what is it and how does it work?

Traffic arbitrage is the process of buying Internet traffic on one platform and then selling it on another in order to make a profit. This term is most often used in the context of online marketing and advertising. The main idea of ​​arbitrage is to buy advertising at one price and sell it at another, higher price.

Traffic arbitrage specialists are sometimes compared to sales agents. And this is not surprising. The fact is that the principle of an arbitrator’s work is to attract people to the client’s website. Payment for the work is received only after the client receives a new lead. Everything is quite simple: if a traffic arbitration specialist does not bring visitors to the client’s website, then he does not receive payment. If the affiliate has applied the most effective methods of work and has worked hard to attract new leads, then he receives a decent payment.

Basic terms

Before we talk about traffic arbitrage, what it is and how it works, let’s look at the basic terms:

• Arbitration: This is the redirection of traffic from one source (advertising platform) to another (offer) in order to make a profit.
• Offer: an offer from an advertiser for which he is willing to pay the webmaster for an attracted user.
• Affiliate network: an intermediary between the advertiser and the webmaster, who provides access to offers and tools for their promotion.
• Webmaster: a specialist who is involved in attracting traffic to offers.
• Traffic: the flow of users going to the site or landing page.
• Traffic source: an advertising platform from which the webmaster attracts traffic.
• Conversion: the user performs a target action on the offer (registration, purchase, subscription).
• Lead: A potential customer who has expressed interest in a company's product or service but has not yet made a purchase.
• CPA (Cost Per Action): cost per action, the cost of the user performing the target action.
• CPL (Cost Per Lead): price per lead, cost of attracting a potential client.
• Cases: descriptions of successful advertising campaigns that may be useful to other webmasters.
• CPA network: an affiliate network that specializes in CPA offers.

How an arbitrator works: let’s take a closer look

In 2024, all 3 ways of making money by attracting customers for a client are common. For example, if we consider what is traffic arbitrage In the case of online psychologist services, there are three possible options for cooperation:

1. A psychologist sells his consultations for 1000 UAH. At the same time, an arbitrator can purchase traffic through several tools: make a website, promote a page on a social network, and so on. As a result, for one attracted client, a specialist can receive, for example, 300 UAH of remuneration.
2. The second option, the least popular, is that the psychologist does not pay a commission to the arbitrator, and he sets his own earnings. As a result, the cost of a psychologist’s services for a patient increases exactly by the added value.
3. The third option, which is actively gaining popularity, is the cooperation of arbitrage traders and clients through CPA networks, which are exchanges with convenient conditions that are beneficial for all parties. We will consider this option in more detail in the next section.

Traffic arbitration via CPA networks

Imagine that you have decided to promote your services on the Internet and to do this, use the services of a traffic arbitrator. You probably have many questions: where to look for a specialist, how to control his work, how much money to pay, and much more. The CPA network does all this for you.

This is a platform that itself searches for an arbitrator, fully controls the work process and guarantees the quality of work. In addition to the advantages for the client, there are many advantages for specialists working in the field of attracting clients:

• Accessibility: Almost anyone can get started.
• Small budget: no large investment required to start.
• Wide range of offers: the ability to choose an offer that suits your interests and skills.
• High earning potential: opportunity to earn unlimited amounts.

Popular CPA networks in 2024: Admitad, Cityads, Otclick, Godesigner, M1-Shop.

What exactly does an arbitrator do?

Arbitrator

– this, to put it in a few words, buys traffic in one place and sells it further. At the same time, he receives the difference between the invested funds and the money received from the client. Let's look at the process in more detail:

1. There is an offer from a client (for example, you need to attract users to the site who will subscribe).
2. This person or company turns to an arbitrator, who, in accessible and effective ways, begins to attract people who can potentially take the necessary action (in this case, subscribe to the target site).

To do this, a webmaster can use different methods of attracting traffic:

• Purchase of advertising on social networks;
• Targeted advertising;
• Creation of a separate website or page;
• And so on.

3. Accordingly, the webmaster invests his funds in attracting potential visitors to the client’s website who can subscribe.

4. Based on the results, the affiliate earns the difference between the amount paid for all visitors who subscribed to the target site and the money spent to purchase traffic.

What does an arbitrator’s earnings depend on?

If you carefully read the previous section, you might have noticed that a webmaster can earn completely different amounts of money for attracting traffic, and sometimes even go into the red if more money is spent on attracting traffic than ultimately received from the client.

The salary of a traffic acquisition specialist depends on the following points:

1. Proper distribution of funds for the purchase of traffic.
2. Process analytics in each specific case.
3. Ability to quickly make decisions and change strategy if necessary.
4. The generosity of the customer.

A good affiliate marketer must simultaneously have the ability to analyze tools for attracting traffic, and at the same time be able to competently and beautifully create the necessary tools for advertising. Sometimes it happens that a webmaster knows how to write beautiful one-page sites, but does not know how to competently analyze the possibilities. Sometimes, on the contrary, a person can be an excellent analyst, but have no experience in writing attractive online pages. In such cases, specialists can work in pairs, increasing capabilities and efficiency.

Webmaster earningsactivities involved in attracting visitors to target resources can vary widely. With good training, competent analytics and the ability to work with clients, monthly earnings can easily amount to thousands of dollars.
But it is important to remember that any affiliate marketer invests his initial funds not only in training, but also in purchasing traffic. The larger the initial budget, the greater the profit can be. The main thing is act wisely with a clear strategy for every project.

White and gray ways to attract traffic

As in many other fields, there are different ways of working. If we talk about attracting traffic, we can divide methods into white (absolutely legal, honest and transparent) and gray (not prohibited, but not the most honest and beautiful).

White ways:

• SEO: optimizing a website for search engines so that it ranks high in search results for targeted queries.
• Contextual advertising: placing ads in Yandex.Direct, Google Ads and other advertising networks.
• Targeted advertising: displaying ads to users who meet specified criteria (age, gender, interests, etc.).
• Social networks: promoting a website or product on social networks (Facebook, Instagram, VKontakte, etc.).
• Email marketing: sending letters to subscribers with information about products, promotions and discounts.
• Content marketing: creation and distribution of useful content (articles, videos, infographics) that attracts the target audience.

Gray methods:

• Spam: sending advertising emails to unsolicited addresses.
• Phishing: Sites designed to deceive search engines and users.
• Show users and search engines different versions of the site.
• Buying links: artificially increasing the link mass of a site to increase its position in search results.
• Boosting behavioral factors: artificially increasing the number of page views, clicks and other indicators.

Important: using gray methods can lead to sanctions from search engines and advertising platforms.

Recommended: use only white-hat methods of attracting traffic that provide long-term results and do not pose risks to the site.

Basic tools for arbitrageur work in 2024

A competent and experienced webmaster working in this field uses a large number of tools, among which are:

• Trackers are tools that allow you to track statistics and optimize costs, increasing profits. One of the popular trackers in 2024 is Adobe Analytics.
• CPA networks are convenient intermediaries between clients and webmasters. Admitad is popular.
• Tools for quick and easy creation of one-page websites. For example, Tilda.
• Chatbots are services that greatly simplify communication with potential clients. ManyChat and Chatfuel are very popular in 2024.
• Services for working with content (writing texts, creating photographs, maintaining pages on social networks). In this case, it is worth noting freelancehunt – a service where you can find a competent freelancer specializing in content.

What skills should a successful arbitrator have?

If you want to achieve great success in this field, then you must be able to:

• Set up targeted advertising;
• Communicate with bloggers;
• Create and maintain pages on social networks;
• Write one-page websites;
• Understand SEO optimization of content;
• Good at analyzing data.

Today there are many online tools that train webmasters all these skills. The main thing is to choose the optimal course and listen to all lectures carefully. Choose traffic arbitration training from proven and reliable projects that have successful working cases. It is also advisable to work with a good initial advertising budget (from $500) and be ready to experiment.

Traffic arbitrage training

Let's consider an important aspect of training specialists in the field of traffic arbitration – training. For those who want to master traffic arbitrage and become a sought-after specialist, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with four current courses that will help you with this.

Netology

Netology offers a comprehensive training program for traffic managers, which includes setting up targeted and contextual advertising. The training program lasts 9 months and includes both theoretical training and practical assignments. Students get the opportunity to complete an online internship and work on real projects.

Skillbox

Skillbox offers a course for traffic managers, which is aimed at setting up effective advertising on VKontakte, Yandex.Direct, Yandex Promo Pages, Telegram and myTarget. Students will learn how to launch advertising campaigns with real budgets and add these cases to their portfolio. This course has been prepared taking into account changes in the market and its duration is 4 months. It includes working with clients and developing business communication skills.

ConvertMonster

Academy of Digital Marketing ConvertMonster offers a course that is not sold separately and is available in the Marketing Monster Bundle. The training program covers all aspects of traffic arbitrage, from media planning to analytics of the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Particular attention is paid to working with various traffic sources and choosing optimal promotion strategies.

Interra

Rate from Interra offers traffic arbitrage training from scratch. The program is designed for beginners and covers all key aspects of the profession, from the basics of Internet marketing to setting up advertising campaigns on various social networks and platforms. The training includes practical assignments, group work and individual consultations with experts. Upon completion of the course, students receive a certificate and assistance in finding employment.

The choice of course depends on your goals, level of preparation and preferences in teaching methods. It is important to approach the choice of training program responsibly, taking into account the relevance and practical orientation of the program.

Conclusions: who needs all this?

Both parties benefit:

1. A webmaster can earn good money by reselling traffic. The main thing is to have good analytical skills, a desire to learn and initial capital.
2. Customers receive the maximum benefit – clients come to their resource with the help of intermediaries. The flow of clients can be very good and constant. The main thing is to find an experienced arbitrator who knows how and loves to work.

Now you know,

what is arbitration

, and the basic principles of work in this area. Put this knowledge into practice and achieve real success.