Is your site being seen?
Welcome to all the recent members that have joined us. Thanks for your support and trust in Soaring4Traffic.
Thought today, I would answer a question that many have asked recently, concerning certain sites not getting an equal amount of traffic as some of the others you might be advertising.
You see I feel that it is my duty to not only provide the best advertising platform that a traffic exchange can provide but also provide you with information to get the best results from your efforts.
Many of you are advertising affiliate sites that have audio/video that a great percentage of our members do not wish to see again. Not going to name programs, but you probably already know which ones I’m talking about.
You see, when members have the option (and you do at Soaring4Traffic) to not view sites with auto playing audio and or video, they choose not too. When they have seen the same annoying video or heard the audio zillions of times, it really is a turn off. Sure there are places to advertise these sites, but not as a direct view in a traffic exchange. Do they get traffic exchange members attention?
Yes they do, but mostly in a negative way. If you annoy, will they buy or join your program? Not likely. Think about this for a second, most people surf at least 4 or 5 exchanges in tabs at a time. If they choose to have their sound turned on, it is possible for them to hear several audios blasting at once. Very annoying and frankly not very effective in traffic exchanges.
Now I’m going to take this even further by saying that advertising any affiliate page that everyone else is advertising is not going to show you the results you expect. Being different, personalizing your ads is and has proven to be the very best way to use traffic exchanges. Using quick loading splash pages or lead capture pages to build your list is the true road to success in online business.
If you’ve been online any length of time, you’ve heard this over and over, yet we still continue advertising affiliate sites? Hey, I was the same way, did it for over a year with no results to speak of until it finally sunk in to my thick skull. All I’m trying to do here is save you countless hours maybe months of wasted time and money that you don’t need too.
Okay, like me, first thing you say is, well I don’t know how to build a splash page and personalize it, right? I know, said the same thing myself. Thing is you don’t have to know how anymore, there are programs that you can use without even having your own website. Look in the “Resource” section on the main page of this blog. Little program listed there, Splash Page Maker. Sure, it will cost you around $10 per month, but hey much cheaper than a hosting account, building/designing your own site, etc.
Okay, you don’t want to spend $10? Question is, do you want to continue without results? So okay, maybe you don’t have an extra $10 a month to spend, however you should start to realize that making it online is not going to happen the free route like many have promised you. These are just hard facts that sooner or later you will find out, why not now before the wasted efforts.
There is a program that I use sometimes that is free if you wish to try your skills at using splash pages. It’s called Instant Squeeze Page Generator. You can use it for free, but of course it also has a special offer if you wish to gain more benefits. Most all online programs to receive full benefit are this way, so nothing unusual about that.
Look, my goal is not to discourage anyone, but I do feel that as loyal members I owe you the facts. All the programs either listed on these blog links or in your main downline builder are there for a purpose. They are tools of the trade that I personally use and feel would improve, if added to your arsenal, your success online. Again, only if you use them! All were chosen because they come equipped with detailed training that you just can’t get from all the ebooks online.
Take Affiliate Funnel for instance (in blog resource box and downline builder), not only does it allow you to add and advertise your programs but comes equipped with training, online conferences, and even an email follow up series you can add to your own auto responder to build your own list.
Whether you use any of my suggestions is irrelevant, but the point is, start using something other than generic affiliate pages to advertise. My business is Soaring4Traffic.com! Hopefully providing information, suggestions on tools will in fact show you much better results from your efforts by using us in your advertising. Therefore making you a much more loyal and active member. That is my goal, not to just deliver hits, but to make them meaningful and prosperous for you!
Okay, enough on the soap box today…hope some will sink into your head though… 
Thanks for reading this far, I’m going to be giving away 1,000 credits today. First 20 members that post a comment here will each get 50 credits. You might also want to consider the extra bonus credits being given away on your surf bar. Doubled and tripled at times throughout the entire weekend. Grab’em while you can.
Oh, if anyone has had good results from advertising an affiliate page, especially one with auto playing audio or video, would like to hear your results as well.
Thanks for listening and especially thanks for being loyal and active members! We are over 4500 strong now and growing!
Ray White
Soaring4Traffic.com
November 24th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Ray,
Thanks for the reminder that I still have WORK to do! And thanks for the extra credits you’ve already handed out this weekend! Think I’ll go get some more!
Jim
November 24th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Well put. I have been bashing autoplaying audio in traffic exchanges for 2 years now… lol I used to listen to radiio online while surfing, but that can’t be done much now days.
And there are some who still use dial-up access, needless to say it puts a strain on them. Audio and video have their places, but not in a traffic exchange.
November 24th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
I hear you loud and clear Ray…so true what you say, but the question is what branding style will work for me. We will leave that for the next forum..lol. I have been online for about 6 mos. now and it does appear generic marketing is fruitless. I just posted my first free spalsh page from S4T…heres hoping.
Thanks for the ear Ray…..now get back up on that sopbox lol
November 24th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
Great write-up. I have a mixture of affiliate and “own” sites. Those instant audio sites sure bug me (eg Giblink). No pot’ogold for me yet after 16 months online but with the “affiliate” sites I have a couple of “referrals” that are slowly growing. With my “own” sites TE surfers have subscribed but not yet (as far as my tracker results are concerned) from S4T.
November 24th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Great advice. It takes not only standing out from others (in a good way) but also some work to succeed.
Jason
November 24th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
This is a very good blog post and there is plenty of good points to consider. As a blogger I have different goals to those who want to make money. However, as a result of using the exchanges I am beginning to feel the thrill of achievement when I get referrals. Yes, I have gained 5 random referrals and 3 direct referrals in other programs. Pretty exciting, considering I am enjoying the fun of surfing some of these exchanges and being amongst the top surfers for the day.
Will I set up my own business in the future? Probably, but only after I have had a good understanding on what is required to operate a business from all legal aspects. I am definitely not interested in things where money needs to be paid out every month, because I do not have any personal funds. However, if my referrals do upgrade…..
Everything that you said makes a lot of sense, and I surf with my sound off so that I am not being annoyed by yow….
November 24th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
You are right on the money on your points here. Yes surfers do have multiple tabs going and the audio or video clips are annoying. I would think yo myself why would I join something that’s using methods that annoy people to advertise? Personalized splash pages are the way to go because you need something to snap the surfer out of their surfing trance that is easy to fall into.
November 24th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
I guess I’m tired of this game….spammers and the like throwing stuff into these exchanges is much worse than the music or sound element (and no I don’t have sound on my sites…yet). Redirects, viruses et al seem to still be the bigger problem….Folks complainin’ about music are only doing so cuz it screws up their mindless work. It slows their firefox progression and it irritates em. Well, I don’t for one care what these people think because they don’t do anything for anyone. They are users. They are not buyers (0f anything) and don’t care about what others are doing. They simply get miffed when their browser slows…I’m just about done with all TE’s because of this mindset. I can spend this much time in mindFUL discussion around the net. Don’t get me wrong. This is a top 5 TE no doubt about it…the doubt is whether or not this medium makes sense! I’m growing increasingly skeptical of it…..
Blogtommy
November 24th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Fantastic, Ray! I applaud you on your comments re sites with auto-playing audio/video…they are SOOOOO annoying! Drives my family nuts too, since our PC is in the living room. I didn’t know we had the choice to disable them here. Thank you! Love your soap-boxes, they are always informative.
Have a great weekend!
Annette.
November 24th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
I also agree that audio/video sites are annoying. I’ve heard the start of that Giblink thing so many times I could throw up! - keep my speakers on mute now unless I want to hear something.
The referrals that don’t verify amaze me. Why bother with the initial sign up if you aren’t going to follow thru for the free credits?
Everyone have a really great weekend - and Ray, thanks for all you do!
November 25th, 2007 at 12:48 am
Hello my Texas Friend!
Thank you for posting this… As a surfer (and a buyer) I surf with the sound down. Learned that WAY early on. Hope you’re having a great day!
Sunny =)
November 25th, 2007 at 2:41 am
Cool best soapbox I encountered. I like your frank comments. Apparently sites with pop-up listed get seen less as well in your TE as I have one url with 1 pop-up but the credits are hardly used up.
Cheers,
Danny
November 25th, 2007 at 7:18 am
Hi Ray,
As usual, your comments are welcome and right on target.
Advertising to advertisers is a difficult game and is impossible to win if we annoy everyone. I learned that when Kevin introduced the talking splash pages with UltimateRep. Yes, it got my attention the first couple of times I heard my name, but it didn’t take long before it grew very annoying. So, I stopped using those pages.
I respond to quite a few advertisers and I’ve signed up for quite a few things I’ve found on the traffic exchanges. I have upgraded in about a quarter of them, so I have a bit of experience with this. I never respond to a site that starts off with sound or video or any kind of pop-up, slide-in, or any other kind of window or pane in an existing window. I sign up for quite a few newsletters and mailing lists, but never from one where the annoying tricks are used.
In fact, I’ve signed up for several programs and services on your recommendation and have upgraded in most of them. It’s not the tricks that work, it’s the solid recommendations from someone you’ve learned to trust. One day last week, I got a half-dozen emails telling me to sign up with TMPTE, and I value the recommendations of the people who sent me those emails. But, what did I do? I waited until surfing Soaring4Traffic and signed up from your link. That’s what building online relationships is all about. When someone obviously cares about our success as well as his own, he’s (she’s) someone worth listening to.
Slowly I’m getting around to making my own splash pages and testing response rates - this is something that takes time.
I’ve learned that traffic exchanges can be effective, but you have to factor in the low conversion rates. If I find a traffic exchange that is responsive, easy to use, supported by a great admin, and converts for me, it’s a no-brainer to upgrade and advertise more. It takes thousands of site displays, not a few dozen, to make the sales and get the sign-ups.
I rarely ever bother to surf the traffic exchanges on which I’m not an upgraded member. Why surf three pages for just one visitor when I can surf and get one or more visitors on the sites where I’m upgraded?
Next, I need to make the time to get serious about building my lists. I think that will take me into the next level in affiliate marketing.
Keep posting the great soapbox articles, Ray. I - for one - love reading them and enjoy learning from your experience.
Act on your dream!
JD
November 25th, 2007 at 10:36 am
The audio doesn’t bother me so much since my speakers are fried. However, it would be annoying if they worked. lol I think the audio would be all right if the clips were 1). real short 2). not loud 3). not AUTOStarting . Ditto with da video. (Does that rhyme?)
As to how well TE’s work, I BELIEVE they work well within a narrow range, sort of like handing out biz cards to strangers. So long as it is short, doesn’t try to sell and is mildly eye-catching, then you may have a chance .
Well that’s my cent and a half.
Damon
November 25th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Well said Ray. As a mindless user who doesn’t buy I’d like to add pop-ups to that list of annoyances as well, especially the ones that need closing or clicking on to leave the site (and what about those ‘live agent’ sites, how awful are they?).
Just give us the choice of whether we hear it or not and you’ll get more respect, and don’t break the TOS by adding pop-ups that interrupt the flow of the pages. There’s enough clicking to do, without having to close windows and stop audio and video playing while the counter ticks down.
There’s a Firefox add-on for blocking auto playing (called Stop Autoplay). You can download it for free here:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1765
November 25th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
I am learning the slow and hard way but Im learning. Traffic exchanges are for List building. Im grateful for your resources and hope to build a greta business.
Thanks for the Blog.
November 25th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Just wanted to thank everyone for your comments. As promised 50 credits have been added to each of your accounts.
Don’t forget to login and assign them.
Let me also follow up with this. I do believe that if audio and video are used respectfully and with good taste (professionalism) that they can not only be very effective but very informing as well.
Think this is and will continue to be a controversial subject, however I still feel that using auto playing audio, video, or pop-ups in a page being rotated on TE’s is more annoying to most than some people realize. Again “auto” being the key word here. I also feel they these forms of advertising do have their place online and can be most effective when used properly.
What’s really a shame is that some are very good, well done, in good taste and are not annoying, but they don’t get heard or seen because of people turning their sound off, blocking the videos, etc. to keep out the ones that are annoying. In other words, the good get thrown out with the bad. If only we were given a choice to listen or view the video by making the required click, maybe they would be more accepted?
In all fairness, think sometime that members advertising the sites with multiple pop-ups, auto playing audio/video may in fact not realize what is on the page. Maybe their browser is set to block this content, so when checking the site for themselves, do not realize all the affiliate page includes.
This post was made mainly to re-emphasize the fact that using pages to build your list and brand yourself in TE’s is in fact the most effective use of TE advertising. We keep getting that hammered into our heads over and over but sometimes it takes a while for it to sink in.
Heck, at one point in my online experience, I too felt that TE advertising was a waste of time, even though I was being told by the top names in the business how best to utilize it. After wasting probably a year or more with generic affiliate pages, I was about ready to give up. After putting the advice I had been given by people like Jon Olsen, Dan Moses, Robert Puddy, Soren Jordansen, Paula Zuehlke, and for that matter anyone who was having success with TE advertising, the light came on.
How’s that for name dropping…lol Anyway the point is this. If you hear anyone say “traffic exchanges don’t work” ask to see what pages they are advertising and how many hits they’ve been able to generate? There are never guarantees that this ad will work or the next will work. Point is you have to keep testing, tracking, making adjustments til you hit the right combination.
All aimed at building your customer base, (subscriber list) build your reputation, (brand yourself), build confidence in others that you do have a product or service of value and will be there when they need you. Lol, then you can send them to your audio/video page for all the details of your product.
Ooops, here I go again..
Thanks to all Soaring4Traffic members, this is your exchange after all, you make the decisions and the direction it takes, I’m just the navigator. Utilize it to the fullest!
November 25th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
OK, I was in a rush, multi-tasking when I made my post, yesterday and didn’t actually READ blogtommy’s post, until now and I would like to reply to it.
BlogTommy, I feel you are way off course in your assumption of the mindset of TE users. I know myself, and I’m sure I’m not alone, it’s not the slowing down that annoys me with the AUTO video/audio, it’s merely the fact that it is extremely irritating when one is surfing late at night when others are in bed, or during the day when one’s family is around and all of a sudden this tirade of noise comes blasting out! Also, I AM a buyer; I started using TE’s to advertise my own business, of course, but I have signed up to at least 3 different programs as a result of seeing (and reading) their QUIET ads on TE’s. One, I might add, did have an audio file, but it was not set to auto-play; I could CHOOSE to listen to it later when I had the time. As Ray stated, there is a place for audio/video in advertising, but TE’s are not the right place.
I’ve also signed up to a few different newsletters as a result of ads that have caught my interest when surfing TE’s. I certainly have more respect for advertisers who do not intrude rudely but allow me to read through their relevant info.
And I know myself and others have had sign-ups to our businesses via ads on TE’s. PERSISTENCE is the key.
Thanks for reading, lol, maybe I should start up my own Soap-Box!
I wish you all success,
Annette.
November 26th, 2007 at 12:24 am
Thank-you Annette for your clarity. I appreciate that. It’s a tough world on-line. When I first started I was shooting for a 50-50 (on vs off line profits). I’m still not close. I still have many more real customers knocking on the door as it were….but…
I’ve played with TE’s for years. This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve actually focussed very hard on the medium for the last 18 months or so. I remain unconvinced that it works.
I spend a ton of time talkin’ to folks and doin’ that kind of thing. TE’s by and large don’t do that (unless posting to a blog like Ray’s here). It’s a medium I’ve 1) endorsed and 2) not endorsed. and 3) again not endorsing. Time is money. You’ve either got to upgrade (someone said as much) which I completely agree with…or ya gotta spend buku hours surfing. Every TE I’ve upgraded in (and there are more than I care to count)…has simply landed me with more worthless hits than not.
I’m not an SEO guy…but…
When ya type in someting ya want….that’s when the true hits count.
Not because it shows up in a browser.
I’m not a TE hater…and Ray has a very wonderful program here, but it’s no different than most…it’s a list builder…
I applaud it as a TE cuz it rocks….
Blogtommy
November 26th, 2007 at 8:08 am
Hi Ray
Well I hope I get my credits because I can sure use them. I am still having a hard time trying to figure things out. But I know that you are wonderful and that you answer all the questions to the best of the ability.
Thanks a bunch
Nanette
November 26th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
I think if you’re new to the genre or just starting out that TE”s can lend you a hand along the way…They can get you “hits” you would normally not acquire which in that sense anyway, makes em attractive. If you’re not new to the game though TE’s are nothing more than a listbuilder for the owner. And most owners ABUSE their lists. Ray does not. But, he understands business probably better than most TE owners. And, he operates a top quality TE. I’m not of the opinion that that matters much but, many seem to think otherwise so voila.
If that’s your flavor….enjoy.
I’m heading down an entirely different track now and am excited about it.