Traffic Exchanges attract a wide cross section of marketers from the wide eyed “newbie” to the seasoned Internet marketing professional. The “newbie” and many other marketers on low budgets are attracted to the free traffic that Traffic Exchanges offer and are prepared to click for credits. They quickly learn the advantages of multi-tabbed browsing and are lured in to a pattern of constant clicking for credits. The seasoned internet marketer on the other hand, is more likely to buy some traffic for some tested and proven campaigns, and let the advertising run its course. The problem for the advertiser is that the is advertising directly to enthusiastic newbies who are determined to gain as much traffic for their business as possible. After about fifteen minutes, the Traffic Exchange surfer will find it very difficult to remain focussed on the sites appearing before him and regardless of his intentions his mind is likely to drift off to other places. So how does the advertiser grab the viewers attention? The easy glib answer is to say “design a squeeze page that will be so different that the viewer is forced to take notice.” My testing has shown to me time and again that squeeze pages have little effect initially, as there seems to be a branding period involved that may take days before the squeeze page registers – this is not a problem if you’re the owner of a major program as your affiliates will brand the page for you in an hour or so but it is a problem if you are a sole operator – you have to realize that branding takes time. Perhaps the best way to grab your prospect by the eyeballs is to pay for a first or second page view at a major Traffic Exchange – this will guarantee hundreds – if not thousands of page views of your site by viewers when their mind is freshest. This form of advertising is charged at Premium rated by Traffic Exchanges but may well beworth the expense. Fresh eyes – a clear message and an opt in form should see lots of subscribers addedto your mailing list for relatively little cost. It’s a strategy worth considering.
TE Command Post is an innovative time saving traffic exchange tool that will save you time, and potentially build your traffic downlines and make you some money.
Credit allocation is a time consuming and frustrating process for professional TE owners. Staying across all Traffic Exchanges and ensuring a steady flow of traffic through all the mediums takes time, and effort. To be frank, while I’m pretty well across my ten core Traffic Exchanges, I don’t keep nearly enough control over the secondary exchanges that I use from time to time.
TE Command center gives me more control over traffic credits, banners and text links.
In my previous post, I bemoaned the lack of innovation and the staleness of Traffic Exchange product launches. I stand corrected. this is innovative, it fills a need and it delivers.
My recommendation – Join and take the platinum upgrade. Please see my bonus offer regardless of your upgrade level.
Te Command center Bonus
Everybody who joins Te Command center under my referral link will receive 50 StartXchange Credits regardless of whether they upgrade or not. In addition, I will provide the following bonus for those who upgrade.
send an email to breakfreetraffic at gmail dot com containing your affiliate id and a copy of your purchase receipt. You will also need to include your StartXchange username.
Traffic Exchanges have been a big part of my online marketing for some time. I have found them to be a cheap advertising alternative that has assisted me to build my mailing list in perhaps the hardest niche of all – the make money niche. As a result I have had no hesitation in recommending Traffic Exchanges to anybody looking to promote their brand in this highly competitive niche. Today I am re-thinking that advice. I am considering making my advice much more qualified and much more specific about what Traffic Exchanges to use and why. The reasons for this are complicated but when I cut to the chase, I have grave fears for the Traffic Exchange industry that I use and love. And I am not the only person. Many of my subscribers have indicated to me that they are very cynical about you the Traffic exchange owner and what you and your buddies recommend. No names, no finger pointing – it’s a fact we the seasoned Traffic Exchange users are tired of the regurgitated repackaged latest hot products that you throw together, with yet another one time offer that is just like the last OTO that was thrown together a week before. You are traffic exchange owners and you are good at what you do, you are not master affiliate marketers, or resell rights experts, or SEO gurus or Pay Per Click masters or Social Media Experts. If I want to tell my subscribers about these areas of marketing I’ll refer them to the relevant experts – people like Ros Gardiner, Mark Dulisse, Alex Goad and Perry Marshall produce quality products for people in these areas, why on earth would I want to buy a product from you in these areas – why indeed would I want to recommend a product that has information freely obtainable by a Google search which is only designed with a OTO offer as the primary reason for its existence? Your greed is killing the goose that laid your golden egg. Sorry – that’s the way I see it, now lets talk about your market. One year ago your market was full of people who were interested in building an online business. Right now subscriber rates are lower and conversion rates are down. This is not me, this is an across the board feeling. Scratch the surface and you’ll find it. My business is based on ROI and if my conversion rates are down I seek alternatives. I’m already channeling more funds to safelists and I’m contemplating moving some TE advertising funds to Adwords. So what has changed? Yes the economy is approaching banana republic like status and everyone is a little afraid, but more and more people are turning to the Internet looking to make money. These should be golden times for Traffic Exchange advertising. But they’re not. So what else has changed? If I had to put my finger on one thing – its the prevalence for cash prizes – you are attracting the wrong market. I have no interest in advertising to people who want to spend hours clicking ads looking for a dollar or two and I have no intention of spending money advertising to them. So, if your marketing strategy involves this model. Don’t expect me to spend much money with you. Don’t get me wrong I love Traffic Exchanges, and I love the innovations of programs like Sweeva and the community that Tim Linden has built at StartXchange, but I fear for the mediums long term future. You guys own it. Please look after it.
Sweeva launched today and the concept is an extremely good one Instead of the same old same old I’ll view your site if you view mine, Sweeva encourages people to bid for a time slot for their site to be seen, this enables hundreds, if not, thousands of viewers to view your site simultaneously and to give you direct feedback on your site. Bidding takes the form of traffic credits. I’ve spent an hour today testing the system and the potential to network with other site owners is enormous. As you know, I do not spend a lot of time manually surfing, but I found this time today to be addictive, fun and potentially rewarding. I noticed that many of the regulare TE users were having trouble with the concept, but believe that this Social networking/exchange model is set to leave other TE models for dead.
I am kind of tired of the One Time Offers that are the standard offering from product launches but this was one OTO I couldn’t resist.
I highly recommend Sweeva and if you choose to join Sweeva through me and take the OTO I’ll happily gift you 1000 Credits from StartXchange.
To claim your bonus just join Sweeva by clicking here then carefully consider the OTO – if it suits your needs purchase it and then send an email to me headed SWEEVA bonus with a copy of your receipt and your StartXchange username.
(Send the email to breakfreetraffic at gmail.com )
Credit Based Safelists generate regular business opportunity leads for me and I treat them much the same way as I do a Traffic Exchange.
People using Safelists are looking to grow their business – they’re not interested in a business opportunity – they’re interested in promoting theirs.
All ads should be constructed with this in mind and headlines, and squeeze pages should be aimed at the viewer and helping them to grow their business.
Typically you can expect a click through rate of about .75% per mailing – in other words for every 1000 list contacts mailed you can expect between 7and 8 people to actually click on your ad and view it. So to make a serious effort at Safelist Mailing you need to be at least mailing 20000 contacts per day.
With Credit based safelists you can earn credits for every ad that you view – it can be a laborious process and one that needs the Return On Investment Principles applied in the same manner that I apply to Traffic Exchange advertising.
To effectively advertise on Safelists, the principles of Testing, Tracking and ultimately upscaling advertising efforts by purchasing solo ads need to be applied.
In this short video, I explain the basic principles that I apply with Safelist Advertising.
The key elements here are a gmail account to receive your list emails – just go to Google’s home page and click on G Mail o set an account up.
Viral Mail Profits - as I say in the video this makes tracking and keeping your mailing program organized so much easier, all tracking is done automatically and once you have your mails set up you can just copy and paste them everyday.
The two safelists I use in the video are Supreme List and Global Safelist. Both are reliable and have served me well for several years. A list of current top performers can be obtained from Traffic Hoopla here
Safelists do work to generate business opportunity leads when you consistently test, track and mail on a daily basis.
The more that you can brand yourself as being unique and different, the more likely it is that you will build a loyal subscriber base.
The process of branding starts at your advertising level – banners and splash pages and should continue at every opportunity. An opportunity often missed is the confirmatory page on your autoresponder subscription.
Taking half an hour to set up a personalized confirmatory instruction page is time well spent.
In the example in the video, I use a very short welcome video encouraging people to check their email boxes and confirm the link. The page is then accompanied by some instructions to white list me.
I also take the opportunity to include several affiliate links on the page – it’s all about maximizing my web real estate, I don’t try and oversell anything I just include the links.
I have also found the Take Me Somewhere Interesting phrase particularly useful. You’ll notice I have that placed immediately below the video.
Now, you may be thinking that this all looks a little too hard and expensive, but I put this together for nothing. (OK I do pay for web -hosting and so should you).
I recorded the video using Joel Therien’s EzyVideo producer - this is a stand alone product that you can access for free at a base level – if you’re thinking about buying the upgrade you may consider getting GVO access as well, but recognize that while GVO provides you with a host of tools it is a tough affiliate product to promote – my recommendation is that you use Ezy Video Producer’s free option until you understand what is going on and then make an informed decision about any upgrades. I needed a webcam which cost me $29 and I’m sure you could probably pick up a cheaper version if you needed one.
The template for the webpage shown in the video is provided in the Break Free Traffic member’s area for members to download and amend.
Spend ten minutes on a Traffic Exchange and you’ll see a heap of ads promising to teach you how to build your list. If many of the Traffic Exchange Gurus are to be believed , Internet Marketing is very simple – concentrate on building your list and mail them everyday with a different offer. This will work if you have a mailing list in excess of 2000 people but I’ll wager that the effectiveness of this capture and blast mentality is wearing thin. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve received communication from a number of subscribers indicating that they were particularly cynical about products and programs being promoted by a particular group of marketers. These particular marketers are high profile well established identities who typically mail at least once per day, never actually offer any help, and are always wanting you to buy the latest piece of electric fluff. You know who they are. More and more people are looking for genuine help and assistance when it comes to Traffic Exchange and Internet Marketing. Capturing their email address handing them a flimsy PDF re-brandable eBook and then following them up with incessant recommendations to download another one or join the latest List Mailer (There seems to be a new one every week) isn’t actually helping people. If you’re going to build a list you need to feed it, with good advice, helpful instruction and lots of free no strings attached stuff. Show them where they can get free website building tools (Trellian webpage) Show them free software that creates great banners (XHeader Pro), Let them know about programs like Gimp that will help them “photoshop” images without charge. Point out the necessity of branding and building your image, make yourself available to help and assist. In short make people want to receive your emails. That way you build loyalty and respect. People will want to know what you think and they will buy from you. This business as all businesses are is ultimately about people, invest your time and your effort into them and they will ultimately repay you
Making money with Traffic Exchanges ultimately boils down to creating your brand and reputation as an authority figure in your particular area of expertise. Think about some of the movers and shakers in the industry.
Jon Olsen – the TE Guy with his own products -iconic Traffic Exchanges, and a newsletter that in some ways has cornered the market.
Tim Linden – perhaps the most liked StartXchange owner on the net with a blog following that I’d kill for
Scott Douglas – creator of the Traffic Exchange Profits program – which is essentially a sales funnel
Paul Kinder – owner of Traffic Splash rapidly becoming the master of all trades (this actually may be damaging his brand – there are only so many quality products that anyone can produce.
Tony Tezak – author of Traffic Exchage solutions.
I could go on, people like Cindy Battye, Soren Jordenson, Carl Bailey, and a host of others have forged their business identities in Traffic Exchanges.
Super affiliate Ewan Chia, James Grandstaff, Jon Denton and Graham Hamer have all used Traffic Exchanges to increase their brand awareness.
And almost all of them started in the same position as you and I – in front of a computer trying to figure out How To Make Money.
You will still see these people still advertising their products and services on Traffic Exchanges today – and here is the critical thing. THEY ARE ADVERTISING THEIR PRODuCTS AND/OR SERVICES.
You can do the same.
Start where they all started – by creating a simple PDF report or short email course on some aspect of Internet Marketing – it could be anything -tracking, creating splash pages, Clickbank, link cloaking, video marketing, Paid to read, paid surveys, adsense, adwords, SEO, Niche Marketing, a specific product, MLM, CPA offers, the list is almost endless.
But you need to start there.
You can add in bonus reports /eBooks like Break Free Traffic to add value and increase your chances of building down lines and gaining commissions
Then you follow up your subscribers by giving them value – good content, helpful advice and some honest recommendations to buy quality products.
Ultimately you are selling yourself and you sel yourself by building a relationship with your subscribers.
Offer them value, establish your credibility and build loyalty and trust.
How To Make Money With Traffic Exchanges? It’s a constant question posted again and again and really the strategies that you need to put in place are the same as any other method online in the Make Money niche. The only difference of course, is your chosen method of Traffic Delivery. Otherwise the strategy should always be the same – in bullet point form your strategy should be
Define Your Target Market
Determine What that Market wants.
Create an advertising campaign aimed at that want
The advertising campaign should be aimed at creating interest and a desire to opt in to your mailing list
Follow up interest consistently and legitimately, preferably by introducing low cost programs to put prospects in your sales funnel
In reality this is what works for me.
Experience over many years has shown that many Traffic Exchange Users are out of their depth in the marketing arena and are in desperate need of help
Over the years I have refined and crafted an advertising campaign so that I am now able to give away a freely re-brandable eBook that details the tools, programs and methods that I use successfully every day
The eBook introduces readers to the Traffic Exchange profits report
Many subscribers opt in to the TEP program at an entry level of $5
Some subscribers see the true worth of the TEP business model and choose to follow the prescribed stacked income recommendations. On average 1 in 4 people do this
I constantly follow up leads with helpful information and legitimate reviews of products that are placed on the market.
This strategy allows me to create a consistent income stream through the TEP/OBA business franchise – this is my bread and butter income.
I am also able to make other sales of products and services listed within my eBook as well as sales of new products that come on to the market.
This strategy works for me and while at times I stray away from the business model in search of other income streams I know that when I come back to this model , work it with energy and focus , I consistently make money.
If this is a new concept for you I urge you to grab a copy of my eBook by visiting BreakFreeTraffic and following the steps that I recommend.
This post may upset some people, it may wake some people up or it may be ignored. Either way, its time for some frank Home Truths about Internet Marketing in general and Traffic Exchange Marketing specifically.
The figure of 97% of people fail in online marketing is constantly trotted out by gurus and hardened cynical veterans like me consistently and yet there is a constant flood of new “victims” everyday with stars in their eyes, hype in their ears and credit cards burning a hole in their pocket.
They are grist for the mill, ripe for the plucking and absolutely certain to be chewed up and spat out by the monster that is Internet Marketing.
It is sad and it is eminently predictable as you watch people arrive on the scene promoting the latest”hot” product – usually some form of illegal money scheme accompanied by some screen shots of fast cars and pretty girls (I never complain about a picture of a pretty girl) only to disappear within three months with their tail between their legs embarrassed, beaten and convince that this whole Internet marketing caper is a scam.
And to be perfectly frank – it is- well what they bought is.
Invariably people buy a dream. Push a few buttons, sit by the pool live the good life and let your virtual ATM spit out the cash.
This is a lie. It always has been, it always will be.
Programs will not make you rich.
Your brand will.
Traffic Exchange marketing is about branding YOU – nobody else.
I nearly go crazy when I see people advertising Tony Tezak’s eBook about Traffic Exchange Marketing. Did they bother to read it? and if they did, did they understand a word of it.
Let’s be perfectly clear – there is nothing wrong with Tezak’s book, but by advertising it , you are doing Tezak’s work for him. You are branding him. You should be branding you.
When you advertise Jon Olsen’s Swat Traffic or Tim Linden’s StarXchange who do people remember? Them or you? Now, I mean no offence to Tony, Tim or Jon here, I used their names because they are instantly recognizable and they spent years building their brand and their business’. They deserve their level of success.
This is how the big guys kill it – the little guy 97%of the time is either too lazy, too inexperienced or dare I say it too stupid (I said I may upset people) to take the time to brand himself.
I watched an excellent video from Mark Dulisse (who incidentally will never have a need for a Traffic Exchange) where he explains in sincere honesty that the road less traveled is the path to online success and the road less traveled is the branding path.
There are no shortcuts if you want to succeed in this business.
You have to do the hard yards – and the hard yards are related to branding yourself and establishing yourself as an authority in your chosen area – otherwise you will fail as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow.
How do you go about branding?
Get your face seen – build banners splash pages and everything else with your face and name on it
Build your list and give them value thereby building loyalty.
Stay focussed and realize that you are building a business, measure your improvement in small steps.
And MOST importantly do not waste your credits on advertising somebody else’s program.
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