Secrets to Media Buying - Finding the Perfect Traffic Source

wasted

wasted

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2011
Messages
470
Reaction score
1,941
Hey Guys,

Today I want to talk about Traffic Sources and things you should be looking at when looking for one. In this post I will be specifically be talking about performing a "Direct Buy" on a website over doing a "Network Buy".

First to understand the differences:

NETWORK BUY
  • aggregates ad space across a large number of websites
  • set up is quicker
  • test a lot of sites
  • can scale easier
  • Swap out creatives quickly
  • No 3rd party ad server costs
  • Easily re-target audiences
  • They have a BIGGER RISK.
  • They are middlemen who take 30-50% cuts
  • You lose transparency and tracking

DIRECT BUY
  • You know where you are advertising, and what ad spot
  • Publisher gets a better deal and you can work together to create a profitable campaign
  • Building a relationship with a publisher in your niche
  • Cutting the middle man out increasing margins and lowering risk
  • Still can tap into high volume traffic
  • Scale by adding more sites
  • Time consuming to find new traffic sources
  • Sometimes 3rd party costs
  • Dependent on publisher

With that being said, let me provide you with my checklist on what would make a good site placement. This is a checklist when I'm looking to buy direct ads working with publishers directly.

THE 12 STEP CHECKLIST


  1. Look for Small Sites and build a list of them that allows you to scale your campaigns
  2. Don't go after big sites and expensive traffic, expensive traffic doesn't mean it is any better or worse. It just tells us what the market/publisher is pricing their traffic. Only by testing will we know if it is better or worse.
  3. Smaller sites that have 10,000-50,000 unique visitors per month
  4. Then a separate list that have 50,000-100,000 unique visitors per month
  5. Small bloggers that have a lot of traffic and don't know how to monetize
  6. Non-branded Ads on the site
  7. Lot's of text and not a lot of images (makes your banner standout more)
  8. Ratio of pageviews to uniques is less then 5.
  9. Engaged Audience, comments, and community
  10. Above the Fold Ads
  11. IAB high performance ads, 300X250, 160X600 --> stay away from 125 X 125
  12. Newsletter and or RSS feeds, sometimes can work broadcast deals with your Media Buy

I'm not going to explain each one of these items, but the above checklist has produced massive amounts of returns.

Good luck!
 
Last edited:
Advertise on BHW
Thanks for the tips, i'm currently contacting a few small sites in my niche.
 
For people getting started what path should i take?


Direct linking or landing page?


Can u recoomend a couple which allow direct linking?
 
wasted said:
Hey Guys,

Today I want to talk about Traffic Sources and things you should be looking at when looking for one. In this post I will be specifically be talking about performing a "Direct Buy" on a website over doing a "Network Buy".

First to understand the differences:

NETWORK BUY
  • aggregates ad space across a large number of websites
  • set up is quicker
  • test a lot of sites
  • can scale easier
  • Swap out creatives quickly
  • No 3rd party ad server costs
  • Easily re-target audiences
  • They have a BIGGER RISK.
  • They are middlemen who take 30-50% cuts
  • You lose transparency and tracking

DIRECT BUY
  • You know where you are advertising, and what ad spot
  • Publisher gets a better deal and you can work together to create a profitable campaign
  • Building a relationship with a publisher in your niche
  • Cutting the middle man out increasing margins and lowering risk
  • Still can tap into high volume traffic
  • Scale by adding more sites
  • Time consuming to find new traffic sources
  • Sometimes 3rd party costs
  • Dependent on publisher

With that being said, let me provide you with my checklist on what would make a good site placement. This is a checklist when I'm looking to buy direct ads working with publishers directly.

THE 12 STEP CHECKLIST


  1. Look for Small Sites and build a list of them that allows you to scale your campaigns
  2. Don't go after big sites and expensive traffic, expensive traffic doesn't mean it is any better or worse. It just tells us what the market/publisher is pricing their traffic. Only by testing will we know if it is better or worse.
  3. Smaller sites that have 10,000-50,000 unique visitors per month
  4. Then a separate list that have 50,000-100,000 unique visitors per month
  5. Small bloggers that have a lot of traffic and don't know how to monetize
  6. Non-branded Ads on the site
  7. Lot's of text and not a lot of images (makes your banner standout more)
  8. Ratio of pageviews to uniques is less then 5.
  9. Engaged Audience, comments, and community
  10. Above the Fold Ads
  11. IAB high performance ads, 300X250, 160X600 --> stay away from 125 X 125
  12. Newsletter and or RSS feeds, sometimes can work broadcast deals with your Media Buy

I'm not going to explain each one of these items, but the above checklist has produced massive amounts of returns.

Good luck!
Click to expand...


Fantastic advice! Today i have contacted a few blog owners in my niche that are in the top 50 blog ranks,and just had a reply. Been offered a banner ad at just $50 - $200 a month, with over 800,000 uniques per month :) Also offered just $500 - $1000 for the YEAR!

I advertised on a Gumtree in the UK, and that was 300 pounds ($500) for just 80,000 impressions. You live and learn.

Wasted's advice is top quality!
 
Wasted, you have turned this Media Buy section into a valuable resource already. Thanks for sharing your tips & insight, your experience and your know-how! And all this while running multiple businesses.

To say that it has been really helpful for me is a vast understatement.

cheers!
 
Thank you wasted for such quality information I for some reason always thought that direct media buys are more costly.
But now I see you can actually save a lot of money.
 
These are great tips, not only in this thread but the whole 'media buy' section. Thanks Wasted and everyone else.

I had a few questions about Direct Buying. The main one is how would you be able to split test ads? I guess you could host the creatives on your own site and use some kind of script to rotate the creatives and track the performance. Are there any scripts that allow you to do this?

I'd like to start with direct linking, so that there are less variables to track and I can hopefully start optimizing campaigns more rapidly. When direct linking, is it acceptable/advised to provide the full affiliate link to the product? e.g .com/aff=abcd . Or is using cloaking necessary?

Thanks to anyone who can provide any insight. I'm looking to do as much research as possible before starting, and will make sure to share my experiences as I go so that we can all benefit and make money together. cheers.
 
ok888 said:
For people getting started what path should i take?


Direct linking or landing page?


Can u recoomend a couple which allow direct linking?
Click to expand...

Link to landing page is the way to go.
 
Great tips as usual.And indeed you turned this section into an awesome resource for MB.Another vote here to wasted for section mod :)

How much money is needed to test a campaign and start seeing some good roi,for one who is starting out?Also can one make a profitable campaign with a good CB product?Im asking cause for some time i've spoted a cool CB product wich i know it converts cause i have made some sales with adwords and bing and i always wanted to try media buying ( direct buys ) with it.I have a nice list of sites already cause it is in a niche i like and follow but i want to know how much money do i need to set a side for this to start seeing some profit.I maybe to a lil case study with this here and with your help turn this into a nice and usefull thing :p

Thanks.
 
minesweeper said:
These are great tips, not only in this thread but the whole 'media buy' section. Thanks Wasted and everyone else.

I had a few questions about Direct Buying. The main one is how would you be able to split test ads? I guess you could host the creatives on your own site and use some kind of script to rotate the creatives and track the performance. Are there any scripts that allow you to do this?
Click to expand...

From my OP one of the cons to Direct Buying is "ad server" costs. What you are speaking about is running your ads through a 3rd party ad server that you would then give to your publishers. Depending on how granular you want to be with your data the 3rd party costs can be $0 to as high as $1000/M.

minesweeper said:
I'd like to start with direct linking, so that there are less variables to track and I can hopefully start optimizing campaigns more rapidly. When direct linking, is it acceptable/advised to provide the full affiliate link to the product? e.g .com/aff=abcd . Or is using cloaking necessary?
Click to expand...

With direct linking you are going to want to track each banner and traffic source so your URL should be cloaked and track:
www.domain.com/offer_utm="publisher"&utm="banner ad"
 
Thanks for another great thread!
Now that you told us how to find the perfect traffic source, how much should one spend on his first media buy?
What's the minimum that should be invested, in order to see some results?
 
Read... Clicked on add reputation.. "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to wasted again." :(

Thank you very much for the quality info Wasted. I love you man. No homo stuff.

I'm beginning to take notes and write down everything on paper. This info deserves allot more than just a simple read.
 
Advertise on BHW
You must log in or register to reply here.
Sign up now!

Main Menu

Home Main Forum List Black Hat SEO White Hat SEO BHW Newbie Guide Blogging Black Hat Tools Social Media Downloads

Marketplace

Account Selling Content / Copywriting EBooks / Methods Hosting Misc Proxies For Sale SEO - Link building SEO - Packages Social Media Social Media - Panels Web Design More

Making Money

Affiliate Programs Hire a Freelancer IM Journeys Making Money Pay Per Click Site Flipping Want to Buy

BlackHat World

Dispute Resolution Forum Suggestions & Feedback Introductions Lounge
Back
Top