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!
A quick review of Hit Exchange News will show you that I’m not a fan of cash for surfing. I still believe to this day that when this became the ‘norm’ in this industry, results were lowered. A huge shift happened in the way people surf the traffic exchanges…And it was not for the best.
However, I’m not just going to have an opinion without explaining it more and offering a solution.
Cash for surfing comes in a lot of different forms. Now a program like Easy Hits 4 U was built on the cash for surfing model. This I don’t have issues with because it never tried to be anything else. I like Easy Hits 4 U, heck I’ve got a downline of over 27,000 in it but when I promote there I know the majority of people are surfing for their 30 cents. No problem, I’ll use it for branding purposes and I do get results there but I know it’s going to take a lot of credits to see some action.
Again, this is just my opinion and experience, some people get massive results from the program and that’s cool. I just know what I’m signing up for, it’s the same thing I expect when I advertise in the PTC’s.
Where I have issues with cash surfing is not only the enormous amount of garbage emails that these traffic exchanges are sending of late (I mean seriously, how many times a week do I have to hear about $1.50 or $2.50 cash links becoming active….) but from the mind set it creates with surfers.
When traffic exchanges started it was as simple as this…Surf and look at sites…In return, you get people looking at your site.
So simple and one of the reasons I think traffic exchanges are so effective. But now we have another reason people surf and that’s to earn their 25 cents for surfing two thousand pages…
So while these people may be taking an odd glance or two at your site, what they are really looking at is how many more clicks is it going to take them to earn their cash reward. Now some people will argue, there is nothing wrong with rewarding people with a cash prize or two for surfing all day but I disagree. Simply because the mind set of the surfer changes the moment you focus on the end reward of cash gifting which I’m sorry to say, isn’t getting traffic to their site, branding their name or heaven forbid…Building their list.
But Jon…You have Bracket Surfing at I Love Hits and you are giving away prizes like iPod’s and Flip HD cameras. Yes I am, but I have made a major change in Bracket Surfing to bring the focus back to USING the system for the right reasons. You can read more about that here.
But Jon…You dislike cash for surfing but what are you doing to change it….
With our new feature at Sweeva, we are trying to not only get users and advertisers to work together and get rewarded together, we are trying to keep eye balls where we should have them…On the web sites. This new feature makes sure people are LOOKING at your site and poking around to find the Widgets. Yeah they may have an end goal of clicking the Widget for a potential prize but the main thing is this…To get that prize, they have to search and LOOK at your site.
A perfect solution? Naw, nothing is ever perfect but we’re working on making Sweeva THE most effective advertising exchange on the net. And I truly believe, the more we focus on the sites in rotation and less on the surf bar telling us we won a dime, we will see focus come back to the real reason traffic exchanges exist…
Last night was a great night at the SWAT Traffic seminar. It was a decent turn out, not too many people but not a small group either. As usual, I asked my buddies in the room about 15 minutes before the seminar started what should be the topic. There was some great topics to chose from but someone said the words ‘tough love’ and it stuck with me.
To the seminar started and the topic of the night was ‘What is holding you back in your online business?’ I mentioned ‘tough love’ because I wanted honest to goodness answers from the people in the room. Sure we could use the warm and fuzzy ‘you can do it, keep trying’ but I wanted people to get rock solid advice that evening, not pats on the back for mediocre results.
The best thing about these seminars, is that you see the same names coming to them week in and week out, so you get a feel for what their businesses are. You can see the growth, the stumbling blocks, the successes and failures.
Guess what the number one ‘thing’ is that held us back….
Ourselves.
A lot of the time, we heard stories about lack of time management, not enough outsourcing, not following up on list mailings but the thing that was constant was that everything that was supposed to be a block, could actually be turned around instantly by each individual in the seminar room.
Myself? I’m a victim of it too. I mean, look at the above statement, I waited until 15 minutes before the seminar to decide on a topic and while it did work out in the end because it was a great seminar, I need to plan these things and not wait until the last minute. Many weeks I draw blanks on a topic because I wait until the last minute to ‘git-r-done’.
We all fall victim to our own faults, but that’s o.k. The big message in all of this is that YOU decide on what holds you back. It’s not some mystical boogieman that is hurting our business, it’s ourselves. The good news is, we can change it. We can start right now and make the changes needed to further our online business. Don’t wait until you have 15 minutes left in the day, act now!
Thank you very much for being a reader of Hit Exchange News and have a wonderful week!
- Top Tier Traffic announced today that it had reached 9,000 members…This has taken the new exchange about a month to do which in all accounts, is a great success. Server trouble still seems to be a regular issue but I’m sure that will get worked out. This is going to be one of the more popular traffic exchanges for years to come.
- Want even more proof that 2009 is another great year for the traffic exchange? Check out the affiliate tool box in Instant Bonus Page. My my my, another WONDERFUL set of splash pages, tailor made for some of the premier traffic exchanges on the net.
- 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 ‘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 – Ya I’m a little biased but wow doesn’t this splash page for I Love Hits look just…Peachy! 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
The Art of Traffic Exchange Specific Advertising
I have brought this topic up for years but I think it’s a great time to re-visit it, simply because this tactic can soar your results. We all know that splash and squeeze pages are a must if you want to get good results from the traffic exchanges. These pages are tailor made because while 80% of traffic exchange surfers will use and promote generic affiliate links, the rest will use squeeze and splash pages.
O.k., the next technique people use is personal branding. This is something I’m a big fan of and have bored readers to death for years about the importance of using real names, pictures and business logos on every page they promote in the traffic exchanges.
But here’s the next trick you can use in your advertising that will set you apart. Traffic exchange specific pages. For example, you can go all out like Jeff Dedrick did for his new site. This may take a bit of capital to get a designer to create something eye grabbing. Or you can do like I did for a page in rotation at Easy Hits 4 U, which is simply promoting I Love Hits.
All I did in that second example was throw a few words together ‘Hey Easy Hits 4 U Surfer’…Simple, but it speaks directly to the audience you are trying to attract. Pick a few of your favorite traffic exchanges and either invest in some professional designed T.E. specific pages or just add a few words above your current pages.
This little trick, when used properly, can mean big changes in your results. Remember, 80% of traffic exchange surfers are not using splash pages, out of the 20% that do, only a handful use personal branded pages. And finally, out of that handful, only a select few use T.E. specific pages.
Stick out like a soar thumb…
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Things That Make You Go Hmmm…
- It’s Free Traffic World’s one year anniversary this month. Congrats to the ‘best traffic exchange you may not have joined yet’!
- Shari Thomas is the new co-owner of Traffic Exchange Business. Wow, there’s a blast from the past, another MPAM alum.
- Note, if you are an owner of an LJ Script, please change the ‘reply’ email in your site settings. NoReply@your-site.com is just wrong…
