Thanks to Don for suggesting this Surfing Event and also suggesting that we have some new splash pages to promo
So Snowball and I went Down On The Farm and you will find these in your Affiliate Toolbox. There’s actually a place called Down On The Farm just a few miles from me, and that’s where a little of the inspiration came from.
Splash Page # 15
Splash Page # 18
Splash Page #19
And while we’re getting ready for some Fall Harvest surfing fun, why not put those ads to work too? The new splash pages are waiting in your Affiliate Toolbox — grab your referral link and help us spread a little Fall Harvest around TEland.
Since launching the Zaney Scavenger Hunt, I’ve been hearing the same kinds of comments over and over:
“I’m paying attention more now.” “I noticed banners I normally would have ignored.” “I actually read text ads again.” “Splash pages are fun again.”
At first, I smiled and thought it was just people enjoying something new. But the more feedback I received, the more I realized something much bigger was happening.
The hunt is creating curiosity again. People are slowing down. Looking around. Noticing things. Exploring sites. Paying attention.
And honestly… that may be one of the most important things TEland has been missing.
It’s not about how many hits… it’s about WHO sees it.
For years, so much focus in traffic exchanges has been on raw numbers:
Hits. Clicks. Impressions. More. More. More.
But let’s be honest for a moment…
A repeated empty hit from someone clicking on autopilot is not the same thing as real attention.
Advertisers are not simply looking for numbers. They are looking for people. Fresh eyes. Real curiosity. Someone who actually notices what they created.
That’s where the value has always been.
One thing the hunt is teaching — without people even realizing it — is the value of UNIQUE attention.
The more I think about it, the more I realize the hunt is accidentally teaching an important advertising lesson.
Finding the same item over and over is not what creates value. Discovering something NEW does.
That is why the hunt rewards unique items. Not repeated claims.
And honestly? That mirrors real advertising more than people may realize.
Why this matters
Banners still matter. Text ads still matter. Splash pages still matter.
But only if people actually SEE them.
The Zaney Scavenger Hunt is encouraging members to look around again instead of simply surfing on autopilot. And the response from both members and owners has honestly been exciting to watch.
I’m seeing more creative ads. More thoughtful banners. More curiosity. More interaction. More conversations.
The bigger picture
This hunt started as a fun idea to make surfing more interactive.
But I think it may be turning into something bigger.
A reminder that behind every banner, every text ad, and every splash page is a real person hoping to be seen.
And maybe TEland doesn’t need more gimmicks. Maybe we simply needed a reason to pay attention again.
Keep hunting. Keep noticing. Keep supporting each other.
Because when people truly pay attention… everybody wins.
Something exciting has been quietly growing behind the scenes at Zaney Clicks.
What started as a simple idea has quickly turned into something MUCH bigger than we originally imagined.
The Scavenger Hunt is officially launching this Sunday — and we wanted to take a moment to explain what it is, why we created it, and how YOU can become part of it.
What Is The Zaney Clicks Scavenger Hunt?
The Scavenger Hunt is a community-wide promotional event where members place special banners, text ads, splash pages, widgets, peel ads, and other promotional tools across traffic exchanges, mailers, blogs, websites, and promotional pages.
Members then HUNT for them.
When they find them, they can claim them.
Simple? Yes.
But behind that simple idea is something much bigger.
This hunt is for ALL members — and ALL sites across TEland. If you can promote on it, you can hide a hunt item on it.
Why We Created This
For a long time, many of us have noticed something happening in TEland.
People are surfing… but many are no longer REALLY seeing the ads.
Banner blindness. Auto-clicking. Ignoring text ads. Never experimenting with different ad types.
We wanted to create something that:
encourages members to LOOK again
rewards visibility and creativity
teaches better promotion habits naturally
helps members experiment with banners, splashes, widgets, and text ads
creates fun interaction across the community
gives ALL members a chance to participate
And honestly? The early testing has already been exciting.
Members are slowing down. People are noticing banners again. Members are talking about ad placement and visibility. People are experimenting with promotion styles.
That is EXACTLY what we hoped for.
YES — This Includes FREE Members Too ?
This part is VERY important.
The Scavenger Hunt is for ALL members.
Not just upgraded members. Not just sponsors. Not just featured members.
If you are a member of Zaney Clicks… you can participate.
And your promotions matter too.
One of the goals behind this system is to help ALL members:
get more visibility
learn better promotion habits
experiment with different ad types
have fun while promoting
become more active in the community
Because good promotion should not only belong to upgraded members.
We want free members to feel INCLUDED too.
ALL Promotion Types Count
This is not just about banners.
The Scavenger Hunt encourages members to explore MANY different promotion styles.
That includes:
Banner Ads
Text Ads
Splash Pages
Widgets
Peel Ads
Feature Pages
Blog Promotions
Creative Promo Pages
Rotators
Custom Event Pages
Different ad types perform differently on different sites.
Part of the fun is testing, experimenting, learning, and seeing what gets noticed.
How The Hunt Works
Members place approved hunt promotions around the web.
Other members search for them while surfing, browsing, or promoting.
When a hunt item is found, members can claim it according to the rules.
The system tracks activity, participation, and visibility.
Over time, we’ll be watching:
what gets noticed
what gets ignored
which ad types perform best
where people engage most
which promotions create curiosity and clicks
This helps everyone become BETTER promoters.
This Is Bigger Than A Contest or Game
Honestly?
This is not just another weekly contest or game
This is becoming:
a teaching tool
a visibility system
a promotion experiment
a community activity
a way to help members THINK differently about advertising
Instead of asking: “Can I get credits from this?”
We’re hoping members begin asking: “Does this actually get noticed?”
I had a really nice chat with a member last night who had a question about one of the sites in the new weekly game…And it made me realize something important…If one person is wondering… others probably are too ?
So I wanted to take a minute and walk you through the game — the what, the how, and the why behind it.
What the Weekly Click Challenge Is
Each week, you’ll see 5 different sites come up while you’re surfing. Your goal? Simply find them and click the button when they appear That’s what records your spot in the game That’s it !
How It Works
The 5 sites show up randomly while you surf
When you see one, just click the button
That click is what records your participation in the game
You do NOT need to:
join the site
surf the site
or do anything beyond clicking
You have the entire week to find all 5 So no pressure… no race This Is NOT a Race I’ve heard a few people wondering if this is a “who can surf the most” kind of thing… It’s not
There’s:
no rush
no leaderboard
no advantage for doing more
You’re simply: clicking the sites when you come across them during your normal surfing That’s it
Why I Created This
This is the part I love most… I didn’t create this to make things harder…I created it to:
reward active members encourage people to really look at the ads bring a little fun and surprise into surfing and most importantly… help members get more visibility and referrals
What Happens When You Win
Each week, I choose winners…(Sunday nights/Monday AM) And here’s the fun part: The first 3 winners get their links featured in the next round So now YOU become part of what others are clicking and seeing
The Bigger Idea Behind It This isn’t just a game… It’s a gentle way to help train something that really matters: watching ads and actually clicking when something catches your eye Because that’s what helps everyone on the site
Final Thought
There’s no rush… No pressure… Just something fun to take part in as you’re already surfing
And who knows… next week, your link might be one others are clicking
If you ever have questions, please ask… because chances are, someone else is wondering the same thing ?
Every once in a while I like to step back and look at my own tracking stats.
Not the fancy reports. Not the totals.
Just the simple question:
Where are my clicks coming from?
And every time I do that, I’m reminded of something that many members in TEland forget.
Surfing alone doesn’t build momentum.
The Trap Many Members Fall Into
Traffic Exchanges are fun. You log in, click around, collect credits, maybe even earn a few bonuses.
Before you know it, an hour has passed and you feel like you’ve been busy.
But here’s the honest question:
Did you actually promote anything today?
A lot of people join traffic exchanges and get caught up in:
clicking for credits
chasing bonus offers
collecting a few pennies here and there
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
But if that’s all you’re doing, you’re missing the real power of these communities.
Promotion Is Where the Magic Happens
Surfing gives you credits.
Promotion gives you results.
The members who see the most success in traffic exchanges are usually the ones who are doing a little bit of both.
They are:
putting splash pages in rotators
mailing to mailers
sharing banners
running text ads
adding their links in different communities
Little by little, those things start stacking up.
And that’s when the magic happens.
My Tracking Tells the Story
Recently I was looking through my own tracking logs and something jumped out at me.
When I slow down promoting, the clicks slow down too — even if I’m still surfing.
But when I get active again — updating rotators, mailing, sharing splash pages — suddenly my tracking starts lighting up again from different places.
Traffic exchanges. Mailers. Banners.
Clicks start coming from everywhere.
That’s when you realize something important.
The system works when you work the system.
Over the years I’ve heard people say:
“Traffic exchanges don’t work.”
But in my experience, that’s not really true.
What usually happens is this:
People join… they surf for a while… then they stop promoting.
And when the results slow down, they assume the system doesn’t work.
But the members who stay active — who promote across multiple sites and keep their links circulating — often see a very different picture.
A Little Friendly Advice
If you’ve been spending a lot of time surfing lately, here’s a simple challenge.
Before you log off today, take five minutes and do one small promotion step.
Maybe:
add a splash page to a rotator
mail your link in a mailer
post a banner somewhere
share your page in a community
It doesn’t have to be big.
But those little actions are what keep the momentum moving.
Traffic Exchanges were never meant to be just a clicking game.
They’re a network of marketers helping each other get exposure.
And when you combine surfing + promotion, that’s when things really start to grow.
At Zaney Clicks we believe traffic exchanges should teach, encourage, and help members grow. If you’re new here, jump in and start exploring
Happy surfing — and happy promoting!
And if you ever feel stuck, remember — sometimes the best thing you can do is step back, update your links, promote a little, and then jump back into surfing with fresh momentum.
Well, so many folks have asked me to explain rotators – how to use them and why – so thought I would come here and give you an easy to follow explanation. I’m sure there are those who have wondered also and just not asked yet! I know rotators mystified me when I first started with Traffic Exchanges!
First of all, a rotator combines multiple sites urls into one “rotating url”, hence the name “Rotator”. Each time your rotator is viewed on a Traffic Exchange, or in a Mailer e-mail message, a different url that you have placed inside your rotator will be viewed. This is an amazing marketing tool as not only can you add multiple sites URLs inside the rotator, but using a rotator will save you time, credits, and makes it so much easier to track your results! In Zaney Clicks, we offer this terrific service for FREE! To get started, you just need to login and scroll down to the Menu button that says “Rotators”.
Adding a Rotator at Zaney Clicks: This is the page that you will see when you click on the button “Rotators”.
The first thing that you will want to do is click on “tracker” – now a tracker is simply a way to give you information (statistics) about where your URL is being seen, how many hits you are receiving daily and this info will help you to gradually see what is working and what is not – this is very important for you to know!
Here is an example of the rotator that I made to help me get referrals. I especially like these two in this rotator and want to give a shout out for offering this on their sites. Your Business “Success” Story! and what I call my “Money Page”
Not that hard huh? Then, I would pick 5 – 7 URL’s and add them as your tracker urls then I will explain what you do next. After you have added your trackers – then you click on rotator at the top and that lets you set up your rotator.
The next step is to give your rotator a name– you can be as creative as you want as the name that you pick will be part of your rotator’s URL Me, I don’t get that fancy as you can see from my final URL which I just named Referral Rotator and the my other one is Nancy Recommends
Now to view this rotator you can click on the link and then click your computer’s F5 button and you should be able to see how the pages change in the rotator. Because this was not my normal amount of urls for use in a rotator, I went back and added more trackers in this example.
NOW for the BIG reason for this blog post – Rotators – how to use them and why. Once you have plastered this ONE rotator URL all over and assigned credits to it – you have just saved yourself time and here is how.
One – you only have one link that will need credits so you don’t have to surf as much to keep one URL going but, you are keeping 5 – 7 sites in front of people, at all times! If you are a person that has an abundance of credits, then I would go back and create another rotator and add either the same sites or, you can add more trackers – and then add a second or third. I know what you are thinking – why should I make a new rotator and not just add this first URL 2 or 3 times – well some sites do not let you add the same URL more than once.
Another BIG reason this will save you time is that you don’t have to remember where you added a site, you don’t have to chase all over when a site “disappears” on you or changes their url, you don’t have to chase all over when your favorite site comes out with a new splash, new promo, etc. – you just go back to Zaney Clicks and add another tracker with your NEWEST url that you want to add. Click on Rotators and add/edit sites and click to add the newest url and unclick the one that you don’t want to use anymore.
This will also take the guess work out of trying to remember, “Now, where do I have to surf for credits?”, or “Which sites am I currently using to promote – drive traffic to – my sites?” as you can come back to your Rotators Page on Zaney Clicks where you will now be able to check your tracker statistics. On the page that lists your trackers, you will see where it says “daily stats” – click that and it will tell you the site where your url is being seen and how many hits (page views) your URL received for the day.
Now, if you want to see where you have your Rotator URL – then click on “rotators” – “daily stats” and that will show you all the places that your rotator was seen today. If your list looks like it should be bigger, then I go to the left of that screen and click the arrow buttons and go back to an earlier date and you will be able to tell which Traffic Exchange you need to surf next where your Rotator is most likely to be out of credits.
How can you tell how many hits (views) per day you are receiving – well on the left side, if you click on the graph of each day (that little dot on the graph) the date will pop up along with the number of hits for that day.
I hope all this will help give you a start if you have not been using rotators because you were unsure of how to use them and I hope you will give them a try! I think you will Love using them as much as I do! Remember, if you have any questions, comments, or need help – I’m here for you – just send in a support ticket
You know it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t give some type of incentive to everyone that takes action – so what I will do – for everyone that sends me their Zaney Clicks rotator url– I will add it as login spotlight and with a start of 100 credits – now get me those Zaney Clicks Rotator URLs!!!
Well if you have been surfing at Zaney Clicks – you have been seeing a new banner in the surf bar and I wanted everyone to get use to seeing it on EVERYpage. To me this is a prime advertising spot and I have thought about it on how someone can earn this spot.
After going thru all the things that I reward members for, I have decided to give that spot to someone EACH week from the list of buyers for the week.
So for a chance at this spot, you just need to purchase something for the week. The week will go from Sunday to Sunday like the rest of the weekly rewards. And the other answers to your questions is that yes the login spotlight pages do count as a purchase. The other question that I’m sure that I’m going to get is does that mean commission buys also – the answer is YES.
With the weekly winners, I will be adding this in the template and the winner will have to send me their 125×125 as that is what I’m using to resize it for this spot along with the referral URL to the site. It’s just that simple and easy – good luck to the upcoming winners
If you have any more questions that I have not covered here – then leave them in the comment box, or send in support ticket, or Skype me @ nancyradlinger.
Well after surfing so many sites and finding that this is an issue on many traffic exchanges, I decided that it was time to let people know what I have discovered and why this issue is hard to resolve.
First of all, my support guy, a dear friend and I have spent sooooooo many hours trying to resolve this issue and here is what we have come up with……….. There is an add-on that you can add to Firefox and this is the link Firefox Add-on Cloudacl
This is like setting parental control over the sites that you will be viewing and you can see from this screenshot that you have many options.
What we have discovered is that there are many sites that will be blocked from your viewing while you are surfing. The reason that this route was taken is that with so many sites out that unknowingly don’t even realize they have a issue. Our first idea was to block the sites but then thought that education was the best policy here.
This gives sites a chance to get things cleaned up on their sites, also let owners know that they even have an issue and give members a way to not be exposed to all this. Believe me, it’s not fun to be surfing along and have the Adult Friend Finder throwed in your face and it’s happened to me alot.
Anyone that would like to discuss this further or have other ideas on what they are doing to prevent this – I would love to hear your thought, idea and suggestions.
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
