Category Archives: Traffic Exchanges

Branding – is it worth the time

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brand It’s interesting when I first came online and started learning, I had a friend of mine tell me that to make it online you have to learn to sell yourself, brand yourself and at the time I thought right – who is going to want to know about me.  Well I learned fast that he was right and I have some examples today that I’d like to share and then you tell me – Branding – is it worth the time

You know it’s funny as actor/actress have been doing this for many years when you think about it and it don’t necessarily have to be your name – example when you hear these lines does an actor/actress come to mind

I’ll Be Back – right away you picture Arnold in the Terminator
May the Force Be With You – didn’t Star Wars pop in your mind
There’s No Place Like Home –  didn’t Dorothy pop in your head from the Wizzard of Oz
Go Ahead, Make My Day – Can’t forget Clint Eastwood
Beam Me Up Scotty – can’t forget Star Trek

Well you can do the same thing online and I have been watching many people in the traffic exchange industry to the same

Flash – didn’t you think about Jo right away and no name was not used
Splash – bet the dolphin popped in your head right away
Tezak – and bet you are a tezzer now

Now I could go on and on with examples – you don’t necessarily have to use your name to brand yourself – but you do need to have something that will make people think of your of your site right away.

 

So think about it some and then leave me a comment – Branding – is it worth the time?

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Spamming for Referrals

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spammingWell most of you know me and that I am a traffic exchange owner but also a mega surfer and I can only go for so long on things that I see is wrong and have to bring attention to what I see happening and thus this post Spamming for Referrals.

Is this post going to be well liked – probably not –  as this is  going to really piss some people off. The first situation that I want to bring out in the open is what I see happening in public CHAT Rooms.  Because I surf so much, I lurk in alot of rooms and it’s amazing how much wheeling and dealing I see going on.  EVERY DAY I watch people swapping links in the chat rooms and it’s I will join any site you want if you join my site so that they can get a referral.

Now I understand that getting referrals are important and pressure is put on lot of people trying to win a referral contest BUT just my opinion this is spamming.  You are adding a link to your profile page and swapping with someone else for their link.  I maybe old school but I feel that the people that are doing this is devaluing the traffic exchange industry.

The idea behind traffic exchanges is that you add your site, surf and view others site in exchange for them viewing yours.  When you are swapping links in public chat rooms you are not setting a good example at all – you are only teaching others to spam.  My personal opinion is that you are putting the message out that traffic exchanges don’t work and you have to resort to this method of getting referrals.  If I am thinking this all wrong, please someone tell me your logic.

One more thing to say on this one is let me ask you a question – if you are getting referrals by spamming in chat rooms – what type of referral are they – to me they are just a number and I don’t know about you but I want more than just a number – I want someone that will be ACTIVE and not just a number.  I want someone that wants to learn, wants to be an active surfer and get results, wants to give the traffic exchange an chance to prove that they work.

So, If you want me to join your program or site then add it to Zaney Clicks. I join new sites all the time BUT I join them from members that are getting referrals the way traffic exchanges are meant to work – adding their site, adding credits and letting me view them inside the traffic exchange..

It’s just that simple everyone – and unless you are willing to do it this way – then don’t you spread rumors that traffic exchanges don’t work because I know they do.  Thanks for listening and will love to hear your opinion now that you have listened to mine.

What is the difference in 50, 100, 125, 150, 200

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thinkingToday while I was surfing some of the promos that were out there, it was interesting how many different amounts were out there the amount of pages that were required to be eligible for the prizes so was got to thinking what is the difference in 50, 100, 125, 150 200.

Now I know many owners role is to get as many views to their sites that they can and I understand that most have their own preference.  From an owners point of view I know it is important to get as many eyeballs on a members site as you can but I have been watching my promos and the amount of people that surf at these different amounts.

No I’m not going to bore you will all my stats but what I am going to tell you that when I do a promo where members have to surf 50 pages at each site – I see two things – I see MORE member surfing and most of the time they surf more than the 50 pages.

Now I have been trying to figure this out and think that the reason that this happens is that members don’t feel the pressure to surf that they do with the larger amounts.  Also, I feel that when surfing at a more relaxed pace they view what they are seeing more.

With my stats, I have been seeing good results with surfing 100 as for the same reasons but see a drop in the amount of people that surf when the numbers go to 125, 150 and 200.  I have also been watching the amounts with the promo codes and also am seeing the same results.

With all the promos that I have, I have also had a few surfers thank me for not having so many pages as their feelings are they belong to many exchanges and like when they don’t have the pressure of too many pages – that way they can surf at more sites in the long run.

So I thought I’d do a post and would love to hear from other owners and surfers on what your opinion is on the difference in 50, 100, 125, 150, 200.

Drop It and Forget It

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Today I have been going thru my sites and cleaning and it’s amazing how it seems that so many members (me included sometimes) just put a link, banner etc in a site and do what I call drop it and forget it.

guiltyIt was amazing how many banners that I deleted today because the image was not showing and it’s not all your fault as if you are like me you jump in and jump out of sites and see if you need to add credits, banner and text impressions.

Well don’t waste you credits, banner and text impressions on nothing being there – so many times the site might change things – delete splash pages and add new ones and all of a sudden your favorite one is not being seen and unless you checking on them once in awhile – in your mind you might blame the site when it’s not the site’s fault.

Grant you, it’s gotten better over the years and there are scripts that will kick out a bad URL and thank to some members they will report them so that site owner can take them out of rotation.  But let me ask you – how many of you are so busy to get to the next site that you don’t take the time to hit that report button? hmmmmmmm

Well I use to do that when I first started because the word report was like I’m telling on someone and didn’t want to cause problems.  BUT you are actually helping a fellow member and the site owner and that is a good thing.  So the next time you see a page that it says that the site is not available, can’t find site, etc – take a few seconds to hit that report button.

Now I know you are thinking I don’t have time to do that as some sites don’t seem to care what is showing and why should I help them out.  Well there are a couple reasons that I report them – as that is less competition and my site will come up faster in rotation getting the bad sites out.

The other reason is I’m from the old school and if that was my site – I would WANT someone to report it for me so I can make the change.  So I try to do what I would want someone to do for me.

So the next time you are in adding credits, banner and text impressions and have not viewed your sites, banner and text ads – take a few minutes and view them – don’t be one of those members that just goes from site to site and drop it and forget it.

Don’t feel bad either and where I see this the most is in the mailers, text ad sites and even paid to click sites – and that is even worse as the site owner is paying someone to view your site, banner, text and it’s messed up – that does not set an example that I want others to see – how about you?

Getting back to the basics

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backtobasicsStarting on the internet years ago and discovering traffic exchanges – this was all new to me and like a different language.  So I thought I would do a post of some of the highlights that I see people struggling with in getting back to the basics.

The first new word I learned was Gravatar and I still see people struggling with how to get one, what they are so let me explain. Your Gravatar is an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things like comment or post on a blog.

Now I know lot of you would like to use the rotator or the personal splash pages but not sure how to get your picture to show up.  Well you go to Gravatar.com and sign up with your email account and then upload your picture. Every time that you use that email addy when you sign up at a site your picture will follow you – it’s that simple and easy.

On the site for the personal splash pages, you simply go to personal splash page and type in you name and then upload your picture, add a banner link and image if you want, and also a testimonial about the site – click save.  Then you can go to the bottom of that page and view the pages that are there to see what it looks like and then use those links to help brand yourself.

The other thing when I started was banners – wow they were so confusing for me – so will try and give you examples to hopefully make it easier.  On most sites the standard banner size is 468×60 and unless stated is what you should be adding.

This is a 468×60 and can be found by clicking on the tab Affiliate Toolbox

Now to add this to other site you will go to that page and look for the image URL and then your referral URL and this is what they will look like – AND make sure you add them in the right place otherwise they will not show – you will get that dreaded square with x
Image URL  http://zaneyclicks.com/getimg.php?id=2
Your Referral URL http://zaneyclicks.com/?rid=57962 (this would be the main page)

Now I know it can be confusing when you get to the Affiliate Toolbox as you see alot of splash page URL and you are going which one do I use – well for all of you that can’t decide like me – well you can use the link under splash rotator.  What this does is on other sites when your link comes up to be shown – all the splash pages will randomly show each time – pretty cool huh?  http://zaneyclicks.com/splash_rotator.php?rid=57962

One more thing before ending here, when you sign up to a site you are asked to put in your email address – now there are many reasons for this but the main one is so that the site owner can communicate with you and keep you informed about new things, promos, and other things that you may need to know.

So when you enter a bogus email you are only hurting yourself because on this site – if your email bounces (means you can’t get it and it comes back to me undeliverable) then that tells me that you are not serious about want to learn and be part of this site.  So what happens is that you get suspended till this is fixed.

AND if you don’t go to your profile and fill in your Paypal address – well when it’s time for the site to make payouts – it will skip over you and not pay you.  So if you want to be paid take the time to fill in your Paypal address

Hopefully this will help some of you that are getting started and fill lost and if you were like me didn’t want to ask – well let me tell you ASK – don’t be shy and there is no stupid question.  Even today, when I run into things I type my question into Google and guess what I find my question is not that stupid because someone else asked it to and there is an answer for me wooooooohooooooo  Now you know my secret for learning new things daily and a little on getting back to the basics.

 

 

Bridging the Gap

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bridgingthegapThere were lot of traffic exchange owners that wrote blog posts today and one of the comments that I seen stuck in my head and thought I would expand on it and it was
from Carol when she said this “The line between traffic exchanges and ptc sites is blurring.” Just maybe we are bridging the gap

Being a owner and user of each, I would have to say that both traffic exchanges and paid to clicks have been around for years.  Both giving the members what they were looking for traffic – whether it was surfing for credits or clicking for cash.

As with lot of things online, I feel it’s good to see the walls being broken down.  I remember when I first started online – you had te people that loved te’s and that is the only place you seen them.  The PTC people stuck with PTC and never dreamed of entering TE land.

All over you will hear the pros and cons of cash being introduced into the TE’s but actually I think this has opened up more doors actually and it started bridging the gap.  It really don’t matter what source you use to get your traffic as long as you are getting results.

Think about it does it really matter to you if a person wants to click all day for pennies.  Over time I have heard how important the free members are as most will say they are the backbone of your business – as that is where your traffic is coming from because they view more ads vs an upgraded member.

So if it makes a free member happy to get a penny, nickel, dime, quarter and sometimes $1.00 for winning a grand prize. then I say that a happy member is going to be a loyal member.  The thing I see happening is that we are giving that person the opportunity to earn.  Now I don’t know about you but when that person get a payout you know they are going to go tell everyone as this is probably the first money they earned online.

Remembering the first money that I earned online, I was so excited about that payout and I still talk about it with people and am still in that same program.  What did that make me do?  It made me keep doing what I was doing so I could earn more and the more I earned the more I wanted to keep doing.

See I feel that if you can get people earning, they will stick with you – and that gives you the opportunity to teach them along the way to try other things that will earn them more.  If I am making money because of you showing me how – don’t you think I’m going to try the next thing you want to show me that is going to earn me more.  Now I also have some money in Paypal because despite when some thing that change adds up.

So the next time you see people clicking for pennies and are wondering why a person can do that – well get in there and start showing that person how they can earning nickels, dimes, quarters, dollars – it all adds up and sometimes faster than you think.

In conclusion, I do feel that we are bridging the gap between the PTC users and the TE users and I for one am glad.

Traffic Exchanges – the Good, Bad and the Ugly

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winkinggirlThis week I have read many blog post about traffic exchanges and they are have just been excellent and so got me thinking about all that was said and thought I’d put in my 2 cents on this subject.  Traffic Exchanges – the Good, Bad and the Ugly

Traffic exchanges have been around for long time and will be around for long time as they are an great source of traffic.  There are many great features with the traffic exchanges, the scripts are better, there are some great owners out there and they are giving people online earning that they have never had a chance to have.

There are lot of great TE’s out there and owners that really care about their site and are easy to find and I could keep going but I also want to touch on the bad – as some of the things that I do see is that people come in with sales pages that are a mile long and put it into rotation and wonder why they don’t get any signups.  Also I see many promoting the same page as everyone else – you have to stand out.

You need to change your way of promoting in traffic exchanges – think of them as a billboard that you see when you are going down the interstate – and what would you put on a page the would grab someones attention as they are traveling down the road.  So the next time you are bitching about no results – look at what you are using instead of blaming the traffic exchange.  The traffic exchange is here to bring eyeballs to your billboard and they work very hard to make sure the traffic will get to your billboard.

Now the ugly – there are some traffic exchanges out there that could care less and all they are concerned about is if you stop and buy something from that billboard and really could care less if you every stop in again.  There are some traffic exchanges that are just thrown up and the owner does not maintain his traffic and the next thing the traffic has moved to another site where the traffic is flowing.

You will be able to spot these exchanges and can do it by tracking what you are doing and also just by the site itself – if you login into a site in June and on the members pages it says Merry Christmas – well guess what – that site owners  is not one that is maintaining a steady flow of traffic and could care less if you stop by or not.

So in conclusion, traffic exchanges do work, they are here to stay and I personally feel they are improving.  That is my scoop on traffic exchanges – the good, bad and the ugly.

Downline Builders Work and Here Is Proof

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So often you hear people talking in TEland about how important filling in your downline builders are – well I have been meaning to do a blog post about it and how I could tell when one was filled out – I know downline builders work and here is proof.

referralNow I know the print is little small for this post but you can click on the image and it will zoom it for you.  If you notice that these referrals were in a two day period – so for all you that I have heard that says it’s time consuming, I don’t have time, and do they really work I hope that after seeing this – you will take the time to fill them out.

I know what you are thinking and you are in so many sites that have downline builders and I was in your shoes and I didn’t know in the beginning how important they were.  So I will tell you what I have done to make it easier and quicker for me.

You simply create a notepad and name it downline and then as you are making your way around TEland, you stop and get your main affiliate URL – add it to this notepad that you have created.  Now what I did was put mine in alphabetically order so that when I got to a new one it was easy for me to insert.  Yes it is time consuming but you will be glad you did.

Oh I hear you where do I start – well go to your favorite TE (like Zaney) and start there – when you have all them then in notepad you will have a good start.  As you visit the next site then go to the downline builder there and add the ones that you already have in their downline builder and then add any extra that they have that you are a member of.

For anyone that uses Firefox, there is an add-on that you can use call Speed Dial and it basically does the same thing (also time consuming set up but will wonder how you lived without it afterwards).  You go to tools, click on add-ons, get add-ons and then type in Speed Dial in the search window and I added the one with the purple square.  Then I did the same thing so they would be easy to find then – I set up groups and labeled them A’s, B’s, C’s etc. and then you just add to the groups by right clicking on the empty and add your site URL.

Now I know that each of these methods are time consuming initially but the time they will save you are priceless and you will be more organized and also manage your time better.  So to all of you that didn’t believe – hopefully you change your mind after reading  downline builders work and here is proof.

This also works great for you that have Paid to Click sites that you need to do on a daily basis – imagines how much faster you can get them done if all the links were in one spot for you to just click, click, click.

Bitter Taste

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Like you I get alot of emails and this subject line caught my eye today and I’m going to change the names of the person and the site for this blog post BUT I really thought this was something that needed to be addressed so that other owners don’t get this bitter taste.

madcat I do not know if you know me, but I’m (Site Owner So-So), known as (username). I’m a surfer like you. I started surfing for about 7 or 8 years and I gained some experience.

One of the things I learned was that the surfer should not want to grab everything at once. Rather, he should select some good TEs and programs to promote and surfing.

That’s how I bought and I created and maintain the (Site Name).

But it is very sad to note that few (very few) members promote our TE. I surf every day in many TEs, from the chieftains to the lowliest TEs and … to my sorrow, not even see a single splash promoting our TE.

I see many members here promoting other TEs, I see it constantly, including TEs that offer nothing, and awards that the surfer has to compete with thousands of other colleagues, with miserable ratio.

But … is a right of everyone, I can not disregard the taste of anyone.

So I’m seriously considering changing everything around here. Back to the TE  quality traffic only, offering the usual commissions, no travel and all that amount of prize pages, bonus and other benefits.

All Traffic Exchange, as indeed any business, you need money in circulation: inputs and outputs. When only one side overlaps the other is a sign that something is wrong, so they are necessary steps in this direction.

Sorry for the long email, but it is very unpleasant to be used only for profit … and nothing more.
One hand washes the other. Think of it always.

Thanks for your patience

Site Owner

Well you know me, I responded to his email and this is what I wrote him back……….

Just read your email so thought I’d go see what you were doing at my site
and was surprised to see the results that I seen and could understand why
you are not seeing your pages.  I have a few things that I have learned and
going to share them with you.

ONE it’s up to the owner to do the promoting – 90% of the results that you
get to your site is from what YOU as the owner is doing.  You have to stay
active, keep your site out there and DO NOT count on everyone else doing
it for you – it just don’t happen.

TWO – when I signed into your account you only had ONE link in rotation
promoting your site and yet 4 others promoting another site – the first rule is
to get them to your SITE first and then promote to another site.

THREE – you didn’t have any banners or text links added and you need to use
every resource out there as you never know what is going to make that person
finally click – you have to keep the name of your site in front of them even if it
is just adding the site name as a text as which I did for you and assigned your
text links.

While I was there I add all three of your banners and some appeal to some more
than others and that is all that you should be promoting – YOU and YOUR SITE

The other thing that I have done is created a rotator of all your splash pages
and even set up tracker links for them – now you can use it where ever you want
but what I like is that I don’t have to chase all over now to see where my pages
are being seen – as it tells me in the stats.

Here is the rotator that I created for you (link to the rotator that I created for him)
so it’s up to you right now – if you are going to give up which it sounds like
you are ready to do – or just get back on that horse of determination and get
busy promoting you and your site.

The best part is that with this ONE link (as this is what I do with my site’s
stuff) I only have to add the ONE link and it just rotates all my splash pages
and I find that I don’t need as many credits this way – yet my site is being seen
and I know it’s being seen by the stats.

Good luck and hope that this helps you out.

Well as I see and hear this alot – thought I’d make a blog post about this situation as I know lot of people have felt this way, been in these shoes and it gets hard sometimes to get up one more time and keep going.

It’s not working – now what

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Well you would not believe how many times that I hear this – it’s not working – now what.  No one person has all the answers but it’s interesting when you ask a person well tell me what you are doing and tried.

60728294946944041_qNywDCq7_bThe first thing I hear is well I have about 10 traffic sites that I surf on a regular basis and I am just not getting the results that I thought I was going to get – I see others talking about getting referrals, earning commissions, etc. but now me – it’s not working – now what.

Well if you find yourself in this rut and I know it can happen as I have been there and did  the same thing BUT there is hope for you IF you are willing to take the necessary steps to get out of that rut.

There are a few questions that you need to ask yourself?
What are you promoting, the main page just like everyone else?
Have you tried other sources i.e. safelist, mailers, text ad sites, paid to click, etc.
Do you try to connect with people that have the same interest as you (earning online)
Have you paid attention to people that are getting referrals and earning commissions – what are they doing?
Do you use all the available sources that a site you use offers you?
Do you understand all the features of a site so you can explain them to your referrals
OR do you just surf, surf, surf and hope that you get a referral

If this is you (and it was me many years ago) well get off your keister and change what you are doing – this is NOT as simple as putting a website out there and the referrals and money are just going to flood in without YOU taking some action and different than what you have been doing.

Believe me I know it’s not easy as it means getting out of your comfort zone and maybe learning something new, maybe trying a site that you have never tried, trying sites with other scripts that you are not comfortable with, getting on Goggle and learning something new, getting on YouTube and learning how to try something, try making your own pages, and the list goes on and on.

The next time that you hear someone say they got a referral or earned commissions learn to listen – how they did it.  AND the biggest one is you have a mentor, coach, or friend that you can ask questions that is a plus – BUT the one thing that I see people forgetting about it the person that is YOUR upline – the person that you joined under – what did they do to get you in the program that you are in.

Everyday I get asked can you get referrals and earn commissions – the answer is yes you can but they will not be delivered on a silver platter to you.  YOU have to work for them just like everyone that getting referrals and earning commission.

There are many means of promoting and getting traffic – you need to try and use as many as you can – it is ok to step out and try new things and remember what is working for ONE person might not work for you that is why it’s better to NOT have all your eggs in one basket.

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So the next time that you find yourself saying to yourself it’s not working – now what – maybe you slipped in that rut and need to change what you are doing some – and don’t give up – just keep trying, trying, trying and YOU will finally find what works for YOU.