Issue 233 - The Future of The Click, Is It Bright?
Author: The T.E. GuyThe SWAT Traffic seminar this week had to be one of the most informative and active training sessions we have ever had. It started off with a topic that was brought up in the GOB Forum at Net Marketing Forum and went on for hours. In fact, the discussion started a whole 3 hours before the seminar was even supposed to get under way.
What was so important? Why so much passion in the topic?
It had to do with the future of traffic exchanges and if we were hurting our own business model for surfers and owners alike. You see, now more than ever, new traffic exchanges that come online have great owners behind it. In the past, new exchanges would fizzle out because of the lack of management behind the program. Nowadays, the exchanges are run by top notch people.
Is this a problem? No, it’s great. But here’s what happens when you have so many good choices. You have lots of ways traffic exchanges try to keep you surfing. From ‘Super Surfing’ to giveaways, to surfing contests to ‘clocks’…More traffic exchanges try to entice you to keep surfing their program.
And rightfully so. A traffic exchange that succeeds has good traffic flow and with good flow comes profit for the owner. However, the question was asked…Are we shooting ourselves in the foot? Is too many contests hurting our sites? I would love to get readers feedback on this, are you flooded with surfing specials, daily contests, etc. Is it getting too much for the surfer? Or is it great, is it exactly what exchanges need to keep more active? Let’s hear your opinions Hit Exchange News, please post your comments below!
Thank you very much for being a reader of Hit Exchange News and have a wonderful week!
Jon Olson
The Traffic Exchange Guy
————–
————–
The News
- Traffic Gold Rush had a great launch yesterday and I’m sure the owner, Paul Conway is grinning from ear to ear. Like I mentioned above, and for the past few years, a traffic exchange success depends on the owner. With Paul Conway, you are getting one of the best. Expect big things from this new program, especially with the help of Paul Kinder and Steve Ayling in the background. This is a winner!
- Logiscape announced the upcoming release of it’s own support forum and blog this past week. Release dates are not set in stone but I would assume they will come online soon. The company seems to be concentrating much more on web 2.0 which was the main idea behind Traffic Era. What was missing though, was Hit Pulse in their updates, they only named Era, TS25 and Pods as having their own section in the forums.
- Congratulations to Smiley Traffic for having it’s first live seminar this past weekend. It was a great experience and Vern did a great job. It was wonderful to meet the guy finally after all the history we have, and he was very professional the entire night. Great stuff sir!
- Want to win your own copy of the best selling traffic exchange book on Amazon.com, Hits, Clicks and Misses, (actually, it’s the only published book about T.E.’s on the planet), simply post a comment about this week’s issue of HEN! Congratulations to ‘Dan’ for winning last week. Be sure to send your mailing address to me so that I can ship you a copy (hitexchangenews at yahoo dot com)!
- Splash Page Hall of Fame - How to get your name in front of people in 24 hours or less? Launch Traffic Gold Rush and make it look like a million bucks! Note: Why do I focus on splash pages every week? Simple, you MUST be using them in the traffic exchanges to get results. Get a custom made splash page by clicking here!
———
The Famous Hit Exchange News Top 10 (Disclaimer: These are my top performing exchanges for the past week. Alexa rankings and fancy numbers have nothing to do with how I rank my list. This is based on my results and my opinion, nothing more, nothing less.)
1. Traffic Splash
2. Dragon Surf
3. Traffic Era
4. Traffic Swarm
5. StartXChange
6. Royal Surf
7. Easy Hits 4 U
8. Hit Safari
9. Advertising Know How
10. Traffic Taxis
Note: Analysis and Tracking by Hits Connect - The Official Link Tracking Service of Hit Exchange News! Sign up today and get your 30% Discount!
Question: Hey Jon, how come I Love Hits, SWAT Traffic and Click Crazey 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. (But we all know how great they are anyways lol)
———–
———–
Deep Thoughts - Jon’s Weekly Rambling
How To Take ‘It’ To The Next Level?
This isn’t going to be an article about some long lost special technique that no one has ever heard of before. It’s not the ‘magic button’ to whisk you away to internet glory. It’s not about how to finally rid yourself of the 9 to 5 blues. It is however, something you should plan for and something you should seriously consider once your business is starting to gain some ground.
Thank goodness for Cat Heiter!
Cat is a unique story. I met her when we were both involved in MPAM (a very old downline builder) and we got along great since day one. Back then, I had just taken the reigns at I Love Hits and was doing all the support and customer service myself. I did enjoy it, but it took a lot of my time up. Cat, was trying to get her own business off the ground and started to offer her services to various traffic exchanges.
What was her service? Simple, she would be the customer support and service admin for different programs. She was doing it at MPAM, so she branched out into the traffic exchange industry. She offered to handle I Love Hits and I was at cross road…
I mean, I Love Hits was my baby. It was my bread and butter and something I care about deeply. I was VERY scared to let go and give control of the inner workings of it to Cat. Not that I didn’t trust Cat, I just felt like I had to be involved in the day to day operations of I Love Hits.
But, I let go…
Cat took over the service side of I Love Hits and here’s some numbers to think about. When I was running the complete operation of I Love Hits, we generated about 20-30 new members a day. Since Cat came on board, we are now averaging about 50-70. That’s double. Why? I could concentrate on promoting and building I Love Hits, and Cat could take care of the service side of things.
It was perfect. So much so, that she now does support for every one of my programs, from SWAT Traffic to Affiliate Funnel. Again, this is not a magic button, this is not an instant riches program. This is something you will need to consider once your business starts to take off.
One of the people responsible for me to finally ‘let go’ was Mike Paetzold. Mike and me hang out daily in the SWAT Traffic training room and for years he was telling me to let go and concentrate on building the programs around me. Mike even took it one step further this week and wrote one of the most important e-books I have ever read called Easily Outsource.
This is one of those books that will never be a best seller, simply because only a handful of people will ‘get it’. It took me a few years to ‘get it’ but Mike kicked me in the rear a few times and his new e-book is something any serious entrepreneur should keep handy.
Outsourcing is a golden nugget. It’s the different between 50 new people joining your mailing list a day compared to 20. It allows you much more freedom and above all else, allows you to build YOUR business and bring new people into your circle of influence.
————
Things That Make You Go Hmmm…
- TE Launch Formula is already booked. Wow…
- We have a name for our pooch at SWAT Traffic…P.A.W.S. The SWAT Rot made his debut this past week.
- I made a few changes to the HEN Award and front page of the newsletter. We now include traffic exchange related services and blogs for Award winners. Check it out here!
———-
———-
While games, prizes and gimmicks are all fun, I don’t consider them when choosing a good traffic exchange.
For me there are only a handful of issues that really matter: exchange ratio, timer length, the speed with which I can receive traffic, and active tech support/ownership. I look for an exchange with preferable a 2:1 exchange rate (3:1 is acceptable, anything lower isn’t acceptable at all), around 10-15 second timer, that can deliver my traffic quickly, and fixes any technical problems even quicker.
Super Surf is great, but I personally prefer dynamic exchange ratios (especially if the exchange rate is low). The more I surf, the more I earn. I guess I’m a bit of a purist. I tend to think all the other bits and bobs distract from the meat of the exchange. Granted, a good distraction every so often is a great way to keep people from getting burnt out.
At a certain point, you cross an invisible line. The line that divides a good exchange with one that is just annoying and too complex… sending you a ton of emails about super surf sessions, special offers, etc… and adding way too much complexity to earning traffic.
If I had the dough to afford TE Launch Formula, I would get it. And create a traffic exchange that was simple, easy to use, and easy to understand. I’ve got some ideas for dynamic surf ratios that should not only encourage everyone (free and paid members) to surf more, but also to surf more often. I would need to collect statistics on the average number of pages surfed per session and the average number of days per week surfed to adjust it to perfection… but it’s doable.
I do intend to build my own traffic exchange eventually. If my current marketing efforts pay off, then you’ll certainly see me purchasing my own traffic exchange sometime early in the new year.
Jon,
I am glad you posted this article and question. No matter what business you are in, online or off, competition is always good for the consumer. This is true for TE members but only to a point in my opinion. Keeping members active is of utmost importance as a TE owner, but giving away the store is good for nobody.
Surf, banner and text credits are being given away in droves, surf timers are coming down to near ridiculous levels, to a point where it is diluting an advertisers’ efforts and hard work. While getting all these prizes are great, what kind of results are you getting in return. Who can really see your splash pages while looking for the next prize to pop up, or when the your pages disappears as soon as they appear?
Nathaniel hit the nail on the head when he stated:
“For me there are only a handful of issues that really matter: exchange ratio, timer length, the speed with which I can receive traffic, and active tech support/ownership.”
Isn’t that really what members need from a Traffic Exchange? Results are truly the only thing people are looking for when they first come to a traffic exchange. Think about the first time you came knocking at a TE’s door. Why did you sign up? To get your sites seen, right? So now we all “feel” like we get better results because we have 2 zillion credits to use. Not so if people are not really looking at what you have to offer.
Keep in mind also that the owner of a traffic exchange needs to make a buck. Most of us are in this for the long haul, and that means we need to offer quality results for usually little or no money per member. That works unless you are forced to go down to almost nothing for pro memberships, and spend money hand over fist for programming. There is a balance and simply put, everyone needs to find that balance and stay close to it. Wouldn’t it make sense to have everyone, owners and members alike, helping each other succeed with their online businesses?
To everyone’s online business success,
Ken Athas
While I believe there are a lot of new exchanges popping up many of them are now offering the same types of prizes and super surfs. Since we are now at this era I think the next step is to create a better traffic exchange that offers something very unique. It is something that HAS to be done in order to be another powerhouse traffic exchange.
I believe that it is great to have this many exchanges. different owners means diffrent groups of people on each exchange. Everyone has their favorites they visits each day and its why you should be advertising on many.
Prizes are great but some exchanges offer to many and members only look for this. It can either make or break your exchange so make sure if you are offering rewards you back it up with theory testing and common sense. Offer to much your traffic exchange becomes a snail. As well keep your surfers guessing make your prizes random and click able. Keep your surfers excited and scanning pages and paying attention this is what will make your exchange a huge hit.
Is it just me seeing things evolve? Look at the oldie TE’s with their mega-memberships. Most have not spent one cent on new graphics, new games, new “brand yourself” splash pages, new give-away perks, etc.. They have not lowered timers to keep pace with the real world, but seem to keep adding members.
Then there seems to be a second tier of TE’s, well run, innovative, not afraid to spend money. Without naming (your) names these are emerging as the real leaders, just watch during the next several years. Some of the big oldies will watch, change with the times, or lose. Today’s second tier will be the first tier of the future.
Competition is good in any industry, offline or online. Fast food restaurants want to be close to other fast food restaurants, car dealers next to other dealers, gas stations close to other gas stations.
The notion that too many people are buying scripts and opening new exchanges is not well thought through. Just look at the numbers of new people coming online every day! There is no shortage of people coming online that would love to earn money at home.
Frills and gimmicks will come and go. Bottom line is what advertising resource works for the individual, promoting what it is that they would like to promote. Newspapers are basically ugly, but they work. Whether a TE has beautiful home page graphics or not, the best games or not, is not a real measurement.
Continued passion of the owner is a huge factor in whether the TE will still be here next year. If not here next year? Oh well, like newspapers there is always another one. Does it work for me, or not?
Traffic exchange owners will continue to do what is needed to attract new members. It is the users that dictate what stays and goes in the traffic exchanges. When “games and gimmicks” quit attracting new members, something else, something else that USERS WANT, will take their place.
Jon Olson, Robert Puddy, Paul Kinder, Soren Jordansen, Tim Linden, Sunny Suggs, Paul Conway, are all giving their members what they want. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t have successful exchanges today.
Can I compete? No. Am I bitter? No. I know what I need to do to compete, and am taking steps to get myself to a place where I can compete and take my exchange to the next level. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither are great traffic exchanges.
“Big boys” watch your back. You got some serious competition coming your way. And it ain’t just me. That’s the beauty of online business. Anybody can be the next success story.
I think the traffic exchanges are still to remain online for a long time yet. No doubt, it’s the quickest way to get traffic to our websites, own or affiliate links. If that traffic is good or not, well, that’s another story.
At this point of my learning, I am attracted to traffic exchanges that are promoted by people who own traffic exchanges. Who would know better then an owner of one as to whether a new one has potential or not. Maybe the traffic exchanges should or could put their newbies on a rotator so they get some referals once in a while, when they promote a program. I also don’t mind earning a bit of cash. Being new to the internet and my business it seems every bit of cash I have goes into sales supplies etc.
Budgeting workshops for business owners would be a good perk.
The TE wants people to purchase upgrades but the average people using the Traffic exhanges are new to their business and don’t have the cash. If people could earn upgrades somehow that would be awesome. Getting a discount up grade for surfing a certain amount while they try to build their business would be nice to. One traffic exchange I belong to has some sort of pormotion where if the person signs up at Netflix fir a free trial offer, they can get and upgrade for a year. Now doing something like that is something my whole family could use and agree apon, and that purchase comes out of the family budget. So it is something to consider.
I really think there should be a varity of ways to uptain upgrades for the newbie.
Assigning random referals to your downline is also a nice perk. I would love to earn a ramdom referals to be placed in my downline. I know I have been promoting TE’s for 6 months now and I have little success with getting signups. However I have had inquireries to other programs I am in.
Well I am new to all this and I am just giving you my wish list.
Caroline (fivereasons)
I got something out very soon, I know you will like Caroline…. =)