What Is A Traffic Exchange?
by Stephanie Davies
Published on this site: June 22nd, 2005 - See
more articles from this month...
If you have surfed the internet for very long, you have
probably ran into what is referred to as a "traffic exchange".
These programs can be designed in many ways, with many different
functions. In this article we are going to cover what they
are, where to find them, and how to use them to actually receive
quality traffic as opposed to just plain "hits".
A traffic exchange is, simply put, an exchange of traffic.
The basic idea is to view other member's websites or ads,
and in exchange, different members will view yours. There
are 2 basic types of traffic exchanges available today:
- The manual surf exchange. In this type of exchange, you
anually click through the other members websites or ads.
Usually there is an anti-cheat method of some variety being
used to insure that the system is not being cheated. I can
assure you that any exchange that does not have an anti-cheat
system is being cheated by several people.
- The auto-surf exchange. This system is easier to use, but far
less effective. In essence, it runs automatically with no effort
on your part, changing websites or ads every so many seconds.
Obviously, if you don't even need to look at it to have it work,
chances are, people aren't viewing your ads either.
Most, if not all exchanges of both types will offer new members
free "credits" or visitors just for signing up.
This amount can vary between 50 free visitors all the way
up to 10,000 free visitors or more. However, in regards to
the exchanges offering an extremely high signup bonus, if
everyone is given 10,000 free credits upon signing up...who
is left to surf the exchange?
In addition to sign up bonuses, other things to pay attention
to when signing up for an exchange are surfing ratios, timer
rate, referral bonuses, and extra features.
All exchanges have surfing ratios. These can vary from 1:1
to 5:1 and up. What this means is that for every X amount
of times you view someone elses site, your site will be viewed
in return Y amount of times. So if there is a 3:1 surf ratio,
for every 3 sites you view, your site will be shown to someone
else one time.
All exchanges also have varied timer rates. This is the amount
of time that a website is shown to you before you can move to the
next site. Average timer rates are about 30-15 seconds per site.
On auto-surf exchanges, this is the amount of time before it automatically
switches to the next ad. On manual exchanges, this is how long you
must wait before you see the next site or else you will not receive
credit for viewing the site.
Most exchanges also offer referral bonuses, by giving you extra
credits for referring other people to the exchange (referred to
as a "downline"). Often, exchanges will give you part
of a credit for every
page your referrals surf.
Some exchanges offer nifty "extra" features, such
as lotteries, games, trivia for points, ways to bet your points,
and many other things to keep you from being bored as you
click away.
So now that you know what one is, how can you use it to actually
get traffic? Obviously people will view your site if they
see it in an exchange, right? Sadly, the truth is that this
is not the case. 95% of all traffic exchange surfers pay no
attention to the sites they are viewing, no matter how attractive
their design and content. They are focuses on the clicking
to get credits, or in the case of many traffic exchange "pros"
they have 20+ browser windows open and are clicking "next,
next, next" one after the other with little regard to
what is on the page before them.
But before you get discouraged, I do have good news for you! There
are ways to get people to actually look at your site and pay attention
to it! A few tips and tricks to use are:
- Don't make the page long and filled with text. In fact, a great
thing to do is to make a splash page that catches their attention,
with a "bookmark me" and "enter here" link.
With only a 10-30 second window to catch someone's eye, you have
to be loud, bold, and fast! Use obnoxiously bright colors, get
straight to the point, and offer a fast easy way for them to bookmark
you or open your site in a new window so it doesn't interrupt
their surfing. That is why is it a good idea to make a seperate
page that you use only for exchanges.
- Offer something that they want that they will see and stay for.
Free samples, free ebooks, and especially free advertising. Anything
that you can give them that will give them an incentive to take
a second look at your site.
- Get rid of the popups. Most exchanges won't allow more than
one popup window, if any. And when surfers hit a popup window,
or anything else that interrupts their quest for credits, it merely
annoys them and makes them want to leave your site faster.
It is possible to get visitors to your site, and signups for programs
using traffic exchanges. However you have to think like a surfer
in order to do so. You also have to be active in the exchange. Obviously,
the more people surfing, the more the exchange works.
So where can you find a good traffic exchange? I am about
to give you several links to the ones that I have found to
be the best of the best. I am personally a member of over
150 exchanges, and have a good idea of which ones are worth
surfing. All I ask is that you please use my referral link
given below.
http://www.trafficpods.com/index.jsp?ref=snlash
http://www.nomorehits.com/cgi-bin/start.cgi?referrer=snlash
http://trafficg.com/index.php?member=snlash
http://www.trafficroundup.com/newuser.php?ref=snlash1
http://www.trafficswarm.com/go.cgi?370497
http://hitsafari.com/newuser.php?ref=snlash
With this information you can make the most of traffic exchanges,
and get visitors and customers to your website. Happy surfing!
Stephanie Davies is a 26 year old Missourian with 10 years of
internet experience. She currently owns and operates 6 high profile
websites as well as her own handmade incense company, Mystickal
Incense & More at http://www.mystickalincense.com
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