Issue 118

One To Click On by Jon

Welcome to the new issue of Hit Exchange News!

I'm back *again*! I seem to be on the road these days more than I'm at home. I just got back from the Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas and I had a great few days of networking with fellow exchange surfers, owners and affiliate members.

It's such a reward to meet these folks face to face and get people excited about this side of the business. The general feeling I get from attending these seminars, is that people know the exchanges work, the key was to learn how to use them properly.

As 2006 starts, it's so important that exchange users embrace what works and teach others how to use these programs. Yes, we all know, splash pages work. So let's promote that! If you see someone you know, promoting a generic affiliate page, suggest to them that they can get better results from using splash pages with either a strong call to action or a lead capture form.

Slowly, this industry is embracing what really works. Gone are the days of fill out this form, and click for hours. While the exchanges are not rocket science, they do take a little bit of common sense and whole lot of creativity.

It's going to be a great 12 months for this business, as we are just getting started!

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

Reality Check

Program Review -- Warrior Forum

Things the make you go...Hmmmm

Advertising Options

The News

• Act fast if you want a lot of cheap credits! TS 25 is having a massive traffic credit sale for the next 2 days only. This week, they have been selling traffic packages at sizable discounts. If you have been looking for a chance to grab some TS 25 credits at rock bottom prices, there's a little less than 48 hours to go!
• Mark the date down! Every Monday @ 7pm Eastern (-5 GMT) for the new and improved Focus 4 The Future traffic exchange seminars. Each and every week, join the owners of Focus, as well as some industry leaders for some great chat and discussion about the programs we love and cherish. Remember, Monday nights at 7 pm Eastern!
• *Hiccup* Looks like Hit Safari had a little bit of downtime this past week. Seems their server host had an DDOS attack but things are up and running again. I have to admit something, I am scared when this goes offline. I not only get great results from the program but also great commissions!
• This Week's Splash Page Hall of Fame Entry is this splash from Surf4TheEarth.com. Hey, if you like warm and fuzzy, this is it. But the real strength is the fact the ad copy is on the blackboard. Very unique and very effective. It makes you stop and look and that is exactly what you want your viewers to do!

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!

Deep Thoughts - Feature Articles

Deep Thoughts by Jon Olson

It's Time For The Broken Record!

Fair warning, what I about to discuss is something I have gone over quite a few times. However, I think it's such an important topic that I need to go over it again. Here's something that should get everyone's attention right away...

Internet marketing is the only industry on this planet where profits are expected right away!

Look at a typical offline business, what is the turn around target? 3 years? 5 years? How about a restaurant? 5 years for sure. So why is internet marketing success required to take less time than a trip to the corner store? It amazes me, it baffles me, it sometimes even disgusts me.

Again and again, I cannot say this enough, it takes years to build a business. And that is a decent business, not a billion dollar empire. Let's be realistic. If you are looking at this as a hobby, guess what? Expect to to wait even longer to see decent profits.

I cannot blame the folks that make up this interesting side of the industry. It's being bombarded everywhere you look. Autosurf for millions, forced matrix downlines, instant millionaire, and of course, let's not forget the new 'Rich Guru' knock offs. It's very hard to even begin to get into a business mind state with so much bull surrounding us.

So what can we do? I know this is not what many want to hear, but it's the sure fire approach to building a successful internet business. Are you ready for it? Take your time! Take your time with your advertising, spend more than one month promoting on XYZ Exchange. Do your research on the opportunity you are embracing, get to know your fellow networkers. Meet the owners, talk to them. Do not expect the world in 30 days or less.

I know it's not the flashy dashy answer that so many want to believe, however it's the truth. It takes time, money and a whole lot of grunt work to build these businesses. Please don't give up after 60 days!

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Are you tired of getting little or no results from the traffic exchanges? Learn exactly how to build a successful business using the traffic exchanges directly from Jon Olson! Check out the Traffic Exchange Guy Consulting

Reality Check by Tim Whiston

It's a simple question: Who suffers as a result of credit harvesting?

The answer is equally straightforward: Everyone who cares about the traffic exchange industry!

Just in case you aren't familiar with this term, here's a quick definition. 'Credit Harvesting' refers to the use of multi-tabbed browsers to acquire massive amounts of traffic credits without actually viewing the pages in the surf rotation.

While I believe the majority of exchange users are playing fair ball and watching as they click, I know for a fact there are those individuals who are trying to 'beat the system'.

Have a look at this screenshot. Note the suggestion that Sonic Browser allows you to achieve '700 to 800 page views per hour'.

Curious as to how this program can deliver that amount of exposure? Have a look at this screenshot for clarification.

These people are actually suggesting you surf 50 EXCHANGES AT ONE TIME!

This is crap, plain and simple. Sure, a user might obtain 800 credits in an hour's time, but no way is anyone actually viewing pages when they're cycling through them at that rate!

Here's what this kind of tactic does:

It steals credits from YOU the traffic exchange user. If someone clicks through your site in the rotation and doesn't even look at it; you're credit has been effectively wasted.

It degrades the value of a quality service. When people harvest credits, the results of other users suffer (because their credits are being wasted by some selfish 'owner'). When users feel their returns are not justifying the effort, they are likely to take their promotions elsewhere.

It's asinine. It's juvenile. It's self-centered. It's an absolute friggin' outrage!

Traffic exchange programs can be a great way to build your list and generate targeted exposure for your sites. I have no doubt these resources will continue to grow despite the efforts of a few short-sighted individuals to deteriorate the model.

But I also feel very strongly that you and I as responsible surfers, owners, and administrators, need to take an active stand against the proliferation of credit harvesting. If you see someone promoting Sonic Browser, or endorsing the idea of opening up dozens of tabs in any other kind of multi-browser system and clicking away, ask them why they are trying to cheat other traffic exchange users out of their hard-earned credits.

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Tim Whiston is the author of Net Marketing Exposed, one of the creators of Opt-in Master Course, and the administrator of ClickCrazey.com.

Program Review - The Warrior Forum

I spend my time each and everyday in two online forums. The first, of course is my own, Net Marketing Forum. This has always been a great place to talk about 'traffic exchanges' and other means of online advertising. The other forum I spend the bulk of my day in, is the grand daddy of internet marketing forums...The Warrior Forum.

A few years ago, you had to pay to get access to this extremely active and informative spot on the net. Back then, it was a very exclusive place where the 'who's who' of net marketing spent most of their time.

Time has come and went, and the Warriors is now free to join. There is still some big name marketers that frequent the threads but the majority of the topics now are repeats of something that was discussed two weeks ago. It's that active a place. Spend about 30 minutes, and there is already a page of posts and new threads.

A must for all internet professionals, but a wee bit too active for my tastes. It's very impersonal but is still a recommended spot to join and watch some great minds at work!

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

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

Have a look at The Warrior Forum!

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

• CashClicking and ClicksMatrix have their own payment processor now? Hmmm....
• Does anyone remember Urgle? Hmmm....
• I joined a new exchange this past week, it made me surf 100 sites before I was activated. I surfed the 100 sites, and I received 2 hits in 5 days. How's this for math? Surf 100 sites, that took about 2 hours. Wait 5 days for 2 page views delivered... 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.

If you want to see anything addressed, looked into or discussed, please let me know. This is your e-zine with content that YOU want to read. I value your input and look forward to talking to each of you! Drop me a line here or visit me in the forums. We're building a professional community in there and we'd love for you to join us!

And finally, if you know of anyone that would like to receive the News, please feel free to let them know about HitExchangeNews.com as I appreciate all the extra promotion I can get *s* !!!

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

Jon G. Olson
Publisher / Editor - HitExchangeNews.com