Happy New Year to all the readers of Hit Exchange News!

I am writing this issue one day late, simply because I knew yesterday would not have been the best day to chit chat and talk about traffic exchanges. In my household, my son and mother were playing ‘Pokemon’ all day, and I was busy getting ready for the ‘Marketer’s Cruise’ that I will be embarking on in a few days.

Enough about that though, let’s talk traffic exchanges!

Just before the new year, the Super Surf owners came together and released what may prove top be one of the most exciting (and rewarding) features that has yet to come from the Super Surf exchanges.

We lovingly call it ‘Balloon Hunting’ and it’s a pretty simple concept really. Surf the Super Surf 5 traffic exchanges all at once, and keep your eyes peeled for ‘Balloons’. They will appear in the surf bar of a random Super Surf exchange while you are surfing, and when you see one…Pop em’!

The more balloons you pop (click), the higher you reach on the Top Poppers list. We have weekly ‘lists’ where from Monday to Sunday the top 10 ‘Poppers’ win CASH prizes and if you click just ONE balloon you also have a chance to win some cash prizes as well.

We are very proud of this new service and really hope everyone enjoys it. And please remember, not only are you surfing to find balloons now, but you also still get those big ‘bonus’ surf ratios for Super Surfing…

Thank you very much for being a reader of Hit Exchange News and have a very safe and prosperous New Year!

Jon Olson
The Traffic Exchange Guy

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The News

- Late Breaking News: This just in…Matthew Graves from Web Biz Insider is ‘pre-launching’ his brand new traffic exchange Top Tier Traffic. This was announced just a short time ago…Apparently everyone is being moved from WBI into the new program but I am not sure yet…

- Do you own a traffic exchange? If so you will love this thread at Net Marketing Forum. We asked a simple question, what is your new year’s resolution for your traffic exchange? It’s been a lot of fun so far to see the responses, but what will be even more exciting is to see who follows through at the end of 2009! Stay the course…

- This may have flown under the radar (pardon the pun) but I have a good feeling about Jet Stream Traffic. Marc Eglon is the owner and he has been implementing some great stuff into this exchange and promises massive new features soon. This is one to watch for sure…

- Check out Blue Surf’s brand new Downline Builder for something very fun, quick and effective. While it doesn’t take away from the traffic exchange side of Blue Surf it offers some great ‘set it and forget it’ downline building. Very cool new feature.

- Be sure vote today for your favorite traffic exchanges at Affiliate Funnel’s Surfer’s Choice ranker. This has quickly become the most popular ranking service on the net as the surfer’s are finally getting their say. Combined with the stats to back it up and our exclusive ‘new members joining’ statistic, you can see which exchanges are showing and proving, each and every week!

- 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 ‘Max’ 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 – It’s not really a splash page but DANG it sticks out…. The Top Poppers page has become my new favorite page to look at…Every hour LOL 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 Splash
3. Royal Surf
4. Advertising Know How
5. Traffic Era
6. StartXChange
7. Traffic Witch
8. Traffic Swarm
9. Traffic Bunnies
10. Easy Hits 4 U

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

In 2009 – Stick With It!

Something pains me like nothing else in this industry, and seeing this is the first issue of 2009, I hope that people can read this and then in 12 months STILL be in this industry to re-visit this post. This industry is notorious for having lots of people come into it, and then just as quickly leave it…

This year alone, I saw massive potential in quite afew new traffic exchange surfers but as the year wore on, they disappeared. Oh I’m sure they will be back, talent like that does not come around every day but it’s going to be extra hard for them to make their mark once they get back into it.

So I’m begging every traffic exchange surfer and owner, to make a vow to themselves and to stay the course in 2009. This year marks my 10 year adventure in the traffic exchanges and I can’t even count the number of times that I felt like giving up and quitting this business…It’s tough at times, it doesn’t make sense at times and above all else, it takes patience.

If you stay the course….That is the greatest measuring stick for your success. I call it traffic exchange brand awareness, but you can call it whatever you want. Please note though, if you get involved with this business, the people who do the best at it, stay the course…

I wish you nothing but success in 2009 and let’s see where there traffic exchanges will take us this year…

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Things That Make You Go Hmmm…

- StartXchange had over 450,000 page viewed delivered yesterday….Wow!

- Just a note that I am away for the next few weeks on a little boat in the middle of the Caribbean. So internet access will be sparse at best…

- Speaking of which….Last time Super Surf owners got together, T.E.’s got included in affiliate tool boxes around the net…Wonder what will come of 8 days at sea with some of the biggest names in internet marketing….

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Flip Your Downline, Fill Your Funnel!

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Related posts

• Issue 303 – New To Traffic Exchanges? Here’s Your First Checklist… (16)
• Issue 297 – Social Networking On The Traffic Exchanges. Something You Should Be Doing More Of… (8)
• Issue 296 – Getting Referrals Fast Is Easy…Did I Just Say That? (8)
• Issue 295 – Cash For Surfing Is Here To Stay…Whether We Like It Or Not! (9)
• Issue 294 – The Birth of TE Teams & I Love Hits Is Bananas (8)

I have a challenge! I brought this up last night in SWAT Traffic’s training seminar and it seemed to spark quite a bit of discussion. As many people know, the best web sites to promote in the exchanges are either splash pages or lead capture pages.

But what’s even more effective, are pages that stick out like a SORE thumb. Which pages do that the best? The ones with audio and video on them. So I put this as a challenge for all the attendees and I’ll do it again today for all the Hit Exchange News readers.

Place some audio clips on your splash pages / squeeze pages and let’s see how well your numbers improve over the span of two weeks. I know, I know…I hate sound, I don’t like sound, I want to shut it off, I listen to music while surfing, etc etc…..

Guess what, that’s thinking like a consumer and not as a business owner. Yes, we should always put ourselves in our customers shoes to give them the best possible service or product, but we must also use the most effective tools to generate those customers in the first place. Like it or not, stats over the past few years have always proved that adding audio (and now video) to web sites, increases conversion.

But alas, do not take my word for it. test it, and track it yourself. Place a recording of your own voice on your squeeze pages and let’s compare the numbers in two weeks time. The challenge is out there, let’s see who will follow through…

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

- Hit 2 Hit celebrated it’s 3 year anniversary this past week. The exchange has well over 30,000 registered members these days and continues to place very well on ranked lists like Test Hoopla. I could almost guarantee this program would have more members if it got a complete new site design. For me, it’s the only missing piece of the puzzle.

- Where did Traffic Heroes go? After a note from Mr. Morris last night, the site still seems to be offline. The note read that things would be back to normal at 9am this morning, but still no signs of the Traffic Heroes program.

- The Super Surf Script had two big announcements this week, the first being the addition of StartXChange to the team of programs. Tim Linden is one of the pioneers of this industry and one of the most talented programmers in the business. StartXChange screams quality each and every day. It’s great to have him on board. The second big annoucement was….Read the splash page of the week!

- 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 ‘Sean’ 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 – Like I alluded to, the Super Surf script got some brand new splash pages added to each of the participating traffic exchanges. Here’s the best part, there’s audio on it =) 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. Traffic Swarm
2. Dragon Surf
3. Traffic Splash
4. Easy Hits 4 U
5. TS 25
6. StartXChange
7. Traffic At The Races
8. Lords of Traffic
9. Advertising Know How
10. Boot Scootin Traffic

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

Thinking Like A Business Owner Helps Your Customers

Disclaimer goes here! I love my traffic exchanges, I love the people I meet, and I will go to war for my members. I try to put the best possible product I can in front of them, day in and day out. And while I maintain that I am still a traffic exchange surfer (I am, I still surf hours every day and have the carpal tunnel to prove it) I had a major revelation about 3 years ago at my first marketing seminar in Charlotte North Carolina.

I met a guy named Gary Ambrose at this event, you may have heard of him. He’s one of those ‘big guys’ you hear about all the time. Gary and I had a chance to chit chat one afternoon and he basically laid it on the line for me. He showed me how my thinking was wrong when it came to I Love Hits and more importantly, steps I could use to improve my business.

Without getting into huge details, the message in the chit chat was simple. Start treating I Love Hits like a business and make money from it. Simple enough right? Well it wasn’t, because I was trapped in the ‘non-program owner’ way of thinking. I didn’t concentrate and look for new ways to build my income from the massive potential which was I Love Hits. I was happy surfing, selling a few ad packages every day and gleefully skipping along.

Once my mentality shifted, I started to double, even triple my income by using this thought process. The more money this program makes, the better improvements I can make for my members and the better results they will get. It works and there isn’t an ebook on the planet that will help you with it, it has to come from your desire to change your business.

Again, I am still a traffic exchange surfer and always have ideas on how to improve the surfing experience. But also, I am now thinking on how to increase my income to better my traffic exchanges. Over 500 new members are joining I Love Hits every single week, and while there are many factors to this continued growth, it does start from Charlotte, Mr. Ambrose and a wake up call to a fledgling traffic exchange owner. Think like a business owner, and improve your service for your valued members!

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Things That Make You Go Hmmm…

- Why is it that ‘Freebie Force’ costs 9.95 a month?

- I’ve been checking out my best friend’s forum lately, and apparently people really don’t like me. Hmmm, It must be because I wrote SOAR instead of SORE a few weeks ago.

- Oh yeah….Football season starts today! Whoooo hoooooo.

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Related posts

• Issue 288 – Three Cheers For Creativity (8)
• Issue 286 – Surfing With A Purpose To Build Traffic Exchange Communities (9)
• Issue 284 – Are The Traffic Exchanges Too Complicated? (3)
• Issue 303 – New To Traffic Exchanges? Here’s Your First Checklist… (16)
• Issue 302 – Two Of The Best Weeks In Traffic Exchange Land… (6)