Traffic Exchange Basics

Traffic Exchange Basics

A traffic exchange is a website promotion system based on the concept of reciprocation. In simplest terms, you achieve exposure for your own web site, banner ads, and even text links by viewing the sites and ads of other people.

These programs provide you with a very powerful way of:

• Putting your product or service in front of a very diverse audience
• Seeing what other folks are promoting
• Getting an idea of how your competition is targeting their campaigns
• Branding your name, gather leads, and yes, even make sales

Traffic Exchanges are member based, so you must open an account with each exchange you intend to use. This is a simple task that can be completed in a couple of minutes, and it's usually free.

The initial sign-up process will require you to enter your name and a valid email address. Additionally, you may be asked for information about your web site.

In some cases, you are also asked to select a username and password with which to access your member's only area. Other exchanges will assign you with a user number and an auto-generated password.

Once you have completed the sign-up form, you will receive a validation email. You will need to click the link indicated in this message in order to validate (prove that you own) the email address you have used to register your membership.

All traffic exchanges operate on a credit system. Members earn credits by participating in a variety of ways, and then "spend" these credits on website visitors, banner ad impressions, text links, and in some cases, even email advert's.

By maintaining active memberships in a few good exchanges, you can generate a tremendous flow of traffic for any web site you wish to advertise. When used properly, these resources are an excellent way to promote just about anything.

After you complete the sign up form for a traffic exchange, you will need to validate, or prove that you own, the email account you registered with. This is required to insure that you receive important communications such as support responses, program updates, and so forth.

Look in your email folder for a subject line that reads "Validate Your Account", "Verify Your Account", or something similar. Open this message and you will find a clearly marked validation link. Simply click on the designated link within the validation email and you will be taken to a confirmation page.

Once your email is validated, you are ready to login to your account with your username and password.

Setting up your account basically involves adding your web site, banner ad, and (if applicable) text link. Look to the member navigation menu for a link that reads �My Websites�, �Add Sites�, �URL Manager�, or something along these lines.

This link will take you to the page where you may enter your Target URL(s). A Target URL is the website address you wish to drive traffic to.

Just enter a title for your site, along with the URL, and submit this information. Some exchanges will also ask you for a brief description or give you the opportunity to select an appropriate category for your site to be rotated through.

Your site must not be a frame breaker, (a site with code that "breaks out" of the surf bar) as this type of site will disrupt the process of generating traffic for other members of the exchange. In some cases, you will be required to click a �test� button that checks your site for frame-breaking code before it is accepted into the system. Alternatively, the site admin may check each URL manually before approving them.

Also, each exchange is likely to have its own set of rules regarding the types of sites that are allowed. For example, some exchanges do not allow the use of rotators. Other programs have banned paid-to-promote type sites and apparent ponzi schemes from rotation. Be sure to read the terms and regulations of each exchange before submitting your target URL(s).

The procedure for adding banner ads and text links is pretty much the same as that for adding your target URLs. Just find the appropriate menu link and insert the correct information into the submission form to enter your banner and text ads into the member rotation.

There is sometimes confusion in getting your banners set up properly. First you must have an image of the banner hosted somewhere on the internet. Usually, the program that you are promoting will give you an image url or tell you that you need to copy the image and upload it to your own hosting account.

The most common way to earn credits (and therefore traffic) via an exchange program is to surf through a rotation of web sites that are owned by other members. Most programs require you to login to your account and click a surf link to begin this process.

However, some exchanges give you a special URL to use for surfing. You can even set this surfing URL as your browser's home page, so you earn traffic credits each time you open your browser. A program that gives you a special URL of this nature is sometimes called a start exchange.

Whether you surf by visiting a special URL, or by logging into the exchange and clicking a designated link, you will be utilizing a surf console, or surf bar for the purpose of visiting other web sites and accruing traffic credits. The surf bar is usually a visible frame that encloses the pages you view during your surf session, but some exchanges use a �floating� surf bar that comes into view when the surf timer (more on this shortly) counts down.

While every exchange is a little different, the basic components of the surf bar remain the same. These components are the timer, the confirmation key, the user menu, and (optionally) the display area.

Timer - You will be required to view each site for a specific amount of time. This interval will range from 10 to 30 seconds in most cases. The timer may or may not be visible, but you will receive a clear prompt when it is time to click to the next site.

Confirmation Key - When the required time has elapsed, you will be prompted to activate the confirmation key in order to proceed to the next site. This may consist of clicking a designated number, matching the correct shape or color, or simply clicking a "Next Site" button.

User Menu - This interface will usually allow you to login to your member area to make adjustments, report sites that violate the rules, and view your current statistics.

Display Area - Most surf bars will also designate additional space for the purpose of displaying banner ads and text links. In this way, an exchange can provide multiple forms of exposure.

The number of credits you can earn by surfing depends on the surf ratio of the exchange you are using. A surf ratio is the formula that determines the credit amount you earn for each page you view from the surf bar.

This figure is represented by a colon symbol fixed between two digits. The digit to the left of the colon denotes the number of pages viewed, while the number to the right of the colon specifies the number of credits earned. For example, a 2:1 surf ratio indicates an earning of one credit for each two web sites viewed while surfing.

A multi-tabbed browser functions on the same basis as a standard web browser. There is nothing especially technical about utilizing these tools.

The primary feature of this type of browser is the ability to open multiple web sites through a system of tabs that run along the top of your browser window. Unlike standard browsers that take you directly to a new window when it is opened, a tabbed browser allows you to continue viewing the current site while opening the new site in a separate tab.

You can easily choose which site to view by clicking on the appropriate tab. This brings greater ease to the process of multi tasking, and is especially relevant to the traffic surfer because it creates the option of using multiple exchanges simultaneously.

The ability of multi-tabbed browsers to save your bookmarks, or favorites, in a group format makes these resources even more powerful. By opening multiple web sites, then using the "Favorites" or "Groups" option on your toolbar, you can quickly and easily create a new folder in your bookmarks containing all the URLs you have open at the time.

It is recommended that you save either the surf URLs or the login URLs of each exchange you are a member of in this fashion. Whenever possible, save the surf URL. Some exchanges will not provide you with a surf URL, because they require you to login to your member area in order to access the surf bar. If a program does require you to login to surf, just save the login URL. Depending on the total number of programs you use, you may need to save multiple groups for ease of management.

You should save your groups in accordance to the surfing routine you have decided on. For example, if you are a member of 16 exchanges, and have decided to surf four days per week, you might save four groups, with each group containing four exchanges.

Setting up this kind of surfing system is easy:

1.First create a folder in your bookmarks called �Surfing�.

2.Then, create four sub-folders within the �Surfing� directory, and name these sub-folders �Group 1�, �Group 2�, �Group 3�, and �Group 4�.

3.To complete this procedure, simply save the login/surf URLs of 4 exchanges into each of your �Group� folders.

When you organize your programs in this manner, all you need to do when you are ready to surf is open the appropriate group and start clicking.

Start with the far right tab. If this tab is a surf URL, start surfing right away. If the first tab is a login URL, login to your account and access the surf bar from there.

Repeat this action with each tab until you reach the far left of the tab bar. After you have confirmed your page view in this final tab, move back to the far right tab and start the process over.

Obviously, surfing more than one program at a time will greatly increase the number of credits you can earn. This, of course, will result in a greater flow of traffic for your website.

By surfing four exchanges with a 2:1 ratio for an hour, you can generate around 200 hits for your website. Imagine what you could do with two or three hours, and maybe a couple of 1:1 ratios thrown into the mix.

It is not recommended that you surf an excessive number of programs at any one time. If you open too many surf bars, you will have a difficult time giving each page a proper view.

It is important that you actually look at the pages you are getting credit for.

You certainly want people to view your site. By returning the favor, you help to keep traffic exchanges a valuable resource for all involved.

By downloading a good multi-tabbed browser and organizing your surf programs into easily manageable groups, you will increase the effectiveness of your traffic campaigns exponentially. This will require only a small amount of setup work, and the rewards will be well worth this initial effort.

Another very effective way to earn credits is to refer other marketers to the traffic exchanges you are a member of. You can do this easily by sending people to a referral URL, which you can find in the member's area of any traffic exchange.

A referral URL is a link to the traffic exchange home page that includes your personal id code. When someone visits your referral URL, then signs up with the traffic exchange, they are placed in your downline.

This is one of the ways that Affiliate Funnel helps you to leverage your efforts. Instead of promoting 20 different exchanges and diluting your efforts you can promote Affiliate Funnel. Each new referral will be exposed to all of your exchange referral urls.

Often, an exchange will award you with an instant referral bonus for each new member that joins your downline. This instant bonus could be anything from 50 credits, to 1,000 banner impressions, depending on the exchange. In addition to instant bonuses, most traffic exchanges give you a percentage of the credits your referrals earn when they surf for traffic. For example, you might receive an amount of credits equal to 10% of your direct referral's surfing activity. In this example, you would get one credit for each 10 credits your direct downline earns. Most exchanges allow you to benefit from multiple referral levels, so you could even earn free traffic when your downline's referrals surf for traffic.

Even better than free traffic, the more progressive traffic exchanges are now offering commissions for upgrades and purchases made by your direct referrals.

You can also purchase traffic, banner, and text link credits from most traffic exchanges. This is quite useful if you don't have a lot of time to surf, or if you just want to add some extra "punch" to your efforts. Most credit packages are quite reasonably priced, so your advertising dollars will go a long way.

The majority of traffic exchanges now support random credit winnings during member surf sessions. In fact, with many programs, you are guaranteed at least a small winning at regular surfing intervals. Surfing contests, referral contests, and random drawings are other examples of how traffic exchange users can win free traffic credits.

Many traffic exchanges provide their members with alternative methods of credit generation. For instance, an exchange might award credits for reading solo email ads. Some programs also have a "search for credits" feature. There are even a few programs that allow members to earn credits for displaying their referral URL. There is a good deal of originality in this industry, and program owners are continually finding new ways to reward active members.

Here are my 10 Top Traffic Exchanges - Click Here

Until my next topic

Mireya