to click again

Networks aren't cracking down on arbitrage. Networks are cracking down on sites with poor content and traffic. Build social followers and email lists. Who cares if they click if the user isn't profitable? Advertisers buy users, and if your users are garbage your CPM's will be garbage.

 

[Deleted member 813988]

Jazzc: edit out after cleanup

If a site can get approved by conversant, A9, and sovrn (all have bidders) - they should be running header bidding and backfill with adsense.

That’s a pretty bad advice. So first, those networks work not limited to headerbidding you can do other kinds of setup if you like. Backfill with Adsense sounds like wasting bunch of money as those impressions can be sold as at a price better than AdSense can offer. Usually I hear a lot of excitement about AdSense from those who just started and unexperienced yet.

The goal is to maximize revenue per session (RPS). When a user lands on your page your content should be laid out to increase pages per session. I use at least 6 ad units per page - therefore I get 6 impressions per page view. If I can get 3 pageviews per session at 6 impressions per pageview, then I'm doing 18 impressions per session. More impressions per session = higher RPS. Higher RPS = profitable traffic acquisition.

While high number of pageviews is good, it still not the only factor affecting revenue, again such advices make me think you don’t have much experience. The site that provides high quality info will have no problem to sell at over $20 CPM. In the end, the site with 3-5 pageviews can bring higher profit due to quality content rather than 20 pageview ‘viral’ site. The goal is to make money, but quality always wins.

Networks aren't cracking down on arbitrage. Networks are cracking down on sites with poor content and traffic. Build social followers and email lists. Who cares if they click if the user isn't profitable? Advertisers buy users, and if your users are garbage your CPM's will be garbage.

Thanks for the input, however you may benefit more by opening own thread rather than answering old questions from here.

 

[LordCameltoe]

Networks aren't cracking down on arbitrage. Networks are cracking down on sites with poor content and traffic. Build social followers and email lists. Who cares if they click if the user isn't profitable? Advertisers buy users, and if your users are garbage your CPM's will be garbage.

If you're building social followers and email lists, you're not in the arbitrage game anymore. You're in the publishing game which is an entirely different business model than Buying from Source A and selling to Source B (which is what arbitrage is). That's why I asked if traffic arbitrage is being cracked down upon. I also assume that the answer is: yes.

 

[Deleted member 813988]

Well, you're still in traffic arbitrage.
Email & Social media are traffic sources too. You don't have to buy traffic in order to sell (or be in 'TA Game').
There's a display ads that you can run to your emails same way as you do on your site.

 

[areyou]

Can i get approve on ad networks for selling ads without good alexa rank?
It will be great if you suggest networks who don't look into alexa/similar web rank.

 

[mustafatantawi]

I have a site with 15 article and i did everything to start but I don't have money to invest in FB ads !!!
What should i do ?

 

[Deleted member 813988]

Can i get approve on ad networks for selling ads without good alexa rank?
It will be great if you suggest networks who don't look into alexa/similar web rank.

Yes, you can, not all networks require high Alexa rank, as an example: AdSense or Content.ad.

However high Alexa rank means that the site is getting good traffic (if it’s not manipulated) and networks will have more interest in your site if they can clearly see its good and easy to monetize.

I would not suggest to apply anywhere until you sure that the site is at it’s best performance as you don’t want to be rejected/banned by a network before you even started.

 

[Deleted member 813988]

I have a site with 15 article and i did everything to start but I don't have money to invest in FB ads !!!
What should i do ?

Keep on placing more articles, 15 is not enough to start monetizing. Think logically - if user landed to your site - how many monetizeable ad impressions will you get? Quality content always attract users, so maybe you won’t have to invest in paid traffic at all

 

[anurag007]

New to this game and just read this whole thread. Great info. Just had a few questions

1. If we are using facebook for advertising and we send the users to our website which has adsense for example , will we be getting the exact revenue that is being showed in our adsense dashboard or there will be changes to this amount when we are being paid ?

2. Are there any types of content that FB/adsense doesn't like and chances of ban are more ? Is it okay to use an old adsense account with a new website?

3. If we manage to build quality content and are able to get cheap clicks from facebook by using , and get our site approved by various advertisers. Is that all that is required to make good profit? Anything else that we should be focussing on to prevent risks/bans etc.

Thank you.

 

[Deleted member 813988]

New to this game and just read this whole thread. Great info. Just had a few questions

1. If we are using facebook for advertising and we send the users to our website which has adsense for example , will we be getting the exact revenue that is being showed in our adsense dashboard or there will be changes to this amount when we are being paid ?

2. Are there any types of content that FB/adsense doesn't like and chances of ban are more ? Is it okay to use an old adsense account with a new website?

3. If we manage to build quality content and are able to get cheap clicks from facebook by using , and get our site approved by various advertisers. Is that all that is required to make good profit? Anything else that we should be focussing on to prevent risks/bans etc.

Thank you.

Thank for your message!

1. You should get paid the number that you see on the dashboard, I've been there when the amount was adjusted, but it wasn't with AdSense.

2. AdSense is pretty strict, but I work with some of the sites that have copied content and AdSense and it works fine. The best would be to follow AdSense rules 100% as you're making long-term business it is better to do everything properly.

3. In short - yes, that's it.
Long - cheap traffic doesn't mean its monetizable (2 cent traffic may bounce, while 10 cent traffic may return 10 more times, free), content has to be great not only in terms of uniqueness & quality, users have to perform up to your needs to ensure everything works (time on site, page views, clicks, subscriptions). You should study market trends and do the calculation to get your 'success formula'. If you have the site already and can pull data from it - that's great!

To summarize: focus on the project more, not only monetization, take into account literally everything. You will know how to 'please' your reader/visitor and advertisers.

 

[ilyascay]

Thanks for all the info ! but i have a newbie maybe even stupid question .. let's say i chose a niche bought good gosting/domain name did all the set up process of the site (theme , plugins; configurations) and i create some 40 quality content and pyblish them... now for the monetization phase i want to go with fb ads i have some budget and i want to drive traffic to my site .. do i need to grow a fb page or i can start with a 0 like fb page ??

 

[Deleted member 813988]

Thanks for all the info ! but i have a newbie maybe even stupid question .. let's say i chose a niche bought good gosting/domain name did all the set up process of the site (theme , plugins; configurations) and i create some 40 quality content and pyblish them... now for the monetization phase i want to go with fb ads i have some budget and i want to drive traffic to my site .. do i need to grow a fb page or i can start with a 0 like fb page ??

FB ads that promote your site have no impact on the page, the fb page can also be a source of traffic and not necessarily paid if its active.

 

[ilyascay]

FB ads that promote your site have no impact on the page, the fb page can also be a source of traffic and not necessarily paid if its active.

i am thinking about social proof will the targeted peopole click on a link promoted by a 0 like or few likes page i never tried that so i am asking you will it work ? cuz i have a small budget and i want to try and growing fb page this days is very difficult/expensive !

 

[Deleted member 813988]

i am thinking about social proof will the targeted peopole click on a link promoted by a 0 like or few likes page i never tried that so i am asking you will it work ? cuz i have a small budget and i want to try and growing fb page this days is very difficult/expensive !

If you setup ads correctly they should bring traffic, you can find here on forum few very good threads about FB ads.
Likes/comments etc - great, but if you don't have them, you still get traffic to the promoted link.

With a small budget, I'd suggest to be careful and learn stuff first. Before doing any ads make sure that you have a specific goal and some strategy to reach it. Burning money is easy and fast, so don't rush it if you unsure.