2010 – Year In Review Special
It’s another 365 days gone into the history books in the traffic exchange industry and while we are still going strong, this past year was a real wake up call for a lot of owners. In this post, I hope to stir things up a bit and look back at the year that was in our beloved industry.
This past year we saw a huge push towards the ‘social surfing’ movement. With the launch of programs like Sweeva and the ever growing popularity of in-surf chat at exchanges around the net, the ‘social’ aspect of doing business was very prevalent.
We saw a change in mentality. The future is very bright for this movement and while a lot of people in the industry, like Traffic Hoopla, do not agree with me on the social front, we are seeing brand names being built and surfers becoming ‘famous’ in their own right, just by being active. It’s pretty exciting but that’s not all that happened in 2010.
Newcomer of the year award has to go to Carl Bailey. The owner of Instant Splash quickly became a fan favorite and his blog is one of the most read and commented on sites in the traffic exchanges. His programs are top notch and he has a fantastic outlook on business in the industry. I personally cannot wait to see what he has up his sleeves in 2011.
The traffic exchange of the year goes to Sweeva. I know, I co-own it but when I sat down to write this article I asked myself which program made the most noise this year. Lots of names came up like Traffic Swirl, EasyHits4U and the like but in terms of bringing something new to the table and igniting a fire in everyone’s behind…Sweeva did it. Please do comment if you disagree, because I don’t want this to come off like I’m bragging. I’m just trying to be honest =)
We saw a big change in how the ‘big boys’ do business. A few years ago, there was a whole lot more joint ventures, new launches and basic community between the bigger and more active programs. Now we are seeing more ‘surfers’ uniting. I see a lot of communities being built and surfers working together. The whole ‘team’ mentality was very popular this past year and while I think the idea was good, to work with like minded people, a lot of the promises left something to be desired…
I suppose that’s the way the cookie crumbles and I say kudos to the surfers. The people that are the life blood of this industry, 2011 will be once again your year to shine.
2010 is done. It’s been a fun year and I am very excited about 2011. Both I Love Hits and StartXchange will be celebrating their 10th anniversary in 2011 and lots more milestones will be reached.
What do you have planned for 2011? What do you want to see in the traffic exchange industry? Here’s to a great 2010 and an even brighter future in 2011!
