From the category archives:

Traffic Exchanges

Swatting the Competition

by Tim on August 23, 2010

If you are around Traffic Exchange Live you'll know that I've started to work with Jon Olson on SWAT Traffic. He was talking about adding something cool to keep people excited about it.

This is one of the most difficult parts of running a traffic exchange. There are hundreds of traffic exchanges so keeping your traffic exchange exciting is half the battle.

Well we came up with this idea to have everyone on SWAT split into two teams: Cops & Robbers. And throughout the week each team has the opportunity to score points, and at the end of the week a jackpot is split between the members who scored those points.

The really exciting part is when randomly while surfing two surfers are put up against each other in a foot pursuit. The cop has to catch up to the robber, or the robber has to run away.

Plans are still in motion for some cool stuff, but the core fun is in place now. The key to winning the foot pursuit is noticing that you are in the foot pursuit. If you don't notice it's real easy for the other person to catch you or run away.

This is one of the reasons you should be in Traffic Exchange Live. While Jon and I "run the show" we love seeing people network and spark ideas. So come on in and chat, you might leave with something awesome for your business!

{ 16 comments }

Is Privacy Really Your Policy?

by Tim on August 20, 2010

This has come up in Traffic Exchange Live on a few occasions. It's something that most people agree on: They don't like it when companies give away their personal information, especially their email address.

Yet at the same time members will ask for their downline's email addresses, some even get upset when I say I can't. That's because my Privacy Policy states I won't rent, sell, or give out your email address. When you sign up you are trusting me to keep your information secure.

Some exchanges make it a practice to give you personal information about your referrals when you sign up. Not everyone has the same view as me, so remember to read the privacy policy when you sign up. If there isn't one, or it doesn't state clearly that your information is kept private, you'll have to decide for yourself.. Is privacy really your policy?

So to those who aren't happy that I protect my members from potential abuse, I apologize, but I will not change my policy. I do give ways for members to get in touch with their downline without giving out personal information. I understand that talking with your downline is good, but I really think it's not cool when companies give out my information, so why would I do it?

{ 22 comments }

Is an Exchange a List?

August 14, 2010

This comes up periodically in discussions, and it came up again recently. The discussion over whether a traffic exchange is the owner's mailing list. Originally there was no argument. Hands down, traffic exchange owners didn't email the members about anything other than announcing new features. Slowly more people started coming from other areas of marketing, [...]

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Taking Teams to a Whole New Level

August 10, 2010

These teams are rocking these days, and I decided it was time to get the teams on StartXchange rocking again. So I'm introducing something new.. The ability for team leaders to email the entire team! Now of course, following the Privacy Policy, your Team Leader won't have access to your email address. Instead they have [...]

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Connecting with other Owners

August 9, 2010

It's been a while since I've connected with other traffic exchange owners like we did recently. I forgot to count how many where there, but there was a variety of newbie owners all the way to veteran owners in one room chatting. We discussed a few topics that are relevant to our industry. Things like [...]

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The age old question I still get asked

July 16, 2010

Yesterday I was asked in the StartXchange chat, how many exchanges should someone use? I get asked this question a lot, and there is usually the follow up: Which exchanges should I use? The answer I usually give people is what I do. That's because it works for me, and I find it easier to [...]

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Do Traffic Exchanges Care?

July 12, 2010

Over the years many exchange owners, and users, have talked about doing charitable things together. Well recently Jon Olson blogged about Charity: Water and it's already gotten started! So far 14 people from our group have donated $677 total, which is really cool. I checked out their site, watched the videos on their blog, and [...]

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Call me Old Fashioned.. Even though I'm 24..

July 8, 2010

I may not be an old guy, but I guess I have an Old Fashioned view of traffic exchanges. I still see the point as being an exchange between like-minded small business people. You see my offer, I see yours. We're both small and can't afford huge budgets to advertise to the masses, so we [...]

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How Owner Tracking works on TEtoolbox

July 6, 2010

One of the hidden gems in TEtoolbox is the Owner Tracking. This gives you valuable information as an owner that you probably don't have. There seems to be some confusion as to how it works though, so I figured I would make an explanation here for you all. Step 1: Register your Program with TEtoolbox [...]

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Are Owners Going to Hate This

June 2, 2010

This one is tough, I see the pros and cons already. I'm not really sure how it will pan out, but I'm very curious to know what you think about it. Now before you comment I want you to actually try it out, let's not be hypothetical here.. http://www.tecontrolpanel.com Basically the selling point is that [...]

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Review: TE Command Post

June 1, 2010

Today a new site is launching called TE Command Post. It's something I'm excited about because it'll save me time personally. I try to buy traffic in every exchange, but I found that managing it all is tiresome. So I tend to do a poor job at it. Well with TE Command Post, it's as [...]

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Is Cash Killing Traffic Exchanges?

May 20, 2010

It's a big statement, but it was made in NMF recently by a guy pretty well known to the industry. I'll let you click the link and see for yourself, you know, the curiosity factor. The argument is that people no longer want traffic. I asked about it in January and some say that it's [...]

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Checking your Splash Page in different browsers

May 18, 2010

One common problem people have with building splash pages is making them look good in only one browser. Now I'm not saying it has to look perfect in every browser, but at least looking functional is necessary. It can get a bit tedious depending on how your splash page is setup. The next problem is [...]

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You might be missing out on this

May 10, 2010

One feature of Sweeva we should have made more well known but really didn't. Those who are using, are loving it. Those who hear about it late are like hey why didn't you tell me? I'm talking about the Sweeva Toolbar. I mentioned it in another post but really wanted to drive it home on [...]

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Preparing to be Sweeved

May 8, 2010

One common problem with using Sweeva has nothing to do with Sweeva at all. It has everything to do with who is hosting your website. When a bunch of people hit your site all at the same time, it really shows how good or bad your hosting is. If you see members saying your page [...]

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I'm starting a revolution..

April 21, 2010

We tell you time and time again that branding yourself increases your results on traffic exchanges. So much so that many exchanges include your photo on their splash pages. StartXchange even has them on the surfbar, in the forum, and around the site. Well I'm starting a revolution.. Recently I changed into this whole orange [...]

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Looking for competitive teams..

April 16, 2010

StartXchange has had team competitions for quite a while, but I've kinda put it on the back burner and the excitement hasn't been the same. So I'm looking for some competitive team leaders. What I realized is that there are teams already online, whether it's the Ocean Swell, or this Rip-Tide Army, or any other [...]

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A video to cheer up your tax day

April 15, 2010

In this video I talk about Get Referrals Fast. You can join here, or view one of the splash pages they create with your Traffic Wave auto-responder here. It's free and you can use your existing Traffic Wave account ;-) Also launched today (but I remembered after I recorded the video this morning) is Your [...]

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Utilizing Monster Splash to the Max

April 9, 2010

Today Logiscape has launched a new service called Monster Splash. Essentially what this does is places a splash over your page for 10 seconds, sorta like pop-ups used to work before pop-up blockers were invented. And it does it without making the browser move around or do weird stuff. If you have a WordPress blog, [...]

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Let's give out 1000 credits..

March 26, 2010

So it's kinda dark and dreary where I live today, so I thought something fun would be to give out 1000 credits. So here's what I want you to do: Surf 100 Pages at StartXchange Comment with your Username below! I'll pick one of you randomly and give you 1000 credits. Simple as that! And [...]

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