How to Benefit from Traffic Exchanges and Start Pages

Traffic Exchanges can be an excellent form of advertising to generate leads. They get real people to look at your ad. First I will explain how these things work and then show you the secrets to using them because they work best if you know the secrets to maximizing their effectiveness.

This article will outline the differences between traffic exchanges and start pages, how they work, how to get more credits and traffic from them and which ones have consistently delivered not only visitors, but also subscribers for me.
How Traffic Exchanges Work

Traffic from traffic exchanges can be purchased or earned. To earn traffic you simply look at a website inside a frame for anywhere from 10 seconds to 35 seconds then you simply click the “Next” button or match an image. You will then be transported to another site. Generally get a 2:1 ratio, meaning for every 2 sites you visit, they will show your site once. That is why it is free. You are working for them generating credits that they can sell and they are paying you in advertising.

The other credit that you created is sold to people who do not have time to surf. I like traffic exchanges because they have helped me generate more leads than I would have had without surfing the traffic exchanges.

How Start Pages Work

Start Pages are Traffic Exchanges used in a different way. With a Start Page you set the home page in your browser to the start page the traffic exchange gives you. Then every time you open a browser you get a credit. Most start pages are a 1:1 ratio. When you start surfing in the traffic exchange, the ratio goes to 2:1. So you get 1:1 when you open your browser and 2:1 for every site after that. Each traffic exchange has different ratios so they will vary depending on which service you are using.

How to Get Better Than 2:1 Ratios

Most traffic exchanges offer a paid membership so that you can have a higher ratio than the free accounts get. Some go as high as 1:5. Unless your time very limited, I recommend that you analyze your available monthly cash flow before upgrading. Traffic Exchanges are not generally income-producing programs. Most people will not upgrade unless the fee is a one time payment or a low amount per month. They will try it free until they see if that particular service is working for them and then upgrade to increase their return.

Traffic Exchanges and Start Pages Secrets

1) Always use a Gateway or Splash page. Some traffic exchange programs provide them. Otherwise you can make one or have someone make one for you for a low fee. Since traffic exchange surfers are constantly switching between tabs in their browsers and see hundreds of sites in a single sitting, chances are they will not really notice yours unless it stands out from the crowd. People are very curious by nature and tend to focus on visualizations that jump out at them, such as something funny, disastrous or just plain strange.

Do not expect an entire page to be read by any traffic exchange surfer. Keep the message short with one or two graphics to emphasize your message and provide a form to capture their name and email address. That form should be attached to an autoresponder so you can follow up with them. Keep in mind that most surfers are there to sell, not to shop and buy anything.

The difference will be in your presentation. If you offer something that will help them get more traffic, make more sales, or increase their mailing list, then chances are they will register with you just to see what you have to offer.

If your page is a one long sales page, an string of eBay listings or other shopping cart loaded with products, overloaded with graphics or requires plugins to see the cool animations, then you will surely be wasting your time on the traffic exchanges. when I encounter a page like that, the escape key on my keyboard will stop the graphics from loading, but not all of the videos. If you think that is cruel, keep in mind that I would expect you to do the same on my site if it did not load fast.

You can surf as many programs as you have time, but limit them to 4 or 5 at a time. Otherwise you will be missing some excellent information on the sites. Imagine if all traffic exchange surfers had 10, 15 or more sites open at once. How much attention do you think any one of those sites would get? My guess is zero. They are simply in it for the credits in hopes that someone will look at their sites. That is not only a waste of time, it is bad for everyone involved.

Those people who say that traffic exchanges do not work are either trying to surf too many at a time, are trying to make a sale on the first visit, are not offering an email capture form or simply are using the cookie-cutter pages that they get when joining an affiliate program. Those pages are so over used that most people will simply go on to the next site.

If you are a website designer or an aspiring one, looking at so many sites through the traffic exchanges can give you ideas on creating a new one, or improving an existing page. Most traffic exchanges have a bookmark feature so you can go back an see it later. For those that do not have that bookmark link, look for a link to open the site in a new window. Then write down the URL or bookmark it for later.

By having an email signup form on your slash page you can follow up with autoresponder letters and develop a relationship. it is through those relationships that many more sales are made. If your letters are well written with good content that is related to your initial offer and can be used by your readers, your chances of making sales is much higher. You may have heard it before and will hear it for a long time to come, that the money is in the list. How you build and nurture that list will determine your success with it.

There are Two Type of Traffic Exchanges

When searching for a traffic exchange, pay attention to how they operate. Some with run on auto-pilot and are called auto-surf. What happens with those is the members will start the surfing session and walk away while the program goes to the sites in its rotation. The only people benefiting from those auto-surf programs are the site owners.

The difference being if the site pays a small percentage for having you surf a set number of sites each day. Remember though, making a profit from those takes a long time, so think about what your time is worth and decide if you will actually gain from those, or could make more progress towards your goals by spending that time and money to promote your own site in programs that are built to serve you, not primarily the program owners.

Look for manual surf programs that require the members to click a link or button to visit the next site. That keeps them there at their computer and you have a much better chance of them seeing your message.

Which Traffic Exchanges are the Best?

As you surf you will see sites that list what they claim are the best. What they are really doing is enticing you to join under them so they will benefit from the credits you earn or purchase. There is nothing wrong with doing that and it is actually encouraged. However, each site you see with lists of what they consider to be the best traffic exchanges will have different ones listed.

To determine on your own which ones are best for you, try them out for free and see how well they perform. I have seen some that our proclaimed the best, but they offer little in the way of earned credits. The more credits you can earn from surfing, the more times your site can be shown to others. Getting half a credit for visiting one page may be acceptable for a free account on one site, but can be low compared to others and definitely should be no lower than 1 credit for every 2 sites visited.

New traffic exchanges are continuously being launched to give you more options. You should not have to settle for low credits or inferior traffic generators. Also remember to upgrade when you see that the traffic exchange is delivering not just traffic, which is useless without the visitors taking action, but generate real leads or subscribers from the manual surfing programs.

Listed below are the few that I surf daily to get a constant flow of visitors and leads.

TrafficSwarm Still the best after using them for over 4 years with a Pro account.
I Love Hits
Traffic Syndicate 25 (TS25)
Traffic Pods

One more thing that you can do to capitalize on your surfing is to run a small surf bar at the bottom of your screen that will pay you a certain amount for each site you visit. One such program is getting ready to launch in late March is Agloco. It is being developed and run by some very successful people. Joining now will put you in a position to start using the surf bar and earning from it as soon as it is launched.

Jim Hutchinson is lead Website Developer and Project Manager for Website Managers. He has studied affiliate marketing from some of the most influential leaders in Internet Marketing. Many of those resources are available on WebsiteManagers.net
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