Part 8 - Traffic Exchanges
Another no cost way to attract traffic is through the use of ‘traffic exchanges’. These are very simply just groups of people who join an online network to exchange website traffic. The operating principle is that you register for an exchange to place your brief ad, then click on the ads for other people who have done the same in order to earn the credits needed to have your ad displayed.
How They Work
Typically, you might earn 1 or 2 credits for each ad and site that you click through to, which will in turn earn you the opportunity to have 1 or 2 people click on your ad and on through to your site. So, basically, you are “exchanging traffic” with other folks who are also trying to promote something.
The rub is that nearly all who use these exchanges are far more interested in selling their own stuff than in buying yours. In fact, many use systems to enable them to visit a maximum amount of sites in a minimum amount of time, or to even do it automatically without even viewing the site. You can also pay for traffic which eliminates the need to personally visit other sites at all.
That said, there are large numbers of people who actually do visit each site that click through to and spend as much as 10-15 seconds scanning the content. But remember, they really aren’t there to buy. Rather, they are doing it for the primary reason of earning credits so that others will visit their sites.
So, What Good Are They?
Therefore, it is important to use traffic exchanges that will insure that you get real benefit. The key concept is that you must not use the exchanges to try to sell something, as do most uninformed users.
Instead, promote a “sqeeze page” or a “pre-sell” page that offers valuable, yet free information in return for a name and email address.
Not only, will this add them to your opt-in list, but you can include offers to sell things in your free followup email course or ebook that you are providing in return for them opting in to your list. In addition, those who do opt in are likely have significant interest in what you are offering, so they should be very good future prospects.
The Best Traffic Exchange
There are a number of traffic changes available, but the best available that I know of is Traffic Swarm. It is still the biggest and the best. You can use this in two ways:
- Build credits for your ads by clicking through on the ads of others, which is time consuming though free.
- Establish a Pro membership for a small monthly cost to “buy” your traffic, which can supplement your paid for traffic.
In summary, the best thing about traffic exchanges like Traffic Swarm is that they provide a good opportunity to build your list. In addition, if you use the affiliate links to attract other members you can earn even more credits through their efforts. There are members who have built literally tens of thousands of credits in this way, and they can can really use these exchanges effectively to build their lists to create downstream sales opportunities for themselves.
For that reason, I highly encourage you to consider going pro, as the opportunity for list building and downstream sales can be very large when the right strategy is used. Enroll in Traffic Swarm here.
