Surfing Around the Traffic Exchanges

Performance Traffic is owned by my friend Kevin Millhouse. The exchange is based upon the ljs script, and it has been programmed to introduce Kevin’s rather unique ideas. One of those ideas is his surf bar where he has a drag race. The bar is set up so that you, the surfer, races the PT car. If you have the slow car you will not win http:-). However, there are plenty of chances to win which is great and you do win more than splash points. The exchange is for hover surfing. During December Kevin used several icons and now it is back to his little man, but that is ok. Expect the timer to be reasonably fast too – personally I think that a 10 second timer is adequate and if you want to read what is on the site you will anyway, regardless of the timer.

I think that there is a lot of growth potential for the new breed of owners who are making their exchanges more interesting. Congratulations to Kevin for being one of those owners who are trying to make our surfing experience something special.

As a blogger I understand the need to have my writing seen by a large audience. Finding a readership is important because it helps to get a ranking in the search engines. The question for a newbie though, is what is better – a blog exchange like Blog Explosion or a Traffic Exchange such as Lords -of-Traffic or Traffic Era?

So if you have an internet marketing business the best place to advertise in a Traffic Exchange, if you blog for personal reasons then the best place is a blog exchange such as Blog Explosion. If you want to read blogs then join Blog Explosion, not a Traffic Exchange.

The subject of too much mail coming from traffic exchanges is one that is quite controversial. When can such mail be called spam if a person has signed up to a site that has in its terms and conditions that being a member of the site means accepting that mail? You cannot really say that it is spam because you have agreed to receive the mail.

I have been with Traffic Era since the beginning. I joined in January as a silver member and I have now moved along to be a club member. The up side of Traffic Era is that I have had some success in getting signups by surfing and advertising there. However, there is a down side to Traffic Era. It is the mix of egos that one gets through team surfing.

On the whole, a majority of the people that I have met through team surfing have been pleasant. However, there is a minority of people who are unpleasant types and can make the whole experience quite hellish. What is getting in the way at Traffic Era is the desire by some to be always at the top, whether that is in a team or within a team. This desire can actually drive other motivations which in the end causes a crisis within a team.

The problem with team surfing in a TE like Traffic Era is that people with different egos are being brought together. Some people like to dominate, whilst others just want to have fun. Some people seem to think that flirting is ok, whilst others believe that there should be boundaries, especially for those who are married. Some people have this idea that their team must always be at the top and they will do anything to keep it that way.

I will not dwell on the things that can and do go wrong within a team, but the truth is, they go wrong because of the way in which some people want to dominate others all of the time. It is just human nature. What is really wrong though, is when people strive to cut others from a team by using anything but fair means. Again, I will not dwell on the issues involved because some of the issues are yet to be resolved.

Now, there is another reason for not seeing Traffic Era in a more positive light. This is the fact that one cannot earn commissions from this TE. I have to wonder about the point of belonging when there is nothing to be gained for being a member. The timer is also a bit of a concern because sometimes the numbers are very hard to read.

There are positives for continuing to surf at Traffic Era but there are also quite a few negatives. The question then becomes do the positives actually outweigh the negatives that I have encountered over recent months? I am not sure that I have an answer to that question at the present time.

It seems that Tim Linden thinks that he is the security expert when it comes to Traffic Exchanges. He has recently written a post claiming that a halt page or a stop page is not going to stop the cheats.  His claim is that he checked with security industry experts but you gotta give Linden credit – he did not quote any sources.

Jon Olsen claims that if you announce to the world that you have cheat checks in place then the cheaters are going to have a try to beat the system. Well Jon, the good news happens to be that where they have tried to beat the system, they have been caught with their bot surfing and other methods of cheating.

It is not just about missing the bonus links or those silly questions that are asked in some exchanges, it is about stopping the bot surfers. Usually the cheats will choose the exchanges where they offer the most competitions. What that means is that a lot of members do stay away out of frustration with the cheaters. Yes, I have done the same thing, because if I see what looks like evidence of a cheater I will not surf that exchange until I know the person is gone.

Unfortunately some exchanges do not even show signs that they have cheat checks in place. In reality what this means for the surfer is that they have no guarantee that their sites are getting unique hits per day. It means that the credits are being wasted in that exchange. This is not good news for the average surfer, especially the free members.

So why is it that some traffic owners seem to have such a cavalier attitude towards this issue? Try and get them to talk about the issue and there is a wall of silence. Or when they do say something they show that they are in denial as far as cheaters being able to penetrate their exchanges. Why would they be in denial? Because it is all about traffic and making their numbers look good in order to encourage new members to believe that their sites will be seen by thousands of members every day.

Now I am not wanting to have a go at any particular exchange on this issue, especially since I have my own opinions on the matter. However, from the point of view of a surfer who does not have the income to be able to afford to upgrade in the exchanges that charge high monthly fees, I want to know that I am getting some results from my surfing. The truth is that if I surf 100 sites in an exchange that offers a 3:1 ratio then I only get 30 credits per 90 sites which is just not enough per day to get in decent advertising. I get a better result in a 2:1 exchange, than I do in the other kind of exchange. What is really disappointing is that these same exchanges tend to be rather stingy with bonus credits.

So, when an exchange offers some form of cheat check this means that the surfer can be reassured that something is being done to make sure that the exchange is one that is effective when it comes to advertising results. I do know that I have good results out of small exchanges, and also from the Logiscape exchanges but not so good out of some of the so called top exchanges. Others will say that they have had a different experience with those same exchanges and that they get good results out of the one exchange that is considered to be at the top. In other words it really depends upon what we are trying to advertise when it comes to getting results. However, when it comes to cheaters, the bot surfing will not bring results even if one is getting a better rank as a result of the number of views per day. If there are bot surfers in an exchange then you have to work really hard to make up the credits.

It is up to the traffic exchange industry to get their act together and to tackle the subject at a more serious level. The traffic exchange owners should be doing more to reassure their members that cheaters are being caught and that they are being suspended from the exchange. If they continue to do nothing then the membership will gradually bleed until the exchange is choked to death through lack of surfing. The exchanges that have halt pages or stop pages are at least attempting tackle the problem, and even if the cheats make the attempt they might think that they will not get caught, but in the end they do get caught.

Why then is it necessary to hide the fact that there has been an attempt to cheat the exchange? Perhaps it really is all about traffic statistics.

This post is not aimed at any other exchange except Tim Linden’s StartXchange. I am writing this because I have found that since this supersurf began the members of StartXchange who are not participants are getting a raw deal.

The first thing that I noticed is that the surf bonus has been drastically reduced. I can surf over 100 pages in a day and find that the next day I am getting a measly 3% bonus. Prior to supersurf I was getting a bonus of something like 23% through to about 44% whilst surfing, but it seems not any more. I presume that Tim Linden is reserving the bonus for those who are participating in this new idea.

I am a free member of this exchange and there is no way that I will upgrade my membership, especially when members are not really get the best possible deal from the exchange. This also means that claiming a prize that is a 5% coupon or any other percent for that matter is just a real waste. It amounts to no prize at all for a free member who has surfed the 100 pages.

Now that I have dealt with the StartXchange issue, I will deal with the rest of the exchanges involved in this scheme. I belong to one other of the exchanges – Dragon Surf. I have no intention of ever belonging to at least one other exchange that is included in the 5 exchanges, and the promise of extra credits for surfing does not cut it with me since I will not join Advertising Know How, and I am unlikely to rejoin either IloveHits or TrafficSplash.

For a long time I have not been in favour of these contests that involve multiple exchanges. A part of that reason has always been due to the fact that I live on the other side of the world and there are time zone differences to consider. I can never get it right as far as the two halves of the day is concerned. It is all just too much to take seriously. Yes, I do know some of the competition winners, but looking at those lists, there were some who took out multiple prizes so what is the point of spending the time surfing to be involved when the same people will be the winners. Personally, I just cannot be bothered with that form of competition because it really is a waste of my time. The same goes for this supersurf. I am not joining in when it really is a waste of my time. I get better results from other exchanges anyway.

I have been a member of StartXchange since about February this year. This is the exchange that has been touted as a good one for beginners, but I am not convinced that such hype is accurate. From the beginning I never really understood the system. There is a team surf of sorts but there is no real involvement or interaction with members of the team. Personally, I was happy to be kicked off the first team. I was not surfing because I did not understand how it all worked.

Quite frankly, I do not like the StartXChange surfbar, and that includes the new and improved surfbar that has been introduced. I find it distracting to have so much information in the surfbar. I simply do not get the levels and I do not understand the system of points or why the points appear to disappear causing one to fall in levels. This is working as a disincentive to surf, not an incentive at all. I must admit that I am getting extremely cheesed off over the manner in which points are given. At the same time I dislike the icons because they tend to be mesmerizing and thus it becomes a little bit harder to distinguish the shapes at times. The shapes look extremely scratchy and patchy in my opinion.

Then there is the issue of the awarding of points, especially the points given for advertising in other exchanges. Now on many occasions I have received the full points that can be awarded but recently that dipped down to being awarded 14 points on one day and then on other days I have received 58 pts and lower. I am so disgusted over this that I am no longer even checking to see how much was awarded – I just cannot be bothered. I know that it is low because I see my position sinking and sinking. Then there is the bonus, and today I have the underwhelming bonus of a whole 1% – great going Tim, this really gets surfers very enthused about wanting to surf the exchange – Not.

Now I realize that no one would want to cheat with StartXChange because there is no real reason to even want to have a go with cheating. From what I have seen there are no real cheat checks in place. There is a bonus given when one reaches 100 pages, and I have missed clicking the link several times, usually because of lack of concentration upon working my way to the 100 pages. However, there is never any warning about missing the link, there are no cheat check pages in place, and I see no real evidence that anything is being done to prevent cheating.

In recent months, after joining a team with people I know, due to Traffic Era, I have been surfing more often. However, I am finding that I am less and less enthused again, especially when I see myself sliding backwards because of the manner in which the points have been awarded in the first place. Granted, there have been days where I have done little in the way of surfing, but hey I do have a life outside of the computer.

As a newbie I could not comprehend what was required. Trying to reach level 1 is daunting. In the end I worked out how to set my sights a lot lower so that I had some sense of achievement after surfing for one day. As a newbie I found the information of how many sites to go etc confusing and the way in which the information sits side by side means that I can get easily confused in how I am receiving that information – hence a greater propensity to make mistakes and fail to click the prize page link.

To me this is not a very friendly exchange for a newbie. I have been a member of exchanges that have been far better and that includes Traffic Era. Personally, I find StartXChange to be a very disappointing experience.

Yes, I know the title sounds very academic, but my subject is that of traffic exchanges. I am a relative newbie with traffic exchanges, although I did join Wolf Surfer quite a few years ago. My interest in traffic exchanges has increased because I am no longer in the work force. However, as a result of a forum discussion, I felt it was time to delve into some of the things that I learned at university whilst studying the very dry subject of economics – that is competition and monopoly in a free market economy.

What has prompted me to address this subject happens to be the comment of a TE owner who seems to think that the alleged big boys and girls in the industry have some kind of duty to squash the small TE owners. As it happens I am a member of the TE of that particular person. I like the exchange even though I do not surf it as much as I would like to surf. What this particular owner does not understand is that it is better to have competition in a free market economy than to have a monopoly situation.

First of all I do not believe that there is an infinite number of new members entering into the TE industry. Many of the members use a variety of traffic exchanges. Some people swear by such exchanges as Traffic Swarm (I am a member but I do not like that particular exchange) but newbies find that this form of exchange is hard to understand.

Second, when people first look to the internet to try and make a little bit of money they are not at all clear on what it is that they want. They might not be savvy when it comes to the number of offers from the likes of GDI to other forms of MLM marketing schemes, including Dubai MLM (I am not a member of GDI, OBA or Dubai or similar schemes as I am very wary about such schemes). There are some opportunities available other than joining Giblink or Freebie Force or similar kinds of organizations. This is where the Traffic Exchange comes into being. It is a way for new entrants into the market place to check out what is on offer. Some people will join a scheme without considering the consequences but others take their time to consider all of the options.

Third, one of the roles of traffic exchanges is to offer to new members the opportunity to make commissions form paid sign ups to those exchanges. For example, and exchange such as Gladiator Hits  will pay a commission to a member who has referred someone who then makes a purchase for membership or a credit package. This will only be profitable where the downline goes pro because a downline that consists of free members will bring no income to the person who has done the referring. For someone who wants to make serious money on the internet through traffic exchanges he or she needs to look at all of the factors when it comes to choosing and staying with the ever increasing number of TEs that exist today.

It is not easy for  free members to make any income from Traffic Exchanges. The free member either has to consider going pro within an exchange or at least using the exchange as leverage for signups to a program that will produce income in the future.

What is important here though is the fact that the Internet is a free market economy. It is not based upon a monopoly. In a free market economy there will be many entrants and the number will continue to increase because of the high demand for traffic exchanges. Or is that really the case? There is no such thing as a perfectly competitive market place. The smaller entrants into the traffic exchange market need to be able to provide something of a niche market if they are going to succeed.

A niche market has been created with the introduction of hover technology. This started off with a trickle – Lords-of-Traffic was the first exchange to launch hover followed by Generalen, NewWay2Surf and Hover-Traffic, but since then the Walker script for hover has become available and the number of pre-existing exchanges making the change is increasing by the day. It is a niche market because it is an appeal to those who already have problems with their hands and fingers – and as such these exchanges are fulfilling the needs of members. What has to be kept in mind, though, is that many of these exchanges have the same members.

The success or failure of a traffic exchange is not predicated upon the size of the exchange. An exchange can have thousands of members on the books but if only a small percentage is surfing then that big exchange is really not all that successful after all. The success or failure of an exchange depends a lot upon the style of the administration of that exchange. If the admin does nothing about a particular problem – like the problem that I struck at Curios Cat, then inevitably the exchange will fail. On the other hand, a new exchange with a responsive admin, as well as lots of opportunity to earn credits will encourage the membership base to seek those new referrals. A large exchange can become saturated with members but the smaller exchanges have an unique opportunity to become attuned to the desires and needs of the membership base.

Within the last 24 hours I have discovered a whole range of the smaller Traffic Exchanges that have gone moved to embrace the hover technology. Most of these exchanges are based upon the Walker script with the exception of Billy Mac’s Lone Star Hits.

I will be writing in greater depth about this particular topic, and will outline the growing list of exchanges that are now offering their users the no click hover technology.

There is a strong whisper that a new traffic exchange using Hover technology is about to be launched. Watch this space for more details… Coming Soon