The Traffic Framework

Tryin’ to build some buzz around your biz? 

You’ve noticed there are lots of paths up that mountain, right?

The path of paid traffic is an especially exciting one. It is also home to quiet, costly mistakes. We want to share the 30,000 foot view, and help you avoid those pitfalls.

But before we get to any grand revelations…

Background & Context

In early 2022, over the span of 2-weeks, Wabbit sent a long-form email series to a segment of our audience who previously expressed an interest in learning more about how they could best use paid traffic to generate awareness.

We wrote 11 emails for the series, each discussing critical concepts in paid traffic acquisition — each providing an assignment for the reader at the end.

The reception was incredible.

Two standout stats from the campaign:

Digest what you learn here, and see what happens when you begin to implement these concepts. When you have questions, come back to this page, join the conversation happening in the comments section, and ask us.

Paid vs. Organic Traffic

Let's take a moment to get on the same page about the difference between paid and organic traffic — and why you ought to care about either in the first place.

When Wabbits use the term organic traffic, we're referring to content which doesn’t need to pay for attention because it is so valuable that people will spread it on their own, without any direct incentive.

When you hear terms like SEO and SERP you are hearing terms related to organic traffic. All organic traffic generally comes as the result of your inbound marketing and SEO efforts

Paid traffic, on the other hand, is any traffic which originates from a platform (or other environment) where money is exchanged for awareness / action.

This could be a large platform (ie. Google or Facebook), or ad-space purchased on mass-media sites, blogs, forums, or other web-based assets.

We could also include print media as a paid traffic source — but, for the sake of keeping the conceptual waters clear, we will leave the discussion of tracking print media results for another time. Suffice it to say, unique yet memorable links are the general practice for tracking non-digital ads.

Engines & Systems

At Wabbit, systems theory governs a great deal of how we interpret the world around us. Over the years, we’ve come to believe that the most useful way to look at any business, is to view it as an interconnected, interdependent system. 

With that view in mind, it is a simple mental jump to make the connection that a steady flow of traffic must be the engine which keeps the business (system) running.

We can think of this engine as a sub-system whose sole purpose for existence is: reliably, consistently, and predictably generating awareness, interest, or desire for a business (or other endeavor, etc.).

For the purposes of this series, we use the term “engine” because, well… it fits, and…

It avoids the potential negative connotations of the term “traffic system.”

In the marketing world, the word “system” is often used to imply something “foolproof” that can be followed, step-by-step, task by task, with 100% guaranteed results.

That is not this.

In the real world, guaranteed results must be earned in the crucible of trial and error, if they can be had at all.

The wise know that no result worth having is free.

Which leads me to a question we hear a lot...

Why pay for traffic when I can get it for free?

It is profoundly important to acknowledge that “organic” does not mean free. We pay for ALL traffic with either time or money, and usually some combination of both.

No matter what path we take, there is a cost. That’s why the exchange of money is such a critical distinction in our definition of paid traffic.

Because time is also a currency we spend.

And there are a number of significant advantages to paying for traffic with more money than time:

• The major platforms are available 24/7 and (generally) immediately accessible
• You can get incredibly specific with your targeting (like, mind-blowingly specific)
• Data can be segmented and studied for insights that would be difficult to obtain in practically any other method
• You can instantly increase or decrease amount of traffic and the amount of money spent.
• User behavior can trigger other actions automatically, creating an infinitely more personalized experience for your prospects.

Yet, the truth remains… even with all these benefits, paid traffic remains a very expensive, very mysterious “black box” for many businesses (regardless of size) and, an unfortunate number of marketing professionals.

The end result is a rampant and mind-boggling amount of money in wasted ad spend.

If you’re like us, you want evidence of our claims, in the form of data. Well, we aren’t going to provide that data. Sorry. There is too much of it. 

I know… funny, not funny. 

Instead of firing mind bullets at yours truly, consider this:

If you go to your favorite search engine and search for “what’s a good CTR?,” you’re very likely to learn that it generally hovers between roughly 0.5-5%, depending on the channel.

That's the average across most business, regardless of size.