| Traffic Exchange Primer |
Copyright (C) 2004 F. Terrence Markle
Traffic exchanges are everywhere. A traffic exchange is
a clever way to get hundreds or thousands of visitors to
your website. The concept is very simple and the exchange
process is easy to put into action. First, you join a
traffic exchange program that includes individuals with
websites to promote. Next, you set up the website you want
to promote. Finally, you visit the websites of the other
members and they visit your website in exchange.
There are both fr'ee and paid traffic exchanges. Some of
the exchanges are good and some are not so good. They come
in two basic flavors: manual surf and automatic surf. In
the manual surf mode, you have to visit a website for a
minimum period of time and then click on a button to visit
the next website in the rotation. In the automatic surf
mode, the websites are visited automatically for a specific
period of time before the next website is displayed. The
order of website visitation in both the manual and automatic
mode is controlled by the traffic exchange webmaster.
A rotator or randomizer can be used to display the member
websites one after another in either the automatic or manual
surf mode. The rotator will display a different website in
an order specified by the traffic exchange. In the auto surf
mode, the rotator usually displays websites for a specific
time period that usually ranges from 15 seconds to 60 seconds.
The randomizer, on the other hand, will randomly select the
website to be displayed. You earn credits as you view more
and more websites.
A traffic exchange will expose your website to many Internet
users on a worldwide basis. As a result, the exchange can
possibly give your website a lot of hits. Visualize the
traffic exchange in the same manner you would view a TV. The
exchange provides you with websites to view similar to
watching TV commercials.
The basic traffic exchange program works on the "credit"
principle. You earn a full or partial "credit" every time
you visit another member's website. In turn, you lose a
full credit whenever another member visits your website.
The typical exchange allows you to earn from 0.5 to 1.0
credit for every visit you make to another member's website.
You can usually obtain credits on the traffic exchange by:
* Viewing the websites of other members
* Referring other individuals to join the exchange
* Purchasing credits from the exchange's webmaster.
If you purchase credits, you generally have a higher rate of
conversion of credits earned and/or purchased versus credits
used when you receive visits from other members. You have
greater control over how you use your earned credits when you
pay to receive credits. It is possible to get a display
rate of your website that exceeds 1.0 for every 1.0 credits
you earned or purchased.
As an example, in the basic fr'ee mode you might have to use
2.0 earned credits to display your website 1.0 times to other
members. This is a 0.5 exchange rate. Depending on the
traffic exchange and the number of credits purchased, you can
increase the exchange rate up to about 2.0 displays of your
website to other members for every hit you receive.
Some exchanges offer a sign-up bonus (fr'ee earned credits)
to encourage you to join their traffic exchange. This enables
you to start getting visitors to your website immediately.
You have the ability to enable or disable your own website
for viewing by other members. If you enable your website,
other members can view your site and thus consume your account
credits. If you disable your website, other members cannot
view your website and you conserve your credits. This allows
you to continue to surf the other member websites and build
up your available credits for use at a different time.
The traffic exchanges specify whether or not you can have
multiple websites for display. However, you can only display
one website at a time if you are permitted to have multiple
websites. You can specify how many of your earned and/or
purchased credits can be applied to each of your websites.
Most exchanges have a referral program where you can earn
credits for the people that you refer to the traffic exchange
program and their surfing activity. As a bonus, you may
receive a certain percentage of their earned credits. Your
downline levels may be unlimited or limited depending on the
traffic exchange structure.
Most traffic exchanges earn money from the "purchase credits"
feature they offer and from advertisements. In general, an
exchange member can specify whether or not they want to see
popups, adult or erotic websites.
Most traffic exchanges have restrictions associated with your
use of the exchange. For example, exchanges generally specify
whether you can or cannot have: (1) popup windows, (2) message
boxes, (3) inappropriate content or adult material, (4) break
out of frames, (5) site rotation, (6) URL or domain forwarding
and (7) more than one account.
Furthermore, the traffic exchange may be able to delete your
account if: (1) your account is inactive for a given period of
time or (2) your website is causing problems for the exchange
system.
Some exchanges let their members sell their earned credits
for cash back to the traffic exchange. The rate of conversion
from earned credits to cash is controlled by the webmaster of
the traffic exchange.
Your website design and the time it takes for the website to
load are very critical when using a traffic exchange. Your
webpage will never get viewed if your site takes 15 seconds to
load and the exchange rotates the websites every 15 seconds.
You want to have at least a 10-second viewing window to give
the surfing exchange member time to respond to your webpage
presentation.
Keep your website clean of unnecessary clutter. You want
your visitor to make a quick decision whether to ask for more
information or pass on your offering.
Make your displayed website short and simple. Do not send
your visitors to the sales page on your main website. Provide
a killer headline followed by supporting bullets and ask for
their name and email address. Don't make it complicated.
Put the lure on the fishing line and give your visitors a
chance to say "yes" to your presentation. You need to get
your message in front of your visitor quickly. Capture their
name and e-mail address. You will have plenty of chances at
a later time to market to your list.
Traffic exchanges can bring you a lot of traffic. It will
take some work but the increase in your own opt--in list
will provide constant inspiration. You should consider the
benefits gained from traffic exchanges if you have the time
and proper motivation.
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Copyright © F. Terrence Markle - All Rights Reserved
F-R-E-E course on building a high-quality targeted list
"How To Build Your Own Opt--In Mailing List" at:
http://www.QuikSystems.com/OIC/OpInCourse.htm
F-R-E-E Ezine on building your targeted list at:
http://www.QuikSystems.com/EzineSub.htm
===============================================
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