To Buy or Not to Buy Internet Traffic
Josh Greenberger
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The internet can provide instantaneous mass marketing capabilities unimagined only two decades ago. It allows you to reach millions of prospective clients in less time than it takes to submit an ad to traditional media. 
Little wonder that in 2006 U.S. internet advertising revenue was over $16 billion and now accounts for approximately 5% of total U.S. advertising spending. Contrast this with the early days of traditional mass advertising: according to some estimates, the entire U.S. in 1880 spent about $200 million in advertising. (Of course, many things were different and less complicated in those days. For one thing, they didn't have spam telegrams. I doubt if anyone ever got a telegram, saying, "Congratulations! You've just won a fully-loaded donkey with a 5-speed saddle massager." I could be wrong. But this is a whole different topic.)
Unlike running ads in traditional newspapers and magazines, on the net you can buy "traffic" (a.k.a "hits" or visitors) from "traffic wholesalers" and "Pay Per Click" (PPC) search engines. With the former you're guaranteed an agreed-upon number of hits, with the latter you pay for each visitor when and if you get traffic.
Some caution needs to be taken when buying from traffic wholesalers, though. A considerable amount of traffic sold by wholesalers is "popup" and "popunder" (windows that pop either over or under websites). Most browsers today have popup blockers, making such promotions extremely ineffective. So find out whether they have "real" traffic (which usually comes from expired domains) before buying.
You also need to watch out for "program generated traffic:" this is outright fraud. There are software that make it look like you're getting traffic when in fact you're getting no visitors. So, a good approach is to buy a small amount of traffic first, then buy larger amounts only if the smaller one worked out.
Little wonder that in 2006 U.S. internet advertising revenue was over $16 billion and now accounts for approximately 5% of total U.S. advertising spending. Contrast this with the early days of traditional mass advertising: according to some estimates, the entire U.S. in 1880 spent about $200 million in advertising. (Of course, many things were different and less complicated in those days. For one thing, they didn't have spam telegrams. I doubt if anyone ever got a telegram, saying, "Congratulations! You've just won a fully-loaded donkey with a 5-speed saddle massager." I could be wrong. But this is a whole different topic.)
Unlike running ads in traditional newspapers and magazines, on the net you can buy "traffic" (a.k.a "hits" or visitors) from "traffic wholesalers" and "Pay Per Click" (PPC) search engines. With the former you're guaranteed an agreed-upon number of hits, with the latter you pay for each visitor when and if you get traffic.
Some caution needs to be taken when buying from traffic wholesalers, though. A considerable amount of traffic sold by wholesalers is "popup" and "popunder" (windows that pop either over or under websites). Most browsers today have popup blockers, making such promotions extremely ineffective. So find out whether they have "real" traffic (which usually comes from expired domains) before buying.
You also need to watch out for "program generated traffic:" this is outright fraud. There are software that make it look like you're getting traffic when in fact you're getting no visitors. So, a good approach is to buy a small amount of traffic first, then buy larger amounts only if the smaller one worked out.