There’s something very alarming on the horizon and it’s not looking good once again for the traffic exchange faithful…

I was reading a post in Net Marketing Forum, the topic had to do with the support of a new kind of traffic exchange model which is being called the ‘revenue sharing T.E.’ and I’m not concerned about whether or not it’s legal or not. I’m no lawyer, that isn’t my battle.

What got me thinking was the attitude of ‘It doesn’t matter whether or not it’s legal, it’s a paying program and I’m making money’…

This scares me.

Again, I’m not saying that ‘revenue sharing’ in the traffic exchange model is legit or not, it’s the fact that people do not seem to care about it either way.

And all they care about is does the program pay or not.

It’s fine to make some cash from promoting traffic exchanges, I have built a very good income from doing just that, but once again we have lost focus of what a traffic exchange is and what it should be.

It’s about traffic.

Not to mention the ‘who cares at least I got paid’ way of thinking…I’ve seen this happen time and time again and it’s always the surfer who ends up losing.

PLEASE take your time when investing in anything online, make sure you do your due diligence and always ask around before making any decisions about ANY investments.

If you still do not know what to think, ask a lawyer. It could be the wisest decision you make.

Thank you very much for being a reader of Hit Exchange News and have a wonderful week!

Jon Olson
The Traffic Exchange Guy

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The News

- Logiscape’s Hit Silo launched last week and I did not include it in last week’s issue. I apologize to both Logiscape and the T.E. community for not mentioning this. This company has earned the reputation for creating great traffic exchanges and deserves to be mentioned in H.E.N.

- SWAT Traffic and Traffic Taxis have got something very rare in the traffic exchange industry…Member marketing reports! That’s right, both programs have inserted questionnaires into their member’s area that ask some pretty cool questions. What does this mean for you? You get to see WHAT those members are thinking, and how they run their business.

- Whirlwind Traffic added a new ‘surf n chat’ feature to it’s surf window this past week AND was added back into the ‘T.E.’s of NMF’. Welcome back sir and great new feature too =)

- Notice: Cast your vote today for your favorite traffic exchanges at Affiliate Funnel’s Surfer’s Choice ranker. This is YOUR voice and YOUR opinion on what traffic exchanges you feel are the best in the business. Be sure to vote every day and get your opinion heard!

- Splash Page Hall of Fame – Ya ya I co-own it, but I’m featuring an Affiliate Funnel splash/squeeze page because Jamison Raymond is the greatest splash page designer EVER! 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!

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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. Max Traffic Pro
2. Traffic Splash
3. Dragon Surf
4. StartXChange
5. Tezak Traffic Power
6. Hits Booster Pro
7. Traffic Taxis
8. Traffic Witch
9. Carnival Clicks
10. Farm Traffic

Note: Analysis and Tracking by T.E. Toolbox – The Official Link Tracking Service of Hit Exchange News!

Question: Hey Jon, how come I Love Hits 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. (But we all know how great they are anyways lol)

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Flip Your Downline, Fill Your Funnel!

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Deep Thoughts – Jon’s Weekly Rambling

I’ve put together a short list of various blogs related to the traffic exchange industry. As the web has matured in the 2.0 realm, I think it’s important for traffic exchange surfers and owners to always be abreast of what’s going on not only throughout the entire industry, but also at individual sites.

This is a short list, if you have a traffic exchange related blog, please add it to the growing post at Net Marketing Forum. I will re-visit that list in a few weeks time and post another T.E. Blog list in H.E.N;

Tim Linden’s Blog – Arguably the best written blog on the net about all things ‘traffic exchange’. Tim knows his audience and writes with a lot of passion and knowledge. A daily must read if you are involved in the traffic exchanges.

I Love Hits / SWAT Traffic News – Even though it’s a ‘T.E. specific’ blog, I cover lots of topics on it. I write on this blog almost daily and try to provide readers with quality information about…You guessed it…Traffic exchanges and how to get better results.

Traffic Exchange News – This blog is an absolute wealth of information as Keith Butterworth posts daily of EVERYTHING going on in T.E. land. A great blog to find out where the credit specials and surfing promotions are taking place.

These are just three of the hundreds I’m sure that are out there. If you have a T.E. related blog, please add it to the list at NMF so we can put together a great list of traffic exchange material.

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Things That Make You Go Hmmm…

- What’s going on in your favorite traffic exchange this week?

- Alert Pay just sent me a notice and told me not to cash a check I got from them 2 months ago…Ummmm, sorry guys.

- “Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.” – Mitchell Kapor

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Related posts

• Issue 297 – Social Networking On The Traffic Exchanges. Something You Should Be Doing More Of… (8)
• Issue 294 – The Birth of TE Teams & I Love Hits Is Bananas (8)
• Issue 293 – Ocean Swelling, I Love Hitting, & Random Acts of Traffic Exchange Goodness… (13)
• Issue 287 – The Longest Seven Days In Traffic Exchange History (10)
• Issue 300 – Yup, That Means 300 Issues Of Hit Exchange News Since 2003… (16)

I mentioned last week about how I thought a traffic exchange could even be considered a Web 2.0 type of site. You see, it fits the bill. It’s user generated content, the members decide what goes into it and there is the potential of a lot of communicating between members.

Traffic Era really got a lot of folks thinking when they launched about the massive potential these programs could have, if they embraced the 2.0 way of doing things. This week I Love Hits took it one step further and introduced the ‘ILH Profile Pages’. So what are they?

Here’s an example and while they are still a work in progress, the main idea is for I Love Hits’ members to communicate with each other, use the best social networking sites on the net, and help build their personal brand within the system and outside of it.

I’m pretty pumped about these new pages, and plan on really doing a lot of work with them to create a brand new ‘angle’ in the I Love Hits community. I’m a big fan of personal branding and I hope these pages go a long way in helping people realize the power of their personal network and how important it is in their business!

Have a great week and thanks very much for being a reader of Hit Exchange News!

Jon Olson
The Traffic Exchange Guy

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The News

- I Love Clicks, one of the first and largest traffic exchanges on the net, has closed it’s doors this week. What’s more, on the front page they are trying to sell the domain, script and all it’s assets. That’s fine, but they also say they will not discuss the ‘workings’ of the program. You know, the good stuff like how much does it make every month, how many subscribers, how responsive is the list. What a shame, especially for all us old timers that have been there since day one. This was a one time GIANT in the industry.

- Dragon Surf added dynamic surfing to the program this past week and here is something that has been added to a lot of traffic exchanges but actually helps the members get even more traffic to their sites. Simply put, the more you surf, the higher your surf ratio increases. Surf more, get more. A very simple yet effective concept!

- What is going on at the AMCS traffic exchange service? Rumors had it that all the databases were lost for the dozens of traffic exchanges on their server, and then another side of the coin said everything was fine. You can read more about it by visiting the Net Marketing Forum.

- A big ‘pat on the back’ has to go to 24/7 Traffic Pro for taking the bull by the horns and starting a customer survey. This has been a WONDERFUL trend I have seen this past month in the traffic exchanges and I look forward to seeing even more input from surfers around the industry!

- Congratulations to ‘Brian Rickert’ for winning last week’s copy of Hits, Clicks and Misses. Want to win your own copy of the best selling traffic exchange book on Amazon.com (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!

- Splash Page Hall of Fame – Want to see how to properly brand yourself in the traffic exchanges and build your list at the same time? Check out the latest capture page from Paul Conway! 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!

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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. Dragon Surf
2. Traffic At The Races
3. TS 25
4. Traffic Swarm
5. Traffic Splash
6. Max Traffic Pro
7. StartXChange
8. Traffic Era
9. Easy Hits 4 U
10. Traffic Wonderland

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

Tell Em Why You’re Mad!!!

I love a good rant! So this week, I’ve got the perfect topic and a wonderful platform on which to spread my ‘fumes’. Ready? Here goes…

This wee saw the launch of a new traffic exchange that was…Well…A copy of any other traffic exchange that has been released in the past few months. Sure, it had nice graphics, a very tempting JV offer, great potential and a new owner that looks to be dedicated for the long haul, but other than that, it was a plain jane traffic exchange.

Now here Jon comes along and releases the ‘Profile Pages’ at I Love Hits which is something new in the traffic exchanges and should increase the awareness of these programs around the internet but do you know how much coverage I got? Nada. In fact, a popular ‘T.E.’ blog that talks about everything that happens in the traffic exchange industry didn’t mention my Profile Pages at all, and of course had their affiliate link pasted everywhere on their blog for that new T.E.

Am I bitter? Not really because I’m always in this stuff for the long haul but here’s the kicker. In a few months, the whining will start that there is ‘no innovation’ in the traffic exchange industry. And how close we are to total collapse. And how we need to change the way we do things or else. Or how we HAVE to find new members that will join ans surf the exchange…

I will then mention people go read this blog post again and laugh because here’s something innovative that could potential raise the stakes in this business, but we are concerned about earning 5 bucks a month from promoting a new traffic exchange.

Ahhh the irony of it all. I’ve come to the conclusion that this industry does not want innovation, they want ‘sexy’ new launches. They want their 5 dollars a month commissions. They want their JV launches. They want all this, but heaven forbid we actually develop tools to HELP our members…That would be shocking wouldn’t it?

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Things That Make You Go Hmmm…

- Traffic Splash announced it has over 26,000 members this past week. All I can say is, wow!

- S.W.A.T. Traffic has a brand new merchandise store!

- Funny Contradiction of the Week – A new auto surf investment scam telling people on it’s front page that it’s ‘bringing back the good old days of auto surfing’. I wonder how many millions will be lost this go round?

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Related posts

• Issue 294 – The Birth of TE Teams & I Love Hits Is Bananas (8)
• Issue 287 – The Longest Seven Days In Traffic Exchange History (10)
• Issue 297 – Social Networking On The Traffic Exchanges. Something You Should Be Doing More Of… (8)
• Issue 293 – Ocean Swelling, I Love Hitting, & Random Acts of Traffic Exchange Goodness… (13)
• Issue 285 – A Month Later…Hit Exchange News Is Back! (7)