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How to start earning arbitrage traffic with minimal investment

How to start earning arbitrage traffic with minimal investment

Traffic arbitrage is a business model based on buying internet traffic in one place and then reselling it in another at a higher price. The difference between the cost of attracting a user and the income from his target action (lead) is the profit of the arbitrageur. Many beginners mistakenly believe that tens of thousands of dollars are needed to start in this field. In fact, you can start arbitrage traffic earnings with a minimal budget. The main thing is the right approach, strategy and willingness to learn.


This area attracts high potential profitability and the opportunity to work remotely from anywhere in the world. However, the apparent simplicity hides the need for in-depth analysis, constant testing and optimization of advertising campaigns. Without understanding the basic principles, even a large budget can be drained in a few days. Therefore, starting with minimal investments is not only a way to save money, but also the best school for a novice specialist. It makes you think, look for innovative solutions, and appreciate every cent invested in advertising.

What is traffic arbitration in simple terms

Imagine that you have found a wholesale supplier of apples that sells them for 10 rubles per kilogram. You buy 100 kilograms from him, and then you find a market where people are willing to buy the same apples for 30 rubles per kilogram. You rent a small point in this market, sell all the apples and make a profit. In this analogy, apples are Internet users (traffic), a wholesale supplier is an advertising network (for example, Facebook or TikTok), and a market is an affiliate program or a direct advertiser who pays for targeted actions. Your profit is the difference between the income from the affiliate program and the advertising expenses.


The target action that an advertiser pays for can be anything: registering on a website, installing an app, filling out a loan application, or purchasing a product. The payment model is called CPA (Cost Per Action). It is within the framework of CPA marketing that there is arbitrage traffic earnings. Your task as an arbitrageur is to find a combination of "traffic source + offer + creative" that will bring stable income.

Choosing the vertical and the offer to start

A vertical is a niche or category of offers. For beginners with a limited budget, it is critically important to choose the right vertical. Complex niches such as finance (loans, microloans) or gambling (online casinos) require large investments in tests and often have a high entry threshold. It is better to start with simpler and more understandable verticals.

  • Nutra: Health and beauty products. These can be weight loss products, anti-aging creams, vitamins. In this vertical, offers with the CPL (Cost Per Lead) payment model are often found, where they pay for a confirmed application. This reduces the risks, as you don't have to wait for the customer to redeem the product.

  • Merchandise (E-commerce): The sale of physical goods of wide demand. For example, gadgets, household goods, clothes. It is important to choose offers with a low lead value in order to minimize the cost of tests.

  • Sweepstakes: Sweepstakes for valuable prizes (for example, a new iPhone). The user only needs to leave their contact information to participate. The lead fee here is very low, which makes the vertical attractive to start with. This is a great way to get your hands full and understand how arbitrage traffic earnings work.

When choosing a specific offer in a partner network (CPA network), pay attention to parameters such as the bid (payout amount), allowed traffic sources and geo (countries in which you can advertise the offer). To start, it is better to choose countries with low-cost traffic, the so-called Tier-2 and Tier-3 (for example, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe). Traffic in the USA or Western Europe (Tier-1) costs significantly more.

Traffic sources for a minimum budget

The choice of the traffic source directly affects the size of the initial investments. Large platforms such as Google Ads or Facebook require serious budgets and moderation skills. Alternative sources are better suited for a beginner.

  1. Teaser networks. These are networks where advertising is an intriguing picture with a short text ("teaser"). The traffic here is relatively cheap, which makes it possible to conduct tests at minimal cost. Teaser networks are well suited for the interior and merchandise. The cost per click can start from a few cents.

  2. Push notifications. Advertising in the form of pop-up notifications on a computer desktop or smartphone screen. This format is characterized by high engagement and low cost. Push traffic is perfectly converted on sweepstakes and some product offers. This is one of the most affordable ways to start arbitrage traffic earnings.

  3. Social networks (shareware methods). Creation and development of thematic communities or accounts on Instagram, Telegram, TikTok. You can publish content that is interesting to your target audience and embed affiliate links in it natively. This method requires time and effort, but it allows you to start with almost no financial investment.

  4. Pop-up and Pop-under traffic. These are aggressive advertising formats where the advertiser's website opens in a new window on top of or under the main browser window. The traffic here is very cheap, but its quality is lower. Nevertheless, for some offers, for example, for installing applications or sweepstakes, it can be profitable.

When starting to work with a new source, do not pour in the entire budget at once. Allocate a small amount (for example, 50-100 dollars) for the tests. Your task at this stage is not to earn money, but to collect data: which audience responds better, which creatives generate more clicks, and which "creative landing" bundle generates conversions.

Creating creatives and prelanding

Creative (advertisement) and prelanding (intermediate page) are the key elements of any arbitration bundle. Their quality directly determines whether a user clicks on an ad and performs a targeted action.


Creativity should attract attention, arouse interest, and motivate you to make the transition. For this, vivid images, intriguing headlines, and a clear Call to Action are used. You don't need to be a professional designer. Often, the simplest and most "lively" creatives, similar to user-generated content, work better than polished studio images. Use online editors such as Canva to create ads quickly.


Prelanding, or "padding", is a page that "warms up" the user before he gets to the main landing page of the offer. It is needed to increase trust and increase conversion. Prelanding can be done in the form of a personal blog, news article, review, or success story. For example, for a weight loss offer, prelanding can tell the story of a girl who lost weight using this tool. This approach makes arbitrage traffic earnings more efficient. To create prelanders, you can use simple website builders or copy and adapt existing successful solutions that can be found using spy services.

Analytics and optimization: the key to profit

Traffic arbitration is not about luck, but about numbers. Without constant data analysis, you will not be able to build stable ** arbitrage traffic earnings**. You need to track a lot of metrics to understand what works and what doesn't.


The main metrics worth paying attention to:

  • CTR (Click-Through Rate): The percentage of users who clicked on your ad. A low CTR indicates that the creative is not engaging the audience.

  • CR (Conversion Rate): The percentage of users who completed the target action after switching to the landing page. A low CR may indicate problems with prelanding, landing, or a mismatch of traffic with the offer.

  • EPC (Earnings Per Click): Average revenue per click. Allows you to quickly assess the profitability of traffic.

  • ROI (Return on Investment): The return on investment ratio. The main indicator of the success of the campaign. It is calculated using the formula: ((Income - Expense) / Expense) * 100%. A positive ROI means that you are working at a plus.

Trackers are used to track these indicators. Tracker is a special software that collects all statistics on your campaigns in one place. It allows you to conduct split-testing (A/B testing) of landing pages, pre-landing pages, creatives and determine the most effective elements of the bundle. To get started, you can use cloud trackers with a free or low-cost tariff. Investing in a tracker is one of the most important at the start, since without analytics arbitrage traffic earnings turn into a lottery.

Scaling successful bundles

When you have found a bundle that consistently brings positive ROI, the scaling stage begins. This is the process of increasing traffic volumes to make more profit.


The zoom can be vertical or horizontal. Vertical is an increase in the budget for an already running advertising campaign in the same source. Horizontal is the transfer of a successful bundle to other traffic sources or other geo. For example, if your push traffic + swipe offer bundle works well in Brazil, you can try launching it in Mexico or Colombia. Or test the same offer on teaser networks.


When scaling, it is important to act gradually. A sharp increase in the budget can "break" the campaign: the algorithms of the advertising network will start showing your ads to a less relevant audience, and the indicators will drop. Increase your daily budget by 15-20% and keep a close eye on the metrics. Successful scaling is the pinnacle of skill that turns a small arbitrage traffic earnings into a serious business.