Buying Traffic

alternatives to adsense

[Allie_Mae]

I am really interested in purchasing traffic for my forum. Anyone know of traffic sources specific to people interested in posting on forums?

[ogletree]

I don't think I have ever seen a way to buy traffic other than buying ads on sites that share your subject. Most of the sites selling "traffic" send you tons of junk traffic that get next to know conversion. Mostly bots and exit traffic. Even if real people come to your sites from one of these your visitors will be quite hostle toward you.

[rogerd]

I wouldn't give up on Adwords or Yahoo - try some specific keywords like "widget discussion", "widget forum", etc.

[Allie_Mae]

Where can I find sites offering adverstising.

[Bidera]

Allie, the question would be where you can't find sites for advertising. :)

It is rare to find a completely free forum which doesn't use some form of advertising. Just search for the words you are interested in and see what sites you can come up with.

And it will be easier to use Adwords if you got the cash.

[rogerd]

Just searching to find sites in your topic area and then looking at the site for banners or what look like paid links would be a good start. Don't be discouraged if you find a site that looks perfect but doesn't appear to be showing ads right now - contact the owner and see if they will run your ad or link, in return for advertising or linkage on your site, or for a payment you can afford.

You can also check out the various text link reseller sites to see if they have any good topical sites. Sometimes, the placement of these links may not be the best for clickthrough, but you may find some that are cheap (since PageRank isn't your main concern), relevant, and well-placed on the page.

Ad networks like Adbrite, etc., may be useful.

Clearly, though, Adwords and Yahoo/Overture can provide highly targeted clicks for you, as long as the price isn't too rich for your budget.