Issue 116One To Click On by JonWelcome to the new issue of Hit Exchange News! This is the last issue of Hit Exchange News for 2005. It's been a very eye opening year for not only my businesses, but a 'wake up call' for the traffic exchange industry as well. This week we've got a great year in review article by Tony, which should get some people talking so I thought I would give my two pennies on the year that was in the traffic exchange industry here. The biggest change I have seen over the past 365 days has been the realization that improperly run traffic exchanges, whether they are new or old, do not stand a chance with the progressive exchanges of today. No More Hits, one of the first exchanges ever, went offline only a few weeks ago and this was proof that owning and operating a traffic exchange is not as easy as it once was thought to be. As 2005 comes to a close, I see a bright future for the exchanges and for everyone involved with this form of advertising. The secret to all our success will be to have patience (not jump the gun after a month of surfing) and to use and promote the traffic exchanges that deliver what is promised. In other words, go with what works for you, track your own stats and get the results you deserve! Have a great New Year celebration, and I'll see you in 2006! Thanks for reading this week's issue of Hit Exchange News!
Jon Olson
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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!
Analysis and Tracking by HitsConnect.com - The Official Link Tracking Service of Hit Exchange News! Sign up today and get your 30% Discount! 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! |
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Deep Thoughts - Feature Articles
Deep Thoughts by Jon Olson"2006 - The Year of the Auto Surf Exchange???" O.k., disclaimer first. I have never been a fan of auto surf exchanges. I rarely use them, if ever and have even done my part to try to promote the benefits of manual surfs over the auto surfs in countless issues of HEN. Now that I've got that out of the way, let's state the obvious. Auto surf exchanges are immensely popular. These programs make manual surf exchanges like guppies in an ocean. As much as it pains me to say it, the auto surf industry may be headed to bigger and better things in 2006. Let's look at the numbers, while a decent sized manual traffic exchange has 5,000 members, a small auto surf program would have 20,000. When manual surfers complain about not seeing results (a.k.a. not using splash pages) the auto surfers rave about the money they make and the hands free surfing the do. Is this a good thing? I mean, I have my opinion, but I just cannot ignore the obvious. Auto surf programs are here and people love them. This does not mean I'm going to be surfing them or even promoting them, however I think that 2006 will be a very good year for not only our little side of the industry but for the auto surfs as well. There is a lot of attention, outside of the traffic exchange industry, being focused on the auto surfs. And while the majority of it is not glorious publicity, it will be interesting to see what happens to them in 2006. Will they continue to grow? Or will they fade away? We'll see in a few months....
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Tony's Thoughts by Tony TezakThe Traffic Exchange Year in Review The traffic exchange business was mixed bag of successes and failures this past year. The following are the highlights as far as I am concerned. Traffic Syndicate 25 and Traffic Pods explosive growth was the top story. The numbers of people surfing 1000s of pages per day, day after day, in these exchanges is unbelievable to me. These exchanges have low uniqueness factors, but have delivered great results for some. I was able to build an extensive 1st level in a traffic exchange in a short 60-90 days using just these two exchanges. The introduction of the floating surf bar at AdvertisingKnowHow and ClickCrazey was a major, new innovation. Also, these exchanges did away with referral credits for downlines and introduced commissions for 1st level credit purchases and upgrades. These changes have not seemed to disrupt surfer activity at all. There were numerous traffic exchanges that introduced commissions to membership benefits. The addition of commissions for credit purchases and upgrades will continue to grow in traffic exchanges. I believe this will even add more pressure to the many underachieving pro only traffic exchanges. Some progressive traffic exchange owners have added the ability for members to communicate with their downline members through inhouse communication systems or email. The ability to communicate with team members is a valuable benefit for those of us who want to use these communication systems to educate our teams on the use of traffic exchanges. Team building can lead to income opportunities for all involved. I think this benefit will continue to grow especially for upgraded members. 10kHits4Unow passed the 10,000 member mark this year. Of course, we all know as in all exchanges the number of active members is much smaller. 10kHits4Unow is actually more than a traffic exchange.....it is a community. I think it is a prime example of an exchange becoming the center for a variety of networkers. Each of the active networkers lend their expertise to educate each other. The simple act of giving upgraded members access to the name, email info, messenger info, and telephone number of referrals has exploded the team building aspect of this traffic exchange. As a team, 10kHits4Unow is setting a good example for others to follow. The growth of 'ad tracking' really took off this year. As more and more people started tracking their own results, word has spread of the inability of many traffic exchanges to deliver traffic. The numbers were alarming in some traffic exchanges where the so called experts were telling us the delivery was good. Hopefully, the continued use of these trackers will lead to a consolidation in the traffic exchange world. The bottom line is there are too many underachieving traffic exchanges with owners who do not run a traffic exchange as a business. Another positive this year was the number of owners who have added 'splash page making' of differing degrees a part of their exchange. This is a benefit that willl continue to grow. Finally, hopefully the 'weeding process' will continue and more of the underachieving traffic exchanges will wither on the vine and go away.
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Program Review - Quality HitsIt came out of nowhere but it's really amazing how little gems pop up from time to time in this business. Now at first glance, it's another LJ Script. I mean, the design does not even look completed and you can tell at first glance, what script it is. That's the bad news. The good news is that this program has been recommend by some popular names in the business, it's getting decent promotion, and the membership is not stuck on 200. It's a growing exchange that seems to be headed in the right direction. The biggest difference in Quality Hits is the absence of the timer in the surf bar. Yes, if you are familiar with the LJ, you will notice there is no timer in the surf bar and this is done to get people to focus on the sites. Also, while this script did have auto surf capabilities, it has been removed. Quality Hits looks like a decent program and with a great re-design, could be headed towards very good things.
Uptime: 4.0 Things That Make You Go...Hmmm? (A 'Different' Look at the Industry!)
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