Should I buy traffic or run my own iGaming campaigns?
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I've been thinking a lot lately about how to get steady get iGaming traffic for my projects. At first, I thought it would be straightforward, but the more I looked into it, the more I realized there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer.
Honestly, when I started out, I wasn’t sure whether I should just buy traffic or try to handle campaigns in-house. Both options seemed appealing but for different reasons. Buying traffic looked easy and fast. You pay, and visitors show up. Running campaigns yourself felt like it could give more control, but also sounded like a lot of work and guesswork.
At first, I leaned toward running everything in-house because I like understanding what’s happening with my campaigns. I wanted to experiment with different ad creatives, test targeting, and see what worked best. But after a few weeks, I noticed the results were inconsistent. Some days I’d have great traffic, other days almost nothing. It got frustrating because I didn’t have a big team or fancy tools, just a small budget and a lot of trial and error.
So, I decided to try buying traffic. At first, I was skeptical—would it really be worth the money? But it turned out that having a reliable source of visitors removed a lot of stress. Instead of worrying about whether my campaigns would perform today, I could focus on optimizing my site and user experience. Sure, it cost more upfront, but the consistency made a huge difference.
That said, I didn’t completely give up on in-house campaigns. What I ended up doing was a mix. I used purchased traffic to keep things stable and then slowly experimented with my own campaigns. This way, I could learn what works without risking too much. Over time, I started seeing patterns in my campaigns and could tweak them more confidently, knowing I had a baseline of traffic to compare against.
One thing I learned is that context matters a lot. If you’re just starting or don’t have a team, buying traffic can save you headaches. But if you enjoy testing, analyzing, and tweaking campaigns, in-house efforts can be rewarding. It’s less about one being better than the other and more about what fits your setup and patience level.
Another tip I found useful is keeping an eye on conversion quality, not just numbers. Sometimes bought traffic can flood your site, but the visitors aren’t always engaged. That’s when you realize the mix approach really helps—steady traffic plus targeted campaigns can balance quantity and quality.
So, my advice to anyone in the same spot: don’t stress about picking only one option. Try both in a low-risk way. Start with a small purchase to stabilize traffic, then slowly run small in-house campaigns. Over time, you’ll figure out the right balance for your own setup. If you want to check out a resource that helped me understand this balance, you can get iGaming traffic and compare strategies.
At the end of the day, it’s all about consistency and learning what works for your audience. Buying traffic can give you that baseline, while running your own campaigns teaches you the ropes. Both have their place, and honestly, experimenting with both made me feel more confident about scaling my projects.