Category Archives: Traffic Exchanges

Getting Zaney for Halloween in TEland

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cat11Once upon a time there was a Horror Movie that was written about TEland and I am going to share.  There were so many that have said that traffic exchanges are dead and that they don’t work – well listen to this.

Being a Veteran in TEland, most don’t know that Krazy Kaye had a son and daughter and they were called Yuppie and Flash.  I heard thru the Grapevine that they were abducted by aliens and sacrificed to a Volcano.  BUT before she could carry out the lucid deed of tossing them to the mythology Gods a crosseyed humanoid snatched them up and took off at supersonic speed.

In the starship, they were greeted by a Ninja who told them this was going to be a simple trip and was no BS.  There were going on a heavenly Magical Journey where they would get to visit all the landmark TE’s in TEland.

J136515432424188629_hTUzqRiC_bust then there was an insta pop and the ship was going to have to make an landing on the glacier but they could see that they were headed over this farm with Holy Cows being chased by a wildcat but all of a sudden after going thru the rainforest – they could see the Speedway ahead.

As they were coming to a stop they could see the big beach ahead and it looked like they had landed in Costa Rica.  They got out of the Spybubble and were going to sleuth  around while the Handyman fixed their ship.

When they got to the Bella’s everyone there was double nice till IT came from the Lounge and wanted to know why we had not been to The Dance the Hot Spot in town as they were going to be listening to the Oldies tonight and there were going to be some Big Bad Hits at this super party.

I love Hits so decided to tag along when five Zombies started chasing us and out of no where came these dogs to the rescue.  People were yelling get them Fred, get them Shaggy and then out of the corner of my eye I seen these cute Teacup Puppies.  Well the Zombies took off like tons of website traffic.

Tezak, the old wise man, said he had enough excitement today, wanted some just good peace and quiet and didn’t want to be in the spotlight so headed to the Waters Edge to enjoy the splash of the sealife.  Worried about him, Yuppie and Flash decided to go find Tezak to make sure he was ok and they were all eaten by this Smiley Bass who swirled away like a cyclone – never to be seen again

coolcat2So now the only place to hear about these legends is on click roads delivering traffic – take a tour sometimes to surf and learn from the experience, emazing, quality magicians that know how In TEland.  So this should put a stop to the rumor that TE’s are dead – as you can see they are set up to live on with the advertising know how

WOW got a laugh out of this one had to make all the sites unclickable but thought you
would enjoy the names of some of the TE’s that have been in TEland.

 

Promos, Team Surfing and Cheaters

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364806082Well I felt so much better last nite after I got my little rant off my chest that I thought while I was on a roll I would talk about promos, team surfing and cheaters.  Keep in mind this is my opinion and sometimes it’s good to get things out in the open.

Promos

Everyone ask me all the time why do I do promos and everyday – well for one they keep members active and I have found there are lot of promoholics out there that just love them.  Now I can imagine what you are thinking – these people are just there clicking and will never join new sites, buy anything and are just chasing those prizes. I have also heard that it’s not good to have the same people surfing a site all the time and that they want new eyeballs to see their sites or it’s not worth it to stay in a site that just has promoholics in it surfing.  Sounds familiar.

Team Surfing

This is another interesting subject that will get many responses but in my opinion I would rather have a promoholic looking at my site vs a team surfer – their goals are different.  The promoholic has a certain amount of pages that they are going to surf that day 50, 100, 125, 150 to reach that goal of the promo BUT a team surfer is there to help his team win for the week.
Yea I know you are thinking it’s a great social event and you are right as I lurk in many chat rooms and see the team members chatting.  Some sites even take it a step further and make chat for just team members.  All this is great but aren’t they the same people surfing a site also – where are the new eyeballs.  And the funny part the ones that talk about unique hits are on teams or have team surfing on their site which also encourages regular members to come back.

Cheaters

I really don’t like that word but it seems to be the thing talked about the most in some of the chat rooms that I’m in and there is even a cheaters list out there that everyone post in the rooms for other site owners to ban them.

Now with all that being said, here is my 2 cents on all of the above – as far as the promoholics – I don’t know about other sites but on Zaney Clicks your sites are getting seen and how do I know this.  Well for all you that may not know is I have a contest each week that I put clues in my email from a site in rotation – and members look at the sites finding the clues and then send in support tickets with the sites name to be in a drawing for a 30-day upgrade EVERY week – new site.

Now when this was first start I only had a few members playing Sherlock Holmes but now my support tickets are flooding in.  OUCH support tickets – well you might not like them but I love them and encourage my members to use them.  And yes I answer them all personally.

How do I know people are seeing your ads and paying attention at Zaney Clicks – well I did another test – I surf the site each week and I find a text ad that catches my eye and I feature the text ad in my email for the week and encourage my members to send me a support ticket with the site name. – why would I do that well for many reasons.  One they are looking at the text ads then, it teaches people to be more creative with their text ads and the site that is featured gets exposure as I add the URL to my email when I announce the winners – so I see it as a win-win .

Well nothing irritates me and some people more than to have their credits being wasted and from what I have seen from everyone and me included this is the three things that  will waste them and have even heard owners discourage people from buying credits at sites that offer any of the above or allows cheaters.

One comment on the “cheaters list” that I have seen – I am going to be like some owners and if that person is NOT breaking any of my terms, that person is promoting Zaney Clicks, is spending money at Zaney Clicks, and is paying attention while surfing because they sent in the Treasured Site or Text ad for the week – well just because they might be on someones list and you ban them – hmmmmmm – I really thought that is the type of member that we were all hoping to find.

BUT I know what you are thinking but there is no way they can surf that many sites in a day and let me tell you what one member told me when he was suspended and contacted me – “I’m retired and I just like surfing and your site is fun and not boring like most and this is why I surf so much”  I also had another tell me “If you don’t want people surfing 1000 sites or more then why did you have a badge made for 1000”.

Also there is an ad-on on Firefox that lets you not have to change the tabs so because you don’t – and the program does it – does that put you on a “cheater list” .  There was also a new program that launched that did the same thing – so everyone that joined that program and uses it does that put them on a “cheater list”  – just things to ponder on and can’t wait to see the responses on this one

09pEvYqoSSo with all this off my chest, (oh I feel so much better) my bottom line here is that there are lot of TE’s out there and lot of owners out there – an EACH one is entitled to run their TE the way they see fit and what benefits their members.  So that is why you will hear me say promote, track, promote, track, promote, track – that is what you should pat attention to and not all the crap floating out there in TEland.

Setting the Record Straight

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judgingcatWell in my email tonight, I mentioned that I was going to write a blog post and it’s funny how rumors sure fly in the TEland Peyton Place – so I’m setting the record straight.

You know how I always preach it’s not what happens that matters but how you handle  it will make all the difference – well I’m going to hit it head on.  And the one that I heard that am still laughing about is am I trying to take over the TE business and the answer is no actually hell no .

The other rumor that I have heard is that the sites that I am admin at now are going to be closing their doors and that is NO they are not.  Folks sometimes life just happens and you have to deal with it the best you can.

Over the years, in this TEland Peyton Place, I have learned never believe what you hear and go straight to the person and ask when you hear something being said and there has been lot of you that have and enough that I thought I would write this blog post.

Like I said earlier, life happens and sometimes you just need a helping hand.  AND that is all that I’m doing helping out some friends and I hope someday when life happens that I have some friends that will help me out.

So many times, I have been accused of being too old school – well maybe I am but I still believe in helping a friend when they need it.  That being said over the years I have left my doors open for lot of people (site owners also) and have been the type of person that drops what I’m doing to help someone else.

I hope that clears the TE “air” a bit and I  will be doing the best job I can as ADMIN of sites but sometimes I don’t have full control over sites. As always, the door is always open for suggestions which I will be happy to hear and pass on   to the Owners.”  Just  email me at either of the sites that I’m admin at or look this Zaney Granny up on Zaney Clicks.

 

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

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?

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.

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.