Hands-free traffic kept me visible through the holiday period

“Hands-free traffic” is one of those phrases that gives off holy grail vibes. Three years ago SEO was the buzzword, but unless you’ve got a massive advertising budget to employ an agency to do SEO, or you have a degree in computer science, SEO in competitive niches is about as useful as the cliched ashtray on a motorbike.

To get hands-free traffic, then, you’re going to have to spend some (not necessarily a lot) of money to get visitors.

The Click Engine model

Programs like the Click Engine offer hands-free traffic services. The click engine operates on a very similar basis to the now-defunct Stumbleupon. People visit a rotator and view random sites. The click engine delivers around 100 visitors a month for me. If I invested some time visiting the sites myself, that could increase exponentially if I find myself in the top 3 visitors for the day- but then the traffic wouldn’t be hands-free would it?

I like the Click Engine, but I’m not doing cartwheels over it either. I think if I bothered to track the trajectory of visitors and signups over the past twelve months I would see a gradual decline in both key areas. I’m certainly not getting the number of recorded actions that I was getting even 6 months ago. Still, it’s a very cheap traffic-buying option and it’s something worth investigating.

Private Solo Ads

At the other end of the hands-free traffic spectrum is bought traffic from Internet Marketers who will share your email copy and link with a portion of their subscriber list. This has several advantages, namely that you are guaranteed a set number of visitors (anywhere between 50 and 5000) and these tend to be the most responsive traffic available. I’ve seen opt-in rates of close to 50% but usually expect an opt-in rate of around 25%

The downside of course is the cost. Some pirates (yes that’s what I call them) charge as much as 90 cents per click. The going rate seems to be around 50c per click. So it’s not cheap. I used to buy a lot of traffic from these sources and made it work by having a decent one-time off that would at least partially offset the cost. This area has no regulation and there are some very dubious characters operating in the market who will happily take your money and then direct your traffic to a low-quality traffic source like micro workers or a “paid sign up” site.

I restrict my involvement in this space to a handful of trusted sources who have proven to deliver the goods over a long period.

Hands-free traffic sources hidden in plain sight

Over the past month, 5 of my top 10 traffic sources can be classified as being either totally hands-free or partially hands-free. Several of these I’m guilty of neglecting until I ran up to the holiday period and was looking for ways to maintain my online presence while I took a break.

Here are my top 10 sources listed in order of traffic delivered with hands-free sources noted accordingly

Traffic Ad Bar continues to deliver serious traffic for me. I am a pro lite member (cost $9.95). This is the only traffic exchange that I “surf” daily. I usually do this on my phone while I’m walking the dog. Consistent daily involvement here pays off. My tracking results show 2149 visitors over the past 30 days Opt-in levels this month have fallen from 8 to 3. I’m not sure why. It’s something I need to monitor.
Join traffic ad bar free here

Technically a text ad exchange Viral Mailer For You consistently delivers results. I am a Diamond member and just renewed my 90-day membership for $35 without hesitation. The bulk of traffic here comes from the mailing and solo ad functions. So there is some work involved. Over the past 30 days, VMFY has generated 1809 visitors with 5 opt-ins – a very solid performance. If you’re not a member you can join Viral Mailer For You here

Pro members at Leads Leap get legitimate hands-free traffic that is genuinely responsive. Pro membership costs $19.95 per month and it’s money well spent. I spend zero time browsing ads on this site and last month received 1772 visitors with 20 recorded actions (opt-ins and sign-ups). To get the most out of this site you need to have at least 6 Pro ads in rotation. You can sign up for free here

A Christmas period surprise, Top Surfer has lain dormant in my marketing arsenal for the past 12 months. I repurchased a wholesale membership and the hands-free traffic has been flowing ever since. Wholesale membership costs just $10 and will give you 5000 hits plus discounted solo ad rates among other benefits. This month I received 1420 visitors and got 7 opt-ins. Wholesale membership gives you resale rights. Sell just one membership and you’re not only getting hands-free traffic, it’s totally free. Sell four of five and you’ve got yourself a nice little income stream
I’d suggest taking a month’s membership at first and seeing how it goes for you. This is one place I don’t recommend free membership. The wholesale membership is available here

Another hands-free traffic surprise. Fast N Furious Traffic is one of the 20 or so traffic exchanges in which Referral Frenzy provide monthly free advertising bonuses. I’ve just let that advertising add up over time and not done anything with it. I plugged it in this month and have been pleasantly surprised by the speed and responsiveness of the traffic delivered. I received 1331 visitors with 3 opt-ins. You can join Fast N Furious here but read my comments re Referral Frenzy below.

This wonderful hybrid advertising site continues to deliver quality visitors and results. As a pro annual member I get to email all active members every day and my site remains in rotation on the traffic exchange there provided I view 50 pages in a month. The last 30 days netted me 1200 visitors and 5 opt- ins. Join here

I’ve been sending out one solo ad a week from this site which hits the inboxes of 315 different advertising sites and over half a million members. It’s a classic case of the law of big numbers delivering results. I’ve received 1195 visitors with 3 opt-ins largely from places that I would otherwise not have spent any time on. Check Master Safelist Blaster out here

I’m upgraded at the 5000 button level here. That means I can email 5000 people every 3 days. To be honest I’m a little disappointed by my results here, but the numbers aren’t too bad. 1112 visitors with three opt-ins. Check out State of the Art Mailer here

I regard this site as a quality hands-free traffic source. I buy traffic packages at a relatively low cost and let my ads run. It has fallen a bit in the rankings because I neglected to top up my traffic for a week. Still, 1092 hands-free visitors with 6 opt-ins isn’t too shabby. If you’re not a member, you should be. They’ve just launched a mailing option at this site and it will be interesting to see what impact that has. Join Infinity Traffic Boost here

Another totally hands-free traffic source for me courtesy of the bonuses from Referral Frenzy AND Referral Builder Elite. This site delivered 1062 visitors and gained me one subscriber. Join Happy Pig Country here

The Referral Frenzy/ Referral Builder Elite Advantage

Referral Frenzy and Referral Builder Elite are two unique sites that offer outstanding value ina variety of ways. Referral Frenzy has a bulk mailing function that allows you to mail multiple sites at once. I’ve ceased using this, principally because I wanted to keep integrity in my tracking methods, but it sure can be a time saver. Referral Builder Elite will automatically fill in downline builders across a selected number of sites for you. Both of these functions offer value.

However, where I see the real value at both sites is the monthly bonus advertising package on offer at both sites. Referral Frenzy lists 90 mailers and 21 traffic exchanges where you can claim bonus advertising. Referral Builder Elite has a similar number of mailers and slightly more traffic exchanges. Not all of them are going to deliver results or traffic like Fast N Furious, but there are enough quality mailers listed to make the monthly cost well worth it. Heck, the results coming from Fast N Furious alone make the cost of a monthly membership at Referral Builder Elite worth it.

The monthly membership cost at Referral Frenzy is $15 per month($19 for promoters) and the cost at Referal Builder Elite is just $8.95. That’s where I’d start if I wanted hands-free traffic