Traffic Exchanges

[mistracy39]

 I own my own internet business and I'm working very hard to put my girls through college. I would like to met someone and get married one day and maybe even buy a house

[Darren Olander]

Depends on how much time you have to surf, The ideal situation is usually a combination of both an upgrade and surfing I think since you generally earn credits faster by being an upgraded member.

[John Bell]

Because it reaches a point where time invested is of greater value than the cost of the credits.

 

However personally, the best investment is not clicking myself nor buying credits - it's getting referrals to do the clicking and earning credits from their surfing.  Free credits without clicking... this is, in my opinion, what makes traffic exchanges such valuable resources over any other advertising medium.  A year or two of work building referrals to return several years of free advertising (not only free advertising, but also getting commissions)

[Guest Andy B]

I agree John. It is a straight time vs. cost consideration for me.

I have written an article outlining the reasons why TrafficHoopla can help anyone get the best results for their clicking over here at ApSense if anyone wants to to read about how to not only use the most responsive exchanges, but also increase their traffic through referrals.

[Guest Clare Johnson]

I have to say, it's definitely a time issue, although I have found that I can listen to whatever training I'm doing and surf, killing 2 birds with one stone!

[xiqual]

When you surpass the newbie level, you get to understand the value of leveraging and escalating...

 

For example, it is way more profitable to invest your time in developing good copywriting skills; 

this way, any message you send will get a better return, will be subcribers, referrals or sales.

 

Just mine 2 cents.

[Atiyyeh]

I noticed that in some TEs, the purchased credits give you more real visitors than free credits

[johannihau]

you spend either time or money, your choice

[Atiyyeh]

I encourage you to upgrade & purchase credits in the elite paying TEs..

 

For me,, I am upgrading only in the TEs which paid me when I am still a free member..

 

Good luck

[bluefire10]

I have learned to skip all the clicking...i use traffic exchanges with promo codes and use all the free advertising they give me and I've also found a site that helps keep all my classifieds and forums in order plus facebook and twitter auto posters that save a ton of time!!

[Len]

I have learned to skip all the clicking...i use traffic exchanges with promo codes and use all the free advertising they give me and I've also found a site that helps keep all my classifieds and forums in order plus facebook and twitter auto posters that save a ton of time!!

YeaH THAT'S what I do too.

[market101]

Then there is always the thing that most of us do, but don't want to talk about.  Whether it is TE's, surfing or safelists....... I'm talking about clicking on 2-3 sites at the same time in different windows.  Of course you don't do that!   Or do you?

 

[terrencewan]

I personally think that 

the best way to use TE

is to do the clicking when you are free,

upgrade some of the TE

which can have auto referrals

send under you,

here I won't mention which are the best TE,

you just got to try some out to see it.

Finally, promote it to your list

and leverage on their support.

 

As time goes by,

you will have unlimited credits 

for your primary products.

 

Build up your traffic first,

then do the marketing,

is easier this way,

and not the other way run,

which many are doing it.

 

Good luck to all.

[Brian Francis]

 

Free credits without clicking... this is, in my opinion, what makes traffic exchanges such valuable resources over any other advertising medium.  A year or two of work building referrals to return several years of free advertising (not only free advertising, but also getting commissions)

 

I am going to be blunt here and I do not mean to offend. After all, I do still dabble with TEs, but I really do not see the value in Traffic Exchanges. I have tried for years now to understand how and why they survive and for the first time I have read someone make a comment that kinda makes sense. None-the-less, it all still mostly seems to me like everyone promoting the same old offers with perhaps the occasional unique and worthwhile product or service.

 

Of course it has to be said though that there are also some very clever and innovative Traffic Exchanges that have stepped beyond just surfing for credits. My big concern as a paying advertiser would be am I getting my monies worth if people are just mindlessly clicking for credits to promote their own offers.

 

Maybe I am missing something still...

[John Bell]

I am going to be blunt here and I do not mean to offend. After all, I do still dabble with TEs, but I really do not see the value in Traffic Exchanges. I have tried for years now to understand how and why they survive and for the first time I have read someone make a comment that kinda makes sense. None-the-less, it all still mostly seems to me like everyone promoting the same old offers with perhaps the occasional unique and worthwhile product or service.

 

Of course it has to be said though that there are also some very clever and innovative Traffic Exchanges that have stepped beyond just surfing for credits. My big concern as a paying advertiser would be am I getting my monies worth if people are just mindlessly clicking for credits to promote their own offers.

 

Maybe I am missing something still...

 

I can see why you would think that, I often too wonder how they are able to bring advertising results, yet they still do.  My business generated $250,000 in sales last year, and other than a few safelists, virtually all of my paid advertising was in Traffic Exchanges.. so although as an advertiser sometimes it does defy logic, and I think know there are some traffic exchanges that will never give me a return, and some ads that I can never get a return on, in general it is still effective.

 

This year my paid advertising has expanded beyond just Traffic Exchanges because I want to reach a larger audience, however I still am unable to beat the ROI I get from Traffic Exchanges, however I do also attribute most of this to the fact that the majority of the advertising I am getting is free from referrals, so my actual advertising cost is much lower than if I had to pay for every visitor outright.

 

To be frank, most traffic exchanges will not provide the value if you spent the money on the credits, a lot of them have adopted a business model of creating a community and connections, using the advertising platform as the vehicle - and have been able to provide a lot more value to the members through this than the advertising itself, and a lot of traffic exchange users are paying for the things that come along with being in that club, rather than buying the advertising itself.

 

As far as everybody promoting the same offers, that's true for everything.  99% of TV Commercials are the exact same thing, 99% of previews for movies are the same format.. most of the criticisms I hear about Traffic Exchanges, while generally valid, really apply to paid advertising as a whole.

 

Regarding people mindlessly clicking and ignoring your message --- good, your message isn't for those people.  Let them click mindlessly for years and get nowhere, they aren't there for you, and that's ok.  How many bottles of Tide laundry detergent do you think a single Tide commercial sells?  Sitting at your home, watching TV.. nowhere near a situation where you are actually looking to purchase Laundry Detergent, and most likely you already have a favorite anyway.  MOST people are going to ignore it, and that's ok.  You don't need MOST people to react to your advertising.. you really only need a couple people who your product REALLY speaks to get interest, then let the power of your product do the rest.  Finding that person who responds to your ad is way better than trying to get everyone to respond - because people who don't need it and respond, don't stay. People who need it and respond, tell their friends.

 

 

Big Picture : There's really only two ways to market a company that are semi-viable.

 

1) Content Marketing -- creating content that your customer values, providing value in good faith that the trust relationship being built will lead to sales.  Content Marketing is a very long-term play given the nature of the methods it is found - search.

 

2) Paid Advertising -- Buying up ads to get your message out.  The Paid Advertising is a short-term play, you buy an ad and it shows up right now.

 

Both strategies really work hand-in-hand.  Content marketing is of course going to be more effective, but it'll take 2-3 years to really scale, to have enough content that enough people are coming to you. The major downfall of Paid Advertising is that it is a business of interrupting people, and people generally don't like to be interrupted.

 

Traffic Exchanges have a distinct advantage in Paid Advertising in that it's not actually interrupting anyone, when a person surfs they know exactly what they are getting themselves in to, they know they are about to look at an ad - and choose to do just that, so the traditional failure of Paid Advertising -- which is interrupting people who don't want to be interrupted -- is why Traffic Exchanges have remained effective.

 

Another reason why they remain successful and popular is simply that you can do it for free or very low cost, a lot of new businesses just don't have the budget to blow $3,000 on facebook ads just during the learning curve of figuring out how to make an ad that works.

 

These two methods can work very much in tandem, and the people who combine them are the one's who dominate in Traffic Exchanges, and it works simply by creating materials you would for Content Marketing, and advertising that content.

 

Knowing that most people who are using them are beginning at business and aren't running on their 4th round of angel investors getting a $8 Million valuation, you can narrowly understand who your audience is.

 

The next step is to create content specifically for them.  Think about the problems and solutions that you might have had when you first started your business.. you needed things like hosting, an autoresponder, and to expand your advertising efforts to increase your reach.

 

Now you take the content marketing approach of creating meaningful content regarding those subjects, the most effective I've found is creating a full-fledged membership site built around the topic, and offer training and consulting on how to do it effectively.  The trick though is that it really needs to be free, valuable content.. allow the sales to happen on the back end for what you are REALLY trying to advertise.. this website or email series needs to be specifically designed to give information, provide value, and build trust.. so that when you do get that point where you work for a purchase, the barriers will have already been dropped, and they can purchase with confidence.

 

You're at an advantage in Traffic Exchanges in that you already have the viewers permission, people build entire sales funnels around the concept of trying to get someone to tell you it's ok for you to try and sell to them, but with a Traffic Exchange they gave you that permission as soon as they hit the surf button -- they KNOW when they click that button that they are going to be sold to, and they did it anyway, so now that you have your foot in the door, you can really turn up the volume on the value level, and begin building trust... providing free valuable content will build that trust, and using paid advertising ramps up the distribution of that content, and creates sort of a one-two punch.

 

You're right in that Traffic Exchanges won't work for most people... and neither will facebook ads, twitter ads, adsense, or putting a banner on a blog.

 

However when you give that sort of specific, long-tail content that brings direct value to the audience you want - then Traffic Exchanges do work.. and so does facebook ads, twitter ads, adsense, and putting a banner on a blog.

[Brian Francis]

Excellently explained John and much appreciated - If only you knew how long I have been trying to tease out this type answer....

I wonder if anyone else has a take on the matter.

[BionicMan]

I am going to be blunt here and I do not mean to offend. After all, I do still dabble with TEs, but I really do not see the value in Traffic Exchanges. I have tried for years now to understand how and why they survive and for the first time I have read someone make a comment that kinda makes sense. None-the-less, it all still mostly seems to me like everyone promoting the same old offers with perhaps the occasional unique and worthwhile product or service.

Of course it has to be said though that there are also some very clever and innovative Traffic Exchanges that have stepped beyond just surfing for credits. My big concern as a paying advertiser would be am I getting my monies worth if people are just mindlessly clicking for credits to promote their own offers.

 

Maybe I am missing something still...

I feel you! Seem like to me people surf to get traffic to there site but no sign ups!

[Kurt Tasche]

Like Darren said, the best is a combination of upgrading and surfing.  Most TE's give you bonus credits each month as an upgraded member, and you also usually earn more credits when you click.

[Kevin J Timothy]

Because your time left on earth will always

be your most valuable asset.  Buy those credits. 

 

 

[Guest Paul Nulty]

In most cases paying for credits or taking a upgrade in T.E's will give you the best return of investment. Time is probably your single most greatest asset - how are you going to spend that time?

 

P.S. Kore4 gives you more!

[Marilo]

So true!

 

Why pay more for less

[reynoldsa]

Hi, Good information here as ever all around in this forum.

 

By the way, there is a NEW Traffic Exchange in the town:

 

http://igotsoloads.com

 

It is NOT an affiliate link. You can surf, exchange banner & link. But the best, even it is not FREE,

you can get Solo Ads to 26,829 Member for Measly $6. Hurry Up and get yours know.

 

I think it is a good offer to promote our products.

[Tom Johnson]

Time or money.., your choice!

[oldbuddy]

I am going to be blunt here and I do not mean to offend. After all, I do still dabble with TEs, but I really do not see the value in Traffic Exchanges. I have tried for years now to understand how and why they survive and for the first time I have read someone make a comment that kinda makes sense. None-the-less, it all still mostly seems to me like everyone promoting the same old offers with perhaps the occasional unique and worthwhile product or service.

 

Of course it has to be said though that there are also some very clever and innovative Traffic Exchanges that have stepped beyond just surfing for credits. My big concern as a paying advertiser would be am I getting my monies worth if people are just mindlessly clicking for credits to promote their own offers.

 

Maybe I am missing something still...

I agree with what John Bell said above and I am a lifetime upgraded member and promoter of his Traffic Swirl

 

I do surf there every day to mingle with the very people who are raising their hands to identify themselves as those who are interested by being there, but I don't use the credits I earn, to get them to click and ignore my pages (as has been stated by others here).

 

The unique benefit of this exchange, is I can sell those credits (along with other prizes I win) in the Marketplace and turn them into Tokens. Then use those Tokens to attract people who are doing more than just surfing. Those who actually engage other members in the Chat or look for programs to join in the Tasks. I know most say they just join to get the Tokens offered, but I have referals I found there turn into my best team players, once they discovered what I showed them really does work.

 

I never would have had that chance by just showing them a page.

[reynoldsa]

Thanks all for that info. By the way, there is a NEW Traffic Exchange on the town. As a new one, It is giving a FREE GOOD BONUS.

Most people would say "But it has only few members", but it is offering reach +26,800 people through Conection with others advertisement

networks. You can check it at http://igotsoloads.com/  (NOT affiliate link) and register for free to try it.