Buying Website Traffic, Should You Be Doing It?
Every few weeks an editor takes me aside and quietly asks me a question that I've been hearing so far. "Tyler, should I buy website traffic?" Editors are wary of this topic for two reasons. The first reason is that buying a website is considered unethical. Your site is valuable to your primary audience and advertisers. Buying traffic is a trap for both of you. Second, publishers find shopping website traffic ineffective. Good quality traffic is more likely to cause harm than good. Even if you don't see it as an ethical business challenge, it can be a significant business risk if done wrong (which is the most common way to do it). Below I explain which publishers are buying traffic, where they are buying it from, and what the risks are when using this type of strategy in your publishing business or on your website. Reasons to purchase web traffic Why would a digital publisher who creates great content want to buy traffic? Money right? This should be the main reason wh...