How to find the right freelance traffic manager

Finding the right traffic manager can be tricky, because the role calls for a wide range of skills, which we’ll walk you through in this article.

Interested? Read on!

A traffic manager is, in a way, an audience hunter. Their job is to attract qualified traffic to your website — in other words, potential buyers. They also arbitrate between the various campaigns that make up the site’s main source of revenue (vertical ads, pop-ups, banners, etc.). So they are at the heart of your web brand’s advertising management, and they are the one who will manage your budget to grow your site.

Are you a company looking for a traffic manager to increase your traffic? In this article, I’ll guide you through the most important selection criteria to consider in your search. From experience to command of marketing tools, I’ll show you how to identify the highest-performing talent in the field.

What is a freelance Traffic Manager?

First of all, what is a traffic manager? You may have heard the term before without really knowing how to define the profession.

A freelance traffic manager is a specialist in web advertising and statistics. The role is essential for companies looking to attract a targeted audience and improve their online presence. A freelance traffic manager uses a variety of strategies and tools to increase the number of visitors to a website, which can translate into more sales, more leads and greater brand awareness.

They are the person who recommends advertising space as well as formats and creative angles depending on the type of campaign, the sector and the target. They then set up the campaign technically, making sure it is properly tracked.

A good freelance traffic manager must have a solid understanding of online marketing strategies and the tools needed to implement them. They must also be able to analyse data and make decisions based on campaign performance. Ultimately, their goal is to generate qualified traffic that converts into concrete results for the business.

Once your campaign is over, they must write up a report analysing its data and statistics. For example: did the number of users increase over period T, and why? Was it because a particular banner was changed, a pop-up was added, etc.?

The benefits of hiring a freelance traffic manager

Hiring a freelance traffic manager has many benefits for companies. Here are some of the main ones:

1. Specialist expertise: Freelance traffic managers are experts in their field. They have in-depth knowledge of online marketing strategies and best practices for increasing traffic.
2. Flexibility: A freelance traffic manager can be brought in for specific projects or for a fixed period, which lets you adapt to your online marketing needs.
3. Lower costs: Engaging a freelance traffic manager can be more cost-effective than taking on a full-time member of staff. By opting for a freelancer, you save on the costs of benefits, equipment and training.

What skills do you need to be a good traffic manager?

According to Yannick Podlinski, Team Leader at Donutz digital and SEA talent coordinator for dgitags.io, “a freelance traffic manager must be able to manage several projects, and therefore several accounts, at once, while working cleanly and putting themselves in the client’s shoes. A good traffic manager is someone who will be a good consultant, able to compete with an agency”.

Whether salaried or freelance, a good traffic manager must therefore master several skills, since their missions are very varied.

For example, they need purely technical skills:

1. Mastering the core advertising networks such as Google Ads. A traffic manager must constantly keep an eye on new digital trends in order to be innovative when setting up their ad campaigns. Google Ads changes very regularly, so these changes have to be taken into account. It’s also useful for them to master social network advertising platforms such as Facebook Ads, TikTok Ads or Instagram Ads.
2. Being comfortable with the various tracking tools (e.g. Google Analytics), retargeting tools (Nextperformance, etc.) and advertising back-offices. For Yannick, a good traffic manager must “be an analytics expert and be able to analyse this data in depth. They are able to interpret this traffic and get clients to make the right decisions”. This means understanding key metrics such as bounce rate, time spent on site, conversion rate, etc., and taking steps to improve these indicators.
3. Having a good marketing culture and knowledge of the associated tools (paid search, emailing campaigns, sponsored links, social SEO, affiliate marketing, online advertising, display…)
4. Having a good command of the advertising world (Data, RTB, etc.) and of the tools used to track ad campaigns and sponsored links (AdServer, etc.)
5. Having a good knowledge of Excel, statistics and data-mining techniques.
6. Using organisational tools such as Trello or Asana. These make it easier to organise your work, especially when you’re managing several projects at once.

They also need skills that fall more under soft skills:

1. Knowing all the habits of the users they want to attract to the site. They need to take an interest in the keywords you’ve typed, the time you spend on a given page, your clicks, etc. Tracking online ad campaigns helps them understand how customers behave and why they buy. This lets traffic managers allocate the budget more effectively.
2. Knowing how to allocate the right budget to promote the website or reach the right target. The traffic manager has to set up a whole process for managing your budget.
3. Having good organisational and analytical skills, looking at their own actions with a critical eye in order to keep improving their ad campaigns.
4. Enjoying relationships and teamwork, since they’ll be working with many contacts across marketing, sales and tech.
5. Writing skills are an asset, especially from an SEO point of view

To finish this section, there are also tools to “take with a pinch of salt” if you want to be a good traffic manager — Opteo, for example.

Opteo is a Google Ads management tool that recommends optimisations based on continuous monitoring of the account’s performance data.

According to Yannick, “this tool works like a chip: it plugs into Ads and provides statistics on client accounts. Analysing an account yourself can take 5 hours a week, whereas with Opteo it takes 5 minutes. So the client gets the impression the freelancer has given it their all because they were super fast. In reality, the data and advice provided by this tool are often out of context!”

Let’s take the following example to illustrate Yannick’s point:

One of your client accounts that sells clothing had fewer conversions at the end of July. Opteo will alert you.

In reality, this drop is due to the end of the sales period, so it’s normal to see a decrease in conversions.

So you need to stay vigilant when using certain tools that can distort your analysis work.

Now that you have a clearer idea of the skills required to be a good traffic manager, you’ll find it easier to find the expert who suits your needs.

How to find the best freelance traffic manager for your business

By following these tips, you can find the ideal professional to meet your needs:

1. Define your goals: Before starting your search, clearly define your goals. With clear goals, you can find a freelance traffic manager who specialises in the area you’re interested in.
2. Do thorough research: Take the time to look into several freelance traffic managers and examine their experience, skills and past achievements. Look at their portfolios and read reviews from previous clients to assess the quality of their work.
3. Ask for recommendations: If you know other entrepreneurs or online marketing professionals, ask them to recommend freelance traffic managers. Recommendations can be an excellent way to find trusted talent.
4. Hold interviews: Once you’ve identified a few potential freelance traffic managers, arrange interviews to discuss your needs and assess their fit. Ask them about their skills, working methods and rates. Also be sure to check their references to make sure they have a track record of success.
5. Draw up a clear contract: Once you’ve found the freelance traffic manager who best matches your needs, make sure you draw up a clear contract setting out the details of your collaboration. This includes goals, deadlines, rates and all other important terms.

We can do all of this hand in hand, because at Digitags.work we staff your teams with our freelance talent. We help you define your needs and your search, carry out a pre-selection, and handle contracting and project follow-up. Let’s talk about yours and find the traffic manager who’s right for you.

Examples of practical exercises:

• Client X would like to increase overall profitability by 1 (ROAS +1) next month. They will have the same budget as this month. What approach(es) could you suggest? Why?

• Give the candidate a screenshot of an e-commerce account in Google Merchant Center, for example, and ask them what action plan they would propose to the client. Then you can add the following question: “How far would you go to solve this problem if you were part of our team?”

Example of a practical exercise on Google Merchant Center

• Another example: from this screenshot, create a conversion goal for tracking, or create the perfect template.

Before giving a practical exercise, don’t hesitate to point out that there isn’t “one right solution”. What will interest the hiring manager is how the candidate argues for their choice, because several strategies are valid. What will be assessed is the approach taken.

Of course, you can end the interview by asking more classic questions such as:

• Their training
• Their previous clients and/or the companies they’ve worked for
• Examples of successful campaigns
• Their motivations
• Etc.

To sum up, according to Yannick, the essential qualities of a good traffic manager are “knowing how to analyse, being able to multitask, working cleanly and being self-disciplined”.

Once you’ve selected your traffic manager, you’ll need to define together the strategy and the goals you want to achieve. Once a strategy is in place, hold regular check-ins with your traffic manager to follow your project’s progress (for example, a one-hour call per week).

Tips for finding a freelance traffic manager

In conclusion, hiring a freelance traffic manager can be an excellent investment for your business. By choosing the right professional, you can improve your online presence, attract qualified traffic and increase your sales.

To succeed with a freelance traffic manager, here are a few key tips:

1. Clearly define your online marketing goals before starting your search.
2. Do thorough research and check freelance traffic managers’ references and testimonials.
3. Communicate effectively with the professional throughout the project.
4. Negotiate rates according to experience, project complexity and duration.

We hope this article has given you some tips for hiring the best freelance traffic managers, and made you want to work with our superb traffic manager Yannick!

See you soon ☺

On the same theme, have a look at the article “How to find the right freelance designer” if you’re looking for the ideal freelance designer!

Looking for a performance-focused digital marketing consultancy specialising in Pay-Per-Click, Paid Social, SEO, CRM, CRO and Google Analytics? Come and visit Donutz Digital.