Surfing Around the Traffic Exchanges

Anyone who has studied economics should know something about the law of supply and demand. There is a point where the supply will outstrip the demand for traffic exchanges. This is a danger for the new entrants into the marketplace. At what point will supply of Traffic Exchanges outstrip the demand of users? If this has not been studied in any detail, then I personally do not know that answer. The economy of Traffic Exchanges is a lot different than that of the economy of a small country such as Australia – where the the law of supply and demand for the labour force should determine wages etc. (except for the interference of government and unions).

This is why new entrants into the marketplace of traffic exchanges need to do some homework before making the investment. If a new entrant wants to be outstanding then that entrant needs to consider what he or she has to offer that is different from other exchanges. As a newbie who has joined a lot of exchanges, I do notice that there are not that many scripts that are available. On the other hand I have noticed that at least one script is absolutely horrendous and is not in the least bit newbie friendly. So here some suggestions for those who are looking to the idea of owning their own exchange one day:

1. Membership base and fee structure – some exchanges are very expensive for newbies who do not have lots of money to spend on memberships. A niche can be created by offering a very low fee that makes the exchange more attractive to surfers on low or non-existent incomes.

2. Competitions – beware surfing competitions and attracting the wrong kind of member. This is a caution against those who join exchanges, do not offer any sites and who surf what seems to be too many pages per day. Surfing competitions that offer money as a prize tend to attract the wrong kind of member. These members spoil it for others, and more often than not they use cheating methods such as surf bots. This does not mean that there should be no competitions, it just means being aware of the cheats.

3. Money required to set up and run the exchange properly. Someone who is serious about setting up and owning an exchange that will last needs to consider all of the costs involved in the set up, including hosting. Using the wrong host company can have serious implications for the exchange owner.

4. Creating a niche market with games and things that make surfing fun and entertaining. Exchanges such as Royal Surf and Lords-Of-Traffic offer something different for the surfer, and the same is true of Traffic Era. Lords-of-Traffic has created a niche market because it was the first to launch as an hover exchange. It also offers some interesting games and ways to earn credits. This will help to set this particular exchange apart from the rest.

These are only a few things that come to mind at present as I attempt to address the fact that there really is a very large number of exchanges that are available to surfers. It would seem that there is a finite number of members because most will join multiple exchanges. There is also a finite number of business opportunities available via these exchanges. New entrants into the marketplace should not just join anything, but should take time to consider what is being offered. There are schemes available that do absolutely nothing and cannot be called a business. Some of these schemes involve paying out a monthly sum to the principal of the business, and then it is up to the member to find others who will then join the business – otherwise you earn nothing because the business itself requires the member to find referrals rather than selling an actual product. Another scheme that can bring in money but there are a lot of others doing the same is the selling of “software” or “e-books” where there are PLR rights attached to the “e-book”.

Small exchanges have a right to exist but the competition is really tough. On top of that they need to beware the big boys who claim to be “No 1″, which in the long run is nothing more than hype. If the small exchange owners are able to differentiate themselves sufficiently from the big boys, and offer a better surf ratio than 1:3 then they will continue to gain new members as people will continue to get sick of surfing exchanges that give very little in return, either by way of sign-ups or in credits to make surfing easy rather than hard and boring. The promise of a reward is not going to be sufficient in the long term to encourage members to continue to surf those particular exchanges. In the end the members will ask “what am I getting from this exchange?”. When that happens, there will be a shift away from the larger exchanges and into what are now smaller exchanges because members will recognize that the smaller exchange is not so bad after all.

So, do big exchange owners have the right or the duty to bring down the small exchanges? The answer is absolutely not. It is up to the member base. If the members are happy with the administration of the exchange then that exchange will have the capacity to grow. If the administration offers very little of value to the member, then members will vote by either deleting the account or just remaining inactive.