1) How and when did your online business get started?

My exchange has been online for about a year and a half. After surfing exchanges for a few years, I decided I should try my own as it seemed like a good business model.

2) Which exchange(s) do you own or co-own?

Currently I own jurassicsurf.com and looking at a second exchange possibly with a partner.

3) Do you currently work exclusively online?

Unfortunately I don’t work exclusively online yet but like all businesses it takes time to build. I hope sometime soon to be able to quit my day J.O.B.

4) How many hours per day do you spend on your exchange(s)?

I try to spend a minimum of 2 hours a day on jurassicsurf.com as I want my exchange to be a good one. I know some of the exchanges I am a member of seem to let their exchanges run by themselves.

5) Do you do support yourself, or do you outsource support?

For the time being I do my own support as I like to be hands on. However should jurassicsurf keep growing like it is, I may have to get some help.

6) How fluent are you with HTML, javascript, and PHP?

I can handle most html for what I need to get by and javascript snippets are available to insert in the html. However php is a language all its own and you either understand it or you don’t and I don’t. I leave it up to the experts to do any fixes I need. If I could get a course that could teach me on a more layman’s level I would take it as its difficult to find good php programmers.

7) Approximately how many members join your exchange a month?

It was a little slow at the beginning but now its picking up and averaging 50 to 100 a month.

8) Does most of your advertising come from members referring, or you?

I would have to say about 50/50 right now. I have some great members who like my exchange enough to do a great job getting referrals.

9) Are you subscribed to any blogs? Which is your favorite?

I am subscribed to a few blogs and my favorite is an ebay one.

10) What would be the biggest tip you could give to readers?

I would say my tip, be TE owner or surfer, would be stick with what you are doing as it will work out in the end.

1) How and when did your online business get started?

I got started online in October of 2003. I joined SFI and MPAM and found out about traffic exchanges through there. I purchased Hitpirate off of Ebay in December 2003 (on an old ASP Walker script) and started developing my own business at that point. I branched out and learned how to do design work to create my own splash pages and then branched out from there. I have no schooling in computers, so everything I know I have learned on my own.

2) Which exchange(s) do you own or co-own?

I own Hitpirate and Genie Traffic. I also own Pirate List Building (List building tutorial site) ClickOrRead (New Mail Less safelist) and Hitpirate Marketing (My blog)

3) Do you currently work exclusively online?

No I do not, I work full time as a restaurant manager. I do have aspirations to be online full time, but haven’t reached that goal yet. Everything I make, I re-invest in my business to help it grow and provide a better environment for my members.

4) How many hours per day do you spend on your exchange(s)?

I spend about 3-4 hours a day working on the exchanges.

5) Do you do support yourself, or do you outsource support?

I do my own support :)

6) How fluent are you with HTML, JavaScript, and PHP?

I have pretty solid HTML skills.
Don’t know much about JavaScript.
Don’t know enough PHP.
I will be diving into PHP over the next year, I think it is important to know enough to fix any bugs that may come up. Sometimes it’s hard to get a programmer on your project quickly. So I want to learn it to fix them bugs quicker :)

7) Approximately how many members join your exchange a month?

These days, about 200-300 a month have been joining HP.

8) Does most of your advertising come from members referring, or you?

I would have to say it’s pretty even, I do spend quite a bit of money advertising. I also have some weeks where I really surf my butt off on the exchanges. But I do have a great bunch of members at HP that help bring in new people :)

9) Are you subscribed to any blogs? Which is your favorite?

Hit Exchange News (my favorite) TE Scoop and a few others.

10) What would be the biggest tip you could give to readers?

Avoid the HYPE online. Do your due dilligence and study things before you go spending alot of money. If it sounds too good to be true, it IS!

Working online is hard work, It takes a lot of effort and there is alot to learn to do it properly.
Find yourself a great mentor that is truly willing to help people. Then surround yourself with like minded people that are successful. Duplicate their efforts.

Be prepared to spend money when the time comes. No business in this world is free. As they say “It takes money to make money”

1) How and when did your online business get started?

I started my traffic exchange in February 2007

2) Which exchange(s) do you own or co-own?

I own and run 247TrafficPro.com.

3) Do you currently work exclusively online?

Yes I do, it was a dream come true in 2006.

4) How many hours per day do you spend on your exchange(s)?

Too many.. but its worth it. ;-)

5) Do you do support yourself, or do you outsource support?

Both.

6) How fluent are you with HTML, javascript, and PHP?

I understand html pretty well, I know no javascript, and can do basic PHP.

7) Approximately how many members join your exchange a month?

At the moment its about 300 – 400. This is a number that ofcourse varies. It is also a very important parametere to measure how successful an exchange is and is something that I work with on a consistant basis.

8) Does most of your advertising come from members referring, or you?

Most of my advertising comes from my own marketing efforts. As the owner of any business you need to take that responsibilty.

Bringing in new members 24/7 is a TOP priority.

9) Are you subscribed to any blogs? Which is your favorite?

Not subscribed to any special blogs, I mostly stick to the lists of people who can contribute in one way or another to the growth of my business.

10) What would be the biggest tip you could give to readers?

Like everything in life, there is a learning curve, if your goal is to make money online, run a successful business or what ever, then accept this fact. You won’t learn everything in one day. Stay consistant and focused, get to know people who are already doing what you want to do, learn from them, take their advice. Visit www.netmarketingforum.com . Getting to know the wonderful members there meant everything for my online success.

Just a note, Paul wrote this sometime in August so some of the dates mentioned are off. For instance, he mentions meeting Tim in DC, which has already passed. But it doesn’t affect the awesomeness of the interview ;-)

1) How and when did your online business get started?

When? December 24th 2006, a little over 18 months ago.

How? Well I wanna tell you a story :-)

I left the world of “real work” back in May 2000. I had worked in Logistics and Customer Service at a local brewery for 15 years (Adnams of Southwold, Suffolk: fantastic place if you ever get a chance to visit).

As a young lad, working in the drinks industry was pretty much a dream for me. I loved it so much I completely lost sight of the fact I had never planned to work for other people and so, eventually, very eventually LOL, I decided to walk away.

I actually only went over to Southwold to help out a mate for one Tuesday night in August 1985 and stayed 15 years. Like I said fantastic place, I truly loved it, and really good beer too!

Anyway, I then took nearly three years out and eventually started an MLM biz. I worked hard (surprise!) and became one of the company’s top 6 retailers in Europe. I just stopped enjoying it because most of my team weren’t earning very much so, I walked away from that too. I then joined a competitor where, in theory, the whole team would earn more. It was a young startup biz so a bit risky and in hindsight a huge mistake. They went bust in Spring 2006.

So, what to do next? I remortgaged the house so I had time to make a good decision. I knew I wanted to work online but I had no real idea what would suit me. I tried some online MLM’s and matrix programs, which seemed the obvious move, but realized quite quickly they weren’t for me. I’ve always been about customer service and these programs just weren’t making me happy. I wanted a real biz, with real customers.

So I kept looking and in June 2006 I joined Profit Rally (a forerunner for Affiliate Funnel for those who don’t know) That’s when I really struck lucky. My sponsor was a chap called Jon Olson and one of his recommended programs was Hit Exchange Survival Kit. Through HESK I found Hit Exchange 101, Hit Exchange News and the infamous NMF, or Net Marketing Forum. I was (and still am) fascinated by traffic exchanges!

I camped out in NMF, networking and learning from people who actually made money from these “funny little programs” (Jon’s words in an old HEN, very apt)

I researched TE’s all over the net, sponging up everything, and it seemed to me that most TE owners make a loss or very very little profit. So after talking through my financial situation with Jon, I took his advice and decided to try Adsense instead. Thing is, I hated all the Search Engine stuff – I lasted four whole days and that’s when I decided TE’s were definitely for me. I like simple, I need simple, simple really suits me! :-)

I joined 89 traffic exchanges for research, yes really 89! (not recommended for members – 10 is enough – remember I was looking to be an owner, a top owner, and I needed to learn about TE’s inside out) I started surfing about 10 hours a day, with NMF open for networking and then, in November 2006 I felt I’d packed in enough experience to get myself started. I bought Jon Olson’s Traffic Exchange Guy consultancy and started to build an LJ.

Oh, funny little NMF story. In my first week or two of surfing I got really frustrated with the Tic Tac Toe game in TCNTE exchanges. I posted about it on NMF asking what idiot made this game that made me feel like a loser (I wasn’t very good at it then). Up stepped this young lad called Tim Linden taking full responsibility for his idiocy LOL That’s how Tim and I first met. He might be an idiot but I really liked how he admitted it and Tim has become one of my best buds online. :-)

Anyway, two weeks later I was chatting to the owner of Traffic-Splash and he said he was willing to sell. It had been open for 9 months, got 1,500 members but only a few more than 100 active. It was a dead exchange only delivering about 2,000 hits a day. Didn’t matter to me. I wanted Traffic-Splash so, despite Jon’s good advice to carry building my LJ, I bought Traffic-Splash for the grand old sum of $250. See what I mean, $250, it really was dead and practically worthless!

So three weeks later, with a lot of new programming and a totally new cute dolphinized design, Traffic-Splash was reborn on December 24th 2006.

That’s the short and curly version of how I got into traffic exchanges. Well you asked didn’t ya? :-)

2) Which exchange(s) do you own or co-own?

Erm, well I might’ve just mentioned it once or twice already (I’m not obsessed ya know, really I’m not!) Anyone heard of Traffic-Splash? :-)

For those who don’t know Traffic-Splash, it’s about to break 30,000 members, delivers 150,000 to 200,000 hits a day and many many customers tell me (pretty much daily) that response rates are superb.

Traffic-Splash is the only exchange I own but it’s a tad complicated-ish because I spend a lot of time helping to grow Fast Easy Traffic for my good mate and business partner Tim Rash. It’s a great partnership, we work really really well together and are looking forward to finally meeting face to face in Washington DC in August.

While there is no link in ownership, I also work closely with Scott Martin of Blue Surf. I help with marketing, networking and general biz advice. Scott is a very talented programmer, among other things, and I absolutely love what he’s doing at Blue Surf and within our own programs.

Tim and I own a few TE related programs too …

Tim’s been hidden in his basement for almost a year now developing the much-fabled KR-TCNTE traffic exchange script. Tim’s in the final stages of programming now and we start beta testing internally in a day or two. I can’t wait to get this out there cos it is waaaay in advance of anything yet seen in TE world. If all goes to plan we’ll open out the beta testing in about two weeks and launch the script itself in September. IF :-)

We are partnered up with my mentor, Jon Olson, the TE Guy himself on Affiliate Funnel. Of course we’re in it to make money but I don’t know of any other program that gives so much free access to six figure earners as Affiliate Funnel. It’s great to help so many people start to actually make money online.

We were also brought in to resurrect SplashPoints. That’s taking a LOT longer than planned but Scott has now taken on the programming and is beavering away. We have a brand new Marketing Partner to drive it forward too. Look out for some big happenings in the fall.

There are some rumors about other new programs. One rumor says we’re launching something with a real TE legend very soon and, don’t tell anyone, but I heard we’re even partnering up with a certain Mr Linden for something sometime later this year ;-) …

3) Do you currently work exclusively online?

I don’t work. This is too much fun to be called work! But yes, playing around on computers is the only way I pay the bills. Well, I use direct debit to actually pay them but you know what I mean.

4) How many hours per day do you spend on your exchange(s)?

Erm, well I don’t know. I don’t count them but it is a lot!

I’m a customer service bod primarily so I want pretty much 24/7 service at Traffic-Splash. When I first started that meant I was covering support personally (and building the biz etc) for anywhere between 14 and 20 hours a day, every day. Armi who now owns TheHitDevil and MobHitz covered while I slept. As mentioned above, I put my home at risk in order to work online. That really motivates you to reach break even as soon as possible. :-)

I don’t work that hard now, it couldn’t continue forever, but I expect to “work” fairly silly hours for a while yet. Partly because I enjoy it so much but it is also the sole source of income for both Tim and I. The biz has been running little more than 18 months so it will take a while yet before either of us feels everything is solid enough to take significant time away. We’re still building our base.

5) Do you do support yourself, or do you outsource support?

Yes I do support myself, this is my fave part of the biz. BUT to provide 24/7 support personally would be a tad difficult. :-)

I get lots of help from the fantastic Mark Wieneke, Jackie O, Paul Conway, Jamison Raymond, Cat Heiter (at AF) and of course Tim. Teamwork works!

We receive about 350 support tickets a day at Traffic-Splash alone, plus emails, because we actively encourage it. I feel the single most important part of any business is customer communication and service is much much more than answering support tickets. I proactively contact customers away from the support desk every single day. For me, everything else pales into insignificance compared to customer satisfaction.

6) How fluent are you with HTML, javascript, and PHP?

Passable with HTML, can do a little PHP, what’s javascript? lol

I kinda understand some stuff. I worked with programmers and built lots of systems and processes in my offline career (am even a qualified ISO auditor for my sins) but I’m not even remotely technical.

To run an online biz there are certain basics you must have and will pick up along the way but get too techy with me and I glaze over, literally. Tim’s do techy stuff waaaay better than me. :-)

7) Approximately how many members join your exchange a month?

2,000 to 3,000 join Traffic-Splash most months. The principle reason response rates are so high is because I monetize the exchange and reinvest heavily to ensure fresh eyeballs are seeing members sites constantly.

At Fast Easy Traffic we grow by about 1,200 most months. We reinvest as much as possible here too so it grows far faster than the average exchange.

8) Does most of your advertising come from members referring, or you?

At the start a huge proportion came from me but really, even then, Traffic-Splash was a team effort. I flooded the exchanges with Dolphins, started up the whole Surf Rewards thang and thankfully people seemed to like it.

Two tips for owners – think big if you want to really succeed. I was regularly using 10,000 hits a day advertising Traffic-Splash right from the start. My advertising peaked at 14,000 hits a day. If you want massive results you need to take massive action.

And also - I didn’t go for a big JV launch even though I had built the relationships. I was too scared of service failures if Splash grew too fast too quickly. That was a bad decision in hindsight cos it slowed growth dramatically. I’m proud of the fact I started the hard way and thing’s are going superbly but it took seven long months before I was earning enough just to pay the monthly bills (let alone cover taxes) That was scary, and unnecessary!

9) Are you subscribed to any blogs? Which is your favorite?

Yup, I’m subscribed to LOADS of blogs. Mostly TE and IM related. Some fun stuff too.

I’m not really sure I could pick out an individual favorite although Hit Exchange News stands out as a shining beacon for me because I have learnt so so much from the archives and from Jon himself. I always look forward to Tony Tezak’s blogposts and I love your blog Tim (and am not just saying that, honest guv!) MikePaetzold.com and SorenJordansen.com are two particular faves. Mike’s depth of knowledge always impresses me and I really relate to his reviewer style. Watching how Soren puts marketing campaigns together is a real education. Robert Puddy’s blog is entertaining, though he doesn’t post too often. I really like Lee McIntyre’s blog and Jens Berget has interesting stuff to say too.

I guess I should say that the Affiliate Funnel blog is superb too (I’m not biased, it truly is!) because of all the free seminar recordings (and golden nuggets) that are available.

I also have a favorite non-existent blog cos well, mine would be really cool if I wrote one LOL Just kidding, my fave non-existent blog is Jerry Reeder’s. If Jerry found time to blog, I would be reading that for sure.

10) What would be the biggest tip you could give to readers?

Hmm, just the one huh?

OK, that’s a little difficult because the mindset for full-timers and part-timers is different. Well, it’s different for successful full-timers anyway :-)

So this is advice for full-timers, because that’s the walk I’m walking. I have never tried to earn a sideline part-time income since my career started. I’m an all or nothing kinda bloke so it wouldn’t suit my personality. I admire those who can work that way, but I’m not qualified to talk about part-time incomes.

So, here it is: Research, Identify, Align, Network, Promote, Serve, Research, Identify, Align, Network, Promote, Serve, Research, Identify, Align, Network, Promote, Serve and so on and so on.

Research: in other words, never stop learning and improving your skills and the service you provide.

Identify: find out who is best at whatever it is you want to do.

Align: play with the big boys, so to speak. get close, make yourself useful, build a relationship, learn from them, work with them.

Network: same as aligning, but not necessarily with industry leaders. Work with other people to create win-win relationships to build BOTH your businesses.

Promote: tell the world and anyone else who will listen about your offer and how it benefits them.

Serve: deliver more than you promise and continually improve your promise.

That’s it. It’s all about knowing where you’re going and enjoying how you get there. As Mr Olson always says “It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure!”

Oh, nearly forgot, another tip. Thinking of Cindy reminded me and this one is especially for all my fellow Brits …

Don’t forget to brush your teeth! :-)

Hope that helps Tim, and thanks for asking. Even if you did get more than you bargained for :-P

Happy Splashing!

Paul

]]> http://www.timlinden.com/blog/interviews/interview-with-paul-kinder/feed/ 24 http://www.timlinden.com/blog/interviews/interview-with-nathy-curiel/ http://www.timlinden.com/blog/interviews/interview-with-nathy-curiel/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:46:25 +0000 Tim http://www.timlinden.com/blog/?p=888

1) How and when did your online business get started?

I have been active online for a couple of years now. Mostly as a hobby at the beginning, but I really enjoyed every minute of it. During my vacation in China (end 2006), I made the decision to turn my hobby into a business. When I came back to Holland, I resigned from my job, went to the Chamber of Commerce, and my company (c-lin Services) was born. I am a financial consultant during daytime, and internet marketer in the evenings. My consultancy work is funding my internet business until it matures enough for me to quit my offline job. That is my plan, and I am still working hard to fulfill my goals.

2) Which exchange(s) do you own or co-own?

I own EarthHits and TrafficSoldiers and I am in the process of buying Wolfsurfer.

3) Do you currently work exclusively online?

No, but it’s my goal and I know it’s just a matter of time.

4) How many hours per day do you spend on your exchange(s)?

During the week 4 to 5 hours, and on the weekend 5-8 hours.

5) Do you do support yourself, or do you outsource support?

I have outsourced it and do it myself sometimes, too. Catherine Heiter is my admin in both exchanges. She has been a great help and support for me and both of my TE’s.
Thanks to her, I can work during the daytime without worrying.

6) How fluent are you with HTML, javascript, and PHP?

I know the basics of html, but that’s it. For the rest, I hire programmers.

7) Approximately how many members join your exchange a month?

It varies, but 400-500 members at Traffic Soldiers and approximately 100 members at EarthHits.

8) Does most of your advertising come from members referring, or you?

It is a combination of both.

9) Are you subscribed to any blogs? Which is your favorite?

Yes, I am subscribed to some blogs. My favorite is Jon Olson’s Hit Exchange News.

10) What would be the biggest tip you could give to readers?

Try to build something for yourself. If it’s a website or a list, it doesn’t matter.
It’s the only way the build your online future. And never give up!!

Thank you for the interview Tim.

1) How and when did your online business get started?

I started when a friend of mine online introduced me to TrafficSwarm. After that my interests branched out into different online opportunities such as PPC sites and affiliate marketing. After looking around I saw traffic exchanges as a viable alternative to both build a credible business and secondarily market my affiliate products. In July of 2007 I purchased a script and hosting. Several weeks later I had the design for the site in place and “opened the doors” of HelpHits on July 24th 2007. At that time I had very little experience with online marketing and my understanding of how traffic exchanges worked was poor. The first few months was a hard learning experience for me. The people I had purchased the script from and the exchange owners that I knew at the time were what I now call “credit farmers”, meaning an exchange where nothing seems to grow for marketers except their credit pool at the exchange. I copied their methods for the most part until I realized the surfing activity was sharply decreasing after the first couple of months as well as sales and subscriptions. After realizing this I started looking at what the industry leading exchanges online such as StartXchange, I Love Hits, and TS 25 did differently than what I was doing. I looked at how they ran their businesses and their exchanges as much as possible by comparing those sites to mine. After making some drastic changes in policies surfing started to improve quite a bit.

2) Which exchange(s) do you own or co-own?

I own both HelpHits and Major League Hits.

3) Do you currently work exclusively online?

Not at present, but I plan to do so within the next 2 years.

4) How many hours per day do you spend on your exchange(s)?

I average 6 to 8 hours a day marketing, making adjustments, and communicating with members and various other exchange owners or developers.

5) Do you do support yourself, or do you outsource support?

Both, I think it is important for an owner to keep in touch with what members are thinking and feeling, but I have my trusted adviser and friend, Jackie O’Connor-Hagood, helping me out with support also.

6) How fluent are you with HTML, javascript, and PHP?

I have basic skills with HTML and enough skill with javascript and PHP to completely mess the code up.

7) Approximately how many members join your exchange a month?

HelpHits has had approximately 250 members join per month since December.

Major League Hits currently has had 369 members in just over a month of operation.

8) Does most of your advertising come from members referring, or you?

The bulk of the advertising comes from me, I think, but there is a sizable percentage from my membership. I would say it is about 65% me and 35% from my members.

9) Are you subscribed to any blogs? Which is your favorite?

I am subscribed to TE Scoop run by Solomon Huey and Hit Exchange News. I like both but I would say that TE Scoop is my favorite. I like Solomon’s journalistic style and his understanding view of day to day events going on in the TE industry.

10) What would be the biggest tip you could give to readers?

My biggest tip would be to keep learning. This goes for anything in life, but definitely internet marketing. Find people that are experts at a particular aspect of marketing that you want to master and ask questions, use their methods, and find what works well for you. There is a LOT of knowledge in the world. It is one of our purposes to absorb and use as much of it as we can to help us through this life.

If you would like me to clarify any statements please do not hesitate to ask.

Best regards,

Michael Coursey

1) How and when did your online business get started?

Hi I have been working online for about 4 and a bit years now and started with a UK only shopping site (I will get round to opening it again soon) I found exchanges when I was helping set up and add designs to exchanges as a few people asked me to help get theirs going. The first exchange I opened for myself was CarnivalClicks plus I then purchased FlyAwayHits & TrafficCircus doing them all up and selling them on for a nice profit.
I have 2 great exchanges now and have no intention of letting thses 2 go.

2) Which exchange(s) do you own or co-own?

I own TrafficAtTheRaces and TrafficDodgems
& Co-Own both RainingTraffic & ClicknPutt

3) Do you currently work exclusively online?

I worked for the last nearly 5 years as an Assistant Manager in a bowling center but I now do work exclusively online although I like to dabble in other things like buying and selling things I get offered cheaply at markets etc. I was always known as Del Boy (Only fools and horses if your from the UK you will know who I mean)

4) How many hours per day do you spend on your exchange(s)?

On average about 3 hours per day per exchange but I also run other sites including a couple of great tools for exchange users.

5) Do you do support yourself, or do you outsource support?

I do most of the support myself although I have a small team that I work with who help out on general things as needed.

6) How fluent are you with HTML, javascript, and PHP?

I can do a fair bit like cosmetic things, Do a lot of design installs for other exchanges and basic tweaking work etc. I still use some great programmers to program things but making sites look good I can do.
I can fix most of the problems I come accross and love working on LJ exchanges.

7) Approximately how many members join your exchange a month?

Just having a look now I am getting about 800 signups a month over the 2 I own, The others I am not too sure but others run those :) Numbers will increase big time now I am full time.

8) Does most of your advertising come from members referring, or you?

The majority comes from my own promotion but probably 30-40% come from members especially now Races has a cool race team feature.

9) Are you subscribed to any blogs? Which is your favorite?

I always check my feed reader and read posts in about 20 blogs :) & tim yours is one of them.

10) What would be the biggest tip you could give to readers?

The biggest tip is to avaoid the thing that gets to me the most.
So many join an exchange and then the exchange owner helps them by telling them they need a splash page so they do not use one and add about 100 credits to a general affiliate site and then leave exchanges saying they do not work.
Please please please get yourself a splash page and buy at least 2000 credits at each exchange and see what results you get.
Trust me on this one you need to give it a real good chance not a half hearted effort. I get frustraited all the time by people who expect something for nothing. You need to help yourself, I provide lots of info even a free ebook for people who are starting out.

1) How and when did your online business get started?

I first started online getting together with other authors and trying to find unique ways to promote our books. When I discovered traffic exchanges I realized that this was an opportunity for many people to promote their blogs, books, hobbies and and small businesses in an affordable way. However, Annette and I wanted to introduce these people to traffic exchanges and do a bit more. When we set up surf4theearth we wanted to provide people with an affordable advertising venue but also give the an opportunity to help the environment at the same time. Surf4theearth was developed with these goals in mind. We also included games to help people learn about the National Parks, recycling and conservation. We are both Parks and Recreation Graduates although I graduated with a degree in therapy. My next site that opened, Clicks4education was opened with the same goals but I also wanted to attract a broader audience. Clicks4education opened a year ago with the opportunity for people to raise funds for the schools as they promoted their websites. I also learned of an organization, First Books, through an author friend, 5% of the proceeds from Clicks4education is donated to First Books which gives books to disadvantaged children. I have also included fun educational games on the website. I currently work for special education and my sister is a teacher.

2) Which exchange(s) do you own or co-own?

My sister and I co-own http://www.surf4theearth
and clicks4education.com

3) Do you currently work exclusively online?

No, we both work in the educational field. I am also a published author and am working on other books.

4) How many hours per day do you spend on your exchange(s)?

We spend many hours daily promoting our sites as well as on support, networking and planning events.

5) Do you do support yourself, or do you outsource support?

We handle support ourselves

6) How fluent are you with HTML, javascript, and PHP?

I have taught myself html but we work with designers and programmers for our websites.

7) Approximately how many members join your exchange a month?

Both exchanges have been growing lately. Last week we averaged almost 100 at clicks4education. Both exchanges are close to 2,000 members.

8) Does most of your advertising come from members referring, or you?

This is a mix, although we do promote heavily both on and off te’s.

9) Are you subscribed to any blogs? Which is your favorite?

I read many blogs as well as participate in forums. I read other te blogs and have set up one for clicks4edcation and surf4theearth. Besides the te blogs I enjoy reading environmental, author blogs and craft blogs as well as updates from Defenders of Wildlife.

10) What would be the biggest tip you could give to readers?

Pick something that you enjoy, seek advice and if in business offer great support. Remember that nothing worth doing is ever easy so stick to your dreams and goals instead of falling for every new thing that comes along.
Thanks,
Suzette Hopkins

1) How and when did your online business get started?

I started working on EzClicking.com July of 2006. The history behind this decision was multifaceted. Time for history a lesson. I introduced myself to the WWW sometime in 1993 by purchasing “Web TV” and a dial up connection. Back then I used the ‘net for research, chatting, and just general surfing. I upgraded to a PC (233Mhz Dell…lol) and kept the same trend until sometime in 2005, with a few upgrades along the way. The main and only reason I had not done more with internet marketing before 2006 was due to one thing, “Dial up”. That was all that was available and it was frustrating to say the least. As soon as DSL become available I jumped on the band wagon and have never looked back. This new found speed catapulted me right into trying develop my on web sites and such. I then started doing online surveys in an attempt to pay for the cost of hosting my web sites. I soon learned that while doing online surveys was paying for my online activities, I would not ever make enough to live off of. This lead me down the path of learning about affiliate marketing, list building, and promotion. By learning that there was not enough hours in the day for me to do enough surveys to make a substantial income, I turned to building a down-line by referring others. This lead to the creation of CashSurveysNow.com. This is my personal web site that I created to help me refer others while providing a free resource for those wanting to learn about participating in online surveys. While learning all this, I found the need for web site promotion which introduced me to the wonderful world of traffic exchanges. I joined and used many TE’s with much success but felt like this industry was still in its infancy and had a lot of potential for growth. And this lead to:

2) Which exchanges do you currently own or co-own?

I am the proud owner of EzClicking.com. Benefits include: Random surf bonuses that reward surfers with credits and/or “SplashPoints”. Referral bonuses and up to 10 tiers of referral surfing bonuses. We provide a down line mailer and feature “Live” support when ever I am available which in noted right on the site. I conduct referral contests and frequent specials called “EzClicking Time” which is a special time when the surf clock is lowered and bonuses are increased.

3) Do you currently work exclusively online?

Fortunately no. I am a Registered Nurse by profession. Even though my online income may dwarf the income from working as a Registered Nurse, I enjoy and feel personally responsible to use my knowledge and skills to help other in a time of need.

4) How many hours a day do you spend on your exchange?

26…. No, but really I spend at least 8 to 16 hours a day actively doing something online that involves EzClicking.com, whether if it is answering support tickets or promoting and networking with others. I am always there in one way or another, even in my sleep I dream of ways to add features and value to my members.

5) Do you support yourself, or do you out source support?

I do some of both. If it is a simple matter that involves HTML or simple PHP I can provide my own support. However, if it comes to graphics or heavy coding I will hire a professional. I will admit that as the industry grows, the supply of people specializing in graphics and TE coding has not. This is definite area of demand and could be a lucrative area to specialize in..hint, hint.

6) How fluent are you in HTML, javascript, and PHP?

As I touched on above, not nearly enough. I have taught myself the basics in HTML and PHP. I would really like to have formal training in these areas, but do not have the time. And the local college does not offer specialized instruction in these areas.

7) Approximately how many members join your exchange a month?

This really depends on me. If I intensely invest into site promotion, I can usually average 200 to 300 new members a month. This is probably childs play compared to some, but I believe in slow steady growth.

8) Does most of your advertising come from member referring or you?
I can honestly say that most if not practically all my advertising comes from me. The reason is simple, I have not made cookie cutter splash pages for my members. I do know that some still promote by using the front page, but I encourage all members to be creative and produce their own splash pages. I am sure I will one day provide splash pages, but I really want my members to understand that personalized advertising is where it is at! Always promote yourself first, then your product.

9) Are you subscribed to any blogs? Which is your favorite?

I am subscribed to many, but I do not have any favorites. I constantly scan several and gain information from them all. There just is not a one stop blog…

10) What would be your biggest tip you could give to readers?

I am sure we have all seen the frog that is in the cranes beak with both hands wrapped around its neck. The motto here is, no matter what, do not ever give up!!
The fact of the matter is, we all must take chances and sometimes leave our comfort zone in order to find success. We will fail, but the key is to learn from failure and move on, do not ever give up!

Richard Cook
Owner
http://www.ezclicking.com

1) How and when did your online business get started?

Well I have been trying to make money online since 2,000 it wasn’t until about 2003 that I realized there was no magic button to push that would make money for me and starte to actually build a business.

2) Which exchange(s) do you own or co-own?

I started up and own MaxTrafficPro.com, later I purchased and still own carnivalclicks.com

3) Do you currently work exclusively online?

Yes, I have for only about two month’s now though. Previously I was enlisted in the US Navy as an aviation electronics technician, between that working online and family time was short, so these last couple of months have been great, I think my kids are actually sick of seeing me now, which I will gladly take any day over not seeing them enough.

4) How many hours per day do you spend on your exchange(s)?

On average I would say about 5-6 hours, of course that can go up to many more if things are not going smooth, or if I am trying to add something new. I also work on a few other things online as well so I’m pretty much at the computer 10-12 hours a day.

5) Do you do support yourself, or do you outsource support?

Yes I am currently doing all the support on both exchanges, but that will be changing shortly I am in talks with someone now about taking over some of support.

6) How fluent are you with HTML, javascript, and PHP?

I am pretty good with HTML, although I still have to bring up a cheat sheet every once in a while when I’m working with it. I have very limited in Javascript, and am currently learning php. That seems to be the golden key in this industry is finding a good programmer, I don’t expect to be writing a new script or anything like that, but as long as I can debug any issues that come up I will be satisfied.

7) Approximately how many members join your exchange a month?

At Carnival Clicks its about 100-150 new members each month Maxtrafficpro is a bit higher at about 200-300, but this will be hopefully increasing since I now have more time to spend on advertising and implementing new ideas.

8) Does most of your advertising come from members referring, or you?

Most of the advertising comes from me, there is great deal of advertising done by members and neither exchange would have grown as big as they are with out the help of the members but at the end of the day they are my sites and I am the one responsible for keeping them going, so I advertise them as much as I can.

9) Are you subscribed to any blogs? Which is your favorite?

Well the one I read the most is Jon Olson’s Hit Exchange News. Following Jons advice was one of the best business decisions I made when I was getting started with MaxTrafficPro, and he always has something useful to put out each week. I am also subscribed to your blog, after missing out on the post about you considering selling the TCNTE script I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything else.

10) What would be the biggest tip you could give to readers?

There is no magic button that will make you rich online, programs come and go so instead of jumping to the next best thing take the time to learn one thing learn it well and form your business around that. Promote yourself first.