It’s interesting when you lurk in the chat rooms at what you can listen to and all of a sudden a blog post idea pops up. While surfing some promos today, I heard people talking about needing more coffee to wake up and that they were having a hard time staying awake so the question popped in my head – are you suffering from surfing boredom?????
If you answered this with a yes – well there could be many reasons why and going to list a few of them here.
Same ole, same ole ads
This can be boring on many sites if the members are seeing the same home page after another – you have heard me preach time and time again – make your page stand out do something different that will wake up that surfer. Now I know you are thinking well I don’t know how to design pages and not creative – well have you tried? If you think you CAN or you think you CANT…. you are probably right…….Henry Ford.
One ad after another
Have you ever been on a site and it’s just one ad after another – there is nothing to break up the routine – you are thankful to get to a bonus page as it woke you up. Personally, when I’m surfing, I need something that is going to make me do something beside click, click, click.
Alot of people don’t agree with having games on sites but personally I feel they break up the boredom. On my site I have been testing things and have found that members are paying attention as weekly they have a new Treasured Site to find from clues in the emails and they have a chance to win an upgrade. Also, I pick a text ad from the site and have them look for it and they have to click on it and send in the name of the site for a chance to get a free referral.
When this first started, I got maybe 5 – 6 support tickets but I’m so proud of my members as those support tickets are up to 50 – 60 a week now. Now I know some owners are going OMG on that many tickets – but you know what is great to me – that has opened up the line of communication with me and my members and to my surprise I have some really smart “cats” out there (hehe)
So the next time you are surfing, think about it – does playing hangman wake up you up and are you more alert on the next pages that you view. How about clicking on those frown faces – didn’t they wake you up and surfing didn’t seem so boring afterwards.
Same sales copy
“If you’re not using Manual Traffic exchanges you’re leaving 100’s and 1000’s of subscribers and Referrals on the table.”
How many of you have seen this and think oh no another same ole, same ole site well when I see this I’m am surfing boredom before I even get inside. To me it tells me that the owner don’t care about making his/her site unique to them and I really don’t care how great your traffic is, what you offer on the inside – having this on your main page sends out a message to others – this is your place to add some excitement – make them want to join and come in and see what you offer on the inside. JMO
So I ask again “Are you suffering from surfing boredom” think about how you can get some excitement in the exchange that you are surfing or the site that you own.
“You don’t have to be great to get started but you have to get started to be great.” – Les Brown
I will admit, I always start my surfing sessions with the anticipation of what I will find. It is up to the advertiser to engage me and make me take notice. I love Traffic Exchanges—- you never know what is out there. 🙂
I agree it’s like an adventure – and I also am hooked on TE’s
I see, even in traffic exchanges it true that you have to try to break state of the surfer. Awesome blog post!
Thanks Xarah and yes this is true in what ever you are doing to get others attention
surfing isn’t the most exciting thing that one can do. but to break it up a little is defiantly a plus. engagement is a good thing.
Yes that is true and talking in the chats do help but sometimes they get going so fast hard to get a word in edge wise lol
I do find some sites boring to surf due to what I can only put down to either not enough sites with credits or the owner over pushing a particular offer. I surfed 50 sites at an exchange earlier to find that only 10 of those sites were nothing to do with the exchange., giving 40 repeats of the same ole same ole.
I don’t mind games thrown in the mix, but sometimes for me I find them a little distracting from my goal of getting some hits…but only sometimes 🙂
I love the Treasured Site and Text Ad Hunt for each week, as you say Nancy, it gets members communicating with you and gives them a pretty decent prize if they’re chosen. I myself won a Top upgrade for a month.
And I do have to agree about the amount of times I see new TE’s and Mailers turn up with what must be the generic front page that they come with…defo won’t stand out from the crowd.
Anyway, I’ve gotta go now to catch me some unicorns and avoid being blown up…that Nancy sure is keeping the Zaney members busy today 🙂
Thanks Craig and all great points – glad you are enjoying the Treasured Site and Text Ad Hunt – you all keep me pretty busy but I love it – so keep it up 🙂
I think games are great and they are a good to break up the boredom.
Thanks Barb
Thanks Barb and thanks for the comment
Hello there Nancy, aka ‘Wise’ grandma!
I now am better at keeping goals and focus, as am participating in a weekly surf challenge as well as daily!
I also recommend getting up and taking a nice brisk walk break when able,….
I enjoy learning new approaches and look forward to your emails,..as you know the ‘value’ of keeping things up to date and interesting!
Kindly,
Victoria
Thanks Victoria but now so sure about the “wise” sometimes and thanks for your comment
Great post, as usual, Nancy.
I’m in agreement that the games at some sites are great and add to what is, lets face it, a tedious activity.
Also i find it’s not just the owners that pump out the bog standard sales page from the front of the site – it’s members too, and that strikes me as just plain lazy tho i admit i’m almost as bad mostly relying on the pre-designed splashes inside the site. I know i should get out there and work on the ideas ive come up with, but always seem to manage to find an extra promo to surf every day instead….procrastination at its best lol
Thanks Steve and great comment and I know some of us it’s just the time with most people.
Thanks for another insightful post, Nancy. In my humble opinion, you offer the model for all TE’s. I start my day with Zaney Clicks because I know what to expect and know that you are always changing things up to make the experience more interesting and rewarding for your members.
Thanks Rick and glad to hear and you never know what this Zaney Granny will do next hehehehe
I think it’s easy to become bored if all you see is the same sites constantly. The games are a great way to break up the monotony. The treasured site & text link game help me keep focused and provide a mental challenge. I love mental challenges..lol. There was also something else that, I’m pretty sure it was Zaney that done it, helped in surfing even other sites. The PO had a little game where they had members try to catch other members promoting their site at other sites. That was kind of neat too.
As for the generic front pages, I very rarely join a program with these. There are too many sites that do tell what the site offers and not just what the script or traffic exchanges in general offer.
Thanks and you are right – I like mental challenges also as my mom had Alzheimer and watching that till she died I try to keep my brain exercised also
I definitely suffer from surfing boredom, especially if I surf more than 50 pages at any one site. I don’t have any problem with games on a TE (in fact, those without games will probably lose traffic to those with them), although I don’t understand most of the games on most sites, except for hangman, which I am good at. By the way I do not think that hangman (or any word game) should use names of people. Just about every word game I can think of, either on TV or in real life, does not allow the use of proper nouns.
Thanks for the comment Howard and never thought about that – at the time I thought it was a good idea and a way for people to get to know other owners – will keep that in mind when it’s time to change it up again.
I don’t Mind The surfing with or with out games Its the Long timers that drive me Nuts on some sites most of them say to surf more sites at Once they don’t think that if your surfing more then one site at a time that you are not even Looking at the ads and are only looking at the clock when in fact for the people that surf Like this due to long timers how many others do you think are doing the same thing that you are and passing Your ads right on By so to Get to the rock Bottom its Not how Kool the site is or every thing it can offer some times at the end of the day its all about the results that you gotten from your surfing work and if you have issues that you get your emails answered Not Just by some one that’s going to Look at you see your Not upgraded and just ignore you until you Upgrade You want a kind of Friend ship after all its Both Free and Upgrade Members That Makes A surf site work and grow That’s one of the reason zaney is so great Upgrade or Not You always Feel Like you have a friendship with Nancy emails always Gets answered don’t make you feel stupid if you don’t under stand something that’s just a Few things that make zaney so great and that’s things you just cant change with or with out games Great results
Best wishes Brotherlove13
http://zaneyclicks.com/?rid=64336
Thanks Joe for the nice comment and that is how I want it to be – I have been there and know what it was like when I started and wish there had someone that was willing to answer a question – but there didn’t seem to be at the time and why I made Google my best friend – no matter what you ask in the search – it never tells you that was a stupid question.
Hi, I am new to this site, and I am enjoying it greatly. Nice easy surfing and love the smiling faces game, and guessing the TE owners name.
Thanks Evelyn and glad to have you – glad that you are enjoying some of the games
Nancy I could not agree with you more. Surfing boredom is real, and even when surfing 10 sites at a time, you can see the same ads over and over again. I used to avoid the games because I thought they wasted my surfing time, but I discovered, you are right, they can wake you up, and provide that well needed kick in the grey matter.
And for the same old ads, well, new splash and squeeze pages are so much fun to make. You get to try new things, new phrases, new colors, new photos. I don’t see why anyone would want to promote the same old tired page month after month or in some cases year after year. If the offer I want to promote doesn’t have any good splash pages, I make my own. I’m constantly inspired by others who do the same. There are a lot of talented clever folks on TE’s. But you’re right, you need to be awake to notice.
Thanks Big JohnG and you are so right – I was against the games at first also till I realize that the sites that I viewed afterwards I was paying more attention to.