What are you finding are your best sources of driving paid traffic to your online business in 2020? That’s the question we put out to online business owners all around the world.
We asked them what niche they are in, and which paid traffic sources are working best for them in 2020. Here are the responses we got back…
Online Courses – Facebook Retargeting
As a small internet marketing company selling online courses, we have been trying a number of different paid traffic sources to drive traffic to our site and boost conversions.
By far, one of the most successful tactics we have used is Facebook retargeting. This drives warm traffic back to our site which converts very highly. We have the Facebook pixel installed on our site which we can then use to track everyone who visits the site and display ads prompting them to come back and check out our other content and courses through Facebook.
The beauty of this traffic source is that it’s incredibly easy to set up and configure and costs very little compared to other methods. Combine this with the fact that you’re attracting a warm audience who are already interested in the brand, it makes for a very lucrative traffic source compared to cold advertising. It’s simple to setup and makes a huge impact so I would strongly recommend everyone consider looking into it!
Mark Webster, Authority Hacker
Branding Company – Youtube Campaigns
We’ve seen tremendous success by using video podcasts and web series as advertising inventory for YouTube campaigns. With the right content and targeting, this tactic can build massive retargeting audiences and can produce engaged viewers for between $.01-.04 with average watch times of 60-80% or more. It’s hard to get this type of exposure anywhere else right now.
Josh Braaten, Brandish Insights
Pet Photography Website – Google Display Ads
Paid traffic for my pet photography site comes from Google Ads – image ads. The cost is low compared to the usual search ads, with these showing to people who browse dog, pet or lifestyle websites. The CTR is low but due to the low cost of the ads I can run them at a high volume and still get a great low cost return on traffic to my pet photography website.
I should note that the traffic doesn’t necessarily convert to a sale but it’s a good way to get dog lovers browsing the work and once they start they seem to stick around for a while so the bounce rate stays low.
Simon Woodcock, Pupparazzi
Academic Writing – Google Ads
Google Ads is still by far the best way of driving paid traffic to my online business in 2020.
I have managed to reach customers from around the world simply by advertising my website, myessaydoc.com ,on google ads, and I have never regretted it. It works.
Unlike other advertising platforms that I have used before, I am not likely to stop using google ads.
Wycliffe Ouko, MyEssayDoc.com
Pest Control – Paid Leads From SEO Sites
I feel like the best and completely unknown way to get paid traffic these days is to go and join SEO groups on Facebook. Then put out a post and say that you are willing to pay for people to do the SEO for you and forward calls to your phone.
Basically, these SEO’s, for the right price, will build their own websites for your industry and get it ranking on Google and then forward the calls to your business line. It’s genius and nobody knows about it. Sometimes you can get SEO’s to even do it for free but if you offer them a little upfront, that really helps.
Dane Kolbaba, Watchdog Pest Control
Supplement Manufacturing – Google Ads
I am in the supplement manufacturing niche. A very specific one that is quite small. The best sources of driving paid traffic to our website so far this year would be Google Ads. Google search engine marketing has proven to consistently bring in new leads each day.
Zach Passarella, Supplement Manufacturing Partner, Inc.
Challenge Coins – Paid SEO Services
The single best-paid source for traffic for us is for SEO. Last year was such an incredible year because SEO yields you organic traffic. Unlike bidding for keywords on paid search (PPC), SEO is long term and that has given us the best ROI we have ever seen. We are in the niche of challenge coins, which is a vertical within the promotional products industry, so that means its very competitive.
Kamil Faizi, Challenge Coins 4 U
Firearms Training – Google Ads
I run Google Ads and the benefits are three fold. One, I get increased traffic. I got 3,646 pageviews in 90 days that I wasn’t getting before running the ads. Secondly, I come up at the top of the page when searched. And lastly, I believe this helps with SEO as it feeds Google info about my business. The bonus benefit is customers see my reviews and can find me easily.
So goes Google Ads, so goes my business!
Kevin Flowers, Pew Pew Guru
Digital Marketing Agency – Facebook Retargeting Ads
The highest converting paid traffic source that we use for our agency as well as our clients’ businesses are Facebook retargeting ads. This is because this only targets a pooled audience of users who have visited our website or have had some sort of interaction with our business before.
Since they have already expressed interest in some sort of way, we’ve found that these users convert at a much higher rate than advertising directly to a cold audience. We recommend Facebook retargeting ads to any business that is already generating consistent traffic to their website.
Jeremy Lawlor, Active Business Growth
Digital Marketing Agency – ManyChat
The most exciting paid traffic source that marketers need to capitalize on in 2020 is the utilization of messaging apps like Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger and WeChat.
These apps are no longer just for personal use only and the total number of active users on these channels combined are over 4 billion. Marketers need to start taking advantage of these channels before they become too crowded with advertisers.
Here are a few steps they can take to get started…
#1 Start growing your subscriber list. Many of these messenger platforms like ManyChat give you growth tools where you can get subscribers either through links, your website, paid ads and more. Once they interact with your business on Messenger they become a subscriber.
#2 Hook them in to become a subscriber. Quizzes have been the best tactic in our experience to get people to become subscribers. be sure to make it a fun interactive experience with GIFs, images or people may stop in the middle.
#3 Message you’re subscribers. There are more and more rules about messaging your list of subscribers. Here is an example of Facebook Messengers rules about how you can message your subscribers. The main take away from it is Businesses will have up to 24 hours to respond to a user. Messages sent within the 24 hour window may contain promotional content.
You can however pay to send sponsored posts to your subscriber list that are past this 24 hour window.
Steven Page, Giant Partners
Real Estate Investing – Branded Content
The best paid marketing strategy for driving high-quality traffic to your website in 2020 is branded content. It’s getting increasingly difficult to get enough leads and customers through just SEO, so marketers are more and more turning into paid alternatives. Branded content really stands out among other paid traffic sources as it shows the real value of your product and drives an audience who is already interested in a similar service. The conversion rates are higher for users who come through branded content, which makes the cost worth it.
Daniela Andreevska, Mashvisor
Airport Parking Comparison Site – Bing Ads
As a relatively small online business, we have found that Bing Ads contributes the highest number of conversions. Although Google has the biggest market and the most intuitive search engine, it leaves little room for small businesses to be represented. The cost per click is far too expensive. Bing Ads has a much lower cost per click for ads and therefore it’s easier to get ads to the top of the page where they can be seen by potential customers.
Taylor Randolph, ParkFellows
Online Fashion Marketplace – Google Shopping Ads
In e-commerce industry and for our online marketplace OOSTOR.com the best source of paid traffic is Google Shopping.
Karina Karaulova, OOSTOR
Digital Marketing Agency – Google Ads
In 2020 so far, we are finding that the best source of paid traffic to our marketing agency website is Google Ads. Of course, this seems like the easy option because a lot of companies are utilising PPC in this day and age, but it really is the best source of paid traffic to our site so far.
This is due to the face you can pick the searches you show up for and bid for the traffic, the higher the bid, the more success you will have! Of course, we have a vast array of experience in PPC so we will always do well from here.
Ryan Jones, Imaginaire Digital
Jackets Store Online – Google and Facebook Ads
Google Ads and Facebook Ads are the two major sources for huge traffic but you should keep your audience in limit (only belongs to same niche/interest) to achieve the better result.
Norman Ashgar, FanJackets
Video Production Agency – Google Ads
We’ve worked with different advertisement platforms over the years, but Google Ads has proved to be the most effective. Although CPC on Google Ads is comparatively high, the fact that you are driving prospects with high buyer intent to your site makes it all worthwhile.
When you run ads on social media or any other platform, you’re shooting in the dark; on a hunt for people who might be interested in your product or service. With Google Ads, on the other hand, you’re targeting people who are already looking for your product.
Our conversion rate turned out to be fairly higher for traffic we drove from Google Ads. At the end of the day, the results speak for themselves.
Osama Khabab, MotionCue Studios
Online Stock Training Events – Facebook Ads
I am using Facebook Ads to drive targeted traffic to my business. As I am a stock trainer and will need events to educate my prospects.
I know that using Facebook Ads for my events is much effective than other paid traffic.
Collin Seow, The Systematic Trader
Online Jewelry Store – Etsy
Our company is in the jewelry industry and one of the best performing paid traffic sources for us in the beginning of 2020 has been Etsy. With their paid advertising option, the targeting has been very good. It allows us to get our products right in front of the right Etsy users.
Jeff Moriarty, Moriarty’s Gem Art
HR Software and Freelance Platform – ShareASale
Our affiliate program is managed via ShareASale and is so far the best-paid traffic source. Our affiliates are paid 20% commission per sale and allowed to use PPC, newsletters, blog posts, SEO, etc. to drive traffic to us. The good side is that we pay only if they deliver results versus any traditional marketing channel.
Lilia Stoyanov, Transformify
Web Hosting Company – Google Ads
Without a shadow of a doubt, we continue to see Google Ads to be the best source of driving paid traffic to our site. At Hosting Data UK, we offer a web hosting comparison service to UK users, we analyze the top 15 web hosting services and rank them with stacks of information for our users on what’s great about each site.
With Google Ads, ultimately you pay to have your site show up at the top of search results for specific keywords. As our business is relatively niche, we have found this to be a great source of driving paid traffic to our site. Second to Google Ads is the use of targeted social media advertising, focusing on promoting content via Instagram and Facebook. Both sources offer detailed insights into how our paid ads are working, which is really invaluable to our business.
Alex Williams, Hosting Data UK
Home Improvement and Kitchen Products – Google Ads
With 75% and more of the search market, Google can drag heavy daily traffic. With its various tools, I am able to optimize my campaign. Once I got to know the winning metrics, I was able to scale my ad campaigns. As I was not using many platforms to run the campaign, I used much of the digital marketing budget on Google ads to scale my campaign. I chose Google to target the massive market and this resulted in amazing results. I can also remarket through Google ads which are extremely powerful.
Krishnan Archana, Renovation Bootcamp
Outdoor Sports Reviews – Youtube Ads
The resource that I found helpful for my business is YouTube. YouTube has a unique audience and what I found was that the audience includes actually the customers that I want to target. YouTube is one of the largest search engines. The amazing thing about this platform is that I found tons of traffic here and I still found it cheaper than others. I did not just get the paid traffic by running the ads on banners but also hit my customers through my video content. I made the video that involves the attention of my viewers from the very start as it includes many calls to action one after the other to keep them engaged with me.
Mike Bran, ThrillAppeal
Merchant and Card Accounts – Google and LinkedIn Ads
As a serial entrepreneur who has launched a number of successful businesses, there are two paid traffic sources which I believe will be big in 2020.
In my opinion, *Google Ads* will continue to offer value for money. Since I started using ads 2 years ago, I have noticed a steady increase in quality traffic to our website. Once your website contains quality content relevant to your target audience, Google Ads will do the rest. Another fantastic source of quality website traffic are *LinkedIn Ads*. This service has enabled me to gain exposure with an industry-specific audience, again helping my drive high-quality traffic back to my website on a continuous basis. For a company such as mine in the highly competitive price comparison industry, both of these paid traffic sources will once again prove invaluable in 2020!
Ollie Smith, Card Accounts
Marketing Consultancy for Financial Advisors – LinkedIn Ads
I run a marketing consultancy that works specifically with financial advisors. So far in 2020, the best paid traffic source for me has been LinkedIn. I must admit that it is MUCH more expensive than other sources such as Twitter ads, Google ads, and Facebook ads. However, because I only work with financial advisors, it consistently sends me the highest quality traffic. For example, I may spend $2 per click on Facebook and take 30 clicks to find a qualified prospect on Facebook. That’s $60. I could spend $5 per click on LinkedIn and find a qualified prospect in 10 clicks. That’s $50, a significant savings per qualified prospect.
James Pollard, The Advisor Coach