Can ad arbitrage work for your website? Is it really an effective method to bring traffic and earn revenue? If so, how? In this article, we will explore the answers to key questions about ad arbitrage.
Ad Arbitrage Guide: Is it Possible to Accomplish?
Let's face it: advertising revenue is the bedrock of digital publisher profit. If you belong to the ever-increasing online content publication community, you'll know what this means. To earn through your content, you include ads on your page, and you get paid whenever someone clicks on it.
The concept is simple. But it takes a lot of work, dedication, and a little luck to create profitable traffic flow on your website.
If you're successful, you can even cash in big by selling your site somewhere like Flippa.
I know what you're thinking. Sometimes, it's difficult to generate traffic on your page even if you've correctly integrated SEO and created quality content.
The solution? You can buy traffic through ad arbitrage and earn more than the initial per click cost.
Want to know what that means? Read along to find out.
Table of Contents
Definition of Arbitrage
Before we get to the details for ad arbitrage, you'll need to know what arbitrage means to connect the dots.
Originally, arbitrage was a term in economics. It describes a practice in which people seize an opportunity and buy an asset at a lower price. After that, they sell the same asset in a different market at a higher price. The difference becomes their revenue.
In today's economy, arbitrage is quite common in the currency sector. However, the term is infamous in the agency and retail world.
Look at it this way: arbitrage can seem akin to a Wall Street broker who trades assets based on nonpublic information about major imminent transactions. This is a manipulation of the market situation.
However, ad arbitrage does not engage in any such manipulation. Let's get into the details of display advertising, so you can see how ad network arbitrage works.
What is Ad Arbitrage?
If you're an online publisher who wants to make a profit through your posts, you'll start by creating your website using platforms like Bluehost or GoDaddy.
I recommend starting with Bluehost. It's the same exact service I used to build a blog to $200,000 of value in a year.
The cost is only $2.95/month and you'll get a free domain name along the way.
Next, you place ads on your website from Google Adsense or other advertisers. After that, you have to wait until some interested users land on your page, and click on those ads. Then, the advertiser will pay you based on a per-click rate.
This is how display advertising works, and it's a pretty legit way to earn money online. However, to start making good money this way, you'll need a high-quality website that brings you organic traffic.
Organic traffic is not easy to bring in, and sometimes, even proper SEO doesn't do the job. In this case, ad arbitrage is the best option for you.
By this method, you can buy artificial traffic to your website from specific online platforms. The trick is to buy the traffic at a lower rate than what you'll get from your advertisers. This way, you can pocket the difference as your profit.
Remember, ad traffic does not come cheap, and you'll be making a significant investment without any guaranteed return. Also, it's a risky business because if you don't stick to the guidelines, you might get accused of cheating the system.
Don't worry just yet. We've compiled all the guidelines right here so you can get started with arbitrage marketing and make money online.
I created a free ad revenue calculator that will help you determine the value of a blog post or page on your website. It takes only 5 seconds to download and you'll be on your way to making more from your blog posts…
You'll also get access to my FREE audience building course.
Here is a video explanation of how the calculator works:
How Does Ad Arbitrage Work?
Ad arbitrage is a way to earn from display ads on your website. You buy the traffic for your site at a cheaper rate than the amount you'll make from the ads on your site.
It seems straightforward, but it isn't.
There are lots of monetization models that determine how, and how much, you can earn money through your arbitrage endeavor.
To choose the best one for yourself, you'll need to know how each one works.
PPC Arbitrage
Firstly, there's the PPC arbitrage model. Based on PPC (pay-per-click) advertising, you purchase low-cost clicks for your site, which has links to a secondary advertisment page.
Then, you get paid each time your visitor clicks on the advertisement links on that page. Usually, website owners join hands with affiliate programs and advertise their links on their sites.
Most commonly, a click will cost anywhere from $0.01-$0.50, depending on the product or service that's being advertised.
To earn good money through this model, content creators use clickbait and catchy one-liners to attract curious users to the advertisement page.
To make a profit from this monetization method through arbitrage, website creators have to act as brokers.
For example, they purchase a click from an artificial traffic provider, and later, sell it to the advertiser website's owner for a higher price.
In this way, you function like a broker does in a real estate deal.
PPA Arbitrage
PPA stands for pay per action, which means the website owner gets paid for every action visitors take with respect to the advertiser link. This includes downloads, signups, purchases, and browsing.
This is an easy way to earn money through affiliate ads. That's because, unlike other monetization models, you don't only get paid when someone makes a purchase.
CPM Arbitrage
In the case of CPM ad arbitrage, the profit is set according to the number of ad views. It's considered the least profitable monetization model because you'll have to get a minimum of 1,000 impressions to get paid.
When using this model for arbitrage, you'll have to buy impressions early on, and later sell it at a higher price.
This is possible because there are auctions occurring every second that hike the prices up for the impressions.
How to Get Traffic for Arbitrage
Now that we've discussed some of the most popular monetization models that website owners use for ad network arbitrage, there's one question that might be bugging you right now. Where exactly do content creators purchase their traffic from?
When you search online, you'll find a plethora of fake and unreliable platforms that can land you in serious trouble. The best option is to choose a viral niche for your website and pair it with a reliable and legit traffic network.
Here are some options you should check out while starting out your ad arbitrage journey.
Google AdSense
Google AdSense is one of the most reliable and genuine ad networks available today. If you're targeting a global audience for your content, Google AdSense is the ultimate platform for you.
Mainly, AdSense works best for PPC arbitrage. You can choose where you want to place your AdSense display to attract traffic from locations with the highest click rate.
This way, you can get a steady revenue on your investment. Also, it's a good idea to combine Google AdSense and Google AdExchange strategies to improve your traffic flow and revenue.
Taboola
Taboola is a go-to platform for native ads arbitrage. You can quickly get cheap traffic from the website for as much as one cent! However, the price depends on your target location.
If you're looking for traffic from Asian countries such as India, you can get good traffic for less money. But if you want to go for traffic from the US, it'll cost you more than ten cents.
The best part about Taboola ads traffic is that it's genuine and cheap, so you can start up with a reliable source at a comparatively low investment.
As far as social traffic is concerned, Facebook is the most reliable platform there is. It helps you direct organic traffic to your page or post at a reasonable price.
The main reason you should use Facebook as one of your traffic sources is its social reputation. It not only generates more visitors towards your post through promotions, but it also lets you build a relatable brand identity. This keeps the visitors coming back naturally.
Revcontent
Revcontent is a hub for traffic arbitrage sites. The platform provides high-quality, genuine traffic at great prices. It's a native ad traffic platform that works well for entertainment, media, and tech websites.
Besides that, they have engaging widgets that help attract tier one traffic towards your posts. Also, as a content creator, you can choose the widgets you want and where you want them on your website.
Media.net
Media.net is a great addition to your arbitrage ad networks list. It helps target specific users to product-related sites. Also, it has an excellent reputation in providing tier one US traffic for content creators who need it.
The best way to use ads from Media.net is by placing them at the bottom of your content block. This will help you check whether they work for your niche or not. If you have the right niche for their traffic, you can get up to 100,000 page views every month.
iZooto
iZooto is a high-quality ad generating network for native content ads. Their native content ads are served on push notifications. This helps to attract more CTR and increase your revenue by 15%.
Furthermore, iZooto works using the PPC monetization model, with an average rate of 10 cents for US-based traffic. Also, the website provides notifications for contextually relevant ads to your visitors.
How to Create Content for Ad Arbitrage Site
Another crucial aspect of accomplishing successful ad arbitrage is creating the right content for your website. Quality content is the key to keep organic visitors coming. Otherwise, your investment in traffic generation websites won't benefit you much.
For example, if you've bought traffic for two or three cents, you have to make sure your visitors spend enough time on the site for you to earn at least six to seven cents. If they don't, you'll be going into a loss instead of generating revenue.
Also, even if you manage to land visitors on your website, you'll need them to click through your pages. This way, they will view multiple ads and are more likely to click on one.
Here's a list of steps you should take to design the perfect ad arbitrage website for yourself.
Find Your Niche
Take a good time to decide the niche in which you're going to build your site. Remember, niches with a high PPC won't necessarily get you a high monthly turnover.
For instance, websites with serious niches like insurance, real estate, and mortgages can help you make about $0.5 per click. However, as far as traffic is concerned, you'll have to prioritize quantity over quality. There aren't many people who would come to read such content.
On the other hand, niches like travel, celebrity news, viral stories, food, and lifestyle discussions will keep visitors swarming to your site.
If you want to generate good revenue through your ad arbitrage site, the trick is to create content on topics that ensures lots of daily visitors.
Whether you buy traffic or rely on organic traffic, this is the best way to earn good money, rather than relying on a niche with high PPC.
See Related: What is Automated Blogging?
Build a High-Quality Website
Another plus point that ensures a good traffic flow on your platform is having a professionally designed, high-quality website. The more relaxing the user experience, the more users you will attract, ultimately increasing your ad revenue.
To accomplish this, you'll need to register your domain according to your niche. Besides that, you'll have to get dependable hosting like GoDaddy for your website.
If you don't want to build a website from scratch, you can also buy a website that already has significant traffic. You can find some great such options on websites like Flippa.
Create an Appealing Brand Identity
Your branding lets the visitors figure out the quality of your content at a glance. That's why you should create a catchy brand identity that embodies the content you're going to pump out on your website.
For example, if you're creating an entertainment website, the logo and name should be vibrant and fun. Whereas, a finance content website should have a straightforward, bold logo and theme.
See Related: How to Get 100,000 Monthly Page Views in 6 Months
Is Advertising Arbitrage Possible?
It all comes down to this: is ad arbitrage possible to accomplish? Yes, it is. Although it's risky and looked down upon in some places, it's a great way to make a profit online.
Remember, as long as you don't exploit the market; you're doing nothing wrong by using ad arbitrage for your benefit. But, as market volatility is the foundation of arbitrage, it's as possible to lose revenue as it is to generate some.
So, if you're ready to invest a large sum, and are prepared to take the risk, you can totally take a shot at ad arbitrage.
Bluehost offers affordable hosting for only $3.95 a month including a free domain name.
Sign up to begin building your site and testing your ad arbitrage strategy.
Conclusion
Wrapping up our guide for ad arbitrage, it can be said that arbitrage is one of the most profitable opportunities for publishers today. However, the industry is quickly getting filled up with bogus websites displaying useless content.
So, not much can be said about its profitability in the future.
But, if you plan your content carefully, buy your traffic from a legit provider, and create an accessible website, you can generate a steady income through ad arbitrage. Also, aspects like ad optimization, placement, and content pagination can help you earn enough to pay off your traffic costs.
The key is to choose legit platforms and conduct proper research before getting started. Good luck!