Posted on Sunday 12 August 2007
Traffic Exchanges (TEs) provide just one of many ways for people to promote their websites and products on the Web. Some people have very good success with TEs, while others do not.
The fact that literally tens of thousands of people use them should be an indication of their value. The secret, of course, is understanding why they work for some people and why they don’t for others. Like any advertising approach, TEs require an understanding of the most effective ways to use them. If you want to be successful with your use of Traffic Exchanges, you have to consider the demographics of TE users.
Traffic Exchanges rotate the pages of their members for other members of the TE to view. This is generally referred to as “surfing”. A particular page will display in the surf rotator for 15-30 seconds, depending on the timer for a particular exchange. By viewing the pages of other members, you earn credits for your own site(s) in the rotation. Those who don’t want to spend time surfing you can purchase credits, but in most cases members surf the TE in order to accrue credits to put their own sites in rotation.
Keeping in mind that your own pages, aka target links, will be displayed to other members for a limited 15-30 second interval, one key to success is to get your message out there quickly and often. Consider as you drive along a highway with billboards on the side of the road. Most times you will either ignore these billboards, or perhaps only get a brief glimpse of them. Successful billboard campaigns don’t have volumes of information on them. Rather, they give us a “quick hit” message. Since people are driving by these billboards rapidly, it just isn’t practical to load them up with information that people won’t have time to read. The whole idea is to provide a glimpse of the product or service; just enough to register in the person’s consciousness as they drive along. The goal is to get your branding or logo etched in people’s minds. Do you know anyone who actually stops along the side a road to read a billboard? TE’s work the same way.
Successful billboard campaigns use repetition. If someone sees the same billboard several times as they drive, they will eventually become curious about the product or service. It becomes a subliminal thing. One lone billboard on one highway is unlikely to produce results. Putting your site in rotation 5-10 times isn’t going to work either. Repetition, repetition, repetition!! That is a classic theory of any advertising campaign.
In my experience, the most effective approach to success with Traffic Exchanges is the use of Splash Pages. Like a billboard, a splash page gets your message out quickly. An effective splash page should fit completely into the surf window of the TE. The reality is, most people are just not going to scroll down a lengthy page. They are trying to accumulate credits for their own sites and in most cases they aren’t going to take time away to read lengthy text.
Obviously, your splash page should be attractive, and designed to grab someone’s attention. On the other hand, it shouldn’t be so loaded with graphics or Flash that it takes too long to load into the surf frame. Remember, you are on a 15-30 second timer. If your page takes too long to load, the surfer will likely click “Next” before your page is even seen.
Your splash page should give the surfer the option of clicking your link and opening it in a new window. That way, if they are interested they can come back later to check it out without interrupting their surf session.
Likewise, if your objective is to develop a mailing list for a product or service, make it short and to the point. Give a brief description of the product along with a quick email signup form. As before, this should all display within the surf frame to the extent possible.
I have seen numerous pages in a surf rotation that display the actual product site. In most cases, these are filled with text and links for FAQs, member information, and so on. That just won’t work with TE surfers in the vast majority of cases. Most people aren’t going to take the time to read through all of that while surfing. Consider your own surfing habits. If you are surfing a TE to accumulate credits, do you really take the time to read the lengthy pages that come up? Most surfers don’t either.
One of the approaches that seems to be in vogue in the Internet Marketing sector is the narrow sales page that seems to go on forever describing the product, freebies, testimonials, and so on. I never bother to read these. Unless you are a well-known “guru”, it’s unlikey anyone will read such pages either. It works for the gurus or well-known Internet Marketers because of name recognition, but it rarely works for ”John Doe”.
Most Traffic Exchanges allow one “popup” or “pop-under” page attached to your main rotation page. I’m not a big fan of these. My feeling is, if you can’t get the message across with your main page, the popups aren’t going to help, and in many cases, they are just annoying and counterproductive. As for the TE sites that allow multiple popups, I won’t use them. Period. If you really want to add a popup to your site, go ahead, but consider their effectiveness versus the aggravation factor for surfers. Again, consider your own tendencies. Do you really like all those popups when you are surfing?
One of the newer techniques available is “Peel Away” ads. While unobtrusive, these Flash based ads are very effective in getting noticed. I highly recomment giving these a try.
Many pages in rotation also include audio and/or video. In my opinion, these are just another nuisance. I consider myself a fairly typical TE surfer. I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one that turns off the sound on my PC before I start a surf session. Audio/video can also cause the page to load slower, which in turn means the surfer will often hit “Next” before the page has fully loaded. Use audio/video if you must, but I am likely to ignore the site and just wait for the opportunity to go to the next page.
In summary, if you want to successfully use the services of TEs, use splash pages. Make your message quick and catchy. Give the surfer the opportunity to open the page in a new window so it can be more thoroughly checked out after the surf session is finished. Don’t make your pages so long no one will bother to read them, or they don’t fully load in the time allotted. Your potential customers in a TE are akin to someone driving by a highway billboard. Get their attention quickly, but don’t annoy them.
-Ray
www.redhotclicks.com