Are there alternatives to search for high intent traffic?  In our quest to generate more leads, more quotes, and more sales online search has always been the gold standard for media buyers.  Unfortunately, it is also a very mature and competitive market making it very expensive.  That has driven us all to look for alternatives to search, what we will be looking at below are 4 of those.

Alternatives to Search for High Intent Traffic:

1.) Email – This is perhaps as old as search when it comes to generating high intent leads and clicks.  However, email is hard, very very hard to execute well. You need to nail your creative and your offer and then get it past the myriad of filters the ESP’s have in place.  This often means inconsistent delivery and lead flow pushing email to the realm of “complementary” rather than a pillar of your marketing strategy.

2.) Retargeting – This is great at keeping your brand top of mind with consumers and getting them to convert.  You also already know they are in-market because they have been to your site.  But therein lays the issue – you have to get them to your site in the first place which limits volume and scale significantly.

3.) Social Media – both the darling of digital media and perhaps the bane of our existence.  Social offers massive scale and incredible abilities to target users based on affinity, association, or behavior.  The downfall of social media is that if you are in “un-sexy” industries and trying to generate say insurance clicks it can be very difficult to get users to click through to your site.

4.) Click Exchanges – Vertically relevant click exchanges like clicksticonvert.com can provide you with an excellent cost-effective alternative to search traffic.  Click Exchanges provide you with a constant stream of shoppers who are in the market for your product or one very near to it.  These users have intent, are out price shopping and cost much less than search keywords.

In closing

We’ve talked about all of these being good alternatives to search for quality high intent traffic – but what drives the need for that? Search clicks are EXPENSIVE in the insurance clicks market some keywords can fetch upwards of $25 for a click! Comparatively clicks from email are closer to $3, from social media they can be as cheap as 50Cents.  Retargeting is a bit all over the place depending on your scale.  Finally, Click Exchanges offer you the ability to target precisely and bid up or down easily with click costs ranging from $1-$8. So there you have 4 solid alternatives to search to expand traffic to your site with high intent clicks.