The Nuts And Bolts Of Traffic Exchanges
By Anna-Marie Stewart
Traffic Exchanges. What are they? How do they work? What do they do?
First of all, a "Traffic Exchange" is exactly that, a way to exchange
traffic, a way to get visitors to your site. This happens by you visiting
sites, in exchange for pageviews to your site.
There are LOTS of Traffic Exchanges out there. Some good, some bad, but
most of them work in basically the same ways. You join, visit sites,
refer others and build up credits.
There are 2 main types of Traffic Exchanges (there`s actually a few more
types of exchanges, but these are the ones we`ll concentrate on here):
Manual Surf and Auto Surf.
With manual surf, you have to click on a button to get to the next site,
with auto surf, you can sit back and watch the pages change
automatically, without having to lift a finger. Nowadays, the trend seems
to be that the exchanges offer multiple choices for surfing: manual,
auto, different timers (15, 20 or 30 seconds before next site). A lot of
them now offer games while surfing, as a chance to earn extra credits.
Traffic Exchanges give out credits and bonuses in a multitude of ways.
Some give bonus credits for signing up, or for referring others, or even
while you`re surfing the exchange, after you`ve visited a certain amount
of sites. Almost ALL Traffic Exchanges give you a percentage of the
credits your referrals build up, so it`s always a good idea to build a
good downline in them. Some exchanges let you use your credits in
different ways too: buying banner impressions, lottery tickets,
referrals, scratchcards, just to name a few.
One thing to take serious note of is the timers, and how long it actually
takes your page to load, If you`re using a 15 second timer, and your page
takes 20 seconds to load, people won`t see it before it`s time to click
on to the next site. The best pages to use in Traffic Exchanges are
small, fast loading, attention grabbing so-called "splash pages". You can
link to the page you want people to see from the splashpage, or add a box
where people can request more information via email. If you can make your
splash page interesting enough, then getting people to click a link on it
shouldn`t be too hard.
If what you need is a ton of quick hits to your sites, use autosurfers
with 15 second timers. You can still get signups/requests for more info
IF your site loads fast enough, and really yells out to the viewer. If
you want your site to actually be seen, with maybe better signup rates,
opt for the manual exchanges and 30 second timers. This forces people to
stay at your site longer, which in turn could make them pay more
attention to your site.
Be aware that a lot of Traffic Exchanges don`t allow the use of popups,
rotators or re-directors on whichever site you`re promoting, as they are
very hard to keep track of and can include very unsavoury stuff such as a
virus or even porn. It`s ALWAYS a good idea to use a popup killer when
you`re surfing the traffic exchanges. I personally use a program called
KillAd, which is brilliant in terminator mode....hehehe. Apart from the
risk of reaching "nasty" sites, popups can really drain your computers
resources, making it sluggish and slow.
Most Traffic Exchanges these days have both free and paid options, where
the paid option is basically just an enhancement of free, making it
easier to gain credits and referrals, although some of them DO allow you
to earn a commission on referral upgrades.
In closing: You will most likely come across "cheat" programs/software
made specifically to cheat the traffic exchanges.They work by racking up
credits for you, without you having to actually USE the exchange.
Whatever you do, DON`T use them! Apart from the fact that you`ll most
likely lose your accounts in the traffic exchanges, can you imagine if
everybody was using them? Nobody would see any sites, and nobody would
get any results.
Above all, keep all your promotional efforts honest.
===============Resource Box===========
What? You’re Not Making Money Yet? Find out
how REAL PEOPLE are making REAL MONEY Right
Now by grabbing your copy of Real Life Marketer
Interviews Vol. II http://annamarketing.com/int2x3.htm
======================================
This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine,
web site or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes
to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included.
(c) Anna-Marie Stewart All Rights Reserved
Do you have an article, a great hint or tip you would like to
share. Send us your ideas. All legitimate offers will be
accepted for review. This includes ezine ad swaps, article
submissions, link trades, and joint ventures. Send them
