As long as someone is marketing something related to Internet marketing, traffic exchanges can be a good part of a prospecting funnel.

However, if someone is marketing to a completely different niche or is trying to make direct sales, I don’t believe they will be helpful.

As you say, they have their pros and cons.

Thanks for your comment.

Act on your dream!

JD

I’m always happy to read your comments.

I’m sorry to hear that you got sucked into the 12DailyPro mess and lost money on it. I noticed that the more reputable traffic exchange owners were pretty quick to ban it after they recognized what was going on. I wasn’t involved and only know about it peripherally.

I’m sure there are other scams out there that are being promoted in various ways, so it’s always something we have to watch out for.

I’m not sure that traffic exchanges are great for all owners. I’ve watched an explosion of traffic exchanges over the last couple of years and not all of them are managed equally.

After trying over 50 of them, I’m now active in only about a half-dozen that are well-managed, have great owners, and produce results for me.

You’re right about the amount of time it takes, and I agree with you about FFAs. These can be impediments to successful marketing and all of us need to keep in mind the various approaches we can take in building our businesses.

When I started my marketing business, it was after I became Mom’s full-time caretaker and could not leave home to work a “real job.” My savings were gone and I had to bootstrap everything with almost no money to invest.

It took several years before I had a reliable income, but it came at a time when I had to earn something while working at home.

At first, I did everything I could for free, but as I had money to invest, I started reinvesting it into my business.

If I had had money to invest at the start, I may have taken a different route. I don’t know.

I do know that I’ve tried a lot of things and some of them were more effective than others. Now, I’m in the process of deleting a lot of the stuff I tried and rebuilding the sites I’ll keep so that they are more effective in doing what I want, now.

I don’t take any offense at what you said, and I agree with part of it, maybe most of it.

I am getting results that are good enough to keep doing what I’m doing. I know for a fact that some of the people who learned about me on the traffic exchanges have become readers of my blogs and some of them have become friends and customers.

While not as effective as other methods of marketing, traffic exchanges can work for some of us, and I’m not using them as well as I could.

These days, I am still pursuing different methods of marketing, as I learn more and have the time and energy to implement them.

These days, my monthly investment in traffic exchanges is under $100 and I’m earning a profit on that investment, so I’ll continue with it – but recognize that it isn’t for everyone.

I appreciate you sharing your opinion. That’s the beauty of having a blog with intelligent and knowledgeable readers. I enjoy these conversations and learn from them.

I’m really sorry to hear about your Mom and hope you and your family are coping well with the transition. It is a rough thing to have to go through.

Thanks for your comment, Brian. I appreciate it.

Act on your dream!

JD

Personally I think traffic exchanges are great if you are the site owner but it’s a waste of time as a member. To me it’s right up there with FFAs causing many to delay any real success at best.

I will admit I don’t know the new changes and innovations with traffic exchanges but I honestly can’t see anyone gaining legitimate and targeted traffic with them. I wasted over two years trying splash pages, teasers, freebies, contests and more trying to work the system. Eventually I noticed that the serious marketers that started at the same time and even well after I did were running circles around me. While I was clicking for credit trying to get something for free the real marketers understood that any traffic derived from a traffic exchange is going to be the wrong kind of traffic. If we’re in it to make money we want visitors that will make a purchase. Traffic exchanges are loaded with people unwilling or unable to invest in their own business. No offense if you still surf, like I said that was me for over two years.

I guess I’m one of those with strong opinions I do agree, however, with you in your reply to Mitch when you said, “As you already know, not every marketing method works equally well for everyone. Each of us has our particular strengths, interests, and foibles and needs to identify and improve what works best for ourself.”

As far as buying credits, I realize that is spending money on our business but personally I would try to put that money in more effective marketing methods. Just my opinion and you know what they say about those lol

I’m truly sorry to here about your Mom’s health John. I lost my Mom almost a year ago and short of our own children I can’t think of a more important family member. I wish her the best.

Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog post..Snickers – Extreme Branding

It’s good to hear from you again.

You’re right. It does take a substantial amount of time and isn’t right for everyone – even if they’re in the right niche.

Buying advertising credits cuts down on the time, but you have to have a profitable campaign to make it worthwhile. Of course, this is true for all advertising.

Currently, I’m on the fence about giving away freebies. From some things I’ve tried – not extensively – it seems that the more freebies we offer, the more tire-kickers we get.

I’m going to be testing similar lists with one using a freebie report and another using a low-cost, paid report, to see which works better.

Anyone have a prediction you’d care to offer?

Act on your dream!

JD

Again though, it does take a considerable amount of time which could be better spent elsewhere for some.

Dennis Edell´s last blog post..3 Secrets to Writing for the Search Engines

As you already know, not every marketing method works equally well for everyone. Each of us has our particular strengths, interests, and foibles and needs to identify and improve what works best for ourself.

I don’t quite agree with your point about people gaming the system on traffic exchanges. I agree that, in most cases, they don’t care about us and we don’t care about them.

But, I think that’s true for most forms of advertising and customer attraction.

We “click” (or should that be “clique”?) with a small minority that are similar to ourselves, and can come to care for them over time.

So, yes, I’ve “met” thousands of people on the traffic exchanges, but like and respect only a few, and form business relationships with even fewer, but that’s the nature of a marketing funnel.

We are exposed to as many as possible, but develop relationships of any kind with only a small subset.

And I fully understand why you, and others, don’t like traffic exchanges. It can be a time-intensive and sometimes boring experience. For me, I enjoy seeing the offers and how they’re presented, especially by some of the masters of the niche.

As an example…

I believe Jon Olson has the best splash page in existence. It caught my attention the first time I saw it and I still appreciate it every time I encounter it.

It’s very simple.

Basically all it says is something to the effect of “you’ve reached the end of the Internet, but there are lots of things to see at ILoveHits.com.”

While that’s paraphrased from memory, it’s close to what the page says.

Another great form of branding I’ve seen on the traffic exchanges was when Ray White began describing himself as “the proud owner of Soaring4Traffic.com.” He was the first traffic exchange owner I encountered who publicly proclaimed that he was proud of his business, and I believe it showed in his actions and the results he has obtained.

I am in total agreement with you that “for it to work people have to establish some sort of relationship with each other, and then it works better.”

That’s exactly the point.

Traffic exchanges are just a convenient way to introduce yourself to lots of people around the world. It’s then up to us to establish relationships and help each other grow our businesses over time.

Again, I totally agree with you about the blogrolls. It’s why your blog is in my blogroll, too.

Even when I don’t have anything to comment on, or I’m too tired to respond, or just don’t have the time, I read everything you’ve written on your blog(s) and enjoy it.

Successful marketing is the art of finding something in common with others and then building on that budding relationship. Some of us may become friends. Others may develop business relationships. Some may do both.

Some may even decide they don’t like each other and stop interacting.

It’s up to each of us to try different things, identify what works well for us (and which we enjoy doing), and then spend our time doing those things.

It makes no sense at all to do something you don’t enjoy doing. Life is just too short for that.

I don’t remember how you and I first met, but it was probably from one of us reading the other’s blog and leaving a comment.

I’m enjoying learning more about you and what you’re doing and one of these days we’ll find something in common that will lead to doing business with each other. I’ve already looked into several things you’ve recommended, and you’ve done the same.

It’s a process, and I’m a very patient person. I’m in this for the long-haul, not just a skip around the block.

Act on your dream!

JD

Welcome to our discussions!

While I took to traffic exchanges like a duck to water, I never felt good about safelists and did so poorly with them that I stopped using them. Even with great advice from Soren Jordansen, and others, they just never worked for me.

I know some people are using them effectively, so that’s just another example of “what works for me may not work for you, and vice versa.”

I agree with you that free traffic generators can be a great way to attract visitors to our sites, if we are in the right niche.

Thanks for the comment, and the kind words.

Act on your dream!

JD

It’s always good to see you here. I’ve fallen out of touch with you over the last few months, but I think I’ve turned the tide now and will be getting back to my normal routines.

For anyone who doesn’t know Ray, he’s the proud owner of Soaring4Traffic.com and has a very helpful blog at Soaring4Traffic.biz. (It’s one of the half-dozen blogs in the blogroll on this site.)

I’ve learned a lot from Ray over the last few years, and I hope I’ve shared some good insights with him, as well.

This is an example of building a relationship over time that may lead to doing business with each other, and even becoming friends.

I’ve never met Ray in person, but I consider him one of my friends.

How did we meet? I asked some questions on the Affiliate Funnel forum and Ray offered some detailed and very helpful answers.

When I learned that he had his own forum, I joined and participated there, too.

Later, when he opened Soaring4Traffic.com, I joined, upgraded, and have remained a happy customer and advertiser. In fact, I find Soaring4Traffic to be one of the most effective traffic exchanges I’ve used and expect to be a member there for a long time.

All of this started because he took the time to answer some questions and his answers were helpful and not targeted just to make a buck.

I look forward to working with Ray on other things, over time.

I have learned that branding works well on the traffic exchanges, and I study the ways some people do it so well. I haven’t managed to get it right, yet, but I’m working on it – although not so much lately while I was sidetracked on other things.

I believe it was Jon Olson, owner of ILoveHits.com, who first caught my attention by repeatedly urging us to brand ourselves and to develop a good reputation on the traffic exchanges.

I’ve learned a lot from Soren Jordansen, owner of DragonSurf.biz, who also emphasizes building a mailing list and developing relationships with your readers.

These are just three of the people with whom I’ve built business relationships as a result of finding them to be helpful and caring people who are willing to help others learn parts of the art of marketing.

Act on your dream!

JD

I have to admit that, at this point, I’m not too keen on traffic exchanges. I thought it would be a good idea initially, but I’ve found that most people game the system by visiting only for the purpose of boosting themselves up. In the end, they don’t care about you, and for the most part, you don’t care about them either.

Having said that, I still believe the concept is valid, but I believe for it to work people have to establish some sort of relationship with each other, and then it works better. Kind of like when I was writing about blogrolls, and said that the ones on my blog are the sites I really like to visit and people I tend to like, and your site is one of those that’s on there. In that way, I believe it makes more sense because people know and trust each other.

Mitch´s last blog post..Massive Traffic To Your Website/Blog?

Free traffic generators are just an awesome way for people to get traffic if you are selling to the Internet Marketing Niche.

You’ve got a very cool blog here.

As always you have explained it well with your words of wisdom. You have hit the main and in my opinion the only 2 things for the best use of traffic exchanges.

Building your reputation (branding) and building your list of subscribers. Building your downlines in traffic exchanges with the main purpose of creating more traffic for yourself.

While some do make a substantial amount of cash by promoting traffic exchanges, the main goal and purpose should still be the 2 things you have emphasized so well.

Your friend,

Ray

Ray White´s last blog post..Free Website Traffic with Give Away Events