Guide
Where you can buy traffic, and what each source is good for
Five ways to buy attention, ranked by how hard each one is to fake.
Every paid source sells you the same thing in the end: a person arriving at your page. What changes is how that person got there, how much intent they carry, and how easy it is for someone to sell you a machine instead.
The five you will actually consider
| Source | You are paying for | Hard to fake? | Starts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search ads | Someone who typed a question | Yes, the platform is the counterparty | Hours |
| Social ads | Interruption of someone scrolling | Yes, same reason | Hours |
| Native and display networks | Placement on someone else's page | Mixed, depends on the network | Days |
| Newsletter sponsorship | A slot in a specific issue | Mixed, you are trusting one publisher | Weeks, issues are booked ahead |
| Solo ads | A dedicated send to someone's list | This is the one that needs checking | Days |
Why intent beats volume every time
A person who searched for the thing you sell is further along than a person who saw your banner. That is the whole argument for search ads, and it is why search clicks cost more. The trade is straightforward: search gives you fewer, more expensive, more ready people. The other sources give you more people who were not thinking about you at all.
Where small operators get into trouble is treating those as interchangeable because both are quoted per click. They are not the same unit. Compare cost per outcome, and if you cannot measure the outcome yet, do not compare at all.
The one that needs a guide of its own
Four of the five above have a large company sitting between you and the seller. Solo ads do not. You are buying from an individual with a mailing list, and the only thing standing between you and a bad one is what you checked first. That is why solo ads get their own section here.