Thinking of starting a traffic exchange

[troysavary]

What do you look for in traffic exchanges? Long timer, short timer? Games or just simplicity? Do you like exchanges with chat rooms built in, or is that a distraction? I am trying to get a wide range of opinions on what makes a good exchange. Of course, I'll never be able to make everyone happy. What do you think a reasonable upgrade fee is? Does the graphics design off a TE have any bearing on whether or not you would sign up?

[captkirk]

What do you look for in traffic exchanges? Long timer, short timer? Games or just simplicity? Do you like exchanges with chat rooms built in, or is that a distraction? I am trying to get a wide range of opinions on what makes a good exchange. Of course, I'll never be able to make everyone happy. What do you think a reasonable upgrade fee is? Does the graphics design off a TE have any bearing on whether or not you would sign up?

 

Hi Troy,

 

I highly recommend that you start promoting Traffic Exchanges that you like and see which ones that you have the best success.

[Guest mrclean0325]

In my years online I have seen many TEs (or other similar programs) started by people with great intentions and seen just as many go south very quickly. Unlike using TEs, you need the capital to invest in not only the right script; but, the hosting, advertising, and support to keep it going until it is profitable. In my opinion, the ones who "make it" are the ones with something unique to bring to the market. Whatever features you add will bring people who like those type of things. You won't please everyone and you shouldn't try. Look for an unfilled niche (along the lines of "I wish there was a TE that did....") and you may have a winner.

 

I personally believe it would be a hard row to hoe with all the ones there are now and most having very few members actually using them. I see way too many with tens of thousands of members with only a hand full actually surfing at any given time (at least on the ones who show the numbers).

 

It is hard to tell which ones really work as most of the "TOP TEN" lists seem to be popularity contests at best.

 

The bottom line is if they get results. I will give a program 90 days. If using it to the fullest as a free member fails to get any results in 90 days, then I move on. No sense beating a dead horse. No sense wasting time with something that doesn't work. All the whistles and bells they provide are worthless unless they can convert your offers.

 

I would talk to current owners of popular TEs to get some advice from them. Who will know better?

[troysavary]

I learned several years ago to be careful about who hosts your TE. I had a script and had a GVO account, so I figured why not use that hosting. Well, GVO sucked for hosting a TE. They did not allocate enough CPU resources to run anything that required any cron jobs to be run. And I had a completely useless bunch of tech support from them. I wanted to move to a dedicated server, but no one that I contacted in support even knew what I was talking about. They had all their tech support outsourced to India and no matter how many times I tried to elevate, I could not actually get someone who was in the datacenter and not on another continent. Completely turned me off from using anything with Joel Therian's name attached to it ever again.

[WisTex]

Ideally, you need something unique, and the widely used out of the box traffic exchange (TE) software lacks that. In fact, most were written years and years ago with few meaningful updates. And the few updates you do get are usually in the form of paid mods, which is a revenue source for the original script creator.

 

My impression is that you need one or more of the following:

1. Gamify your traffic exchange where it turns into a fun game. Create something unique, use popular mods, or use a third party system.
2. Become part of a bigger network of sites where your site gets cross-promoted (or create your own network of sites).
3. Generous Affiliate Program that encourages people to promote your offer.
4. Figure out a way to make sure surfers are actually viewing the pages (giving a bonus to those who notice it, forcing people to verify they remember what they just viewed, robot checks, etc.)
5. Do something unique that sets you a part, perhaps in the way the exchange works, or its design.
6. Figure out some way to get people to form a community. Chat and user profiles are common ways to do that, but there are other ways that may actually be more effective.

And either money and/or a lot of time to promote it is important too.

[davepilgrim]

PpRegarding the above post, speaking personally 1 & 2 don't do anything for me - I'm not interested in playing games when I'm surfing and because I'm very choosy about which TEs I spend my time at, I don't like having to surf at others that are chosen for me just to get rewards.

 

3 & 4 above are important as far as I'm concerned - high commissions will encourage me to bring in more members (as will earning credits from my referrals, either a fixed amount when they join or a percentage of their credit earnings).

 

I like a 1:1 ratio when possible although I will sometimes use 2:1 sites... Anything less than that I will ignore.

 

And the timer length is vital - 4 to 6 seconds. Anything more than 6 seconds will encourage people to surf other sites simultaneously, so they won't be paying attention to my page. Anything less than 4 seconds likewise doesn't give them adequate time to notice my page.

 

As I've mentioned in another recent post, a way to email my referrals from my back office would be EXCELLENT, but NOT a credit mailer, and a customizable downline builder that lets me add my own favourite programs will also give me more incentive to bring in more referrals.

 

Finally, of vital importance, graphics must be striking while telling people at a glance what your best feature(s) are. I'll use the following as an example...

 

When I recently joined Professional Hits I spent a couple of days promoting it using their splash page which is bold and professional, but tells the viewer NOTHING about the site.

 

You can view that splash HERE

 

I got ZERO referrals.

 

So I designed THIS SPLASH PAGE and immediately started pulling in multiple referrals!

 

As you'll see, the first one is just a brand, which means nothing by itself... The second tells viewers instantly exactly why they WANT to to join!

 

Well, a bit of a long reply, but as you can see I know exactly what I want in a TE so I hope this is useful feedback.

[affordwealth]

A very interesting subject. I have to confess - I like TEs and don't like surfing, so I'm trying to get credits from referrals mostly and using special sales.

 

My personal preferences (some of my favorite TEs  don't fit)

 

1. Paying commissions even to free members
 

2. As little of distracting stuff as possible. I'm trying to do business, not play games, either in TEs or in my personal life.

 

3. The design doesn't look like it was done for 4-year old. Unfortunately there was a period (that didn't end yet and probably will never end) when everybody seemed to compete for the most infantile design.

[troysavary]

So I designed THIS SPLASH PAGE and immediately started pulling in multiple referrals!

 

As you'll see, the first one is just a brand, which means nothing by itself... The second tells viewers instantly exactly why they WANT to to join!

 

 

Excellent splash page. It makes it look like a prize. And very easy to design.

[captkirk]

What do you look for in traffic exchanges? Long timer, short timer? Games or just simplicity? Do you like exchanges with chat rooms built in, or is that a distraction? I am trying to get a wide range of opinions on what makes a good exchange. Of course, I'll never be able to make everyone happy. What do you think a reasonable upgrade fee is? Does the graphics design off a TE have any bearing on whether or not you would sign up?

 

Hi Troy,

 

Are you still thinking about starting your own traffic exchange?

[txemi]

Good post

[supermandl]

i think the short timer is not importent, but the surf ratio should minimum 2:1 for free membersalso price pages with advertising always a good idea

[cristinz]

You need a point of difference. It is up to you to work out what that is.

 

A word of caution, asking people what they want doesn't always lead to a successful result. Having a surf ratio set too high, or giving away lots of free credits can result in your traffic delivery grinding to a halt, and your TE fading away. You need to strike the right balance.