Effective Use of Free Traffic Exchanges To Build Traffic to Your Web Site
By Donovan Baldwin

In the process of becoming an Internet marketer, most of us have used free traffic exchanges at one time or another. After all, they promise free website traffic, and it seems to be so easy to just sit there and click away. However, after a while, most of us realize that either we are doing something wrong or free traffic exchanges just don't work!

Oh, they deliver free website traffic, all right, but nobody buys into our product or program. We soon figure out that the people looking at our page have seen it before, are bored by it, and are just looking at it, if they ARE looking at it at all, just to pass the time until the next click is due. Actually, they are more concerned with what is happening to THEIR page than worrying about ours. After a while, it all just seems so useless that most people just drop out and move on to something else.

Now, there ARE people using free traffic exchanges to generate real traffic, visits by interested people, to their website, only they have learned a few tricks to make this happen. They have learned to avoid some of the more common mistakes that most people make when using free traffic exchanges.

1. Don't use your real page.

Oh, sometimes an offer or a webpage is just so tempting or so universal in topic or its offer that it works okay...at least for a while. However, think about it. After a while, you began to recognize many of the web pages you were shown...over and over. You even began to think to yourself, "There's that one again. That's the seventh time I've seen it in the last hour." That is, you might think that if you haven't already zoned out.

By the way, that "seventh" time may actually be a first time. You see, you might have been looking at seven different members of the same affiliate program promoting the site they were given. Ever see "your" site roll by? Maybe it wasn't "your" site!

Part of the game for a successful Internet marketing experience is to stand out in some way, and this is especially true at free traffic exchanges. If you want to stand out, you are going to have to offer something that catches the eye of the other surfer and encourages him or her to click over to your real site. I am not going to go into a discussion of lead capture pages and splash pages right now, but a quick search on the Internet will provide more info.

You usually don't want to send people to your "sales" or "pitch" page directly from the traffic exchange. After all, if you can offer someone some kind of gift just for dropping by, that helps predispose them to look more favorably on other offers you present than they would if they just show up at a sales site.

2. Use the best free traffic exchanges.

For a newcomer, or even for an old internet marketing pro, figuring out which traffic exchanges are the best ones to use can be a challenge. Rest assured, however, that it can be done and it is worth the effort. There are websites that do keep track of this sort of thing, and it is well worth your while to track those down and avail yourself of their knowledge. The good news is that these are generally free and provide you with additional information about free traffic exchanges as well as the opportunity and tools to help build your downline in the various traffic exchanges.

3. Build a downline.

Remember all those hours you sat in front of your computer clicking away only to find that you have generated just a few hits to your site? Well, to make use of the relatively untargeted visits provided by free traffic exchanges, you need to have hundreds of hits...perhaps even thousands. There is no way most people can or will sit there for the hours needed to generate web site traffic in the volume required. In fact, there are just two ways; buy it or build a downline. Having hundreds of people in your downline at any one site, maybe even thousands, can provide the hits you need for free.

By the way, this brings us back to being with the best traffic exchanges as they will usually have the biggest base of people to view your site, will be the easiest to recruit people to, and may even allow you to buy a downline, as in the case of WebbizInsider.com.

4. Be open to paying for services.

This requires a little savvy shopping around, but once the Internet marketing professional has his or her free traffic exchange system up and running, they are willing, at some exchanges at least, to pay to upgrade to a professional level. Many traffic exchanges will allow an upgraded member to collect commissions on purchases made by their downline in addition to getting credits when they surf.

Plus, an upgraded membership often includes extra credits as well. With a big downline, this could be a business in itself.

5. Don't be afraid to experiment.

Maybe a better word would be "test". One thing works good at one exchange but not as well as another. It may be only the background color is turning people off, or it may be the whole design of the site. Maybe the product or offer is just not catching on. One test of a product is "did I like it", but, even so, not everyone is going to be interested in what YOU are interested in.

6. Treat your traffic exchange memberships like a business.

Go to work selling and using the traffic exchange just as you would as you market the product or service you are trying to sell. Pay attention, keep records, and try to track which exchanges and which pages are giving the best results.