Issue 113

One To Click On by Jon

Welcome to the new issue of Hit Exchange News!

What is the future? I have been asked to speak at an upcoming Nexus Exchange live seminar on Tuesday December the 13th at 10pm Eastern. The topic is simple enough but an intriguing debate for sure. What is the future of the traffic exchange industry?

Here's what I have seen in the past 6 years of being involved with this business. Every few months, it seems like 'the end is near'. We hear debates on various forums and chat rooms as some owners take drastic measures to improve their service but at the end of the day, the industry keeps growing. People are still joining the exchanges and people are seeing results.

What is the future of the traffic exchange? As many have noticed one of the oldest exchanges on the net disappeared without warning a few days ago, so should we be alarmed?

As 2005 comes to a close, I have my own opinion on what I think this business will look like in the next 365 days. I see a bright future ahead, but it is in our hands. Owners and surfers will determine where we go from here.

Be sure to join me this Tuesday to continue this hot topic and have your say on where you think this business is going for 2006!

Thanks for reading this week's issue of Hit Exchange News!

Jon Olson
The Traffic Exchange Guy

Want to have your say? Do you agree, or disagree? Why not visit the Net Marketing Forums and join a community of REAL people, building ideas and businesses...Together!

In This Issue

The News

The HEN Top Ten

Deep Thoughts

Tony's Thoughts

Program Review -- Test Hoopla

Things the make you go...Hmmmm

Advertising Options

The News

• The big news this week is the cancellation of one of the first traffic exchanges on the net, NoMoreHits.com. About a week ago a message appeared on the web site that stated on December 1st the program would go offline for good. No reason, no attempt to find a new owner, just a ridiculous plug for some autoresponder service as a viable 'alternative' to No More Hits. I say good! While it's sad to see one of the original exchanges gone, the newer owners of this program did nothing to improve it or even attempt to help out their current membership. I cannot even remember the last time there was an update. Big or small, if you a running a program into the ground, it's reputation will down hill.
• Peter Kelly has been a busy man these past few months. After taking control of WebmasterQuest, the owner of TrafficG has launched a brand new program called AdsVert.com. This new program is based upon a text ad exchange that targets potential visitors by not only the category they choose but also geographic location. A great new program that is sure to attract a brand new market into our little side of the internet! Be sure to check this program out!
• Speaking of targeting viewers by geographical location, TrafficMeet.com now allows members to decide whether you want page views from the United States or Europe with their innovative new targeting system. Could this be a sign of things to come? Traffic exchanges that deliver page views to specific regions on the globe?

The HEN Top Ten results are based on traffic statistics (unique hits, traffic flow, hits delivered, traffic quality) and a touch of good old fashioned 'opinion'. The industry changes just like in the real world, so an exchange may not be on the list this week, but will be number 1 next week! Discuss this week's Top 10 list in the Net Marketing Forum!

Enjoy this week's list!

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Hey Jon, how come I Love Hits, Click Crazey and SWAT Traffic are never on the top 10 list? Since I own them, I feel it would be a conflict of interest to place it on any of my rankings. If you want to see how well they are performing each week, please check TestHoopla top 20 weekly ranking!

Deep Thoughts - Feature Articles

Deep Thoughts by Jon Olson

Here's my latest 'idea' for Hit Exchange News. It will be called the 'Splash Page Hall of Fame' where every week or so, I will feature a splash page that grabbed my attention, was unique and *gasp* had a creative design.

I'm not sure how I will include it, maybe in the news section but it's in here for now. As I surf the exchanges I will find one splash page that I think should be discussed and reviewed in HEN. The point of this new feature is to showcase creative splash page designs and the unique traffic exchange surfers that created it!

Check out this week's Splash Page Hall of Fame by clicking here!

O.k., the first thing that grabs me is the comedy of this splash page. This is Tim Whiston's newest splash page for his amazing e-book, Net Marketing Exposed, and Tim has fun with this page. It'll make you laugh and more importantly it will keep your attention. He adds his picture to brand his name / image, creates curiosity and then offers an opt-in form at the bottom to get more information. This is a perfect splash page. Creative, funny and grabs the viewers attention!

I'll keep featuring splash pages each week that really catch my attention, so get your creative juices flowing and build those pages!

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Need a unique splash page created for you? Be sure to check out Hit Exchange Survival Kit's Splash Page Design service!

Tony's Thoughts by Tony Tezak

Back to Basics!

Some of you will laugh about what we are to cover today. Go ahead and laugh, but there are folks out there who do not know the basics of working online.

Before one even thinks about spending a dime on any program, software, product or any thing else is your 'store' in working order. Your store is a computer. It's just like an automobile! Do you have a computer that is in working order? It is going to be a difficult task working online with only a dial up connection to the interent. If you are using dial-up, your first investment ought to be a better connection to the internet.

If you do not know how to copy and paste, learn from somebody....a neighbor, a relative, a sponsor or do a search for 'copy and paste' on Google. There are 28,600,000 entries for you to choose. There are people who are typing urls.

Somewhere on your computer is something called 'My Documents'. If you do not know anything about "My Documents', good 'ol Google has 151,000,000 entries for you to choose. Everyone should have a folder to include all your programs. The first entries in this folder ought to be all your personal information....name, address, telephone number, email addresses, and messenger info. If you keep it in the folder, there is no need to ever type the information again...copy and paste it.

In this folder.....in alphabetical order is every program you have joined. You will want your referral url, surfing url, user name, and log in information to include your password. There is never a need again to type any of this information....copy and paste it.

Once you have all the information for all your programs, download the file to a disk. This way when your computer crashes and it will crash someday, you will have all this information on a disk. Here is the important part, keep the file and disk up to date. I update my file as changes occur and update my disk about every two weeks.

If you are going to extensively use traffic exchanges, I recommend a tabbed browser. I use Mozilla FireFox, but there are many and I won't tell you FireFox is the best. It works for me. Talk with your contacts, experiment, or again go to good 'ol Google and review its 1,620,000 entries for 'tabbed browser'.

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Tony Tezak is the author of Hit Exchange Secrets and webmaster of Traffic Edge. A traffic exchange enthusiast for years, Tony has become one of the most well known personalities in the business and arguably one of the most successful. If you do not agree with this review or would like to comment on it, please be sure to visit the NMF and have your say!

Program Review - Test Hoopla

Huh? A review of a testing report? I think this is the perfect place to review one of the longest running weekly information resources this industry has ever seen. Originally called the Hit Exchange Report, Test Hoopla is the brain child of long time exchange surfers Bill Carr and David Fotheringham.

Test Hoopla is a very good companion to your surfing schedule. I look forward to the report each and every Tuesday at midnight because while I have stressed the importance of tracking your own stats, I find it very useful to compare them to the Test Hoopla numbers. You can cross reference the numbers between your own stats and the Top 40 exchanges of the week as reported by David and Bill.

It's the perfect add on to any serious traffic exchange surfer's weekly plan of attack and a great way to start the week. While it's true, you should get into the habit of tracking your own results, the Test Hoopla team gives you an unbiased and reliable report card for the programs each and every week.

And hey, you may actually get an idea of where I Love Hits' ranks because it's still never going to go on my Top 10 list (those crazy things called ethics *lol*)...

Uptime: 5.0
Features / Bonuses: 4.0
Site Design: 4.0 out of 5.0
Customer Service: 4.0 out of 5.0
Ease of Use: 3.5 out of 5.0

Overall Rating: 4.0 Mouse Clicks (Rating out of 5.0)

Have a look at Test Hoopla!

Things That Make You Go...Hmmm? (A 'Different' Look at the Industry!)

• Who needs a Free Ad Forum when you've got The Free Advertising Blog! Cool concept. Hmmm....
• Now that looks great! TrueViewTraffic's got a very nice new look, this should go along well with the unique concept! Hmmm....
• Only 18 more days until....The day my home becomes a trash depot for wrapping paper? Hmmm....

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Comments and Suggestions

That's it for this week folks, thanks again for subscribing to Hit Exchange News. Next week we will continue to bring you useful information and late breaking hit exchange news.

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Have a good week everyone and may the CLICK be with you!

Jon G. Olson
Publisher / Editor - HitExchangeNews.com