Traffic Exchanges

Traffic exchanges, also called hit, start page or surf exchanges, are sites in which members browse other member's sites in exchange for visits to their own site. Visits would typically last 15 sec to 30 sec, after which the person browsing can click to load the next site. Many sites would introduce features to ensure that the person browsing is an actual human and that the same site is not shown to the same person in a certain time frame, usually 24 hours.

A member of a traffic exchange would be very interested in getting someone to visit their site but much less interested in the other member's sites..Many traffic exchanges now offer a cash reward for surfing, which further gives an incentive for a member to surf as much as possible, paying little attention to the sites that he is surfing.

Traffic exchanges have been labelled as a waste of bandwidth and a total waste of time. But, with the correct mindset and a little experimentation, marketing to the traffic exchange crowd might not be a total loss. The following are some ideas that you may like to try or think about:

Traffic exchange members are interested in traffic, so any product related to traffic, like the buying or selling of traffic, should do well.
There are many webmasters among the members, so products related to search engine optimization (SEO), web hosting, Internet marketing and advertising should find a ready audience.
You only have just a tiny amount of time to capture the traffic exchange surfer's attention, so it might be a good idea to prepare a splash or squeeze page rather than direct them to your main website. The splash or squeeze page would normally be designed to arouse their curiosity or interest in your offering, and get them to clickthrough to your site or to capture their email address.
When the traffic exchange surfer clicks through to another site, it is best if the new site opens in a new browser window. The surfer can then continue his surfing session without interruption and peruse your site at the same time, or at a later time.
The use of audio and/or video on your splash page might increase your conversion ratio.
Spend a little time looking at the websites promoted in the traffic exchanges. It gives you an idea of the character and interests of the traffic exchange surfer, allowing you to market more effectively to him.

There are literally thousands of traffic exchanges on the web right now. I have listed a small selection of the better and more popular exchanges below:

Name of Program	Earning Ratio	Referral Percentage	Remarks
EasyHits4U	1:1	10,5,3,2,1	EasyHits4U is one of the few exchanges offering a 1:1 ratio. You get paid cash for referrals and surfing too.
TrafficG	1:2	10,10,10,10,10	One of the older exchanges offering geo-targeting and 48-hour unique hits.
WebmasterQuest	1:2	10,5,2,1,1	An exchange that seems absolutely paranoid about cheating. Good for the advertisers.

Paid to Read Email Websites

Paid-to-read (PTR) or paid-to-click (PTC) websites pay their members a small financial incentive to visit your site for a few seconds or read an email from you. The financial incentive would typically be in the range of $0.001 - $0.01.

In addition, many such websites are offering additional tasks and offers for members to complete. Some of the tasks and offers might include:

Completing surveys.
Watching videos.
Playing games.
Installing and running an app on your smartphone.
Performing microtasks similar to those from the CrowdFlower or other similar websites.

You can buy traffic to your website for as low as $1 per thousand visitors. As it is with members of traffic exchanges, members of PTR websites are interested in making money online, so any offers relevant to that niche might get a good reception.

As it is with traffic exchanges, if you are marketing in this niche, it is very useful to sign up as a member and view the sites that the members view. The sites that you view would be what is popular with the people interested in your niche and gives you an idea of what they are thinking and how to market to them.

Webmaster's Note

You could actually make relatively good money if you are prepared to spend some time on these sites. For example, I took a survey that required me to watch a few videos while they record my responses. It took about 10-15 min of my time and I was $1 richer for it. It's not a princely sum, of course, but it's a very respectable amount in the online space.

Try not to get sucked in while browsing such sites. While you can definitely make more money than an online business in the short term, the earning potential of online businesses will far outstrip the earnings from such sites in the longer term.

The table below lists a small selection of the PTR websites:

Name of Program	Remarks
ClixSense	Offering as low as $1.30 per thousand views of your advertisement.
DonkeyMails	Advertising packages available from as low as $1. Various options including PTC, paid email, country targeting, banner impressions and manual surf.
Ojooo Wad	Paid clicks and banner ads that you can target geographically. You also have the option to select timeframes for display of your ads and get detailed statistics.