The real advantage --pros and cons to getting "'free traffic'" ?

Question

Thank you.

Answer 1

It depends where the traffic is coming from and what kind of website you operate.

If the origin of the free traffic is coming from a site related to your topic or keyword then I would say that this is definitely a pro.  An ecommerce site would likely convert more sales with this type of traffic.  If you just own a blog and want to get your name out then a related field is great for recognition as well. There aren't any real cons from traffic via a related site unless you get so much traffic that either you exceed your server bandwidth or the server shuts down.

If its offtopic traffic then an ecommerce site will not convert as many leads but this is not a con in iteself unless you are displaying Google Adsense ads, in which case it might cause your Adsense accct to be "priced"...yielding you lower prices on clickthroughs.  

Similarly, an traffic from an unrelated site to your blog is obviously not going to help you as much as direct targetted traffic but nonetheless you might get a few people to be interested in what you have to say, thus widening your reach.