The traffic exchange industry is a growing a vibrant industry filled with people of all walks of life and now coming from all parts of the world. Results of people using free website traffic vary widely though. Many people hear about traffic exchanges from some affiliate program and determine that they are a great and easy free resource to get sign-ups and sell their affiliate products. While this is true, the way that many affiliate programs portray this is not.
Basically, these programs say, “Take our affiliate link and add it into rotation at a few free traffic exchanges and watch the money come rolling in.” While it would be nice for people if that were true, the fact is that it doesn’t work that way.
Traffic Exchange Basics
In this section we are going to discuss the basic premise of and how banners systems works. This is a basic primer on what you can do in a traffic exchange and may be skipped by people who have been advertising using traffic exchanges for a while. However, I may put a few nuggets of information in here that you may find
useful even if you are more advanced.
What is a traffic exchange?
In its simplest form a traffic exchange is a way of driving traffic to your website in exchange for giving traffic to another user’s website. Traffic exchanges are membership sites. You join the site and opt-in to the sites list so that the owner can send you news and updates on the program. In return you can find out more information about what is going on with the site and may even find a few good deals. Websites are viewed inside what is known as a surfbar. There are also other common ways that your site can get traffic from a traffic exchange besides using the surfbar, they are banners sometimes email ads.
The surfbar typically is a frame around the websites that members want to advertise that are placed in rotation. This frame generally has a timer, an area for statistics such as credits earned, websites viewed, and links to content within the traffic exchange, such as the main members area and an area where you can purchase more credits. There are two types of surfbars, auto-surfing and manual-surfing.
Auto-surfing surfbars are just what they sound like, the surfbar advances automatically at the end of each timer. I HIGHLY recommend that you do NOT use auto-surfing traffic exchanges. The main reason is that with an auto-surfing exchange you can collect credits to your website but there is no guarantee whatsoever that ANYONE will even see your website that you are advertising let alone take action on it. Your goal isn’t just to get traffic to you website, but visitors to it also. A visitor is a living, breathing human being that can actually see your website, not some program that trades information with another computer and says that traffic occurred to your website.
Manual surfbars, on the other hand, require that a human take action to advance the program to the next available website to be seen after the timer has elapsed. A typical “surf session” may go like this.
The member logs into their account to begin surfing. They may check the sites they currently have in rotation to see if any hits are available that need to be assigned to their sites.
The member launches the surfbar from the surfing link on the traffic exchange.
The timer for the first site begins counting down from a pre-determined amount of time as the website is viewed.
The timer reaches the end and then a selection of icons need to be clicked upon to receive credit and advance to the next website. A number of credits (or fraction of them) are given and the surfbar selects another website available in rotation. When the member is done surfing they can assign any credits they have available to their websites in the members area.
A note about tabbed browsing
A powerful way to get more traffic that has recently come about in the past few years with tabbed browsers is surfing multiple exchanges at one time. Tabbed browsing allows you to surf several exchanges at one time in multiple tabs on the same making this a very viable option to generate a lot of hits. While this is a great option I would advise against surfing more than about 4 or 5 exchanges at once for the following reasons:
1. Surfing more than this with a 10 second timer the surfbar will probably be waiting on you to come back to the exchange since the timer has already timed out.
2. Surfing multiple sites like this can slow your computer and processors down depending upon how graphic intensive the sites are and your connection speed.
3. Remember, traffic exchanges work on a view for view basis. It is a cooperative advertising medium. If you aren’t viewing other people’s sites what makes you think they should pay you the courtesy of viewing yours.
Usingbannersalso allows you to advertise banner links and text links on the traffic exchanges. Generally, banner links are shown on the surfbar near the timer.
Banner links may also be seen in various pages throughout the members area. Text links can also be shown on the surfbar and throughout the members area. The banner link is a graphic of a set width and height that displays and links to another website. They can be very useful in branding your business and generating a small amount of traffic. Text links are similar except they are a short phrase or blurb that may describe an aspect of your business or may be identified as a branded slogan.
Again these links can help brand your business and drive traffic to your sites. I will tell you how I use text links to great effect later on in the book. Email advertisements can also be used at ssome traffic exchanges. There are several ways this can take form.
First, some exchanges have email advertisements you can send to the entire membership for a fee, these are called solo email ads. While they can be quite expensive, the draw is that the members who click on the links in these email ads can get credits for advertising their own websites. These tend to drive traffic pretty well and tracking has shown that they can convert very well.
The next way to email advertise is through downline mailing. Many traffic exchanges allow you to email members that you may have referred to the program. While you need to be very careful about doing this because of SPAM laws in the USA and other places, it can be a viable option to help advertise through traffic exchanges. My recommendation is this, if you use this feature offer to help answer any questions your new referrals may have about the traffic exchange in general. At the bottom of your email you can include your signature and below that a short description of your business and a link or url that they can follow if they are interested.
Attributes to consider about traffic exchanges
Before you join a traffic exchange there are a lot of things you should consider. Some may be personal preference while others I consider to be essential to your advertising on traffic exchanges. Number of members- The fact of the matter is the more members a traffic exchange has, the more potential customers you have at your disposal. Also, the more potential people there are to see and be attracted to your opportunity or product. If a traffic exchange has only 1,000 members then maybe only 50 to 60 of those members may see your website in a day. If a traffic exchange has 80,000 members you may get 500 or more members to see your website that day.
Number of new members- Number of new members show that the exchange is growing. Efforts by the program owner and other members to attract more members creates more diversity and greater traffic opportunities.
Traffic flow- This may seem like a no-brainer, but I have been a member of a lot of traffic exchanges where the program owner forgot to put the traffic in their traffic exchange. My test is what I call the 7-day test. First, I surf the site so that I get at least 100 hits there. I assign all 100 of them to 1 site at the traffic exchange. If I come back 7 days later and those hits are not all gone, I drop that exchange. Think about it. If you are getting fewer hits than this to your sites you are basically getting less than 14 hits or less every day to your URL there. You need to find a more productive path to promote your traffic.
If you have a lot of hits at one exchange already that are not moving then I highly recommend that you assign your credits to as many URLs as possible to get more hits to your site. Most exchanges will allow you to promote more than one URL as a free member. There is nothing that says you can not use the same site multiple times (unless it is prohibited by their TOS (terms of service)).
Conversion rate- Certain traffic exchanges just seem to convert better for your type of business than others will. It could be for a variety of reasons. The only way you will know this for certain is to track your results. We will discuss this in much greater depth later in the book.
Surf ratio- A traffic exchange’s surf ratio is something for you to consider. The surf ratio tells you how many times your website will be seen for every time you view another website. For example, a 3 to 1 surf ratio means your website will be seen once for every 3 websites that you see. So a traffic exchange with a higher surf ratio can help you generate more traffic credits in a faster amount of time, but you also have to consider the traffic flow that the website gives you also. Just because a traffic exchange gives you a 1 to 1 surf ratio does not mean that you should chose it over a site with a 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 ratio. A 1 to 1 traffic ratio means that the owner has very little way to get rid of excess hits like those that may be given to upgraded members or to those who purchase credits. This can stall traffic delivery and flow. Two excellent 1 to 1 traffic exchanges that I have encountered are EasyHits4U and HelpHits. Both have great traffic delivery.
Surf timer length- A traffic exchange’s surf timer governs the minimum time a website will be seen before the surfer can change to the next website. Several years back a 30 second surf timer was quite common. With faster broadband connections and faster server speeds too, that time has been cut to about 10 seconds as an average among most traffic exchanges and is trending even lower. Faster timers are generally considered good for surfers, but not as good for advertisers because there is less time for a member to see the site. While this may be true, studies and tracking show that a member can make a decision about whether to investigate a website further within the first seven seconds of seeing it. Assuming that your page loads within one second a timer length greater than about 10 seconds may be a bit long. However, if you are using a long sales letter or something else that may have a lot of detail in it you may want to consider a site with a longer timer length. I will show you what you SHOULD do instead later in the book though.
Other Considerations in Advertising on Traffic Exchanges
Read the Terms of Service- It is a fact that there are as many different types of Terms of Service as there are traffic exchanges. Each will have different terms for a variety of reasons. Not following them can get your account deleted, so I highly recommend you read them. For example, on my traffic exchanges I don’t allow sites that sell or promote tobacco or tobacco related products. Other sites may allow that…. Still other sites may not allow the use of a URL rotator, or may only allow the use of specific rotators.
Read the Newsletters- Many times you can find deals on traffic purchases, changes in site policy or other information here. Not at least scanning these newsletters can be detrimental to your performance on that exchange.
Consider upgrading to Pro- Pro members can have a lot of added benefits that free members do not. It only makes sense because Pro members are paying for a service and supporting the business that the site owner is in. On some sites Pro members not only benefit with higher surf ratios and extra hits, etc. to their sites, but can also get a discount or additional credits on purchases. This can be a large advantage and may more than make up for the extra cost by providing more traffic at a reduced cost. A great example of this is I Love Hits, here Pro members get 2 for 1 on all credit purchases during HENry Hours.
Consider purchasing traffic- There is no doubt that your time is money. What you may save in money by surfing you could make up for if you get high converting sales that can make you more money. In this case you can leverage your time by purchasing credits in the traffic exchanges. Then you can concentrate on making your sales page more effective or giving Advice money-making project.
Activity # 2
Go to http://affiliatefunnel.com/?rid=21638, a great free traffic exchange resource program, and join the top 20 traffic exchanges listed under the traffic exchange list. These are the top 20 traffic exchanges as ranked by the traffic exchange surfers in their voting. Over 10,000 votes were compiled, so this isn’t just one person’s opinion, but many different people.
Did you notice anything in particular that was common about the top 20 exchanges?
Splash Page Basics
What is a Splash Page?
A splash page is a fast-loading, attention-grabbing page that allows you to get the attention of your average surfer. It follows a basic ACA formula as I Love Hits / SWAT
Traffic owner and traffic exchange expert Jon Olson (who is generally regarded as the father of the Splash Page) has set forth. ACA stands for Attention, Curiosity, Action
Attention- You are trying to grab the attention of your audience and get them to really look at your page for a moment. There are many ways you can do this. Many use big bold headlines. Other ways that have been added recently are with audio additions, and even flash animation. Surfers generally are surfing about 3 or more exchanges at once in a tabbed browser, also the average surf timer now is about 10 seconds. If you cannot gain their attention fast you may lose your chance to communicate with your potential customer.
This is why long sales letters and affiliate links do not generally work in traffic exchanges Advice because there is just too much information there to assimilate. One thing to beware of though is using something that may be TOO graphic intensive. This may cause the page to load slowly or may stall the surf timer on an exchange which can get your page suspended.
Curiosity- Often times this may be incorporated with the Attention phase. If you do something that peaks the surfer’s curiosity you can at least get them to click through to your site and read the sales letter or find out more information about your site.
Action- Or more specifically a call to action. As strange as it may seem people like instructions. If you don’t tell them to “click here” or “sign up now” they really won’t do it.
A clear call to action gives your surfing prospect something concrete to do which leads to more click-throughs and higher conversions.
Why use a Splash Page?
As I mentioned above, a long sales letter is just too long to read for most surfers. When you think about the fact that most are surfing 3 or more exchanges at a time on a tabbed browser with 10 second timers on all of those exchanges then you should understand you have very little time to communicate with them. Back in the days of predominantly dial-up connections most surf timers were about 30 seconds.
As connection speeds got faster and page-loading became faster, surfers wanted to try to rack up more hits to their sites in return and the 30 second timer seemed too long to most. The splash page was developed to get the attention of surfers and stop them long enough to either get them to the sales letter or login page.
Think of a splash page as a billboard with the added convenience of being able to take you right to where you want to go as soon as you click on the link.
Converting a Splash Page to a Squeeze Page
You can take the Splash Page a bit further and turn it into a squeeze page. A squeeze page is basically a Splash Page that captures the details of your prospect so that you can email them and add them to your list.
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