How To Use Free Traffic Exchanges

How To Use Free Traffic Exchanges - A Guide For Everyone

Welcome to Free Traffic Exchange University!!

This lens is here to teach you everything you need to know to make Free Traffic Exchanges pay off for you and your business.

You'll learn everything there is to know about Free Traffic Exchanges, laid out in easy to navigate Lessons.

I'll start by discussing the ins and outs of a traffic exchange. I'll cover what they are, how they work, and why they should be an important part of your marketing plan.

We'll talk about Traffic Credits, Banners, and Text Ads. You'll learn the basics of surfing the exchanges, how to build your exchange Downlines, and how to use the exchanges in the most efficient ways.

You'll learn the #1 Most Important Rule of Traffic Exchanges, and how to make it a Major part of your Traffic Exchange Game Plan. I'll describe what kinds of sites get the best responses, and what you might want to avoid.

I'll also be discussing the details of some of my favorite exchanges with personal reviews. I'll talk about their bonus structures, and what makes each site unique.

So come and join me, as we take a magical journey thorough the wonderful world of Traffic Exchanges. (Seriously, it'll be fun!)

The Traffic Exchange 101 Syllabus

LESSON 1: What is a Traffic Exchange?
LESSON 2: How do Traffic Exchanges work?
LESSON 3: Can You make Money with Traffic Exchanges?
LESSON 4: The MOST Important TE Rule.
LESSON 5: What to Promote on the Exchanges?
LESSON 6: Adding your site to an Exchange.
LESSON 7: Banner Impressions and Text Ads
LESSON 8: Using Scheduled Startpages
LESSON 9: Downline Builders
LESSON 10: What is Your Hit Economy?
LESSON 11: Get the MOST from your Exchanges
Traffic Exchanges That I Recommend

LESSON 1: What is a Traffic Exchange?

Great question, gang!

A Traffic Exchange is a website that offers traffic to your site, in exchange for surfing other people's sites. They are a powerful and economical way to bring fast traffic to your sites.

They are set us as sort of a "You show me yours, and I'll show you mine" arrangement for websites.

After you sign up with a Traffic Exchange, you'll have access to their member's area. Inside the member's area, you'll have access to your credit and cash balances (yeah, some of them pay you cash!), you can add your own sites and links, access your referral links, and access the Surf Section.

Most exchanges offer a brilliant array of downline building resources aside from just a referral link, including banners and splash pages.

Nearly all of them will also offer upgrade options for your membership. With an upgrade, you'll get a better surf ratio (more on that later), a certain amount of monthly credits, and better commissions on referrals.

LESSON 2: How do Traffic Exchanges work?

Traffic exchanges work by rotating your site into view of the other members while they're surfing. Other members, like yourself, will have added their sites in the Surf rotation. When you "Surf" an exchange, you are essentially being directed to others member's sites within that exchange.

When you start to Surf, you'll see a Frame at the top (or bottom in some cases) called a Surf Bar. That frame will usually be set up the same way. They will contain a banner ad on one side, and a Turing Test on the other side.

The Turing Test is always unique to the Exchange. It will contain some image, word, or number adjacent to a group of similar looking images, words, or numbers. You have to choose the one in the group that matches. This is part of the whimsy. Sometimes they are crazy looking glyphs and symbols, sometimes they are images that are relevant to the exchange. For instance, no the Traffic Splash surf bar, you'll see Flipper the Traffic Splash Mascot in various colors.

The Turing Test is a way to prevent Cheaters from not actually viewing the sites they're surfing. Another way they protect against this, is to alternate weather the Surf bar is at the Top of the page, or the Bottom. This is completely random.

The time you spend on a particular webpage will depend on the Surf Timer of that particular Exchange. Some have a surf timer as low as 6 Seconds (Traffic Splash), and others can go up to as high as 15 or 20 seconds.

Along with the Surf Timer, you have a Surf Ratio. This determines how many sites you need to surf, in order to get one hit to your site. Sometimes it's 5:1, sometimes it's 1:5, it all depends on which exchange you are at, and which upgrade package you have. The Free memberships are almost always 2:1 or lower, meaning you have to surf at least 2 sites, to get 1 hit to your site.

As you surf, you'll build up credits. These credits can then be applied to your own websites, to be put into rotation in the exchange.

LESSON 3: Can You make Money with Traffic Exchanges?

At many exchanges, you can earn Commissions for referrals upgrade and credit purchases. This can be a nice way to make a few extra bucks, but you won't make a living from this.

Traffic Exchanges are NOT money making programs. They are an advertising service that will bring guaranteed hits to your site. That being said, you can make a decent amount of money on the side if you play your cards right.

Nearly every traffic exchange pays commissions from each of your Downline member's upgrades and credit sales. They will usually earn you a percentage of the credits that they earn surfing as well. That means that after a while, when you've built a large Downline, you will be earning advertising credits, and cash on the side, simply by promoting your referral links.

Obviously, this doesn't happen overnight, and will come with a price. You will have to work to promote the referral links for your traffic exchanges to get referrals. We'll talk more about the best methods for doing that later.

The bottom line here is this.

Yes, you can earn cold, hard cash with traffic exchanges, but you probably won't see a steady income from it for a LONG time, and you will have to actually work to earn it. It is not automatic.

LESSON 4: The MOST Important TE Rule.

Watch your step, folks, 'cause I'm about to DROP some Knowledge.

Open up you Brain-Tank, and get ready for a Billion-Octane Tip:

The number one rule to being successful is having a Unique, Eye-Poping, Squeeze page.

That's right! If you show people the same thing over and over again, they will start to ignore it. How do you make a squeeze page?

You create one with

First, get yourself an account over at Instant Squeeze Page Generator. This Gold Membership is FREAKING amazing, and you can even get a lot of great squeeze pages from the free version. I know what you like. You like free stuff. Don't worry. It's totally free to join, and you can upgrade whenever you want (like after your FREE squeeze page makes you a bundle!).

Make sure you keep the Headline simple. Don't overwhelm them with words. You want them to be immediately interested in the concept you are selling. Go take a look at your extra-long squeeze page. Take a look at the most important headlines on that page. Take a cue from those. Anything in bullet points? Great, we'll add that to your squeeze page too. People like to be convinced, and a nice, bullet pointed list does just that.

Keep the images to a minimum, and make sure they have some relevance to your product.
A flashy header and one highly targeted image in the body is all you need.

Backgrounds can wake people up. Weather it's an array of dancing dollar signs, or just small bundles of money tiled in the background, it's going to bring the readers focus to the center of your squeeze page, right where the relevant text and your link is.

If you don't see immediate returns on a particular squeeze page, you can make small edits and keep testing.

Remember, people are only going to be spending a fraction of Minute on the page you promote.

Think about that for a minute. How much can you read in 15 Seconds?

More importantly, think about what an ad would have to say, in order for you to read it, understand it, and make the decision to click a link, all within 15 Seconds.

It would have to be pretty darn convincing, wouldn't it?

The Bottom Line is this. If no one likes your splash page, and you don't get any sales from your traffic, then you are using the wrong splash page. Don't blame the Traffic Exchanges if you don't get sales. There is no debate about weather or not they work. If they didn't work, there wouldn't be MILLIONS of people using THOUSANDS of different Traffic Exchanges.

LESSON 5: What to Promote on the Exchanges?

The Do's and Don'ts of Traffic Exchanges.

Traffic Exchanges are not an "everything goes" advertising venue. In reality, NO advertising venue is like that, and if it is, it's probably not very effective.

You don't really have to strain any muscles trying to remember these things. Most of it is just common sense. Traffic Exchanges are made for bringing real people to your site. If you read about the #1 Rule above, you'll have learned that it's up to YOU to get those people to click through. Knowing what your target audience wants is CRITICAL, and what Traffic Exchange surfers want is MORE TRAFFIC!

Would you to look up a phone number?
Would you stop to buy drapes or rugs for your home?
Would you stop to watch a Music Video?
Would you stop to browse an art collection or poetry?

NO!!

You want MONEY. That's what you're there for, and that's what everyone else is there for. You want to bring Traffic to your site, so you can earn some money.

That should be easy right?

Promote things that bring people more traffic, and you'll be promoting things that bring people more money.

There are things that are simply not allowed at ANY traffic exchange. Porn, Cheat Sites, Hacker Sites, Warez Sites, Ponzi Schemes, Any site that contains Google AdSense Ads (google may close your account for this), and Any site that contains Frame Breakers.

Beyond that, you just want to use your head, and think about things logically. There are some things that will be natural winners at every traffic exchange, as long as you have an eye catching Landing Page.

Other Traffic Exchanges

Affiliate Programs

Email List Building programs

Marketing Related Blogs

Downline Builders

Work At Home Programs

Social Network Builders

"Getting Traffic" Tutorials

Turn-Key Moneymaking Websites

Web Hosting

What NOT to promote? Well, that's really subjective. The reason it's so subjective is that Traffic Exchange members come from ALL walks of life, and have so many different interests, that you're bound to catch one or two conversions eventually no matte what you promote, but your return on that investment will be terrible. I'll list a few things that I, personally, wouldn't promote on an exchange, but I'm sure there are people out there that have had, or will have, success with some of these things. It's just not the most economical use of your time or money at a Traffic exchange.

Direct Affiliate Links

Goods or Services not related to Internet Marketing

Very Expensive Items, like Electronics

Anything considered NOT family Friendly

Political Propaganda

LESSON 6: Adding your site to an Exchange.

Ok, you've signed up with an exchange. What next?

Well, you need to add the site you want to promote.

Inside the members area of each site, you'll find a section to add your site. Nearly all of them work the same way. Look for sections called:
"Traffic Exchange" (AdvertisingKnowHow)
"My Websites" or "Websites" (Traffic Splash, ILoveHits, StartXchange )
"My Sites" or "Sites" (DragonSurf, BlueSurf),
and variations thereof.

Once you're in that section, you'll have a form that lets you enter a URL. You want to enter the URL of the site you want to promote. You'll also be able to assign a number of credits to your Site, and set the AutoAssign percentages (more on that in a minute).

This is where you want to come when you need to see how many hits your site has received from that link. In the beginning, checking this number often, say, on a daily basis, will give you a good idea of the view rate of your page at this site over a wider period of time. For instance, you don't want to dismiss the usefulness of a particular site after only a day or two, because not everyone surfs every single day. If you only run it from Monday to Wednesday, and then pull it, you'll miss any weekend surfers. Always give your sites a good test period of at least a week. If you find that the page converts better on a particular day, then only run it around that day to maximize your credits.

How Many Sites Can I Add?

That will depend on the exchange.

Most of them let you add 3-5 sites as a free member. If you upgrade, that number will increase significantly.

AutoAssigning Credits?

Many sites have a mandatory autoassign function. There are several reasons for this, but it's mainly to make it easier on you.

When you set a URL to AutoAssign credits, whatever percentage you set will be automatically applied to that URL while you surf.

This is nice when you have multiple sites running, and you have your autoassign set to 100% between them. You just surf away, and never have to assign credits. If you want more credits to go to one site than the others, you can adjust the percentages to suit your needs.

LESSON 7: Banner Impressions and Text Ads

Another way to advertise in a Traffic Exchange

Banner Ads and Text Ads are often integrated into the surfing experience as secondary forms of advertising. Many people overlook these, especially the text ads. But worded correctly, and you could stumble into a goldmine.

Consider where Text and Banner ads will appear when you surf. It is almost always going to be on the surf bar. Banner ads will appear on the opposite side from the Turing Test, and Text ads will usually appear right under the test.

That means that every time someone wants to surf to the next page, they will see your text ad. This is a great opportunity to reel in some leads. Use it to your advantage.

LESSON 8: Using Scheduled Startpages

A very powerful option.

Some Exchanges will let you schedule you site to be shown first, second, or third, (sometimes beyond), whenever anyone starts to surf. I don't think I need to explain the advantage to this. With your page being shown in the first few pages of traffic, you'll have a huge advantage over every other site.

These scheduled startpages can be set for weeks or months, and the prices and times vary from exchange to exchange.

For example, Traffic Splash will let you set your site First, Second, or Third, for a week at a time, and costs $75, $70, and $65 respectively. Blue Surf, on the other hand, will let you buy one day at a time, for $5 a day.

If you have a heavy hitting splash page that you've tested for unbeatable conversions, then you should definitely consider trying this out.

LESSON 9: Downline Builders

The Secret Weapon of Credit Building

Many exchanges are incorporating Downline Builders into their arsenal of Marketing Tools. Most of the owners of these exchanges are all friends in the industry, and have acquired very good reputations. As a result, they have given you, the surfer, the ability to dramatically increase your Downlines at every Exchange you surf!

By adding the IDs of your other exchanges into the boxes within the Downline Builder, you'll be offering those exchanges as part of your welcome message to every new signups.

Here are my two favorite Downline Builders.

LESSON 10: What is Your Hit Economy?

Incresed Surfing Efficiency = More Credits for Conversions

How would you like 40% more visitors from
traffic exchanges without spending a dime?

Of course you would, right?

I want you to know about this piece of software that lets you rack Up The Hits At Breakneck Speed

It's called Quick Tab Change

It lets you switch tabs just by pressing a key when you are surfing several exchanges at once.

The best part is....

You don't have to pay a dime for this nifty tool that lets you fly through the tabs.

If you are in a hurry to get more traffic you can download it here!

I have been using this for a while to get more traffic from traffic exchanges and I can tell you it works on Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Try it out for yourself today and watch your hit counter soar.

LESSON 11: Get the MOST from your Exchanges

Tracking your way to Success

There is one important aspect of Traffic Exchanges, that everyone should learn about:

Tracking your sales campaigns.

As Robert Puddy says, "If you're NOT testing and tracking all your online advertising and conversion then every change you make and every piece of advertising you pay for could be COSTING you money and you'd never know. "

Go Sign up, and test-drive the system at HitsConnect for free right now.

You'll get everything you need to easily track your way to more profits.

Traffic Exchanges That I Recommend

Here is a list of Traffic Exchanges that I really like. I have included reviews of some of them, and will continue to add new Exchanges and Reviews.

*********************************NEW*********************************
NO SURF TRAFFIC EXCHANGES!

Check these out! You don't have to surf pages, you'll build credits with each website you load in your browser, and each time your screensaver pops up!!!

ScreenSwarm is AMAZING!! Not only that, but if you go to my blog you can get 181,000 FREE HITS! Yeah, you read that right, 180,000 free credits to load into your ScreenSwarm Exchange. That's 181,000 Hits to your site. You can't miss this! Every time someone else's screensaver pops up, you'll be showing them your ad!! It's brilliant. As soon as you come back to your computer, you'll see an ad yourself, and you won't have had to surf endlessly for the credits! Sign up now, and make sure you check out my blog for 181,000 Free Credits!

FreeTrafficBar is a Revolution in Text Ad Exchanges. This this is awesome. You simply install the toolbar into your browser, and each page you load will refresh the ad in the toolbar. Each refresh build you traffic credits for your own ads! It's like a Traffic exchange on Autopilot, 24/7/365! And now, you can get another 201,000 Free Traffic Credits! Yeah, I know. It's almost too good to believe, but it's TRUE! Head over to my blog, and grab the coupon codes. They're a cinch to use, and Garland even has TONS of video tutorials to help you get set up. So don't miss this one, or you'll seriously kick yourself. These coupons won't last forever, so grab them now while they're hot!

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MANUAL TRAFFIC EXCHANGES!

Introducing, THE PERFECT EXCHANGE! (Bold statement, huh?) One of the greatest Surfers ever to surf the exchanges, Tony Tezak brings you Tezak Traffic Power!!! This site is AWESOME. 10000 New users in only 14 days! That is incredible! Join now! you don't want to miss this one! The guys from my favorite exchange, Paul Kinder and Tim Rash, and helping Tony run the show, so you KNOW it's a quality exchange!! Check it out. It really is The Perfect Exchange.

Traffic-Splash is my all time favorite Exchange. It has a short 6 second timer, awesome daily surf bonuses that you can claim by hitting surf targets, an incredibly easy to read and fast loading surfbar, and one of the Coolest Owners Around!

Traffic Pods is addictive. They have a unique system whereby every ten pages is referred to as a pod. Users can own pods, and earn credits when other users surf through their pod. Obviously, having a pod near the top is desirable. They have a 15 Second Turing test that is pretty easy to read, and a nice bookmarking system so you don't have to stop surfing if you see something you like.

Dragonsurf, by Soren Jordansen, is a great Traffic Exchange. A very whimsically themed Exchange, that has everything a serious marketer needs, including a really nice downline builder. This exchange has a 10 second timer, and an image based Turing test that is very easy to read. Be sure to watch out for the Dragon when you're surfing!

A classic, by Jon Olson. This is a Must on the join list. Boasting over 100,000 members since 2001, you know that this is a serious player in the Exchange Business. An 8 second timer, and an easy to read, Image Based Turing Test, make this one of my favorte sites ever. It is one of the highest rated exchanges at every ratings site, and you just can't argue with the numbers. Make sure you check out Jon's Book too.

Mr. Robert Puddy's awesome exchange, is completely unique. A one-of-a-kind surfbar, a 10 second timer, and really hard to miss bonuses make it a fun exchange to surf. If you surf at least 100 pages for 5 out of 7 days during the week, you will be given a random referral. That means that with a meager 500 pages surfed a week, and no promotion, you can have an active downline of more than 50 members! Mr. Puddy is also an extremely successful marketing coach, and you can learn a lot from the lessons in each of his emails.

Traffic Gold Rush is just plain fun. They have a great Mining theme, and some awesome bonuses that you can't miss. This exchange is part of the 3 Way Jackpot, PLUS they have their own in-house Jackpot you can win! Come on, who doesn't love free credits?

This is such a great traffic exchange. Geez, I tell you, you build a list like this, and you just wish they could all be at the very top of the list. This exchange has some truly unique features. Add your site and assign credits like normal, but when you surf, you'll get your choice of three different pages to see next. That way, you don't have to keep seeing the same ad over and over again. As you surf, the Poker Table will appear, and you can choose to draw a new card for your hand. The best hands get the most chips at the end of the week, but even a 7 High will get you some chips. It's a really nice system. One of the best parts of Traffic Dealer, is their HighRoller Status Bonus. They have this little widget that you can install of your computer. It puts a little spade in your tray by the clock. When it flashes, it's High Roller time! Double clicking on it will take you right to Traffic Dealers site, and you'll get Double Credits while you surf!!

Scott's Exchange is awesome. Not only is the back office one of my personal favorites, for how easy it is to navigate, Blue-Surf has one of the BEST Start Page deals on the net! Don't miss it!

Get 1000 free credits with this great exchange.

(Review coming soon!)

(Review coming soon!)

Time to connect! Grab all the clocks you can find in this addictive exchange! You'll never get bored with this one. Very responsive too.

Grab 5000 credits free when you join this Traffic Exchange. More than just a TE, you'll love all the extra features that come with this site.

Really a Text Ad Exchange with a TE flair. I love this site for it's unique design. Never get stuck looking at an ad you didn't want to see, since you pick which ads you get credits for, and which ones you want to pass on.

This is one another one of the Logiscape Exchanges. Set up well, and easy to surf, this one is one of the best.

(Review coming soon!)

Sunny is awesome! Don't miss this gem of an exchange. Sunny has created one of the best exchanges on the net. Make sure you check out the secret word game, and win extra credits!

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed learning at Traffic Exchange 101.
Stay tuned for Safelist 101, coming soon!