The Ultimate CPA Free Traffic Method Thread

[thebarksmeow]

I thought I'd start this thread so we can share our experiences of using free traffic methods for CPA. I've been involved with CPA for about 3 months or so. Internet Marketing for about a year. I do use some PPC but imo it's self explanatory. You get the offer, keyword, landing pages... test, track, optimize, etc. Free traffic methods are a whole different ballgame. CPA is all about fast, targetted traffic. The more you get, the more money you make. So I'm going to share some of my real life experiences through methods I've used. Not just saying things people read in forums or wso's. I'd like you guys to share as well.

CPA to me is like the stock market. You have to be on top of your game everyday, watching trends, competition, etc. Things are always changing. Offers are coming in, while offers are dropping out. You have to decide if you want to buy, buy, buy or sell, sell, sell. In our world... we find a winner scale up, if we find a dud... drop. Ok, enough of my rambling. These are just my opinions. I'm not a guru or an authority on any of these. Here are methods that I've personal tested:

1. Twitter - Twitter is like blackjack. You'll either hit, get close, or bust. The good is it doesn't take much effort, has a lot of members, and you can get targetted followers with certain tools. The bad is you don't know how many of your followers are bots. Also, twitter moves so fast that you have to make sure to tweet at the right times. But if you tweet your offers too much (which looks like spam), you can get your account suspended.

Grade: C

2. Email Marketing - This is the number one free traffic method for CPA imo. There is no faster way to get people to your offers than a good sized list. And if your list is full of buyers instead of freebie seekers, even better. Not that it matters because you can promote freebies to the freebie seekers.

Grade: A+

3. Torrents - I'm not going to go into detail (I'm only mentioning because it's a method I've tried) because it's borderline greyhat/blackhat. I've received traffic but not a lot of conversions. They are smarter than your average internet user.

Grade: D+

4. Craigslist/Classifieds - This is another winner. If you are smart and know how to get your ads to stick without getting flagged, you can make some good money. The bad is most networks don't like this method and you have to hide your traffic. However, you can send them to your site before they get to the actual offer. I still dropped the grade a little cause that traffic is still originally from craigslist.

Grade: B-

5. Article Marketing - Sometimes I love it, sometime I hate it. IMO it's too slow for how fast the CPA moves. Plus, it requires more effort which means more time. One things for sure. I wouldn't dare promote a $2 email/zip submit. I don't like direct linking to the offer either but it does work sometimes. For building your list/sending to your site, it's great. But like I said it's slow, unless you have that article ranking at the top of google. And what does that require? More time.

Grade: C+ (Direct Linking)
Grade: A (Building a list/sending to your site)

6. Site #1 on Google - As far as traffic is concerned (assuming the kw has volume) this is as good as it gets. If your content isn't complete crap, you will make money. Keep that #1 position, promote good offers, include an opt in on your site, and you have a cash cow. The only downside of course is "time".

Grade: A

7. Yahoo Answers - The good is that it's targeted traffic and gets decent results on the serps. Plus, it's fast and easy. That's what I like most about it. The bad is a user will flag you quickly. I've been flagged without even leaving a damn link! That pissed me off. Proceed with caution and have backup accounts ready. You have to wait until you're level 2 to have hyperlinks.

Grade: B-

8. Google/Yahoo/Windows Live groups - In my tracking and testing, terrible. Not worth my time at all. Hardly got any traffic from big groups and the traffic I did get didn't convert. Some people might have better luck than me but I'm done with this method.

Grade: F



Free traffic methods that I haven't tested/tracked but will very soon:

Video Marketing
Facebook Marketing
Offline Flyers
Forum Marketing
Blog Commenting
Web 2.0 sites


Please share your experiences.

[badboy_Nick]

Originally Posted by thebarksmeow

CPA is all about fast, targetted traffic. The more you get, the more money you make. So I'm going to share some of my real life experiences through methods I've used.

Please share your experiences.

Hey, I feel the need to chip in here:

Free traffic methods aren't FREE simply because they dont cost "money". All your "free" methods cost TIME, which is still a resource.

Take it form me: If you want to make big money (4-5 figures every month), you gotta pay for the traffic. CPA is all about speed to market, testing out keywords as quickly as you can and delete the non-performers. The only way you can do that is by paying for that traffic.

Yes I know all about article marketing, twitter, etc ... but nothing comes even CLOSE to what you can achieve with PPC. If you want to make big money, you gotta do PPC. If you are happy with a few extra hundred bucks a month, the "no-cash" methods are a good alternative.

Any questions just let me know
Nick

[thebarksmeow]

Originally Posted by badboy_Nick

Hey, I feel the need to chip in here:

Free traffic methods aren't FREE simply because they dont cost "money". All your "free" methods cost TIME, which is still a resource.

Take it form me: If you want to make big money (4-5 figures every month), you gotta pay for the traffic. CPA is all about speed to market, testing out keywords as quickly as you can and delete the non-performers. The only way you can do that is by paying for that traffic.

Yes I know all about article marketing, twitter, etc ... but nothing comes even CLOSE to what you can achieve with PPC. If you want to make big money, you gotta do PPC. If you are happy with a few extra hundred bucks a month, the "no-cash" methods are a good alternative.

Any questions just let me know
Nick

Yeah Nick, I mentioned time. More than once actually. I also mentioned that I do PPC as well. I also mentioned that CPA is about speed too.

[anions]

Good thread.

People here seem to undervalue the power of article marketing. With the right team/scalability factor, you can make 5 figures easy with it. I'm living proof.

Hell, if you could write 50 articles a day and write good copy you could do 5 figures all by yourself in a few months. But that would mean you'd be working 14-15 hours day.

But its best to try yourself, see what works and scale it

[thomas1984]

Originally Posted by badboy_Nick

Hey, I feel the need to chip in here:

Free traffic methods aren't FREE simply because they dont cost "money". All your "free" methods cost TIME, which is still a resource.

Take it form me: If you want to make big money (4-5 figures every month), you gotta pay for the traffic. CPA is all about speed to market, testing out keywords as quickly as you can and delete the non-performers. The only way you can do that is by paying for that traffic.


Any questions just let me know
Nick

Nick, I have a few questions.
Witch ppc network do you use? google. yahoo? and how much do you pay per click? I tried ppc with google and was having to bid more that my cpa offer was paying any advice would be great!

[ChrisBa]

Be careful with torrents and craigslist, if you get caught using those it will get you banned from most networks

[nakmuay7]

Originally Posted by ChrisBa

Be careful with torrents and craigslist, if you get caught using those it will get you banned from most networks

can you provide a source for this information?

[thebarksmeow]

Originally Posted by nakmuay7

can you provide a source for this information?

The networks are the source.

[badboy_Nick]

Originally Posted by thomas1984

Nick, I have a few questions.
Witch ppc network do you use? google. yahoo? and how much do you pay per click? I tried ppc with google and was having to bid more that my cpa offer was paying any advice would be great!

I only use Adwords and Yahoo. With a conversion rate of 10%, I can afford to bid £3.00 per click on a £30 / lead offer, which I currently have

Nick

[CPATrendPhil]

Originally Posted by ChrisBa

Be careful with torrents and craigslist, if you get caught using those it will get you banned from most networks

Absolutely true. If we see our offers being posted in Craigslist, the user is immediately terminated, as it is clearly written in our terms of service that Craigslist is not a method of traffic we support.

Torrents is a terrible source of traffic as well.

Now, CL can be used for certain things, but when it is used in a BlackHat way, it's no good. You can use CL to say.. develop an email list or something of the sort, but not to sell directly on CL!

[EmpyreRJ]

Originally Posted by badboy_Nick

Hey, I feel the need to chip in here:

Free traffic methods aren't FREE simply because they dont cost "money". All your "free" methods cost TIME, which is still a resource.

Take it form me: If you want to make big money (4-5 figures every month), you gotta pay for the traffic. CPA is all about speed to market, testing out keywords as quickly as you can and delete the non-performers. The only way you can do that is by paying for that traffic.

Yes I know all about article marketing, twitter, etc ... but nothing comes even CLOSE to what you can achieve with PPC. If you want to make big money, you gotta do PPC. If you are happy with a few extra hundred bucks a month, the "no-cash" methods are a good alternative.

Any questions just let me know
Nick

Free methods are good for newbies who are starting with cpa and dont have good cash on hand ... They can go on with free traffic method

[PPC-Coach]

Chris is right, networks do not want craigslist or torrent traffic at all. You will lose all your commissions.

A lot of newbies have to start somewhere and building their budget using free methods is fine as long as their end goal is to make the jump to paid traffic which is best imho.

[33centsaday]

So far for me it's classifieds all the way. With the right ads you can drive a ton of quality traffic fast to your blog/squeeze page and promote whatever offer you like from there. Just don't promote offers directly in the ads as CPATrendPhil mentioned, that's a waste IMO anyway, because all those classified ads help to SEO your blog and if you're capturing emails as well all the better. Create 3 traffic streams from 1.

[Demiano]

Hi Nick, you say:

Originally Posted by badboy_Nick

. but nothing comes even CLOSE to what you can achieve with PPC. If you want to make big money, you gotta do PPC.

I have heard that the last trend is that surfers click much more likely the organic search results than the paid ads. That means that getting ranked organically is getting much more important than it already was and that paid traffic is getting more expensive and less effective.
Don´t you think? Please comment.

Demian

[Carlsbadd]

It's not all about the trafiic source, it's how you capitalize it.

Nick will never ever say that anything but PPC and going direct with a advertiser is the way to go, because it works beautifully for him. He has a system that works great because he has mastered it.

With the multitude of sources out there either online or even offline it depends on us as marketers to find a way to use it to our advantage and get it to convert.

Free traffic in a sense is not "free" you have to work to drive it to your offer, email list whatever. That does not mean you can't find ways to make it work to your advantage.

What works for me will seem like to much work for others, however if I spend the time up front on research and the proper keywords I can get conversions for many days to come, so I am "paying" for the traffic up front with my time.

It's all good and there is plenty of "meat on the bone" so we can all eat.

Heck ,I have projects that are two years away from ranking for certain keywords but once I own that market it will be worth it.

[Kenster]

I would just like to say that too many people underestimate free traffic methods. I can tell you with certainty that people do over 7 seven figures with free traffic. There are SEO wizzes out there that make a boatload of cash.

There are plenty of people doing well over $100 a day with completely free methods and I fit that category when I was starting.


I think its too easy to jump right into the paid traffic bandwagon, but I can promise you that without the proper knowledge, newbies will get eaten live if they just start out bidding on PPC platforms without knowing what they are doing.


If you want to make a lot of money I still strongly urge people to start with free traffic. Its a process to get rich. If your first game playing poker is at the World Series of Poker, I can almost guarantee you will lose. You start by playing with your friends. Then go online and gamble just a tiny bit. Then work your way up to the big dogs.

The same is true online...in my opinion. Start out with free traffic...less risk.


Can you make a few hundo a day with just free traffic ABSOLUTELY YES

Overall can you make more with paid traffic..absolutely. But its a process and requires learning to play in that game.


Everybody has there place of play, but I always laugh out loud when I see people say that you cant make good money with free methods. I bet every single person here can do $250 a day with just free methods.


My two cents...for what its worth

[thebarksmeow]

Originally Posted by Kenster

I would just like to say that too many people underestimate free traffic methods. I can tell you with certainty that people do over 7 seven figures with free traffic. There are SEO wizzes out there that make a boatload of cash.

There are plenty of people doing well over $100 a day with completely free methods and I fit that category when I was starting.


I think its too easy to jump right into the paid traffic bandwagon, but I can promise you that without the proper knowledge, newbies will get eaten live if they just start out bidding on PPC platforms without knowing what they are doing.


If you want to make a lot of money I still strongly urge people to start with free traffic. Its a process to get rich. If your first game playing poker is at the World Series of Poker, I can almost guarantee you will lose. You start by playing with your friends. Then go online and gamble just a tiny bit. Then work your way up to the big dogs.

The same is true online...in my opinion. Start out with free traffic...less risk.


Can you make a few hundo a day with just free traffic ABSOLUTELY YES

Overall can you make more with paid traffic..absolutely. But its a process and requires learning to play in that game.


Everybody has there place of play, but I always laugh out loud when I see people say that you cant make good money with free methods. I bet every single person here can do $250 a day with just free methods.


My two cents...for what its worth

Excellent post Kenster. How did you learn the ropes when it came to PPC?

[manybl]

you still gotta pay for some of those method like list building that stills costs atleast $30 a month to make a decent list plus all the genuinely free methods zap away all your time so if you work it out its actully losing you money

[thebarksmeow]

Originally Posted by manybl

you still gotta pay for some of those method like list building that stills costs atleast $30 a month to make a decent list plus all the genuinely free methods zap away all your time so if you work it out its actully losing you money

$30 a month? I use profollow. I pay $20 a month. You get up to 10000 subscribers.

[Carlsbadd]

Originally Posted by manybl

you still gotta pay for some of those method like list building that stills costs atleast $30 a month to make a decent list plus all the genuinely free methods zap away all your time so if you work it out its actully losing you money

You are looking at it short term and that's fine. I don't pay anything for my list other than the time I put into generating traffic to it. That list will pay off long into the future as well as building websites that actually compete against the big players.

I am looking long term, I will make less now to build for the future and work less tomorrow.

[Charleskidd]

Well paid traffic is where most of the traffic will come from. Free traffic methods aren't as easy as said. You always have to spend time doing it and making it work for you. Take it from me the free traffic methods are being over used at it's harder. Buy some info and learn how to make paid traffic work for you

[Marwan Hakam]

i rather play with forex trading than ppc when i'm done reaching the target in free traffic...it's easier than ppc.easier to reach 100k monthly income via forex than IM for me because of having forex personal coach n too many Crap IM guide factors.

but hell yeah free traffic first before going to paid one.

[Kenster]

Originally Posted by Charleskidd

Well paid traffic is where most of the traffic will come from. Free traffic methods aren't as easy as said. You always have to spend time doing it and making it work for you. Take it from me the free traffic methods are being over used at it's harder. Buy some info and learn how to make paid traffic work for you

I'm not necessarily sure that free traffic is harder than paid traffic. Its different for sure but the benefits are great as well.

The only reason I am a huge proponent of free traffic is because I have seen so many newer marketers jump into the paid traffic space thinking they were prepared and ready to make a million bucks, and fall flat on their face. Many paid traffic sources are not forgiving at all. Can it be done and can newer marketers make a killing right from the start, absolutely, but its the exception not the rule.

I want each and every newer Warrior to make a million bucks...why not. And the truth is that its going to be hard to make a million if you stick in the free traffic space. BUT that doesnt mean you shouldnt start there. I see so many people enter the paid traffic space, lose $100 a day for a few weeks and then give up. At least in the free traffic space, the worst thing you are doing is losing time, but you are still learning and my bet is that you can do quite well if you put your mind and heart into it.

With that said, I just think there is a progression that newer marketers should take and it should begin with free traffic. Of course this is all my personal opinion based on what I've seen!

Most importantly, good luck to all!

~ken

[nikkol1]

Originally Posted by 33centsaday

So far for me it's classifieds all the way. With the right ads you can drive a ton of quality traffic fast to your blog/squeeze page and promote whatever offer you like from there. Just don't promote offers directly in the ads as CPATrendPhil mentioned, that's a waste IMO anyway, because all those classified ads help to SEO your blog and if you're capturing emails as well all the better. Create 3 traffic streams from 1.

33centsaday-I have read your posts and I'm just starting out in CPA. Can you please help me with some ideas for posting in classifieds? I would really appreciate it. Thank you!

[Kenster]

Here are two threads that deal with craigslist, though the info can be applied to most classified sites. Remember that classified marketing can be completely whitehat or completely blackhat or somewhere in themiddle.

There is also a lot of software out there that are hit or miss in terms of craigslist posting, email harvesting, etc


Craigslist For Marketing CPA?


Craigslist, why not?

Best of luck..Ken

[brittlesnc]

Great post. TheBarksMeow, have you tried out any of the other methods you said you'd give a go?

In particular, I'd like to know the grade you would give video marketing? This was an interesting and informative post. Thanks

[davidjohn35]

good article for newbies

[Kenster]

Would be interested to see how you rate...

Video Marketing
Facebook Marketing
Offline Flyers
Forum Marketing
Blog Commenting
Web 2.0 sites

because these are very popular free traffic sources!! The only thing I would say about your above grades is that email marketing isn't really a traffic source. You normally need to get traffic in the first place to build your list, so email marketing is more of a monetization strategy than a true traffic generation source. For example, you normally build a list by getting traffic to a squeeze page, so the traffic is coming from seo, articles, videos, etc and you are just monetizing that traffic through emails.

But I agree that email marketing is uber powerful.

[kndobano]

Originally Posted by Kenster

I would just like to say that too many people underestimate free traffic methods. I can tell you with certainty that people do over 7 seven figures with free traffic. There are SEO wizzes out there that make a boatload of cash.

There are plenty of people doing well over $100 a day with completely free methods and I fit that category when I was starting.


I think its too easy to jump right into the paid traffic bandwagon, but I can promise you that without the proper knowledge, newbies will get eaten live if they just start out bidding on PPC platforms without knowing what they are doing.


If you want to make a lot of money I still strongly urge people to start with free traffic. Its a process to get rich. If your first game playing poker is at the World Series of Poker, I can almost guarantee you will lose. You start by playing with your friends. Then go online and gamble just a tiny bit. Then work your way up to the big dogs.

The same is true online...in my opinion. Start out with free traffic...less risk.


Can you make a few hundo a day with just free traffic ABSOLUTELY YES

Overall can you make more with paid traffic..absolutely. But its a process and requires learning to play in that game.


Everybody has there place of play, but I always laugh out loud when I see people say that you cant make good money with free methods. I bet every single person here can do $250 a day with just free methods.


My two cents...for what its worth

Hi there,

You got my full attention by saying that you were in the category of earning $100 a day when you started!!!

I want to start where you started by using free traffic methods. Do you have any tips for a newbie in terms of which free traffic methods you would recommend?

I will be starting from scratch. what you guys refer to as "wet behind the ears"

Regards

Kela

[kndobano]

Originally Posted by thebarksmeow

$30 a month? I use profollow. I pay $20 a month. You get up to 10000 subscribers.

whatever you are involved in must pay you more than $20 a month!! what is it you are involved in and can you share?

Regards

Kela

[thebarksmeow]

Originally Posted by kndobano

whatever you are involved in must pay you more than $20 a month!! what is it you are involved in and can you share?

Regards

Kela

This is kind of an old thread but I don't really know what you're asking. In response to profollow however, they are under the aweber pricing model now.