There can never be enough time, money… or traffic. Any digital advertiser would agree with this statement — after all, traffic is king in this industry. And when it comes to getting more traffic, most would probably turn to the same solution, increasing bids. However, that’s not always possible (or effective).

Fortunately, there are quite a few alternative ways to boost your numbers. Of course, all of them are meant to drive only high-quality traffic to your platform: methods like botting are out of the question if you truly want to see your profit grow.

Let’s take a closer look at the top 3 methods for increasing your traffic volume without raising bids from Dasha R, the head of CPM and RTB at Adsterra.

Tweaking your targeting

Adjusting your targeting is one of the easiest ways to increase your traffic. There are three main ways you can go about this: straight up adding new audiences, checking whether your settings are up to date, and trying other types of traffic.

Reaching out to new audiences

When it comes to getting higher numbers, trying to reach new audiences is probably the easiest and most straightforward way to do it.

Here’s an example: imagine you’re running a simple banner campaign. You have done your tests and know that iOS users respond to your ads the best. However, that doesn’t mean that Android or web users won’t convert well. You don’t have to go all out but it can be a good idea to set up a new campaign with a lower bid and new targeting settings that could connect you to fresh audiences.

Of course, this method requires some initial investment — doing new tests can not only be costly but also time-consuming. However, it has the potential to give you access to larger volumes and higher conversion rates in return.

Adjusting your existing settings

It is not always possible to reach new audiences. Sometimes, you will have already reached out to all available avenues, other times it’s simply not worth it. In cases like that, it could be a good idea to re-check your existing targeting options.

Here are a few tips on how to optimise your targeting settings:

  • Check whether you’re up to date on the latest trends when it comes to platforms, OS, and browsers. Although we rarely see any new platforms pop up and take over any significant portion of the market, existing ones often get borderline campaign-breaking updates.
  • Use custom bids and give some publishers you have previously blacklisted a second chance. Lower the bid and see if they can still drive some traffic.
  • Don’t set your targeting too tight, especially if your campaign is no longer brand new. For example, many advertisers Adsterra has worked with found that disabling language targeting once their campaign has grown a bit can help to boost traffic significantly.

Trying new traffic types

If you’ve exhausted your optimisation options, you could always try going for new traffic types. After all, the more options you have, the higher your traffic volume will be.

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You can explore mainstream and non-mainstream traffic types by cloning your existing campaigns. As long as the type of traffic you’re going for is allowed by both your platform and ad network, it should be fair game.

Creating new creatives

Although adjusting your targeting settings is a great way to boost traffic, it only goes so far — and may not even be applicable for your campaign. In that case, you can try going for more creatives, and, subsequently, more tests.

The digital marketing industry is incredibly competitive. Trying something new is one of the best ways to drive more traffic to your campaigns and take it away from your competitors. The easiest way to do this is to routinely update your existing banners, pre-landers, and so on. Keep an eye on your stats and see which ones haven’t been performing that well lately.

Of course, just like when it comes to targeting, optimisation and updates can only take you so far. “A lot” doesn’t even come close to covering how many ads there are online. Even a person using an ad blocker will likely run into several dozen of them each day — so, naturally, people can get ad fatigue. The best way to combat it is to introduce brand-new creatives.

At first, you might try using similar creatives types — for example, if you like quizzes, you can go for similarly interactive and eye-catching lottery creatives. If you know native banner ads generally work well for you, check out live chat ads, which can also seamlessly blend in with the rest of the platform.

If you’re running your campaign on a CPC payment model, you will only be able to get as much traffic as a particular creative’s CPM will let you — there’s little room for improvement.

However, there’s a trick to boosting your CPM and thus your volumes. When you add more fresh creatives to the mix, they may show an increase in CTR, leading to new CPM being calculated.

Experimenting with frequency

One of the reasons why your conversion isn’t as high as you’d like it to be could be intense competition. Dealing with this issue isn’t easy, and it requires some experimentation — and tweaks to your frequency settings.

In some cases, it could be useful to have the same user see your ad twice in a single day at random times. Sometimes, it is important to show the ads at specific times of the day — in the morning before users go to work and in the evening when they return home, for example. Other times, you will only want to show your ad once a day.

  • A great way to switch things up is going from the 1/24 (1 ad per 24 hours) frequency model to 1/18. That will make it so only the most active users will see your ads. This type of frequency could be beneficial if you use incredibly eye-catching creatives, as those hyperactive users usually tend to have a high degree of ad blindness.
  • If you use incredibly unobtrusive native ads like Adsterra’s Smartlinks or Direct Links you can try removing the cap altogether. After all, they do not suffer from the same issues as their flashier cousins regarding ad blindness, and often involve a rotational system of creatives. The more creatives you use, the more value and traffic you will be able to gain from 0/24 capping (the zero signifies the absence of any cap).

Adjusting your frequency may not be very effective if your campaign is not yet well-optimised or if your creatives are lacking — that’s why this method was mentioned after the first two.

Bonus tip: Talk to your manager

Finally, here’s one extra tip: don’t be afraid to ask your manager for advice. This is probably the easiest and least expensive to boost your profit!

Most ad network managers, including the ones at Adsterra, have been professionally trained to help you to make your campaign as successful as it can be. Managers will also usually have a thorough understanding of the market as a whole and the current trends — it’s their job after all.

Final thoughts

Overall, boosting your traffic is all about 3 things:

  • Diversification
  • Optimisation
  • Branching out

Bids are just one tool: do not think that you are limited to them when it comes to boosting your traffic.

At the end of the day, increasing your profit is all about combining different strategies. Don’t forget to do proper testing after every change you make, though — otherwise, how will you be able to tell which changes actually boosted your traffic and which ones are just eating through your funds?

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