I’ve been studying media buying, also known as display advertising (banner ads). While doing research, I came across a blog post by Gauher Chaudhry called Suspect Traffic Sources. Chaudhry is an affiliate marketer who is an expert in paid traffic. In the post, he mentions an article from AdWeek about “suspect traffic vendors.”
Turns out, AdWeek reporter Mike Shields has written several articles on this topic. For the sake of convenience, I’m linking to all of them here.
Suspicious Web Domains Cost Online Ad Business $400m per Year: Full of hot air
The Six Companies Fueling an Online Ad Crisis: Suspect traffic vendors – This was the original article Chaudhry linked to.
If you’re planning on doing any affiliate marketing and using media buying to drive traffic, you should definitely read all of these stories before spending a cent. You could save yourself a big headache down the road. You’ll learn which ad networks to cross of your list.
I’d also read the comments on Chaudhry’s blog post to see reports from his readers about various traffic sources. Many of his readers are in the affiliate game themselves, so they’re talking from first-hand experience.
With all the hype about making money on the Internet, it’s rare for traffic sources to be exposed and “outed” like this in a professional publication. Usually, this kind of info is buried in forums and comments.
A tip of the hat to AdWeek journalist Mike Shields for his excellent coverage on this problem.
photo credit: Robbie Howell via photopin cc