Why NoScript is essential to the surfer
In his blog today, Tim Linden has rightfully raised the issue of why surfers need to use a wonderful Firefox ad on called No Script. There is a new report that in fact has a go about No Script because it is claimed that some website owners are “missing out on making money” due to the use of No Script. Now I am not about to critique that report because the author has compromised her own position on the subject due to her association with the owner of a particular website. Instead what I am going to do here is write about why No Script is a must for users of Traffic Exchanges. Another essential is AdBlock which helps the surfer to be able to stop those heavy loading images.
There are many good reasons for surfers to continue to use No Script and to quite frankly ignore the report written by Sunny Suggs. Here are some of my reasons for using No Script when I am surfing especially at Traffic Era and a few other exchanges where one is not totally protected against malicious people who add trojans to their sites.
1. Bandwidth. There are sites out there, such as Mythology Surf that have splash pages that are huge. This kind of splash page takes up too much bandwidth. By using No Script a surfer can have a page load a lot faster instead of waiting for a heavily laden slow image to appear. Mythology surf is only an example where the splash pages are just too big.
2. Clock hunting at Traffic Era. When a team at Traffic Era is in the hunt the last thing we want is a slow loading page. I use Mythology Surf as an example here, but there are plenty of other examples out there. By using No Script it is possible to ban the page from loading, and thus the time is not being wasted. This is important in that situation.
3. Sites that have auto-load flash player video movies for example Yuwie. I hate Yuwie. I hate it because of the fact that they advertise by using a flash player with a man who has the most irritating voice. What is really worse though is the fact that you cannot turn the video off. If a surfer is not interested in this Yuwie site then that surfer should not have to sit through the flash player movie. The answer though is to disable the plugin so that the flash player cannot load. I can do this in the Maxthon browser and I can do it by using the NoScript Ad on.
4. Trojans. Yes, there are many sites out there and they are at Traffic Era and other exchanges too, that have a download trojan attached. By using No Script a surfer is better protected than someone who is not using No Script. So far I have been lucky because my own anti-virus protection has been diligent in picking up these trojans. I get several warnings every week about these trojans.
These are just a few reasons for the continuing use of No Script. I agree with Tim Linden on this matter. If a person wants people to see their site then disable these annoyances.
I am not going to respond to squeeze pages. I am not going to sign up to these lists and programs, especially where there is a cost beyond my means involved. I do not believe that there are sales being missed because surfers are using No Script. I think that the real issue is related more to the content of that particular website. If the website owner has loaded the page with a trojan then they deserve the lack of sales. Surfers need to protect their private information and it is essential that they take precautions to prevent the malicious type that are out there in cyberspace. NoScript is one of the ways for fighting back against the malicious people who want to harm us as we have fun on the Internet.
Team Surfing is fun
This post could be dedicated to Traffic Era. I have been a member of Traffic Era prior to the actual launch. I did not know what to expect at first, and over time I have discovered the value of being a member of that particular exchange. Yes, I am hooked on surfing at Traffic Era. I have changed teams a few times and I am happily now a member of the Lords-Of-Traffic team. This is a great team and with a good team leader. Yes indeed we do have a lot of fun, and I am not about to give away our secrets.
Team surfing came of age with Traffic Era, but the exchange was not the first to have team surfing. The oldest exchange with Team Surfing is StartXChange. I joined this exchange in February but I did not really understand the team concept at that stage. I was in a team but I did not bother to surf, but that has changed in the past few weeks. I was booted from the old team and I was happy to find that I was unteamed, and now I am a member of the All4OneWorld team. It is not the same as TrafficEra because we do not chat as we surf – not that it matters because several of us are on the same team at Traffic Era.
The newest exchange to introduce the concept of team surfing is Lords-Of-Traffic. The team surfing is in the beta phase at the moment. A chat module has been introduced so that we can chat as a team and with other members of the exchange. I think that I really like chatting to everybody. There are a lot of chances to win credits and prizes on this exchange. There is a referral summer competition, and a surfing competition. There is a competition to collect helmets and the 5 with the most at the end of the week win prizes. There is a letter hunt competition and the prizes do vary, as well as a poker game and another card game to be found as one is surfing. It is all good fun and this exchange is quite interesting and exciting.
The economics of a free market Traffic Exchange economy
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.
The economics of a free market economy
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.
More exchanges move to hover technology
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.
A Hover here, and a hover there – the technology is catching on fast
Despite the posturing and protests of the big boys in the traffic exchange industry, it seems that the hover technology is catching on fast, especially amongst the small exchange owners. Now I happen to think that this is a good thing, not a bad thing. There are many exchanges that are using the Walker script and it seems that hover technology is now being offered by Walker as a modification or upgrade.
For the first time yesterday I noticed that Buck King’s HitWars has been converted to the hover technology. Now I was a member of the exchange and was probably deleted because of inactivity. However, I joined again to take a look at what Buck was presenting. On the first day it was just the usual start button with the words, “hover your mouse here”, but today when I took a look, I noticed that Buck has a very nice new gunship helicopter icon in place. I must say that the new button looks great. I found to my delight that the exchange is very easy to surf as a result of this change. This is really helpful for my fingers.
Today, I discovered two more exchanges have converted to the hover technology. They are TipTopTraffic and Show’n'find owned and run by Thom Pearson. I have been surfing them for most of the day on and off. As a free member of Tip Top Traffic I see the coloured buttons, which is not unusual in the Walker script for free members. I find that it is very easy to hover over the correct button and it has been a real delight to surf the exchange today. At the other exchange I am a founder-pro member and there is just the one start button. It could not be easier to hover over the button.
There is one more exchange that is experimenting with the hover technology and it is one of my favourite exchanges. That exchange is GreyWolverine. I have been a member since the exchange began in November and I find that I get lots of sign up referrals through this particular exchange. I do hope that the Hubbards will go with the hover technology because I really enjoyed surfing 100 pages this morning.
The hover technology is the way of the future in traffic exchanges because it really takes off the pressure on the fingers from clicking the mouse when surfing. Anyone who has arthritic fingers or other hand, upper back and shoulder problems can appreciate the difference from using the hover or no-click technology. This is still manual surfing and the only difference is that you hover the mouse over the button rather than clicking.
There is evidence of resistance amongst some exchange owners. It is up to each owner whether or not he or she will embrace this particular technology. There will be surfers like myself who will continue to benefit as exchanges introduce the technology. If the big boys do not want to introduce it, and they do bellyache about the number of exchanges in existence, then they can be certain that members who are getting nothing from their exchanges (I get nothing from some of these particular exchanges) who will vote with their feet and they will find memberships being deleted in the future. This new technology will help those small exchanges to thrive and grow.
The Battle the Traffic Exchanges or I would rather click
From the start I want to say that I have a form of arthritis that affects my fingers. Sometimes using a mouse can cause a lot of problems for my hands. As a result I have fully embraced the idea of this hover technology. The technology itself is not new as some have claimed, rather it has been used in programs such as Object Dock and has been quite successful over a period of years. With object dock you can hover your mouse over an icon to start a new program. Therefore when one new exchange owner gets her nose out of joint over not being the first to launch with this new technology for traffic exchanges it can be seen by a surfer such as myself as getting one’s nose out of joint. There is room for many more exchanges to provide the same option to the surfers, if it is wanted.
The first exchange that I used that incorporated the hover technology was NewWay2Surf. I was using it in the pre-launch stage. What did I think? Well at that early stage there were quite a few problems that needed to be fixed before launch. Also, it uses the rather old idea of having to determine which icon to hover over. I have used it on and off since the launch but have not surfed enough in that exchange to be able to give a complete write-up. In other words I am still rather cool about that particular exchange. This might change when I spend more time surfing there.
The first exchange that launched using the hover technology was Lords-Of-Traffic and I really do like this particular exchange. It is still growing and there is much of interest to make the exchange fun. The surf bar will be changing again in the near future, but at present it uses an arrow – hover over the arrow and away it goes onto the next page. There is a dynamic surf ratio, such that after surfing 100 pages the ratio starts to go up. This is a feature in a traffic exchange that I like. It is far better than an exchange that only offers “surf 30 pages and you go into a draw” because more often than not you can surf in such an exchange and never win that draw (that has been my experience to date with a particular exchange which makes me less than enthusiastic with regards to promotion). Lords-of-Traffic also has two letter hunt games. The new one has just started and the first to collect all of the letters is the winner of the extra credits. The helmet game is also new and will run over the period of a week. These games add incentive to surf the site.
Kenneth Krakstaad was the next to offer hover technology by converting Generalen to use that feature. He has the one button (a tank) and this is also very cool. Today we saw the launch of another Krakstaad exchange called Hover Traffic, and this has been launched in partnership with Alan Karltsen. It is very similar to the set up at Generalen. It also has a dynamic surf ratio and it is fast.
Now there are other TE owners who apparently have their noses out of joint or at least they are taking sides with Jennifer Herrald who is claiming to have invented hover technology. Whether she did or not does not matter at all to the users of these exchanges since there is room for all of them. Ultimately it is the users who will make the decision upon which exchange best suits their needs, and not the TE owners. Some owners have already declared “I would rather stay with clicking” and they can do that if that is what they want. However, a surfer with finger, neck and shoulder problems is less likely to continue to use their exchanges into the future.
I am not finished evaluating these exchanges. It would be unfair for me to come to any conclusions or to make any recommendations regarding which form of exchange is better. Users have their own sets of criteria with regard to what is and what is not a successful exchange. Not all of us can afford to upgrade in these exchanges and that means that the number of urls that we can advertise is limited. In some exchanges we can only advertise between 1-3 urls, whereas in others we can advertise between 5-20 urls at the free level. On top of that in some exchanges the surf ratio is in my opinion extremely poor, and when there is only a promise of a bonus reward for surfing so many pages, then you have to start thinking, why am I wasting my time here when I get so little in return? Eventually the users are going to leave these exchanges when they realize that they are getting very little for their surfing efforts. It is no use being snotty to the new kids on the block because in the end the users are going to have a good hard look at those exchanges and they will leave to seek other pastures.
What needs to be kept in mind as far as this issue is concerned is:
1. It is possible that the idea for using hover technology in traffic exchanges was developed independently; thus those who are committing the act of sour grapes do look rather foolish to the surfer.
2. If surfers want a way of relieving pain in their fingers because of excessive mouse clicking then they will seek that particular way.
3. Exchanges with 20 and 30 second timers are not going to keep surfers who do not want to see ads for beach bums or lawn chair millionaires. They will go elsewhere, seeking an exchange that has a timer that is set at a lower rate. If a surfer wants to read the ad then a 5 second timer will do the same job as a 30 second timer, the difference is how the surfer responds.
4. If the exchange provides nothing of interest then it will become and remain unpopular.
5. The TE needs to be newbie friendly and some exchanges are not all that friendly.
Hover Technology – watch this space
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
A message from Jeremy Lemon of AAHits and FastFlamingTraffic
Hi all,
As some of you may know already.. Frank Shaffer owner of OneDollarTraffic.net lost his home to a house fire yesterday afternoon, and although he has not asked for any help.. it has been offered! And one way of helping him is by taking up a donation for him and his family!
Frank is a great guy and could use all the help and support that he can get right now.. so please have a heart and show Frank and his family there are people out there that care.. I believe this will help him to stay strong as he works to find a new place as he is literally homeless right now!
All I ask is you give a little something.. no matter how big or small.. anything is better than what he has right now.. which is nothing! So please try and find it in your heart and give to Frank and his family as he needs the help NOW more than ever!
Please visit the http://aahits.com home page News Section to Give Frank YOUR support!
Thank You ALL!
Jeremy Lemon
I love Gladiator Hits
Gladiator Hits is a very new traffic exchange and already the member base is more than 2000. I joined the exchange as soon as it was launched, and alas, I ended up with ID666. Now a lot of people identify this number with Satan, but historically the person identified as 666 by the writer of the Book of Revelation is the Emperor Nero, who had the reputation of having “fiddled while Rome burned” and then he blamed the fire on the Christians and had them fed to the lions. The Christians were sometimes joined by the gladiators who had converted to Christianity (though not necessarily baptized with water) as they watched over the prisoners.
Since the exchange opened I have surfed a lot of pages and have been enjoying every minute of my surfing. I must admit to getting a bit of a giggle over the questions that are asked by “admin” because they really are a bit of a hoot in my opinion. As if gladiators are going to use flowers or such like as weapons. It really is just too funny for words.
The credits per page is not necessarily very high in my opinion – usually a surf ratio of 3:1 for free members – but Dan has increased the ratio from time to time, has a decent bonus credits every so many pages, and you can pick up serious credits with the bonus page (I got 100 bonus credits today from seeing the page) and by turning over the words: EnterTheColosseum, I get a bonus of 100 credits. All in all, there is plenty of opportunity to earn extra credits, and this is one reason for liking this particular exchange over and above Traffic Splash (I never seem to win anything at TrafficSplash).
Another reason to like Gladiator Hits is that at present new entrants will get a bonus of $2.50 in their accounts up until 2500 members is reached. I have a bonus in cash of $0.65. It is not a lot and I do like earning small cash bonuses.
If you are reading this, and not already a member of Gladiator hits, then why not check it out. You will be pleasantly surprised.
