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:

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:

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.