Category Archives: Traffic Exchanges

Are you suffering from surfing boredom

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boredomIt’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

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

IT – now James has done excellent job with just this one word
Fred – Doug decided to use his dog – everyone on TEland knows Fred
Cows – everyone know that you don’t mess with Mo’s cows hehe
Flash – didn’t you think about Cathy and Jo right away and their name was not used
Horror – Bet Don popped in your head with that scary header he has
Frogs – didn’t Froggy just leap into your head
Krazy –  Only one crazy enough to use Krazy – WTG Kaye
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.

I have one more example that I want to share as it’s kinda impressive what branding can do for a person – you all have heard of TimTech.  Well they just launched a new PTC site and because everyone does know them, they know they have been around and will be around, and because they have branded themselves – I just happened to notice the stats on their main page today at Nerdbux

Total Members: 18973
New Members Today: 1093

Members Earned: $4,683.87

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

brand3

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.

Ok while I’m on a roll here – let me touch on SKYPE and I know that I am going to step on lot of toes here but I have bitten my tongue long enough and just need to get this out.  When you add someone to your Skype it should be so that you can get to know the people and build relationships – I’m not saying that once in awhile you can share links BUT how about a Good Morning – how you doing?  I see that you love cats by your site –  let me share a cat story with you,  check out my profile find out what I like.

When you send me this solo ad, that should be put in a mailer or text ad site,  to me that is spamming for referrals.  When you send me a link of a new program that just launched this is spamming for referrals.  I will tolerate that for a few times BUT if that is all that you keep doing you are coming off my contact list.  Either you want to know who I am and work with me OR you just want me on your list just to spam me for referrals.

spamming3So, I just want all of you to know and putting it out here for everyone to see – I will not swap links with you in chat, I will not sign up if you send me a link in Skype.  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 now 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.

Marcy did an excellent post on Old Time Traffic Exchange Marketing and loved the post and yes things do change over the years – sometimes for the better and sometimes not – this happens in life all the time.

Then James came along with the best analogy that I have seen lately on traffic exchanges in his post Coke VS Te’s and he is so right – just because one person may like one soda more than another – they are still Sodas – same goes with TE’s.

Then Cathy wrote Where Is The Traffic Exchange Industry Headed and after all these well I feel they are here to stay – and also feel that there are some great owners out there that are bringing in some great suggestions, ideas, and are creative in what and how they run the sites.

Guess I got carried away on the good 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.

Are you drowning? Here is your lifesaver.

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drowningWorking online can be overwhelming as I have been there so many times and there are times that I ask myself how can I get more organized and there just has to be an easier way and have looked for years to find it.  Are you drowning?  Here is your lifesaver.

For years, I have been attending the Affiliate Funnel webinars and that is where I met Marci Jones and each week I kept going back because each week I got little gold nuggets to go and try in my online marketing.

Well, Marci has created my lifesaver and I want to share it with you –  a tool that you DO NOT want to be without.  If you have been wondering about tracking because you hear about it all the time in webinars that you attend – Marci shows you how in Viral Commando Profits.

Have you joined traffic exchanges or safelists and then get overwhelmed on how to keep up – don’t know where you have credits at or don’t know when it’s time to send out your next email – Marci shows you how you can get organized in Viral Commando Profits.

Still struggling to earn income online and can’t understand how everyone else seems to be and you are about ready to give up because you are tired of failing – Marci teaches you how with Viral Commando Profits.

Ever wished you had a PDF that you could rebrand but then couldn’t afford the money it cost to become a member so that you could – Marci has not one PDF that you can rebrand but there are two – yeah you heard me right – where???? Viral Commando Profits

Now if that wasn’t enough Enroll in the 90 Day Boot Camp to get the most out of your Viral Commando Profits membership!  Complete the Course and Earn a FREE Elite Commando Upgrade!

Get started NOW and stop feeling overwhelmed, learn to make better use of your time and learn how you CAN earn online.  Are you drowning?  Here is your lifesaver. Click the banner NOW

Branding – have you learned it yet?

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One of the first things that I heard when I started working online that you have to learn to brand yourself, your product, your site etc.  Well I can remember telling the person that told me that they were crazy as how do you learn to brand online.  Branding – have you learned it yet?

Years ago – you could tell alot from a person’s attire, the way they managed themselves when you met them and even sealed deals with handshakes.  Well that isn’t so easy to do online as you can’t always see the person you are dealing with and you really have to careful as everyone has their own story to tell.

Years ago, I was told by a mentor of mine, if you meet someone online before you do any kind of work with that person – go to Google and put in their name.  If this person is let’s say walking the walk and not just talking the talk – you will find out, you will find what that person has been doing, you will learn the good, bad and ugly about that person.

Does that mean that if you do find something bad or ugly – run in the other direction – NO – I have found over the years for SEO purposes many people like to use some of the  keywords for what they are writing at the time and may add scam etc. to the title just to get attention.  Be sure you read ALL and not just the headlines about the person that you are looking up.

Now if that person has done their homework and like my friend told me have branded themselves – they you will be able to see it when you Google them.  Another thing that I like to do is visit social sites also and put in their name, read their profiles and one of the best places that I have found for other business people is APSense.  A friend of mine also wrote a great article on how to brand yourself there – Click Here To Read

Ok I know what you shy people are thinking, I really don’t want to put myself out there it makes me feel uncomfortable and I don’t like talking about myself.  In the TE Land there are many other ways that people are branding themselves – when talking to other listen to how some sites are being branded – here are some examples.

How about a dog named Fred at ClickFred Traffic
Every time you see a Frog now – dont you think about Froggy Hits
Horror Films makes you think of Horror Movie Hits
Mention Cows and who do you think of Mo’s cows at Holy Cow
And we all know about “Flash” at Hot Flash Hits
Can’t forget the one and only Krazy Kaye over at Krazy Exchange
What site has taught us about Marijuana and Kudos to Jon on a great job at Marijuana Hits
How about Teacup Puppies – didn’t even know they existed Teacup Puppy Traffic
Last but not least – the kid on the block – Yuppie over at Yuppie Hits

Saving the best (JMO) example of branding ……….If you have not heard about IT, seen IT, grabbed IT, and even joined IT – well I just don’t know where you have been because I think James has done an excellent job (don’t tell him as IT will go to his head) in branding his site Internet Traffic (IT) 24/7

Social Manual Traffic ExchangeIT is a new Traffic Exchange world.Just Get IT

One more before you go – want to make sure you get it – here is his latest Video

So Branding – have you learned it yet??  I hope by the examples in this post that you will get out there and start branding you, yourself, you logo – YOU need to make your presence known – have fun.