An experiment with Traffic Exchanges

14 years ago

Traffic exchanges are garbage very bad quality of traffic. Let me know how your experiment goes and prove me wrong. You are way better off writing articles, blog commenting, posting classifieds ads, forum marketing, video marketing, there are tons of legitimate ways to get traffic to your website and traffic exchanges is not one of them. Hell you can get kicked out of the Google adsense program for using traffic exchanges that should tell you right there the quality of the service being offered.

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Mohammad Afaq

14 years ago

Originally Posted by entrepreneurjay

Traffic exchanges are garbage very bad quality of traffic. Let me know how your experiment goes and prove me wrong. You are way better off writing articles, blog commenting, posting classifieds ads, forum marketing, video marketing, there are tons of legitimate ways to get traffic to your website and traffic exchanges is not one of them. Hell you can get kicked out of the Google adsense program for using traffic exchanges that should tell you right there the quality of the service being offered.

I seriously couldn't have said it better than entrepreneurjay.

I have banged my head with the traffic exchange wall for in the past and in the end the only thing I ever got was a headache.

The traffic on traffic exchanges is not targeted and it is also full of freebie seekers.

But just because you have already have earned the credits, why let them go waste?

Go ahead and use them

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Alexa Smith

Banned 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Mohammad Afaq

The traffic on traffic exchanges is not targeted

If you're promoting a free e-book called "Five Unique Ways of Attracting Extra, New Traffic To Your Site" then it's highly targeted, hello ... you have to match your offer to the market, you know? :confused:

I don't use this traffic at the moment, but if I were trying it, I'd definitely do two things very differently from the OP:-

(i) I would build a list with a targeted freebie before trying to sell a not-so-targeted $5 product;

(ii) I would upgrade to paid status on the TE's I'm using for this.

Otherwise I'd imagine I'd end up in the position of feeling - like many, apparently - that "Traffic Exchanges don't work", when in fact it would be much more accurate to say "I didn't manage to make Traffic Exchanges work for me". I'm just saying ...

With apologies for the negative tone, I believe, myself, that your experiment will be unsuccessful because you're going about it the wrong way - sorry.

Originally Posted by Bluewater

Traffic exchanges are a complete waste of time.

Like so many other things, it actually depends how you're using them.

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Robert Puddy

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

If you're promoting a free e-book called "Five Unique Ways of Attracting Extra, New Traffic To Your Site" then it's highly targeted, hello ... you have to match your offer to the market, you know? :confused:

I don't use this traffic at the moment, but if I were trying it, I'd definitely do two things very differently from the OP:-

(i) I would build a list with a targeted freebie before trying to sell a not-so-targeted $5 product;

(ii) I would upgrade to paid status on the TE's I'm using for this.

Otherwise I'd imagine I'd end up in the position of feeling - like many, apparently - that "Traffic Exchanges don't work", when in fact it would be much more accurate to say "I didn't manage to make Traffic Exchanges work for me". I'm just saying ...

With apologies for the negative tone, I believe, myself, that your experiment will be unsuccessful because you're going about it the wrong way - sorry.

Like so many other things, it actually depends how you're using them.

Only thing i would do differently is not upgrade, i do however buy credits and make sure my squeeze page is shown constantly in 5 or 6 of the better exchanges

on average that means 150 to 200 page views a day per url so you would need to buy 200 credits a day for each URl you have in the TE's

Upgrades usually just give you a better surf ratio, which means you have to surf your self to get the benefit from them, and it is what the owners would prefer

But if your smart you will just buy enough credits to make sure your url is shown 24/7 in the exchanges you choose

want a list of good exchanges here you go
http://mybestbonusoffer.com/TE_list.htm

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petevamp

14 years ago

Originally Posted by entrepreneurjay

Traffic exchanges are garbage very bad quality of traffic. Let me know how your experiment goes and prove me wrong. You are way better off writing articles, blog commenting, posting classifieds ads, forum marketing, video marketing, there are tons of legitimate ways to get traffic to your website and traffic exchanges is not one of them. Hell you can get kicked out of the Google adsense program for using traffic exchanges that should tell you right there the quality of the service being offered.

You can actually use adsense on your site and send traffic to the site through a te except you can not send traffic to the page that contains adsense ads. The reason for this is they pay you per 1000 visitors you bring in even if those 1000 visitors didnt click any adds. Google does this to protect the adwords users so that they are not having to pay for traffic that is basically push button traffic that really has no intrest at all in the product.

I do use some tes my self but they are for other reason. I do also have credits going to one site that does have adsense on it but not the page I send them to. In order for them to get to that page to see the adds they need to take action and click a link on the homepage to do so.

So it is not that the traffic is garbage the traffic is just that traffic. You may be lucky to get .01% of that traffic to convert. However he didnt use a traffic exchange from what I seen He used the safelist mailers which once again you may be lucky if even 1% of those members actually open up that email account that those mails are going to to read the letter you sent out.

I do agree that you should just focus on article marketing and video marketing. However it does take alot more time then just going from site to site adding in a safe list email message and pressing the send button. However if you want a valuable solo email carrier let me know I use one that sends out to around 9k active members and the members who open the email will see your page and it will be good quality traffic so long as you have a decent page.

I have used it 8 times now for click bank products and 8 for 8 times it has converted a few sales. Now these where also for products that are priced over 80$ as well so it should be no problem at all for your 5$ product to convert.

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good2go4

14 years ago

Wow I didn't know that about Google Adsense - but there is no google ads on that site. I usually do have the blogs, articles, videos and forum posting as my main forms of driving targeted traffic, but this was a new product and a bit of a trial run. To be honest I don't think I will be able to prove you wrong, but it would be nice to wake up tomorrow to a lot of sales, lol

Thanks for you comments,
lisa

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D_M_S

14 years ago

just my two cents, but in the world of emailing, 10000 emails is a very modest amount. It would be hard to expect a 2% open rate or click rate, much less a sales conversion rate. If you experience a 1.5% CTR I would consider that a success, from there your own product and copy will dictate the sales conversion rate.

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Bluewater

14 years ago

Traffic exchanges are a complete waste of time.

No offence, but they're just full of people doing what you've been doing. Surfing and clicking on those silly time buttons to earn credits and increase their downline for more views by people who dont want to buy anything, but want to earn more credits and build their own downline.

Ask yourself, of the time you spent building credits by surfing, how many products interested you and how many did you click thru and buy. None? It's the same for everyone else.

Originally Posted by good2go4

From my reckoning my email will be sent out to just over 10,000 people over the next 24 hours.

How many of those same emails did you receive today? Probably a gazillion and I bet you just deleted them. Others will too.

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good2go4

14 years ago

Actually that is why it takes up so much of my time - I read them all

Originally Posted by Bluewater

Traffic exchanges are a complete waste of time.

No offence, but they're just full of people doing what you've been doing. Surfing and clicking on those silly time buttons to earn credits and increase their downline for more views by people who dont want to buy anything, but want to earn more credits and build their own downline.

Ask yourself, of the time you spent building credits by surfing, how many products interested you and how many did you click thru and buy. None? It's the same for everyone else.

How many of those same emails did you receive today? Probably a gazillion and I bet you just deleted them. Others will too.

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SolomonHuey

14 years ago

The problem is in your approach...

Just because some people don't know how to use them doesn't mean they don't work.

You would get much better results if you put up a squeeze page instead, then sell to those subscribers.

Let's be honest, almost no one is going to make a purchase after viewing your sales page for 10-30 seconds. But they will opt-in to your squeeze page if you give them a good reason too.

After that, it's much easier to make sales.

Solomon Huey

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good2go4

14 years ago

@ Alexa - You are right; I am going about this the wrong way - thanks

@Peter Vamp - thanks for your comments - I can see what you mean - it is all about targeted traffic

Just checking my stats this morning I found that (so far) I have only had 52 hits (people who clicked on the link in the email) from over 10,000 messages sent out. Obviously there may be a few more when taking into account time zones and that people don't all check their emails as soon as they get up type thing - the funny thing is that I did expect for the stats to be poor - but not this bad - basically it is not even 0.5% click through so expecting sales from this would require a miracle.

Will try the experiment again at the begining of next week with a squeeze page - will write a free report for that one and see if it makes any difference.

I really appreciate the feedback for this - it would seem that using traffic exchanges is a waste of time (and money because I have upgraded on some of them in the past, but not for this experiment) unless, as was pointed out to me, the product targets the people who use the traffic exchanges to promote their own products and services. For me though, unless I get a flood of visits and orders in the next 24 hours (haha) I will stick to my video and article marketing.

Thanks again
Lisa

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D_M_S 14 years ago

I dont see anything to be disappointed about. As I wrote earlier, 10,000 emails is nothing. Most programs can send that within 60 minutes. Sending out emails is all about numbers and you had a relatively small sample size. Believe me, 0.5% CTR is just about right for emails, you just need to turn up the volume on it.
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- boghdady 14 years ago
  
  Don't put too much hope on it
  From my experience, traffic exchanges are just a quick way to get hits, nothing else.
  
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  Robert Puddy 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by boghdady
  
  Don't put too much hope on it
  From my experience, traffic exchanges are just a quick way to get hits, nothing else.
  
  or a list of over 50k... Do it right and they can be a passport to full time online
  
  Even now i still get 35 to 55 people a day subscribe to my lists directly from Traffic exchanges
  
  See Solomns post above to get a clue how
  
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SolomonHuey

14 years ago

Originally Posted by good2go4

@ Alexa - You are right; I am going about this the wrong way - thanks

@Peter Vamp - thanks for your comments - I can see what you mean - it is all about targeted traffic

Just checking my stats this morning I found that (so far) I have only had 52 hits (people who clicked on the link in the email) from over 10,000 messages sent out.

Sounds like your copy could use some improvement.

Just at ListJoe, I'll get more visitors than that. In fact, I mailed there about 12 hours ago (just last night) and had 56 visits from ListJoe alone mailing to only 3,000 people.

Track your subject links, email copy, and website for significantly better long term results.

Solomon Huey

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rockfarmer

14 years ago

If you're already using exchanges, spend some time really looking at what and HOW other offers are being made... then think about your offer, if it's not better at catching attention in the first few seconds, then you missed a chance. Second consider what makes your offer better than another? Use what you're able to see and learn to build a better trap. Overall most of the traffic I see on the TE's are opportunity seekers trying to sell to other seekers (and they just bought "system" from somebody else) I'd say use the TE to capture names by presenting a better "free" offer, build some trust and the sales will follow..

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good2go4

14 years ago

Thanks to everyone for their comments. I think that the product I was offering - while cheap and in a good niche, was not the right type of thing to offer in a traffic exchange and that I would have been better to have given away the report (or something similar) to build my list instead. I do see where that would be the best way of making use of that short 20 or 30 second time span you have to attract a surfers attention. As predicted I did not get any sales; I did get about 340 clicks through to the site which I now see as wasted clicks because by trying to build my list instead I might have got more of a result.
I do agree that the best way of getting free traffic is through article and video marketing and also through blog and forum posting - it helps to build my own credibility in that I actually know what I am talking about, lol, and all of these methods have some longevity in them, as opposed to those fleeting clicks. Still it was a worthwhile experiment and I might have a play around with some of my other products to see if they would be more appealing to the traffic exchange surfer.

Thanks again to everyone for their input - it really is so helpful

Lisa

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Venturetothetop 14 years ago

Glad you changed your view Lisa. Remember Trafic exchanges should only be used as part of a bigger overall strategy. They are useful of couse, especially for branding and building lists, but you have to use themin tandem with other marketing strategies to bring a good consistent result.

It what I taugh my traffic exchange members for years, but unfortuantely some people refuse to listen and continue to waste their time and money. The ones that understand it are of course reaping the benefits.
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forfun_cash

14 years ago

So how much did you spent in total for all these traffic and memberships?

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good2go4

14 years ago

Originally Posted by forfun_cash

So how much did you spent in total for all these traffic and memberships?

For this little experiment I think it cost me $5 in total and a couple of hours getting the credits - obviously too much of an investment given the nil return on my time spent; but I had hoped to get slightly better results than I did - I wasn't expecting miracles by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe I should try my report as a WSO, lol

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Robert Puddy

14 years ago

Originally Posted by good2go4

For this little experiment I think it cost me $5 in total and a couple of hours getting the credits - obviously too much of an investment given the nil return on my time spent; but I had hoped to get slightly better results than I did - I wasn't expecting miracles by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe I should try my report as a WSO, lol

maybe you should run them again but his time as a squeeze page and see how many subscribers you get and how many sales you make from the auto responder series

That would make a much better test...instead of leaving it as oh well and giving the wrong impression

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J42

14 years ago

I'm a big fan of traffic exchanges, I've been using them for over 12 years.

You have to think to yourself why are people using traffic exchanges. 99.9% of them want more traffic to their websites so it makes sense to promote a traffic generation course/ebook/videos etc..

Create a squeeze page...Don't try and make sales there and then as they're focused on waiting to click onto the next site

5...4...3...2..1.....

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jaxxmont

12 years ago

All the time you spent clicking those ads you could have spent that time offering some kind of service (article writing, video making etc.) to other marketers and then used that money to buy targeted advertising.

Also seriously, forum traffic is going to be some of the most targeted traffic out there. People go to forums looking to solve problems. Provide value and a link to a free guide in your sig and you're golden.

But hey, at you're trying. Most people wonder why they're not making any money and all they do is read emails and try courses lol. Good on you for taking action

Good luck

Leo

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mikelukjaniec

12 years ago

There's nothing wrong with Traffic Exchanges if you know how to use them and signing up to as many as you can and then spending your time clicking ads is not the way to go. Sure, that's how you start but it's not sustainable.
The trick is to create downlines in the Traffic Exchanges (This what I'm doing), which will generate free credits on autopilot, so eventually you won't need to surf at all and you'll make money as well.
Solomon Hueys tip about creating a squeeze page (with your picture) is excellent, because a personalised squeeze page will make you stand out from the crowd!

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theb8n

12 years ago

I donty waste my time with traffic exchanges, there's so many better ways you could be getting more quality traffic than that, but hey if you make it work, than it works.