New exchange owners come to me all the time and ask how they can improve their traffic exchange. Well rather than say what a new exchange can do, I'm going to say what all traffic exchanges can do.
One of the best ways to improve traffic exchanges is to get member feedback. This can come through a forum, survey, emails, support tickets, wherever. It's easy to get and costs nothing.
This feedback is critical to improving a traffic exchange. Without feedback you'll usually not know which areas of the site aren't working properly, which areas aren't easy to figure out, and many times you'll get some great ideas that can make your exchange one notch higher than the rest.
Another way to improve traffic exchanges is to bring new people in! And I don't mean grabbing people from other exchanges and saying hey use mine too, I mean fresh new leads, preferably new to using traffic exchanges!
New people coming in means more results for everyone using the exchange. That's one of the reasons why Affiliate Funnel is tracking the number of new members an exchange brings in. It's a huge factor in improving a traffic exchange.
Look at any of the top performing exchanges and you'll see they do both. They bring in new members, and they take in feedback. It's really straightforward whether you're a big time exchange or just the new guy.
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yep good advice, but don’t pay heed to all feedback like “my surf ratio is too low :’(”
A little tip as to how to get new members, check the prices of adwords in free traffic related keywords, grab the affordable ones.
Start a blog on a related topic post a few articles/posts a week and edit them a bit + submit them to article directories like ezinearticles.com
Ragnars lastest blog post..Squeeze Page Mastery – Article Traffic and Exchange Traffic.
I am one of those newer members who doesn’t know anything about traffic exchanges. I get a lot of information from this blog plus the forum. I thank you for this.
My suggestion would to put a screen shot of their surf bar before you sign up. Many of the surfbars have such tiny indistinguishable icons that older eyes can not surf easily so I abandon the exchange. Its no fun to surf if it is not easy and pleasant.
Debbie,
I have all my advertising setup so that you can see my surfbar. This is a great suggestion, and I will add an image to my signup page showing the surfbar.
Robin
tim:
i am amazed at the number of direct marketers who have never heard of exchanges. they are receptive to learning and excited about something that can help their business. i train “super surfing” on your sites. promote the exchanges with other “incoming marketing techniques”.
Tim,
You are exactly correct in this post. As a new exchange owner myself now for the past 5 months I have continually asked for feedback. I have hired a full time support admin person named Sandy who in my opinion maybe the best I have seen. She continually posts polls and surveys. She listens to our members and responds within hours if not minutes.
At the same time she is supporting current members it has been my job to promote and bring in new fresh members.
We encourage education, learning and sharing between our members. I truly believe that their are good if not excellent smaller traffic exchanges out there. They will grow from reputation and consistency in the level of service they provide as well as helping members to achieve their desired results.
Thanks for your blog Tim.
Bruce
Hey Tim, I think it’s great that you put this information out for everyone and especially for the other exchanges, I believe your blog is doing more to promote all of the exchanges than any other source on the market, Funny you didn’t mention the blog though.
Keep rockin, I think the other exchanges should be giving you a commission!!! Have a wonderful day, Tim
Timothy Millars lastest blog post..Yanik Silver’s Maverick business Insider
More insightful information. You’re spot on when you advise to get feedback from members.
Keep up the good work Tim
Good post, Tim.
You´re good on what you do!
Cheers,
Fred
Fred Neumanns lastest blog post..Temaki de Salmão do Kanpai
Hey, I’m #10 – You can post again!
Lately I’ve seen a trend that is becoming bothersome. In competition for user attention, exchange owners are inventing all sorts of “earn more credit” gimmicks that, in themselves, become the center of focus when surfing. I find that I’m paying so much attention to the various places on each exchange’s surf window where credit links appear, or credit pages, that I am paying less and less attention to the actual websites being displayed. The single exception to this is FiveHits, which, if you’re not a member, is an exchange that displays small portions of five websites within the surf screen. In some ways, this in itself is bothersome, but their “credit page” asks you to identify which website appeared in which position on the previously viewed page; if you’ve not been paying attention, you’re likely not to get the answer correct. At least it causes me make a mental note of the websites presented.
When surfing traffic exchanges becomes “my job” instead of my real job (my business), then I must re-evaluate where my time is spent. If the TE exposures were resulting in sales or sign-ups, then it might be worth the extra time, but if they’re not, it isn’t, and right now, they’re not.
I will admit that, although I’ve been a member of several exchanges for many years, I’ve never made it my primary goal to develop a downline in the exchanges, and I tire of seeing little else but “recruiting” pages of other TEs in the TEs that I surf.
Some exchanges communicate with your rarely. TrafficPods is a good example of a TE that started with a bang, then fizzled. After more than a year, the banners in the members’ area were still the “pre-launch” and/or “new launch” banners. They seldom communicated with members. It’s still around, but doesn’t rank high in TE rankings. Shame; it started off so well.
Other exchanges send you daily emails, and occasionally more than one a day! That’s a bit much! Once a week is fine with me; I’ve got more than enough email to deal with!
Some are so complicated, I haven’t figured them out yet – the kind with “groups”, like TS25, TrafficEra and others. That requires more devotion than I have heretofore been willing to give, although I am willing to surf. I like plain ‘ole vanilla exchanges that say join, upgrade if you want, place your ads, and surf. And I’m disappointed in exchanges that promise to give you a downline member if you surf so many sites 5 days out of 7, for example, and you do, and the “downline” they give you are from their garbage can – ones that have never surfed or never even activated their accounts!
My 2-cents’ worth. I am new to StartXchange, and don’t have much experience with it.
COMPLETELY agree! I have always maintained that my favorite traffic exchanges are the ones that keep it so simple to surf. This isn’t rocket science, and it should be fun.
The problem is sometimes these program owners just throw things into the exchange without asking, will this improve it, or just confuse my members.
I agree about Pods too…This had massive potential but has taken the back seat to their other programs. I don’t even use it anymore…Shame =(
Yeah I agree as well. Theres this balancing act of getting people to focus more on the ads, and getting people excited to surf.
Hi Tim,
What a great post..Your way of thinking will keep you way above and beyond the others (in my eyes)..
You have always listened to your surfers and you keep your surf bar clean.
The thing I dislike about the newer TE’s is that most have the same format! Yes I have joined a few but they get tiresome ( the same routine) And then there is the frame breakers that you can not report because they broke frame. when you log back in and try to report it you cann’t!! At least with you Tim, you can log back in and report the site without reporting the wrong site.
Keep up the good work we will surf yours 4EVER!!
Bill and Shirlene
Awesome info as usual. I’ll remember this when I lauch my TE at the first of the year.
Thanks again,
Carole
Great post as always, Tim! It’s amazing how many people don’t know what Traffic Exchanges are!
Brad Pollinas lastest blog post..Viral eMail Formatter
Great post Tim. I agree. Nothing gets added to my exchange unless the majority of members want it. I’m not going to fill up with of bunch of stuff that no one wants.
The best thing about Traffic Heroes is you wrote the script. It’s the least used script of all and I believe one of the best. I added the game after the majority of members asked for it. It’s fun and it breaks up the boredom of surfing not to mention gives away lots of free credits.
If you are new to traffic exchanges and you have questions send in a support ticket at your favorite exchange. If the owner/administrator doesn’t want to take the time to help you, drop it and find a different exchange. I am here to help my members, free or paid. Doesn’t matter. Both are important to me. If I am not available my administrator or a member of my support team has been instructed to help anyone that asks for it.
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