Getting The Most Out of Traffic Exchanges

Traffic Exchanges are great tools to get your site seen, but for them to be effective you must learn how they work. If you promote or own an affiliate type program, Traffic Exchanges can be a great source of traffic for you, since the majority of sites being advertised in traffic exchanges are affiliate based programs.

I surf traffic exchanges regulary and everytime I surf, I see so many advertisers making the same mistakes over and over again. They continue to advertise their affiliate links, which leads to poor results. What's bad about this, is there could be thousands advertising that same site, which has been seen hundreds of times. After I see an affiliate site once I know if I want to join or not.

A better alternative is to advertise a splash page. A splash page is a mini website, with little text, and an eye catching graphic. The text is short, but to the point, and always ask for some kind of action. When someone clicks the link in the splash page, it goes to your affiliate program, or you can use splash pages to build a list, by offering something of value for free.

Why is these methods better?, Because you stand apart from the other advertisers advertising the same program. Which ever method you decide to use, (a splash page to promote your great affiliate program), or (a splash page to build a list), always track your links to find out where you are getting the best results.

I use a free tracker offered at JoeShmo200 to keep track of my results. I do this by adding the URL of my splash page into the tracker, which gives me a tracking URL. I then place that tracking URL in each traffic exchange, and I can tell which traffic exchanges are sending the most visits to my splash page.

I also track the link in my splash page to see how many click thrus I get to my affiliate site. I do this by adding my affiliate URL in the tracker, which gives out another tracking url, and I place that URL into my splash page. As you can see, it's not hard to know what traffic exchanges are providing you with the most hits, so start advertising a splash page and always track your results!

Online Marketing: It Takes Work

I was thinking, about all the newbies that come online with the hopes of finding their pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in a matter of weeks, or months online. How many of you will stick around if you fail your first time? I know this type of thinking goes on, because 7 years ago I thought the same way.

It's hard not to think like that, when you hear it everyday about how easy it is to make a fortune online, everytime you turn the TV on late at night, you see the next big thing that's going to make you a millionaire overnight. Then all over the Internet you have all these hype and ponzi scemes that says all the things newbies wants to hear, like make $1,000,000 in 60 days doing nothing, and the green light goes off in the newbies head, and 60 days later, they're wondering what happen, they did everything they were suppose to, they did nothing like the program told them too. So they wondering where their million dollars is at!

This type of an example happens everyday online, and it's not the newbies fault for believing this type of stuff, we hear it so much in our daily lives, til we began to believe it. The first thing I would recommend to any and all newbies, is to stop believing everything you hear. It takes alot of hard work, dedication, and being consistent everyday to be successful online. If a program sounds to good to be then it probably is. If you're not sure if a program is a scheme or not, ask somebody.

The Internet can be a great place, but when you are getting suckered out of your hard earned money and your time by schemes, it can be a dreadful place. Start investigating any program you are thinking about joining, and always ask somebody if it is a hype or ponzi scheme, and make the Internet a great place for yourself.

Ed's Online Marketing New Look

I just gave Ed's Online Marketing a new look today. I was using a 2 column template, and decided to go with the 3 column made by Thur Broeders. I've put alot of hard work into this to get the design basically to the way I wanted, but I'm still looking forward to future improvemnts.

Online Marketing Tools: TrafficSurfer

TrafficSurfer is a new traffic exchange that opened up a few months ago, and things seemed to not go the way the owner would have liked, so he began working to make it better. And better is what he did. He reopened trafficsurfer this week, and I was just over there and what a change. This traffic exchange has a great design, and a customized surfbar. The owner seems very dedicated to making this traffic exchange a big player in the traffic exchange industry, and has done a great job up to this point. I see this new traffic exchange being a great traffic generator for who ever uses it. This is a great online marketing tool. Send some Free Traffic to your sites, by Clicking Here
Traffic Surfer features:

A unique user sidebar
Customized Surfbar
Daily Comptetions
Surfing Calendar
3:1 Surfing Ratio
And More.

Join Traffic Surfer Now. Clicking Here To Join

Managing Your Mailing List

I received this article and thought I would share it, since it's very important to manage your mailing list and keep your subscribers happy. Great article Tim.

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Managing your Mailing List
by Tim Whiston

I subscribe to quite a few different email lists. I receive newlsetters, links to ezine sites, special sales bulletins, articles on self improvement, and even regular updates on the progress of my favorite science fiction pictures. I'm a big fan of information, and thanks to electronic mail, I can receive loads of it on a daily basis.

It's great to open my inbox and find an insightful article that helps me put a current dilemma into balanced perspective. It's also pretty nice to find that software I've had my eye on being sold at half price to members of the company's mailing list. A well managed mailing list is a valuable service that I'm happy to take advantage of.

On the other hand, I'm less than thrilled when I find a message about viagra from someone who told me their newsletter was going to include some great business tips. I'm also not entirely pleased to receive daily updates on the latest pre-launch hogwash from that guy who offered me the email marketing course. And why, someone tell me, do so many people insist on sending me the same articles by Corey Rudl or Yanik Silver? A poorly managed mailing list is a sad thing that puts me somewhere between irritation and sympathy.

I mean, someone obviously got my attention, and even convinced me to fill out a form to receive more information. They got off to a great start, and who knows where things could have gone.

If they had offered some legitimate communication instead of a bunch of garbage, I may not have unsubscribed from their list. In fact, if they had given me some quality info and worked to build a relationship with me, I may well have become their next loyal customer.

Your opt-in mailing list is arguably the most important asset you have as a network marketer. It is imperative that you manage this list in a professional, intelligent manner if you plan to build a successful operation.

Here a few things to keep in mind when working your opt-in leads.

Give them what you offered. If you promote a newsletter that focuses on retail skiing equipment, you are likely to agitate your readers by sending them adverts about big savings on fly fishing gear.
Be clear about your mailing intervals up front, and make a good effort to maintain this schedule. While additional mailings are sometimes appropriate, sending out "special" notices too often is going to devalue your credibility.
Always offer your prospects the option of contacting you directly. Let them know on a regular basis that you'd like to hear from them, and give them your personal email or phone number to open up the lines of communication. People will respond much better to someone who is accessible.
Keep your "pitches" realistic and grounded. An honest recommendation about a product you have used and benefited from is much better than the hyped up "best thing since sliced bread" copy you find in your affiliate program's member area.
Be yourself! To build a proper relationship, you must be honest about who you are and what you want. Don't worry about trying to impress your readers with rehashed "guru speak".
Email marketing is a great way to build your business. If you apply sound judgement to the management of your opt-in list, you will be rewarded with new relationships and return customers.

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Tim Whiston is one of the creators of Opt-in Master Course, a complete guide to building and managing a profitable mailing list.