Do Traffic Exchanges Work?

Jared and all,
If I had been asked this question a year ago I would have said that I had never tried to use traffic exchanges and that I would have little desire to do so.

I believed - quite wrongly as it turned out - that they could not possibly work because those surfing were just mindlessly clicking away for credits so they could show their adverts to others who were just mindlessly clicking away for credits.

Then a few months ago a very successful marketer whom I much admire in this industry (and who is not a traffic exchange owner) asked me: “Have you heard of ThumbVu?”
“No,” I replied, “Should I have. What is it?”

It transpired that ThumnbVu was a social traffic exchange where advertisers can do two things at once; advertise and also engage in meaningful two-way dialogue with other advertisers.

Not only that but it also allows you, the traffic exchange surfer, to choose the adverts you are going to watch, rate them should you wish to do so (a simple thumbs up/thumbs down system is used) and, get this, obtain instant access the advertiser’s contact details.

Within just hours of using this traffic exchange any notions I may have had that these things did not work were dispelled but it took me a few weeks to fully understand the real power that traffic exchanges actually have.

I started advertising one squeeze page at first - a pretty standard page with no reference to me or my name or my photograph - and it worked because I put names on my list.

Then I discovered that the people getting the best results were being a little more proactive than me. They were putting their name on their squeeze page, adding a photo, adding video while at the same time actively taking part in the chat functions of the exchange in question.

I did the only thing I could do in the circumstances. I tried to forget about my natural shyness and I copied them. Soon I had multiple squeeze and splash pages up and running - all with my name and picture - some with live pages from my blog and, most recently, one with a video of me wearing a blonde wig and a green feather boa. At the same time I became active in ThumbVu chat.

So what happened? Well lets ignore the direct advertising element of a social traffic exchange for a moment and concentrate on the chat function for a moment. Whether you are in a traffic exchange, a checkout queue, a waiting room, a party, anywhere really, if you talk to people and are nice to them they will generally talk back. And if you chat to a stranger for a while the conversation will either naturally fizzle out or you will find things in common and want to chat more.

Now back to ThumbVu and lets re-introduce the advertising element of TEs . I became active in the chat room and others got to know me as a person while, at the same time, looking at my pages. People were seeing my picture on the pages and asking me about what I was promoting in chat and the easy access of contact information means that many people took the option of adding me to Skype, Facebook, Twitter and the like so we could continue our dialogue outside of the traffic exchanges.

And during this time I am also getting signups to the pages I advertise so getting names on my list while at the same time building friendships and possibly meeting future business partners and this makes social traffic exchanges a pretty useful marketing tool. In fact if you are new to marketing I would suggest that traffic exchanges are the very first thing you should try.

Next I found that Sweeva and I Love Hits also have social elements built in and I also found the same results there. I sometimes put a page of my blog up on Sweeva - yes you can advertise a blog on a traffic exchange and don’t let anybody tell you differently - and it does get me sign ups to my list. Here is one comment I got on Sweeva recently: “Welcome blogger chap, nice splash page, lots of good info.”

Junk traffic? - absolute nonsense.
Waste of time and effort? - absolute nonsense.
One of the best things I have ever done in online marketing? - absolutely.

Kind regards to all,
Patrick.

He may be all that but in his posts in this thread, at least, he sounds like an immature jerk.

To me, one thing is crystal clear from this thread; whether you are a traffic exchange veteran, a traffic exchange newbie, a traffic exchange skeptic or a traffic exchange hater, there are owners around like Jon Olson, John Guanzon, Hilbert Gavel (and many others) who want to help you succeed.

Not only are Jon, John and Hilbert prepared to go the extra mile to help anyone willing to give traffic exchanges a decent shot of promoting themselves and their products but so are the growing army of TE users who also look out for, help and encourage other users.

And kudos to those on this thread who began with a negative view of TEs and are now willing to look again with fresh eyes and see how things have changed over in that exciting corner of the internet known as TE land.

Patrick.