Loads of fantastic news in the traffic exchange industry this past weekend. We had two huge milestones and a re-launch from one of the most downloaded ebooks in the history of our business. Let’s just say, these past few days have been very memorable.

First, huge congratulations goes out to my friend Guido Nussbaum and his amazing program Traffic Witch. It reached a huge milestone only 21 months after it was launched and I’m happy to say member number 50,000 has joined Traffic Witch! Something that this program does better than most traffic exchanges is pull people from outside of the industry into it. Be sure to take part in the 50,000 member celebrations going on now at Traffic Witch!

My little engine that could also hit a milestone as well, Sweeva reached 25,000 members this weekend. We are very excited about the first few months of Sweeva’s history and look forward to serving members for years to come. Social browsing has become very addictive and above all else, has been driven by results. The future is looking very bright!

And finally another friend of mine, Mike Paetzold re-released one of the most read ebooks in traffic exchange history Tracking Your Way To Profits. Mike’s report has been updated with new programs and even more great information about how to track your results properly and effectively. Be sure to grab your updated copy today!

Not a bad weekend at all so it’s been a great time to be involved with the traffic exchanges. What was your highlight of the weekend?

I’ve found it! Eureka!

After a decade of working online, I have finally found the guaranteed way to make money online. I’m pretty excited to show you this amazing new technique I have discovered after years of pounding my head onto the pavement and spending tens of thousands of dollars on training and ‘how to’ books.

Are you ready for this… (I’m so excited……)

It’s called…Sticking out like a sore thumb!

Yup, the guaranteed way to make money online is to do things differently than anyone else. That means no promoting generic affiliate pages, that means using top of the line splash and squeeze page services, that means doing the little things that take a little bit of effort and that your competition wouldn’t dream of taking on.

It means being yourself and showing more passion about your business than anyone else before.

And no, it does not mean you have to own your own program. Heck, some of the most passionate people in business are promoting other people’s stuff, but what they do and how they promote it, is unlike any other affiliate.

I know this might sound crazy, but it’s really that simple. If you want to make money online, be the Purple Cow! Be remarkable. Stick out from the crowd and never stop showcasing your passion for your business.

My example, I wanted to be ‘the traffic exchange guy’. When people thought of traffic exchanges, I wanted them to think of ‘Jon Olson’. It’s been my passion for over a decade and hopefully you can see, I love these programs!

What are you passionate about? What business do you love with all your heart?

Once you find that, you will crush your competition but you need to LOVE it. Remember, the people that do the best in this business are unique, find your angle, do the little things no one else will and show the world the passion you have for your business!

I was reading a few threads in Net Marketing Forum and I thought I would touch on the subject of social networking. Here’s a quick video about my thoughts on social networking and how we tend to over-complicate it all…

Here’s a few tidbits to start off your week…

- This is a post I did about how to ENGAGE Sweeva surfers and really build your social ‘brand’ in the traffic exchanges (note: only a few people have taken me up on this advice, this could be HUGE if you own a traffic exchange or want to build your list)…

- The new ‘Cops & Robbers’ feature at SWAT Traffic is almost completed. Get ready for a massive boost in activity and new surfers at SWAT. It’s going to be a lot of fun…

- Also, we are having another T.E. Townhall Meeting tonight at 7ppm Eastern. Please bring all your questions, concerns and comments about social networking and of course, the traffic exchanges…

- And finally, I have added two brand new 250 x 250 banner spots on the right of Hit Exchange News. If you want to target your advertising to some of the most active traffic exchange surfers on the internet, it’s a great opportunity to get your brand and advertisement seen every day for a month!

Please let me know what you think below, I love reading all your comments =)

I’m all over the place with my business sometimes. I mean I’m pretty focused on certain things, like traffic exchanges, list building, personal branding and social networking. But I have thrown a ton of information out there over the years and something I LOVE to do is come up with cool like acronyms for the stuff I believe in and practice.

Here’s my ‘dictionary’ of what I like to call Olson-isms…Enjoy =)

A.C.A. – Attention. Curiosity. Action. All splash and squeeze pages should follow this formula. Grab ‘attention’ by using something unique. Whether it be a video, a funny headline, a shocking image to get the view to stop surfing. Create ‘curiosity’. Pull them in with a claim, a shocking revelation. Get them to want to know more. And finally have a strong call to ‘action’. Finish the message of your splash or squeeze page telling the viewer what you want them to do. Fill out the form for more information. Click to bookmark, etc.

No More Than Four – This has changed over the years but the message behind it hasn’t. You want to treat other pages like you want yours to be treated. So try to limit the amount of sites you surf at once. I only surf about 3 or 4 at at time, but it’s really what works for you. However if people are loading up 15 traffic exchanges at the same time, how good do you think results will be?

Promote You First – It’s the theme behind Affiliate Funnel and company mission statement but it’s also something I stand behind and practice every day. Don’t promote the latest greatest program without YOU benefiting. Always promote your name and your list first, THEN promote any opportunity you want. If you practice list building and personal branding, ‘promoting yourself first’ comes naturally.

S.O.L.A.S.T. – Stick out like a sore thumb. Basically you want to promote like no one else. Be original. Be unique. Be engaging. The more you do things differently, the more effective your advertising will be.

T.E.B.A. – Traffic Exchange Brand Awareness. Essentially, this means to get your site seen as much as possible, for as long as possible, as often as possible. Traffic exchange users come and go and come and go, but they always seem to return. The idea behind T.E.B.A. is to be seen as much in 6 months as you are today because the ‘returning’ surfers will notice and remember you.

T.E.S.A. – Traffic Exchange Specific Advertising. The art of promoting directly to various traffic exchanges. For example, having a splash page rotating in Sweeva that has a headline that reads ‘Hey Sweeva Members’. This has been one of the most effective ways to advertise in the traffic exchanges for years. The more creative you are with this, the better your results will be.

The Two B’s of the T.E.’s – Building your list and branding your name. This (in my opinion) are the only two things you should be doing with your traffic exchange advertising. The surfers that have done this, have been around for years. The proof is in the results and list building / personal branding works!

These little tidbits have helped me so much in my business. Use them. Engage your fellow surfers. Stick out. And be original. You will see massive results!

Crazy few weeks in Jon Olson land. I’ve been having a ‘relaxed’ summer and because of that I’ve been very lazy when it comes to adding video content.

Not good. I know. I do apologize and WILL be more active in the coming weeks…

Here’s a quick little update to let you know what I’ve been up to and some very exciting news from SWAT Traffic coming soon…

Industry tidbits this week…

- Carl Bailey of Instant Splash released his brand new Banners & Bucks program today. Very cool new program that’s extremely simple to use. You guys should enjoy it very much!

- Surf 4 The Earth released it’s much anticipated ‘Eco Park’ social networking game. I see potential for the game itself but the tie in to the traffic exchange side of thins is a bit confusing. I really think this should be commended. I like the innovation but perhaps the execution could have been planned a bit better. Great to see people doing new things though!

- We’ve been busy little beavers at Sweeva these past few weeks. We introduced two brand new features, the 10 A Day feature and the ‘Tweet for Ribbons’ addition as well. People have been raving about both of them and we’re so glad to hear that results have been pouring in. Also, Tim just added a brand new ‘PM System’ to that site, ask requested by our members. Enjoy it folks!

And finally…Like I mentioned, get ready for a HUGE announcement at SWAT Traffic. I know I’ve let it slip this past year but it’ll be back with a bang. If you like Bracket Surfing and Sweeva, you’ll love the new direction that SWAT is about to take…

Thanks folks, I appreciate everyone’s comments and thank you so much for being a reader of Hit Exchange News!

Notice: First of all, we are doing a live seminar tonight at 6pM Eastern in the Sweeva / T.E. Live Room….Please do stop by, spread the word and let’s talk about the issues that matter to you!

On to my question of the day. Looking over the numbers during the past few months in the industry, I can honestly tell you that the numbers aren’t what they used to be. For example, I used to log into my various accounts around the traffic exchanges and see some decent commissions appear in my accounts, on a weekly basis.

It wasn’t rare for 100 dollar weeks in some programs…Now I’m lucky to see 5 bucks in there a week.

Yes, it’s gone down that much. This tells me that people aren’t spending as much on upgrades, credits and various specials around the traffic exchange industry.

Why is that?

I mean the numbers are still there, we are having HUGE amounts of new members joining every week. The Sweeva launch showed me that people are still ready to join, support and purchase upgrades at exciting new endeavors…But what about the rest of the industry.

I think again, and I know it’s a broken record with this, the problem stems from the entire cash for surfing mentality. We have created an environment where surfers feel they deserve rewards for being active. Gone is the days of advertising in the traffic exchanges to get results for what you are promoting, people now use the traffic exchanges to get ‘rewarded’.

It’s sad. But alas, I’m a ‘broken record’ and obviously me talking about it doesn’t seem to break the chain. But I guarantee you this folks, if things keep going the way they are, it’s going to be harder and harder for established traffic exchanges to keep a profit and even harder for new exchanges to be launched. Which means less new features launched, less BUYING members into the programs and less quality leads to your lists.

Cash for surfing is destroying the traffic exchange industry and it’s only you that can stop it. Am I talking smack again? And upset at the world? Maybe I am, but if I’m right….We’ve got another year MAYBE under the present model before we all lose.

Let’s hear your opinions on this…

This article has been wanting to be published for months now…It’s the new ‘thing’ online and I don’t know who started this movement but it comes in all shapes and sizes. From Powerpath GDI to Team OceanSwell to Rip Tide Army, the team build concept has become quite popular especially in the traffic exchange industry and well….It’s time to talk about it.

First of all, I love the team concept. I think there is some real power that can be formed when like minded individuals get together and have a common goal. Working together is very powerful and some of the best businesses in the world have been formed when like minded people get together. This is great.

However some serious concerns arise when things start to slow down. And slow down they always do. We had a heated debate a few months ago in Traffic Exchange Live where we questioned how long something like Ocean Swell could sustain itself. The owner came into the chat and defended his business model. And of course he would, the owners of each of these teams are on the top of the business model / MLM. Remember, it is possible for individuals to prosper from the team build concept but it’s GUARANTEED the owner of the build gets paid for everything the rest of the team does.

But regardless, the signs where there. Just recently Ocean Swell brought in something called NPN which was weird because previously this team was all about building your Traffic Wave downline. I’m no expert but maybe they brought in another program because it was getting harder to build the teams in Traffic Wave? What do you think? Or can an Ocean Swell member provide the readers with some facts about the new addition?

But I digress…The major problem I have with any ‘team build’ is the lack of personal branding that takes place in them. Sure people get to know each other in the system but outside of it, everyone promotes generic affiliate links and ALL this effort builds the brand of the team. Which is GREAT on a business side of things but not so much for the individual.

I know these teams aren’t going to make all their members rich and I know the majority of the people there would appreciate an extra 200 bucks every month. And for those reasons alone…Team are fantastic. You learn a lot about the industry, the training is there and as a traffic exchange owner I love seeing the activity these bring.

A little history as well about this (so people don’t think I’m not talking out of experience) …

I did join Rip Tide Army to check it out because I always wanted to try out The Online Ad Network and hey, what better way to learn about it from the team build that revolves around TOAN. In the end TOAN wasn’t for me, which is too bad because I’m a huge fan of it’s big brother program Traffic Wave. Met some good people in Rip Tide too, but alas I cannot be a part of something where I do not use the program it’s promoting. Nothing against TOAN or Rip Tide, it just wasn’t for me…

So please…Team build owners…Make sure your members get some kind of benefit for promoting the team so hard. Stick a picture on a splash page. Promote the most active recruiter. Do something to help the members not only build the team, but also build their personal brand.

Teams are a good thing, if they are used properly. And I don’t think the team build model is going away. But I sure would like to get to know the hundreds of members that are promoting the teams…

I’d love to hear your comments…Please share your experiences with the team builds and let’s get the discussion going.

First off, MASSIVE congratulations goes out to Paul Kinder and the entire KRM team. I just got wind that Traffic Splash hit 100,000 members a few hours ago and I’m very excited with that news.

Paul has been a friend and a business partner for years and to see his vision of his empire take shape, I’m honored to spread the word about this amazing milestone.

Congrats sir, Mr. Rash and the entire KRM team…You guys are some of the hardest working people in the business and it’s great to see you reach this plateau!

O.K., warm and fuzzy stuff has been said, now it’s time to rant….

So I’m checking out my account at IMfaceplate and I seem to be bombarded with silly ‘pitches’ in my inbox and they start off something like this…

Hi, I followed you, you should do the same for me and while you are at it check out this (enter generic loser matrix program here)

Seriously?

Folks…This whole social networking thing is not about pitching people. It’s not about sending twenty emails or private messages a day. It’s not about annoying your future potential business partners. It’s about people…

And people (I count as a person sometimes) don’t like to be yelled at and essentially that is what you are doing when you join a social networking site and start throwing links in front of people. Get to know the person. Like an article or two of theirs. Join their mailing list. Comment on blogs. Ask a question.

This takes time. I know, it’s not what most folks want to hear, but it’s the REAL way to build relationships with your lists, your referrals and your social network. Most people won’t follow this advice though and continue to spam their networks, there isn’t much we can do about that but anyone that does want to REALLY embrace the power of this social stuff, I urge you to get to KNOW the people in your circle before you start sending links to them.

Remember, social networking is about people…Treat them like you want to be treated yourself.

I was hanging out with my buddy Tim Linden today and the topic of branding came up. If you have been reading Hit Exchange News for any amount of time you’ll know how much of a student I am of personal branding as I do tend to think it’s the number one reason some people succeed while others fail at this internet business gig.

But something I feel people do is over complicate the process. I know this sounds simple enough but putting your face on every splash page and squeeze page you have will not only help your brand, you will be doing something your competition isn’t. Simple.

Simple little acts like putting your name, your face, your photo, your logo on EVERYTHING you do, doesn’t cost any money. Doesn’t cost you a penny in fact, but it’s something simple you can do right now that everyone else doesn’t.

And that’s what branding can be. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It needs to be simple, to the point and everywhere. For example, this picture….

All I did was get a buddy of mine to put a red ‘cross out’ across it and presto….People recognize this image. Simple. All I had to do was use it everywhere. It’s not a professional photo , heck it’s down right nasty in fact but it helped me get my name out there.

Personal branding is a simple process you just need to be original, keep your image everywhere and be seen as often as possible. Again, all simple tasks that I think we over complicate.

In the next few days you are going to see another classic example of someone using something so simple, but creating an entire brand around it. It will be a great example and lesson in keeping branding simple. In the meantime…

I did a short video on branding and how powerful keeping it simple can be…Let me know what you think of it below.

A few years ago, there was a guy named Rich Taylor who was very active in the traffic exchange community. Not trying to get all sentimental and stuff but I do think Rich was a major reason that I became branded as a traffic exchange expert simply because he pushed me to find my niche and really excel at it.

Rich Taylor was a pioneer in this business and one of the first traffic exchange owners who used ‘themes’ with his businesses. Anyways, long story short we started a traffic exchange consultation gig together and one of the ideas we came up with was the 3:1 surf ratio. Surf ratios in the traffic exchanges have always been a hot topic and well, some people swear up and down that programs shouldn’t give any less than a 1:1 ratio while others have gone as low as 5:1.

The 3:1 surf ratio was adopted at every program I owned and was consulted on and for years and it’s been fantastic, it was a very healthy ratio for the program and savvy surfers really understood why we kept it at a 3:1. But in the time and era of the cash for surfing epidemic (and yes I think it’s the worst thing to happen to traffic exchanges in years) we need more ways to entice surfers to view sites WITHOUT relying on cash for surfing.

So I have made a pretty big change in the way I do business with my cornerstone traffic exchange I Love Hits.

I have raised the minimum surf ratio for Light Weight members from a 3:1 to a 2:1. So now for every 10 page views in I Love Hits, you receive 5 hits back instead of the old 9 page views for 3. Now a few things before I get the tomatoes thrown at me…

I have been monitoring the surfing at I Love Hits for quite a few months and we can mathematically sustain this ratio thanks in large part to Bracket Surfing. Raising a surf ratio is VERY hard to do when you have a balance to maintain in a program but today I’m going to give it a shot…

Let’s see how it goes. If traffic delivery plummets, I’ll have to bring it back to a 3:1. But something tells me, with the added bonus of Bracket Surfing and the vibrant community at I Love Hits, this will do nothing but increase surfing.

In other news with I Love Hits, I am in the process of adding IM Faceplate to our Profile Pages. This is to give members even more networking opportunities for themselves and their businesses. This will be up and running very soon.