Free traffic is one of the three main types of traffic we can get to our landing pages (see more about traffic). It's a mighty powerful thing if you do it right. It does have some downsides, of course, and they might prevale when deciding on what you want to do with your business.
Compared to paid traffic sources (advertising and media buying), free traffic is often treated as more powerful. Just about any dude with some money can run ads, right? After all, we're all bombarded with ads at any give moment. But when people use online search engines like Google and Bing and they find your content inside the answers list, it's already different. It automatically brings a bit more confidence clicking it - after all, if Google suggested it, it must be worth something.
While one will likely need certain tools to create interesting content, most of them are available for free. Some will have to be purchased, though, like a domain and a hosting account (if you plan blogging), maybe some graphic software and so on. The costs will stay low though, unless you switch to a higher level - but that's usually the point where you're already making some money, so it's not that hard.
Free traffic sources
There's a plethora of ways to get the word about your business out today. We have social networks and hubs, we have community sites, in short, we have Internet. Here are some of the main free traffic sources.
- Social networks like Facebook, Instagram and Youtube
- Blogging as a way of showing your work and promoting it
- Solving problems people have in chats on community sites
Each of these sources has its own set of rules, but have one thing in common - they actually cost nothing. Anyone can create an account or a YouTube channel and start publishing content. Hence, we call it free traffic, although it's not completely accurate - it will cost you lots of time to run these things.
Pros
Here are some of the most obvious pros of free traffic generation.
- Social traffic is free, it costs you nothing
- It is fast, because people usually see your posts as they scroll
- It is simple to create interesting content, especially if you choose a niche you know a lot about
- Free traffic is quickly compounding once it starts to flow
Cons
And there are some downsides too.
- While it costs no money, it will take you a lot of time
- Your posts are left to the algoriytm to decide whether to show it or not - you actually never know who will see it
- The content you create can quickly become obsolete
- It takes a lot of effort to create interesting ideas in a long term
One thing all free traffic sources have in common
Most affiliates (or marketers in general) trying to make money online using free traffic channels are sadly wasting their time. Maybe you've tried it before - you had a Facebook group about dog training, you gathered a small following, you posted every day, and nothing really happened. You're not alone in this.
It's not because you're on the wrong platform.
It's not because you don't know the subject (dog training in this case).
It's because you've jumped a few mandatory steps to make it work.
You've skipped all the pre-work that needs to be done before actually creating content that brings money.
A simple three-step framework that actually turns views into affiliate sales
Whether you're trying to grow your channel or account on Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, Facebook or any other platform, there's a strategy that will effectively make your visitors click your published links and turn them into buyers.
It's clearly presented in THIS POST, let me just mention the most important outcome.
Trust and credibility.
If you start publishing your content blindly, just whatever comes to your mind, you will probably have some success gathering a following. But making people click your links? And if they do, making them buy what you're promoting? That's another story.
Without building trust and credibiliti first, the people that sign up for your channel will act as a passive consumer of your content just to be entertained. It's nothing wrong with that per se, but it's most probably not the real reason you've started a channel or a group. If you are an afiiliate, you want your visitors to convert to customers as soon as possible. And this type of content consumers are not very likely to.
In the end, you might just end up working long hours on content nobody cares about. Bummer.
Is blogging still a thing?
Short answer - YES.
Just as an example, WordPress started out as a blogging platform a decade ago. The engine that powers it is more or less the same as it was, updated to today's software standards of course. WordPress' arhitecture, which provided software snippets that could do different things (plugins), turned out to be a huge success. Today, over 40% of all websites are powered by WordPress - can you imagine the numbers? Using the plugin technology, people created modules that do just about anything today. You can still build a basic blog site, but you can also build a full e-store or a system dashboard using various tools. And there are literally millions of blogs online today.
👉 Download a free blogging blueprint & Checklist
Blogging is a very powerful way that anyone can use to publish their content and sell online. If you know something about a certain topic (like dog training I've mentioned above), you can start your blog and write about that topic. Sooner or later people will discover your blog and you will gain some attention online. Whether it will be massive or just people passing by, well, that's another story. But it will bring people to you.
Not sure where to start?
Join The ClickBank Profit Club for FREE and watch the included Blogging Workshop. It is filled with practical knowledge and will take you by the hand when building a fully operational blog that will even be monetized with your own affiliate link from the very start.
Monetizing your blog
There are many ways you can monetize your blog, practically from when you start. Let's mention a few.
Blogging for clients
Many people earning from blogging didn't start by having huge audiences. Instead, they started building their skills and business by writing for others.
There's a whole lot of people who need content creators. It's a very lucrative option, and can become a real business if you stick to it. You can learn a lot about it by downloading the free Blogging For Bucks blueprint & checklist below.
👉 Download a free blogging blueprint & Checklist
Affiliate offers
While writing about your chosen topic, you can easily include affilaite links where appropriate. For instance, while writing about dog training you can insert Amazon or AliExpres links in your text, pointing people to the products you write about.
You can create an e-shop and publish reviews, taking people to the same affiliate links. This is usually called drop shipping.
Next, you can apply for a Google AdSense account and show Google's ads to your visitors.
All these ways will earn you something, but it's usually only cents for every click and maybe a few % of the sales amount at best.
Selling your own products
The most lucrative way to monetize your blog is by selling your own products. These can be anything, courses, downloads, whatever you're able to produce.
For instance, you could create your own short training courses in a simple PDF format that solve specific small problems people have. I can hear you saying "But I don't know how and what to write!". Well, AI has created new times for us, and believe me, it's sometimes much earier than it looks at first.
For a masterclass in creating your own digital products, check the box below.
If you're seriously considering this, I'd recommend you take a look at a program called Online Success Coaching. It's a complete membership that will not only treach you how to create digital products in record time using AI, you will also gain access to some pro marketers that will actually promote your offer when finished. It's a sure way to start a real business online or just fill the gaps to your desired income levels.
While it's not exactly free, it's among the cheapest trainings you can get with that level of support and advanced opportunities.
Conclusion
Whatever you're doing online to add to your paycheck, free traffic is a powerful way to make it happen.
Once you find the patterns that drive this free traffic to your landing pages, you will easily get almost unlimited clicks to any offer you're promoting. And that's the beauty of all this.
On the other hand one always depends on search engines (like Google) to index the pages and show content to the broad public. This is the reason why it's slow - you cannot expect to gain thousands of readers over night. Instead, it will likely take months to really start working. But it will be that more powerful going on.
Please bear in mind that the traffic methods that provide the so-called free traffic will take you time, because crfeating interesting content is very time-consuming. Sometimes a lot of it, especially in the beginning. So if you have something better to do, like spending time with your family, and some money left over at the same time, you should maybe consider using paid traffic sources which will take no time compared to SEO traffic generation.
Remember, money can always be replaced. Time can't.
You may also like
- What you absolutely need to know about traffic
- What is Affiliate Marketing (and what it isn’t)
- Affiliate Marketing Pros and Cons
Frequently asked questions
Is free traffic really free?
Technically speaking, it is. You don't need to spend any money on it, except for the basic tools like a domain and hosting account for your website. In reality, you will pay with your time, because creating interesting content is very time-consuming.
Can anyone start blogging?
Definitely. If you know something about a topic people search for, you can start blogging within a few days if you know nothing about it. There's a great blogging workshop available inside a free ClickBank Profit Club membership, should you consider starting today.
Do I need any expensive tools to get free traffic?
Not really, unless you plan to get all-in from the very start. Almost all the tools you'll need are available for free, including social accounts and WordPress (a blogging platform). But if you want and have a budget, you can always purchase the best tools on the market anytime.
How do I monetize my blog?
You can run affiliate promotions, add Google AdSense or other advertising, or you can promote your own products.
Can I use more free traffic sources at once?
Of course. It's even recommended to combine - for example - blogging and social accounts. You can publish on all your social accounts when you write a new post, for instance. This will help people find it, and it will also be a sygnal to the search engines that something real is there.
