The Traffic Exchange Year in Review
In the past year, there have been numerous changes in the traffic exchange industry. Some have been more popular than others, but overall, webmasters seem to be turning to members for answers. The best webmasters are putting their members’ suggestions into play, and some are coming up with great innovations of their own. Here are a few of them and where you can find them:
Adding Pictures to Your Splash Pages for Branding Purposes:
10KHits4UNow, AdvertisingKnowHow, ILoveHits, GamingHouseHits, StartXchange, Nexus Exchange, Traffic Soldiers, and all of the ZWAZ programs (Clickaholics, LemmingRun, ViralVisitors, ViralClassAds, and TsunamiGOLD) offer this feature, though this has been the norm in the ZWAZ exchanges, rather than an innovation. It’s important to have your face associated with a product or site you trust. That way, people begin to trust the product because you’ve put yourself ( a real, live human) behind it, leading to more sign-ups or sales.
Full View Bonus Points:
I only know of one exchange offering this–More Actual Visitors. The ability to add up to 2.5 credits to the number of credits the surfer normally earns, so that folks won’t move to the next tab, open another program, or minimize the window while your site is on deck is very cool. At least, you can be sure your site will be seen and evaluated for the full viewing time.
Paying Commissions for Downline Spends:
Several exchanges added this feature, which is very cool, too. Imagine your downline member going pro in an exchange, and being paid a commission each month. You’ll probably get commissions on any purchases, too, but policies at each site vary. Find these features at Traffic Roundup, StartXchange, AdvertisingKnowHow, ILoveHits, and ClickCrazey that I know of, but I’m sure there are others. Some sites, usually the pro exchanges, like More Actual Visitors, Gone Clicking, and Traffic-Exchange-Business pay for referrals and always did, but it’s nice to see other exchanges rewarding folks for their downline gathering efforts. AdvertisingKnowHow and ClickCrazey stopped giving credit rewards for downline members’ surfing when they came up with this feature. I don’t think it’s hurt either members or the exchanges.
Float-In Surf Bars:
AdvertisingKnowHow and ClickCrazey also came up with floating surf bars. This allows more of your pages to be seen without the extra border at the top or bottom of the page. The float bars come in from all angles, and are also a great way to thwart cheaters. The only drawback is that they tend to hide under flash pages (scrolling down to the bottom of the page often solves this problem) or the surf bars totally disappear when the page is not found. Yet, this happens so infrequently, it’s not really an issue.
No Charge Advertising:
When Nexus Exchange opened last year, their policy of only charging credits for unique views was well-received. In the same vein, WebCentreSurf recently started charging for banner and text ads only when someone clicks on them–another great innovation that surfers hope will catch on.
Power Hours:
ILoveHits has always had them, as has Raging Bull Traffic. Last Novemeber, TS25 came up with its own version of the power hour, whereby you could really stack up the credits when the site doubled or tripled what you would normally earn for one hour each day. Only upgraded members got notice of when the hour would arrive the following day. This worked so well that TrafficPods offered the feature both in January and it’s going on again, at least until February 15.
Overall, I’d say that 2005 right into 2006 has been a great time for traffic exchanges. I have no doubt that there are other exchanges that offer features that are outlined above, and if so, I apologize to those owners. (If you are such an owner, contact me at admin@ovweb.net and I’ll be sure to update this page with your information.) However, owners that aren’t paying attention to what’s going on in the industry and aren’t making changes to suit members’ needs may find themselves without members. I mean, come on… So many traffic exchanges, so little time.