So I just read a new email where an owner I thought that would be around for a long time told his membership that he was getting out of the traffic exchange industry…Their reason? It’s kind of funny but they claim that there are only 2-3 ‘big dogs’ in the business and everyone is just advertising to the same people over and over again…

So I did some homework and investigating…

According to the lists at Affiliate Funnel and TE List, the top 10 traffic exchanges alone have brought in 5471 new surfers this week…Not this month, not this year…This week.

In TimTech traffic exchanges, we have brought in 1179 new surfers this past week as well.

So it begs the question…How can we be adding over 5000 new surfers a week to these top 10 traffic exchanges and be advertising to the same people over and over again?

Plain and simple, we aren’t. Now I’m not naive enough to think all 5471 of these surfers are active and I’m sure it’s a percentage that actually surf but still…This is a HUGE opportunity for people that advertise in these platforms.

Be unique and be the person that these people notice and start to follow. If I was brand new to the traffic exchanges and saw these numbers I would be drooling at the thought of the opportunity. Remember, all you need is to Plus One every day and you have over 5000 people to advertise to (new people) every week…Can you think of ways to grab the attention of ONE person a day?

Stop listening to the people who tell you that you can’t do anything…I saw a commercial today by American Express and I love their new motto…It said ‘Impossible is two letters too long’….Yes, EVERYTHING is possible.

Especially when you have 5471 new surfers to advertise to every week PLUS the tens of thousands already surfing…

Drooling yet?

It’s such a sad statistic…And I’m not sure what the exact numbers are, but from all accounts, I can say that in my 14 years of being in business, only a handful have lasted more than 2 or 3 years.

The fact is, 99% of the people that start this business…Will give up in less than a year and even fewer will make it past 2 years. Yes, that means for every 100 people reading this article only about 1 of you will still be reading Hit Exchange News in a year from now. Scary.

Why is that? What makes this business so powerful to get started in, but such a challenge to keep going. I’m going to offer a few observations and maybe they can help you stick with it while most will give up.

First of all, a lot of people expect online income to magically solve their offline problems. This just doesn’t happen overnight. Heck I started in 1998 roughly and didn’t make a ‘real living’ until about 2005. That’s almost 7 years of a failed relationship, living on my friends couches, sleeping in subway systems to keep warm and working a business from 24 hour internet cafes. They sure don’t tell you that in the ad copy of the latest greatest opportunity do they?

Fact is, you cannot expect this to replace your offline income overnight. It takes time. It takes failure. It takes going in debt. But those that stick with it, seem to do ok.

Next, the unreal expectations that most of these programs bombard you with. Things like retire in 30 days. Make X amount in a month. It’s all designed for one thing, to get your money. No one focused on the ever green products because that’s not ‘sexy’. It’s not cool to tell someone, it’s going to take you a year or more of busting your butt to make money online. It’s a lot easier to say, pay me 47 bucks now and in 30 days you will be a gazillionaire.

And finally, I just think people don’t want it bad enough. They say they do. They claim they do. But rarely do they stick with it. This business requires daily effort every single day for years. Not a huge bump when you first start. The thing is you need to be just as motivated when you have gone 30 days without a sale and referral just like you were when you got a new referral or sale every day for a week.

Say no to the roller coaster, say yes to the slow and steady approach to business.

Don’t be the statistic. But don’t have unreal expectations either. Look at the people who are making a living online and ask them how long they have been at it, I guarantee you it will not be ’30 days ago I started’….

Something amazing happened at TimTech last week. We hit a milestone, I didn’t think we would have this early in our companies history. For months, we have been paying well over $1000 a week in affiliate commissions. This was such an amazing number and really cemented our belief in the ‘evergreen’ affiliate product plan.

We caught a lot of heat for making our commission rate 30% across the board. We lost ‘friends’ because of it, we were told that we were crazy, that our business model would fail and well, that we were generally the worst thing to ever happen to traffic exchanges…

Last week we paid out $2427.43 in affiliate commissions.

That means our affiliates received the highest amount ever from TimTech and here’s the best part. We did it without launching a new program. We didn’t do it with ‘JV’ accounts. We didn’t do it with email pitches. The members did it. All we did was provide the services.

This is what happens when you put people before profits. When you understand the real power in business is not from a flashy OTO or a catchy video…But from people. And the community.

That was the BEST way we could have started 2012 and we are so pumped up for the year ahead. We promise to make our members the focal part of our business and the community to be the center piece of our brand. We have lofty goals now…We’re shooting for $3000 a week in affiliate commissions as an average by the end of the year.

Evergreen products and +1 everyday….It works!

It’s the mission statement for TimTech (and myself personally as well) in 2012 to not stay the same this year. We are at a point in our careers where we believe average just does not cut it anymore. It’s something we talked about before 2011 was up and a concept we cannot stress enough as we begin the new year.

This isn’t some fancy dancy new year’s resolution. This is a commitment to improve ourselves across the board, every day for the rest of the year. We don’t want anyone in our community to fall victim to the ‘status quo’ either. Please understand, average SUCKS! Average means failing. Average means being background noise in a world where the mover’s and shakers in this business, stand up for something.

How can you stick out from the crowd in 2012?

Don’t be average!

While most people complain about not making money, why not find out HOW people are making money online and follow what they do? Learn from people that are actually DOING it, rather than the false prophets that seem to be everywhere in online business.

When people say surfing traffic exchanges is boring and not effective, find out how to be MEMORABLE in the surfing experience. Develop videos, create awesome designs and splash pages, don’t use standard affiliate pages!!

When people try to push the ‘brand new latest and greatest’ promotion down your throat, why not ask yourself how you can develop your own brand and own products that people will want to promote?

Don’t be average! Invest in your business, invest in YOURSELF and stick out from the crowd.

We are only two weeks into the new year and lots of cool things are in store for the TimTech world, we don’t know what the future will hold but we can guarantee this…We won’t be ‘taking it easy’ and doing the same old, same old…Average just isn’t in the game plan for 2012!

So it’s the new year…I’m finally back from my 3 week ‘drive’ and I’m looking to have a fantastic 2012. So what better way to start the year off by cancelling my aWeber account and saying bye bye to my lists of over 20,000 contacts.

Huh?

Wait a minute Jon…Did you just say you deleted your lists? On aWeber yes, I did. First of all, I am very happy with Traffic Wave and they have served my needs very well PLUS Brian and his team actually WANTS and appreciates traffic exchange business. aWeber on the other hand, has told me and a few of my friends in the business that they want nothing to do with ‘untargeted’ traffic sources like traffic exchanges. But…That’s not the big reason.

I’m taking a step back from the whole ‘list building’ side of things. Yes, I still think it’s very important to build a contact list but I think for years, the industry has had it all backwards. The old business model is push. Push your mesage. Push your broadcast. Push your promotions. And as someone on the list, there was very little we could do to interact with the sender…Other than reply. Which most of the times it went to a ‘no reply’ email address.

In this day and age of social…It’s not what I consider a good business model.

Now if we flip it…Do two things, where we first worry about the relationship rather than the ability to push promotional messages to your list…I think that builds a real ‘push / pull’ relationship where your readers don’t feel like they are simply a name on a list.

And second, why not make it easy for your ‘list’ to contact you. Send them to a blog where they can interact with you and hear from you directly…Not just a ‘no reply’ email address.

I dunno, maybe I’m completely wrong…I’ve been known to make bad decisions in my life and business but I’m saying no more to the whole top down way of list building…Let’s walk side by side with our ‘lists’ instead of just pushing messages to them. Treat them like real people and not just a faceless name on a list.

See ya later aWeber…It’s been a fun ride.

Yule tide greetings and Merry Christmas to everyone in the traffic exchange industry. I hope Santa was good to you and yours and from the bottom of my heart I wish each and every one of you a fantastic holiday season!

It’s been quite a year in the traffic exchanges and in my ‘year in review’ tradition I wanted to give my two cents on where the T.E.’s have been and where they are going in 2012. A few years ago, the argument was out there…Is social the future of these programs?

A lot of the early adopters caught quite a bit of heat for taking a stand on this topic but as we approach the end of 2011, I think it’s fair to say something has proven itself time and time again…The community is the most important part of this business.

Communities can make or break an industry and thinking back to the decade plus that traffic exchanges have been around, there has always been a strong sense of community in these programs. We are seeing everyday people become household names in this business and what’s so encouraging is to see the leaders that are developing from the communities and all they are doing…Is just being themselves.

2012 has got me very excited. Mostly because of the huge potential that community members have to take the bull by the horns and be the leaders of tomorrow. It’s amazing to see and I expect while ‘community’ was the theme of 2011 and ‘social’ was becoming the norm…The next movement will be the people that do things differently…And stick out from the crowd.

Normal and average just won’t cut it in the traffic exchanges next year and I encourage each of you reading this to make plans to be AWESOME next year. Do the little things, every day and continue to stick out from the crowd. And this time next year, hopefully YOU will be the story of 2012!

Have a great Christmas and fantastic holidays! God bless you and yours!

P.S. On a special side note…This year TimTech formed. And I am so honored and thankful for meeting and partnering with some of the best people in the industry. This was a personal victory for me, because for years I’ve been praying to find guys like this to be my partners. We are going to rock the world in 2012…Thank you for all the support you guys have shown over the past year. The community is why we do this business and why we ARE in business. I cannot thank you all enough!

I was hanging out in Traffic Exchange Live today and Justin said something that blew me away and when I think about it, it’s amazing to know that even a high school drop out like yours truly, can build a business online, love what he does and show up every day fueled ONLY with passion!

Here’s the scoop, I’m not that talented. I can’t program. I can’t design. Sometimes my people skills leave a lot to be desired. But I wake up, every day with something that kicks me in my arse each and every morning…And that is passion! A desire to build a better business, and be the best I can be every day.

Passion folks! That’s all it takes. Everything else seemed to fall into place in my life years ago when I fell in love with traffic exchanges. I fell in love with the community and the huge potential these programs had. Nothing even registered into my head, other than spending time in them, surfing them and being a part of them.

Skills and talent? Ummm nope, didn’t have much of either of them. Sure I knew business and because of my self-education was learning every day about branding, marketing and advertising but the fact is, I was a C student at best in high school. I dropped out more than once. I hung out with the ‘wrong crowd’ at times and just like every teenager, I was sure the world was out to get me.

Nothing unique! Except my passion!

Love what you do, crush it each and every day and if you do not LOVE this business with every ounce of your being, be sure that find something that you do love. Because with passion, you can do anything!

So we had another awesome sauce T3 seminar last night and the question was asked, with only a few weeks left in 2011, what are your plans looking like for 2012?

I have to credit Larry for saying this, but he hit the nail on the head with not only our vision as a company but also personally and professionally. Simply put, 2012 is the year to NOT be the status quo! Think about it for a minute and then see how powerful that statement and ‘mission’ can be for your business.

We’ve talked at length about the ‘Purple Cow’ concept that was written by Seth Godin in his marketing masterpiece by the same name and basically it means to stick out like a sore thumb and do things that are remarkable.

2012 is the year for YOU to be remarkable! Average just will not cut it in this day and age of advertising, so how are you going to make sure your business and your personal brand sticks out from the rest next year? Status quo does NOT work anymore!

Please take the next few weeks over the holidays and really look at why companies like Apple, Zappos and heck even TimTech stick out from the crowds. It’s simply because these companies and brands DON’T do what everyone else does. They are unique. They are ‘simple’ and they are managed by people who put people first….Well maybe not Apple but hey 2 out of 3 ain’t bad LOL

2012 is all about BREAKING the mold and sticking out like a sore thumb. Let’s all have a fantastic end of the year and get ready for the next 365 days of awesome sauce!

I’ve been in this business for a long long time. It’s approaching my 14th year in a couple of weeks and something that I have seen year after year after year is the ‘top down’ way of doing business. It’s controlled the internet marketing world and it’s made a FEW people rich and LOT trying to reach for the top. It’s the ‘Guru’ mentality, the ‘JV Launch’, the ‘Circle of Friends’….

Thank God for social marketing!

In this day and age, it’s been completely flipped where the ‘JV’ is no longer needed. The ‘Guru’ doesn’t have the power. And the ‘Circle of Friends’ has become a community, not an secret hand shake society. But wait Jon, that’s some pretty bold statements, why don’t you back it up…

This past weekend, TimTech hit two milestones and this is how powerful a community can be, rather than a ‘secret hand shake JV team’. AdKreator hit 25,000 members and ClickTrackProfit reached the 20,000 member milestone. Two solid, evergreen products that have helped generate over $60,000 in commissions this year alone…What makes this so important?

Both of these programs had NO JV launch. Actually, CTP upset quite a few program owners because we didn’t give them a JV account and it only paid 30% commissions which is a no-no in JV land. The MEMBERS though, decided they wanted to support both these programs and the community launched it! No JV team, no pre-launch, no top down method where it was ‘told’ to you that you need to join it!

What’s the point Jon?

You don’t need a JV team!

What you need is to be part of a community. A vibrant place on the internet that everyone is treated as equals. No secret back room meetings, just good folks, good times and progressive thinking.

It’s scaring the ‘Guru’s’ silly. And I love it. It’s an equal playing field and while some of the stuff that was effective still holds its own, nothing and I mean nothing is more powerful than a social community. And that’s exactly what the traffic exchanges are! The best social community on the internet!

Yup….It’s back! Everyone’s favorite F word in marketing. It’s a dirty word. It scares people from here to Timbuktu. It’s FOCUS and wow, does it frighten marketers around the internet.

It’s actually the most powerful word in the English dictionary when it comes to online business and because it’s such a simple concept, far too many times people over look how powerful it can be. But see, that’s just it. It’s power! When you focus on your business and keep focus, nothing will stop you.

A few years ago, there was a huge emphasis on ‘focus’ and bringing the concept of keeping things simple and laser focused to your business. It was a pretty cool ‘movement’ as lots of people online got rid of the dead wood and concentrated their efforts on one or two programs at once, not a dozen.

Multiple streams of income is a wonderful concept, but focusing on one program at once, and then building it slowly will be much more effective than promoting a dozen different ‘opportunities’ at once.

Yes, focus is power. And when you keep focused on your business and your goals, nothing can stop you. But it starts with you. And the decision to focus on YOU and YOUR business will be the most POWERFUL decision you ever make!

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