What do all websites need to be successful? Traffic! Do you know that one of the cheapest, easiest and quickest ways to generate traffic is by using traffic exchanges?

The way they work is that you earn credits by surfing other peoples websites. Your earned credits are then used to show other people your website. To join, you need to submit your name, email and website. Your website will then go into rotation with the other websites that have registered with that particular traffic exchange.

When surfing on a traffic exchange there is a counter that counts down a certain number of seconds and when the counter is done you have to click on a number to move to the next site. They operate on a credit system and you get credit by spending time on a particular website. Your credit gets reduced when another member of the exchange visits your website. Increasing your credit gives your website a more
effective and wider reach.

A good tip is to use a multi-tab browser. This will allow you to surf many exchanges at the same time by running several websites in multiple tabs while only one window is open for viewing in your browser. The Firefox Browser and newer versions of Netscape will let you surf multiple exchanges at once.

Here are some more tips on how to get the most from traffic exchanges:

1. Try to use only about 3-5 good exchanges. It is difficult to keep up with too many and this will allow you to focus your efforts on productive advertising.

2. You must take the time to surf and build up credits. Plan to stick with it for a couple of months at least.

3. You can also advertise your traffic exchange referral links from one exchange to another and build your downline while also getting more free credits.

4. Do not just use your main website on the exchanges. Advertise additional pages off of your main website page that have special offers or other related services.

5. Be different and offer something for free, such as an ebook, software, etc. There is nothing wrong with being nice and offering people a free gift for visiting your website.

6. If your offering a network marketing or affiliate program then do yourself a favor and create your own opt-in form. Something new will attract more attention.

7. Leave the selling for another time. Try and get as many emails as possible and then worry about making the sale. Offer a newsletter related to your website.

When determining what traffic exchanges to use it is important that you are able to promote multiple URLs. You want the capability to promote other services or programs other then your main one. Since you will be using a number of traffic exchange programs you can promote one traffic exchange on another exchange. This will make it easier for you to get free credits by referring others. Do not forget that you also may want to be able to promote any affiliate programs that you may be involved with.

Some of the free traffic exchange sites may only let you add a few pages, but you can get around this by changing the ones you are promoting at any time even though it is more work. If a traffic exchange program is sending visitors to your website then the extra work is worth it.

As with any other form of advertising on the internet you have to do some research to determine the best traffic exchanges for your needs. Here are some helpful tips for finding good quality traffic exchanges:

1. Find out which ones rank high on Google, and also in the paid ads. A traffic exchange site that is worth your effort will be able to afford to get a high search engine ranking and be able to pay a lot of money for paid classified ads.

2. Use Alexa.com and check the rankings of the exchange sites. If a site has a high Alexa ranking, then they probably have lots of traffic. If you join that traffic exchange then you now have your website appearing on a highly visible site. For example, Trafficswarm has a high Alexa ranking.

3. You can try to find reviews online, but that may not be a good idea since people are going to promote a program because they want to sign you up through their referral link.

4. Select exchanges with many members and try to determine whether the exchange already has alot of websites that are similar to yours, if they do then move on!

5. Try to use traffic exchanges that have categories available for you to place your website in. This will give you more targeted traffic.

The real key to free traffic exchanges is that you do not have to upgrade or spend any money to buy credits. You can always stop using them if you do not get any results.

A good traffic exchange program that is free should be able to get you some results, if not then do not waste your time!

Even if you do not get lots of traffic, your site is being seen by real people and this helps to get your website and name in front of as many people as possible so that they may remember your website in the future.

For your website to be successful it needs to be seen by as many people and as many times as possible.

Copyright 2006 by Joe Rispoli

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