This is Hit Exchange News...

The pulse of the traffic exchange industry and the random ramblings of
Jon Olson (that's me!)

I've been writing Hit Exchange News since 2003 and have been involved in the traffic exchanges for over a decade. Enjoy the 'news', and thank you so much for making this THE must-read traffic exchange blog on the internet!

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Your A to Z Guide To ‘Olson-Isms’

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!


Related posts

I’m back in the saddle once again. I’m home after a two week hiatus and travels across the continent. It’s been a very interesting couple of weeks in the traffic exchange industry and I have quite a few strong opinions on what has taken place during this time. Be sure to check out my ‘Deep Thoughts’ section in this week’s issue.

As promised in the last issue of Hit Exchange News, R. Tom Worthington has won a copy of Hits, Clicks & Misses: The Traffic Exchange Experience. Please remember, I’m giving away a copy of this book each and every week to a reader that simply posts a comment about the newsletter.

Speaking of contests, have you seen the new contest from Affiliate Funnel? For the first time in traffic exchange history, we’re giving away 3 grand prizes of a laptop computer, a digital camera and a satellite radio receiver. Be sure to check out more details about this new promotion and if now was not the best time to get involved with AF, I’m not sure what will be. This is huge folks, and it’s only going to get better from now on!

It’s great to be back and writing Hit Exchange News. I hope you have a great week and happy surfing!

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Jon Olson
The Traffic Exchange Guy

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The News

- Traffic Bunnies reached quite a milestone this past week as it hit 10,000 plus members. Congratulations to the newest 5 figure membership exchange on the net, and a very good one at that. Cindy has been working like mad on her program, and it shows. Here is an exchange owner that ‘gets it’. Way to go Bunnies!

- Traffic Wonderland is a brand new program and one I think has some very big potential. I have talked with the owners and these guys have got some big plans to make this program a huge success. How’s this for a jump start? They already have over 1200 members in a very short time. Some exchanges cannot even reach 1200 in a year, and this program did it in about a month. Not too bad for two brand new people to the traffic exchange industry.

- It’s been a few weeks since it launched, but Nexus Exchange looks and feels amazing. Here are another pair of owners that have been working non stop for years to make their program the best it can be. Congratulations to both Aaron and Eva for all your hard work. This new layout and design looks amazing!

- Splash Page Hall of Fame – Blue Surf’s been making waves lately and this personalized splash page is just what the doctor ordered!

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HEN Top 10

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 Swarm
2. Traffic Splash
3. Traffic Bunnies
4. TS 25
5. Dragon Surf
6. StartXChange
7. Magnify Traffic
8. Traffic Punk
9. Royal Surf
10. Traffic Era

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)

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Deep Thoughts – Jon’s Weekly Rambling

The ‘Potential’ Death of the Traffic Exchanges

If anyone can remember the fiasco we had a few years ago about the ‘auto surf’ exchange, this will almost sound like a repeat. The reason being, is because I see so many similarities between this new issue and the auto surf exchange argument.

It’s the 5 second timer!

More and more, exchanges seem to be lowering their timers to under 10 seconds and some have even launched this past week from some pretty well known exchange owners that have a 5 second timer from day one. I know, I know…This is what is going to happen after the exchanges went from a 30 second timer, down too a 10 second industry average.

But where does it end? At one second? No wait, I’ve got a better idea, how about a no second timer when you don’t even need to surf, just set it and forget it…Oh wait, that’s already been done. Auto surfing anyone?

I do think this is going to seriously hurt the industry. As someone who spends hundreds of dollars a week in traffic exchange advertising, I am concerned that this is catering to traffic delivery, rather than giving me (an advertiser and surfer) a viable and effective form of advertising.

I’m sure we will continue on this path though, and heck, maybe I’m even concerned about something that’s not that big a deal. But being in this business since 1999, I cannot help but feel we are heading down a very dark path when it comes to going below a 5 second timer. And it’s coming, give it a year or so…

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Things That Make You Go Hmmm…

- Over 13,000 members and a brand new look! Magnify Traffic has been doing amazing things this past year, and this is just icing on the cake!

- John Marks and I met when I was in Toronto. I talked his ear off for a good hour and a half about FFA pages….LOL Just kidding. Hey man, great to meet you again!

- Anyone remember Urgle?

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