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!
So it’s official! I’m no longer a resident of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and I am finally moved into my new home in Edmonton, Alberta. It feels good to start a new life in a new province and hey it makes it all better when the city is home to your second favorite hockey team…
Let’s just put it this way though, moving SUCKS and I’m so glad to be done with it.
I didn’t get a chance to be as active as I usually am this past week but still there was plenty of news and trends happening in the traffic exchange industry. Here’s what I noticed during the past week or so…
- Sweeva hit 20,000 members! Boy oh boy was I pumped when I saw it click over. I’ve been a part of a lot of programs during my decade plus in this business but nothing has excited me more than seeing the growth of Sweeva and the massive potential it has. Special thanks to EVERYONE who has made this such an amazing experience…We are just getting started!
- We hit 20% of our goal at Traffic Exchanges Care. Over $1000 has been raised so far to fight water shortage around the world but we still need your help. Special thanks to Winter Perkins for creating that amazing new splash page. Please feel free to use it or download the image and use it wherever you can! We need your help, so please donate if you can spare a dollar or two =)
- T.E. Profits got a major overhaul and was relaunched this week. I’m upset that I didn’t get to give this the attention it deserved with my moving obligations. And Scott Douglas, in my opinion, is the perfect example of someone who ‘gets it’ when it comes to making money WITH traffic exchanges. He doesn’t own one but still manages to be one of the most popular and effective traffic exchange advertisers in history. T.E. Profits is a must join for any serious traffic exchange marketer.
- I was pretty upset this weekend too for getting a Pay Pal dispute filed against me from a FELLOW traffic exchange owner. This pretty much left me ranting away in NMF and caused me to potentially lose some business but to be honest, when someone files a false dispute against you, doesn’t attempt at all to call you and work the issue out and it’s from another traffic exchange owner…Well…Good riddance. Filing unwarranted Pay Pal disputes is BAD for our entire industry!
- And finally, I’m thrilled to see all the changes taking place at IM Faceplate. The guys at Logiscape are really trying to build something special here and slowly this is becoming a wonderful place to grow your network. Remember, all this internet marketing stuff is useless without a solid network of contacts. Get out there and meet your fellow surfers!
That’s it for this week. We’re also back every day at T.E. Live, so do stop by for some water cooler chit chat and maybe a Tim Linden ‘blend or two’…
The Pizza Plan was released this week and I have been absolutely floored by the wonderful reviews and comments from across the internet about my first non-traffic exchange related product.
You see, when I started to write this book, I wanted to give readers an honest, to the point budget that helped me develop my online business. Far too many times, we do not plan our attack in this business so we spend and spend and spend, without an end goal in mind.
With The Pizza Plan, the right tools are outlined and budgeted in so that you get the best from your marketing tools and it does not cost you a small fortune.
What’s even better, The Pizza Plan let’s you earn cash from the programs within the system, so while your budget might be $75 a month, you can quickly recoup the costs by recommending the tools in the plan (oh yeah, and the affiliate program on the Plan ain’t too shabby either)…
So be sure to grab your slice today and enjoy the Plan! It’s been an absolute blast to put this report together and hopefully people stay the course with the services in the Plan to find their path to success like I did. Enjoy the Pizza!
Thank you very much for being a reader of Hit Exchange News and have a wonderful week!
- Congratulations to Traffic Splash for reaching another wonderful milestone. 40,000 members! Wow. This has been one of the most successful traffic exchanges in history AND in such a short time. Great stuff guys, congrats all around!
- Our little 2008 Year In Review survey is still taking place at Net Marketing Forum. be sure to swing by and give us your thoughts on what were the best and not so great moments in the traffic exchanges this year!
- Check out the latest joint contest from Traffic Witch and Bootscootin Traffic. 75,000 credits are being given away each and every month by these two forward thinking traffic exchanges. Very cool stuff and a great example of two newer exchanges working together to further their businesses. Thumbs up!
- 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 ‘Mario’ 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 – The Pizza Plan is featured this week, but mostly because Cindy Battye is a graphics wizard. Check out her very generous contribution to the Plan! 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.)
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
Why Bother?
Tim Linden’s blog is one of my favorites around. He lays it on the line and discusses real topics that deal with the issues facing every traffic exchange surfer and online marketer. His recent post called ‘Is it all pointless to promote’ really hit home with me because it’s a topic that seems to come up all the time.
“Why should I promote something when all the big guys take all the business”?
You see, how does one become a ‘big guy’? It’s basically like this, you get on other big guys radar by promoting things to your list, creating that relationship with them so that they buy from you and then, slowly but surely, people take notice. But it does not happen if you say ‘Well people will all buy from the big guys and it’s not fair’….
Every single person on the net started with zero people on their list. Sure, you could have inherited a program like let’s say I Love Hits but before ILH I had built a small list using the tools in The Pizza Plan. When I started out, way back when, I had zero people on my list. I built it up, just like every other marketer has done.
But I didn’t build my list by saying ‘it’s not fair’. I built it because I wanted to be one of the big guys. I was determined to build relationships with my readers so that they valued my advice. And if I recommended something, I wanted them to KNOW I would never lead them down the wrong path. Is it a perfect formula? No, we are human and we do mess up but the drive and end goal where always in view.
So while some nay-sayers may tell you it’s not fair, and that the big guys are taking up all the referrals…You can look at my number one affiliate in The Pizza Plan (Paul Kinder) and remember, about two years ago he had a list of zero…But he had the drive and the vision to get to where he is today….
- 50 plus people on Monday night, 60 plus on Saturday and 40 plus on Wednesday night…I guess these seminars at Affiliate Funnel and SWAT Traffic are starting to get popular =)
- Did you join Twitter, like the millions of other Tweet fanatics?
