Paid traffic is expensive.
OK, let me rephrase that.
Paid traffic from quality sources is expensive.
There are unscrupulous vendors who will offer to sell you website visitors cheap.
They might pad your traffic stats or free subscriber numbers, but they won’t generate buyers for your products and services.
You don’t just want visitors.
You want buyers.
There are a LOT of paid traffic sources including Linkedin, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, Spotify, Snapchat, Reddit, Outbrain, Taboola, Bing, and even direct purchases on niche websites.
But the two 800 lb gorillas are Google Ads (includes Youtube) and Facebook (includes Instagram).
According to Wordstream’s Google Ads Benchmarks 2023, costs increased across the board while the clickthrough rates and conversions decreased.
The average cost-per-click went from $2.96 in 2022 to $4.22 in 2023.
The average cost-per-lead went from $40.74 in 2022 to $53.52 in 2023.
The average conversion rate went from 7.26% in 2022 to 7.04% in 2023.
And that’s after significant cost increases in 2022 as well.
Google traffic is expensive…and it’s getting more expensive.
In addition, Google wants you to hand over the reins of your campaigns to them.
Take PerformanceMax as an example.
You provide headlines, descriptions, images, videos, etc. along with the conversion goals you want to track. And you pretty much give freedom to Google to attract visitors however and wherever they want based on maximizing the conversions for the budget you set.
Where are your conversions coming from?
You won’t know because Google will only share a few select insights with you.
And here’s a behind-the-scenes secret. Unless you have a separate campaign with specific branded keywords in it, Google is going to target any branded searches for your name or product names. Meaning a lot of those conversions from your brand new PerformanceMax campaign will be those who were specifically searching for you anyway.
Google doesn’t even let us set negative keywords (like your brand name) for PF campaigns unless you go through the hassle of getting a Google rep to do it for you (they claim they will allow you to manage a brand list including brand exclusions soon).
So, with Google and Facebook traffic getting more expensive all the time, are there any budget-friendly strategies?
Yes.
Google ‘recommends’ you run broad match campaigns, but you can still run a Google search campaign targeting phrase match and exact match terms.
Target long-tail keyword phrases with buyer intent. What does a customer who is ready to buy search for to find your product or service? This won’t usually be a high traffic phrase. Instead, it’s the type of phrase they will use when they’re narrowing down their search to exactly what they looking for.
That’s one budget-friendly method.
Here’s another. Google removed placement targeting on Youtube for conversion optimized campaigns.
But you can still run a video campaign without a goal where you can target specific placements. Collect several hundred (or thousand) specific Youtube videos your best customers would be watching. Target them to either “Get Views” or “Efficient reach.”
You can still track conversions, but you’ll have to manually turn placements on or off based on conversions since Google will be optimizing for views or CPM.
What about on Facebook?
It’s still Lookalike targeting.
Upload your customer or subscriber list and create a Lookalike of that audience to target. If you don’t have a list yet, run a lead form campaign for an enticing Lead Magnet on Facebook…and use all the submissions to create a Lookalike audience.
Will you generate ‘cheap traffic’ with Google or Facebook?
No, but if you can create a high-performing funnel that maximizes your leads, sales, and income…you can create profitable budget friendly campaigns that work like crazy.
Reviewing clients’ funnels and helping them maximize the value of every lead is something I do regularly with my one-on-one clients.
I’m going to be taking a few clients in early August.
If this is something you may be interested in, find out more by going here and joining the waiting list…
