PPV traffic is entirely different than what you might be used to. Whereas many other forms of paid traffic revolve around very general or very specific targeting, PPV traffic lets you target specific websites, actions, and users.
Whenever someone installs a piece of shareware or freeware, there may be any number of ad generating programs that get tacked on with it. If you’ve ever seen the terms and conditions when installing something, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The software will collect data about the users’ web surfing habits – the sites they visit, the content they read and more.
In short, the PPV companies learn everything about the users that visit popular content sites on which you can advertise. You, as an advertiser, can then advertise your banners or popunders to visitors who have toolbars or software installed on their PCs. Then, your ads will only appear for users who visit sites you specifically choose to appear for.
Developing a PPV Traffic System
To get your PPV traffic system put together, you first need to develop a plan that will allow you to reach as many people as possible without spending too much money.
You also need to be sure those people you’re reaching are the right people. You won’t want your ads appearing for sites that don’t relate to your niche. For this, you’ll want to use sites like Google Ad Planner, QuantCast, and Compete.com. These sites provide a wide array of demographic research tools for any major website, showing you who visits the site, when they visit, and how much content they absorb.
If you are selling a series of dog training products, you might enter "dogchannel.com" into Google AdPlanner to see who the most common visitors are and their demographic range. Don’t worry, you’re not buying advertising on Dog Channel. You’re just using this as a baseline for your target leads. The Ad Planners will then help you develop an affinity to target other sites in the market.
In the case of DogChannel.com, you’ll see that 100,000 unique visitors come to this site, the top keyword searched for is "dog breeds", and sites with high affinities include ShopAnimalNetwork.com and YourPureBredPuppy.com, among others. And if you’re interested in actual ads on this site, Google will show the reach of those ads, the formats, and the placement offered. The pricing is not available here, but you can usually find the ad network from the site itself. But, for now, we want to find good PPV ad networks.
Determining Where to Advertise
Once you have a better idea of what your target demographic is and where traffic is generated, you can find a good PPV advertising network to show your ads on.
At the moment, TrafficVance.com is among the best out there, with MediaTraffic.com and LeadImpact.com also providing a huge variety of options for marketers in search of solid PPV traffic. Each of these sites allows you to target only sites and visitors that will match your specific offer. But, more importantly, you can optimize your campaigns by changing your bids and budgets to meet whatever sales goals you may have.
It’s easy to get analytics data that shows you whether your impressions are converting. If they are not converting, you’ll simply shift your ad spend to different sites, ensuring better return on investment.
In short, you’re telling websites around the world what kind of visitor you want to see your ad. You choose where the visitors come from, when they see it, and how often that ad will appear. The level of control here is unprecedented. It’s no wonder big companies like Blizzard, American Express, and H&R Block all use PPV traffic to get traffic that will actually be interested in their services.
