The Nuts And Bolts Of Traffic Exchanges

Traffic Exchanges. What are they? How do they work? What do they do?

First of all, a "Traffic Exchange" is exactly that, a way to exchange traffic, a way to get visitors to your site. This happens by you visiting sites, in exchange for pageviews to your site.

There are LOTS of Traffic Exchanges out there. Some good, some bad, but most of them work in basically the same ways. You join, visit sites, refer others and build up credits.

There are 2 main types of Traffic Exchanges (there`s actually a few more types of exchanges, but these are the ones we`ll concentrate on here):

Manual Surf and Auto Surf.

With manual surf, you have to click on a button to get to the next site, with auto surf, you can sit back and watch the pages change automatically, without having to lift a finger. Nowadays, the trend seems to be that the exchanges offer multiple choices for surfing: manual, auto, different timers (15, 20 or 30 seconds before next site). A lot of them now offer games while surfing, as a chance to earn extra credits.

Traffic Exchanges give out credits and bonuses in a multitude of ways. Some give bonus credits for signing up, or for referring others, or even while you`re surfing the exchange, after you`ve visited a certain amount of sites. Almost ALL Traffic Exchanges give you a percentage of the credits your referrals build up, so it`s always a good idea to build a good downline in them. Some exchanges let you use your credits in different ways too: buying banner impressions, lottery tickets, referrals, scratchcards, just to name a few

One thing to take serious note of is the timers, and how long it actually takes your page to load, If you`re using a 15 second timer, and your page takes 20 seconds to load, people won`t see it before it`s time to click on to the next site. The best pages to use in Traffic Exchanges are small, fast loading, attention grabbing so-called "splash pages". You can link to the page you want people to see from the splashpage, or add a box where people can request more information via email. If you can make your splash page interesting enough, then getting people to click a link on it shouldn`t be too hard.

If what you need is a ton of quick hits to your sites, use autosurfers with 15 second timers. You can still get signups/requests for more info IF your site loads fast enough, and really yells out to the viewer. If you want your site to actually be seen, with maybe better signup rates, opt for the manual exchanges and 30 second timers. This forces people to stay at your site longer, which in turn could make them pay more attention to your site.

Be aware that a lot of Traffic Exchanges don`t allow the use of popups, rotators or re-directors on whichever site you`re promoting, as they are very hard to keep track of and can include very unsavoury stuff such as a virus or even porn. It`s ALWAYS a good idea to use a popup killer when you`re surfing the traffic exchanges. I personally use a program called KillAd, which is brilliant in terminator mode....hehehe. Apart from the risk of reaching "nasty" sites, popups can really drain your computers resources, making it sluggish and slow.

Most Traffic Exchanges these days have both free and paid options, where the paid option is basically just an enhancement of free, making it easier to gain credits and referrals, although some of them DO allow you to earn a commission on referral upgrades.

In closing: You will most likely come across "cheat programs/software made specifically to cheat the traffic exchanges.They work by racking up credits for you, without you having to actually USE the exchange. Whatever you do, DON`T use them! Apart from the fact that you`ll most likely lose your accounts in the traffic exchanges, can you imagine if everybody was using them? Nobody would see any sites, and nobody would get any results.

Above all, keep all your promotional efforts honest.

Anna-Marie Stewart Venton

Anna-Marie Stewart Venton publishes Not Just Another Ezine. An interactive online ezine full of marketing hints, tips and info. Win free advertising in her AdCash games. Visit http://annamarketing.com for more information or mailto:webmistress@annamarketing.com?subject=subscribe

This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine, web site or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included.

(c) 2002 AnnaMarketing.com. All Rights Reserved

About The Author

Anna-Marie Stewart Venton publishes Not Just Another Ezine at http://annamarketing.com. Dedicated to helping marketers succeed, and have a bit of fun at the same time. She also hosts weekly "Get To Know Each Other" chats for all online marketers. Download your free Money Chatter Viral Marketing Tool here: http://annamarketing.com/MC

webmistress@annamarketing.com

---

The Only Traffic Secret Youll Ever Need For Your Home Based Business

So what is this all important secret? It can generate... Read More

5 Tips For Increased Website Traffic

There are lots of ways to get traffic to your... Read More

Keeping Track of Your Link Exchanges

All of us want to increase traffic to our web... Read More

Utilizing Award Sites for Your Benefit

Why Award Sites?Award sites are, in essence, directories that hand... Read More

Email Can Be Extremely Irritating

There are some extremely irritating things that have become an... Read More

Increase Your Online Traffic in 60 Minutes or Less

Increasing your website traffic does not have to be a... Read More

15 Link Exchange Tips

Establishing inbound links through reciprocal link exchanges is a very... Read More

Be Number One

The trick to making it REALLY big on the internet... Read More

Free Traffic Course - Day 7

When you work with web site traffic, you must have... Read More

How To Get Repeat Visitors To Your Site

When you have a website online it is important for... Read More

Targeted Traffic for Your Website - 3 Guaranteed Ways to Create Lift-Off

Targeting traffic for your website is as easy as knowing... Read More

Getting Popular Sites To Link To You

Links are important to you because of two main reasons:Google's... Read More

Internet Promotion: 10 Uncommon Freebies That Can Increase Your Traffic And Sales

It is an open internet promotion secret that the more... Read More

The Hidden Traffic Strategy That Skyrockets Your Profits

If you agree that traffic is the true currency of... Read More

Reciprocal Linking Techniques

Building a successful web site is a process that works... Read More

Get More Customers ? With Less Work!

A lot of website owners work tirelessly at increasing their... Read More

The Truth About Traffic Exchange Programs and Guaranteed Traffic

It's about time someone let the cat out of the... Read More

Why Traffic Touts and List Pushers Are Bad For Your Business

In this Article we look at the second competitive advantage... Read More

Web Traffic Wonder: Are You Using This Free List Building Tool?

Yes, if need more web traffic, this free list building... Read More

How To Increase Your Website Traffic With Zero Cost

How to increase your website traffic with zero cost'. It's... Read More

Traffic Generation Tutorials - Article 1 of 10 Bi Weekly Articles

This article will be continually updated with your feedback and... Read More

Link Exchange: Good for Ranking and Internet Presence

To improve our website ranking and internet presence we need... Read More

Referral Traffic

The subject of referral traffic may be a bit elementary... Read More

Create Top Sites To Increase Your Traffic

You have a website, beautiful in design and unique in... Read More

Why Resources Added to a Web site Increase Revenue!

There are literally billions of Web sites online now offering... Read More

Ethical Link Exchange, You be the Judge

Webmasters understand that quality and relevant inbound links can increase... Read More

Webmasters and Publishers: A Match Made in Heaven!

It's pretty well-known that one of the best ways to... Read More

Reciprocal Links: Look Before You Link

A reciprocal link is when a web site links to... Read More

Ten Ways To Effectively Increase Your Site?s Prominence On The Web

It's a strange world, this place we call the internet.... Read More

Reciprocal Linking Overload - Any Old Link Back Will Do?

Are you attempting to become a Google junior by adding... Read More

7 Ways to Increase Web Site Visitors and Boost Sales

Have you spent a lot of money on advertising with... Read More

Maximum Exposure: Ten Ways To Effectively Increase Your Sites Prominence On The Web

It's a strange world, this place we call the internet.... Read More

Are You Guilty of Stinkin? Linkin? Thinkin??

Do you know what kind of sites are suitable link... Read More