Why do we surf traffic exchanges?

I want to look at the reasoning at which we surf traffic exchanges.   But first let’s take a look at other available methods of advertising.

• PPC (pay per click)
• CPM (pay per impression)
• Article Marketing
• Social Networking Marketing
• Email Marketing

Email advertising doesn’t really count, though.  Because that’s what you should be using traffic exchanges for.   You should be advertising squeeze pages to build your list.. and then emailing your list.

So with that said, traffic exchanges are a fast, easy, low-cost (or free) way to generate an almost endless stream of visitors to your web site.  Pay per click costs money (sometimes a lot of it - especially if you don’t know what you’re doing).  CPM also could cost a lot of money but you’re not even guaranteed one click-through to your web site.  Article marketing takes a while to be picked up by search engines and lots of good frequent content is needed.  Social networking also takes a bit of time to build up your network for your advertising to be worthwhile.

But you know you can stick your page in a traffic exchange and surf for 20 minutes a day and get people instantly looking at your web sites and what you have to offer.

But, is this a good medium of advertising in comparison to the others (once you’ve tested, tracked, let the search engines love you, and built up your networks)?

Some of the people who swear by the other types of advertising might tell you no, but let’s take it from a mathematical point of view.

Let’s take the assumption that you buy 1000 credits for $10 (a very standardized and normal price) at a traffic exchange.  Then we will assume that you get 1 sign-up to your list for every 150 views of your well-designed squeeze page (which is also very attainable).

This equates to you getting 6.66 signups for that $10 you invested.  It also equates to paying roughly $1.50 for each sign up to your list.  So to turn a profit you just need to make $1.50 average from each new person to your list (which is also very attainable).

$1.50 per lead into your list can be even better than medium costing CPC campaigns.  It definitely can be better than your CPM campaigns.

But what I listed was very attainable figures (and traffic exchanges are great for testing what works and what doesn’t work).

So let’s say you tweaked everything and bought a total of 50,000 credits in 10 top exchanges..  since credits get cheaper by buying them in bulk.  I’ll make a guess and say that’s going to cost you between $300-$400… shall we go with $350?  And let’s also say that you super tweaked your squeeze page and got one signup per 80 page views..

On to the math..

You’re going to have 625 new leads for a cost of $350.. or, $0.56 per lead!

In conclusion, I’m not going to say any method of advertising is better than any other.  But I will say that traffic exchanges do have their place and they do work.  If you’re not using traffic exchange advertising you’re leaving thousands of leads and dollars on the table that others will happily grab up.

And back to the title of the article.. why do we surf traffic exchanges?  Results.  And hey, if you’ve got the time to surf a bunch you can get enough results for free (so to speak) to begin buying credits.

How Am I Succeeding?

I was just sitting down and having a conversation with a guy, Jeremiah,  that has been trying internet marketing for 3 years and has only made a few bucks.  We’re talking $5 here and a few bucks here.. maybe winning some surfing contests or something like that.

Basically very little success.

I thought to myself, “Hmm, 9 months ago I was a complete newbie.  I’m having more success than this guy in far less time.”

I continued to think to myself.. what am I doing that Jeremiah isn’t doing?  So we talked a little bit more.  We were basically doing the exact same thing!  We both surfed traffic exchanges, we both bought credits from time to time, we were both promoting affiliate products, we were both using safelists, we were both getting the word out about ourselves and what we bring to the table.

Why am I enjoying the fruits of my labor and continuing to build while Jeremiah is going basically no where — a few steps short of wasting his time?

I took it upon myself to investigate and here’s what I found:

• I am networking
• I am list building
• I am consistent

That’s the only three differences I could see between myself and Jeremiah.  And boy what a difference it makes!

Networking with your peers, as i wrote about a while back, is vitally important.  You gather friendship with like minded individuals and you push each other to become better at what each of you do.

For me, I was approached by Paul Kinder and that’s how  my networking begun.  I got lucky because I had something he sought and he was networking, so I got drug into it by him.  Luckily I stayed networking and began meeting people that gave me ideas, helped me further myself, and gave me knowledge and insight.  The learning curve was high.. but I was addicted and this is still what I do.  You can find me in NetMarketingForum or Affiliate Funnel networking a lot of the time.

Secondly, I was building my (ever-so-hyped-and-talked-about “magical”) ‘list’.  I also did this unknowingly.  I was trying to build blue-surf (a free membership program).. but what I was building was far more valuable.  Each member has what everyone wants — an email address.  And now my list is getting strong.  I have thousands of email addresses that I can email to whenever I want to inform them of a new product or idea.. and they don’t mind because they can make a few bucks from it, too.

Jeremiah had no list.  He had, however, made a couple ‘cold sales’ .  Great!  But, the problem is, once the sale was over with - that was the end.  He could not contact them again.  He could not follow up and ensure they were happy with what they bought.

So that brings me to list building.  Build your list.  Follow up with automated messages.  Make people happy and they’ll trust you and continue buying from you again.  (Actually, think about how you got to this blog post — you’re probably on my email list.  And, although I am not selling you anything.. I am conveying to you a message, which is equally as important.)

You do not need a free membership program to build your list.  You can in fact use AWeber as your mailing solution and promote splash pages or squeeze pages and build a nice list.

The money is in the list. Do not ignore this overused almost cliche-like saying.  Your list is the most valuable asset you will ever have in this business.

And, finally, I am consistent.  Jeremiah, like a lot of people, struggled to stay on top of his internet marketing when things just weren’t happening.  He’d take a few months off and then try at it again.  Perhaps the next time he tried it would be.. magical.  It wasn’t, and this cycle repeated.

On the contrary, I can think of very few days (days when I was extremely ill) that I wasn’t on the computer for hours on end building me and my business.

As I like to say I was (and continue to be) persistently consistent.  There are good days and there are bad days.  There are good weeks and months and there are bad weeks and months.  But you never know… that next subscriber, that next squeeze page, that next whatever might build a relationship between you and a customer that lasts a lifetime.  You might get your next sale.  And before you know it.. you might have a few extra dollars in the bank.

Who is Scott Martin, and why should you read his blog?

Hello guys, and welcome to my blog. As you can tell from the title of this post and the website itself, my name is Scott Martin. I am a web site developer, programmer, and internet marketer.

In an attempt not to bore you, I’ll briefly summarize how I came to be where I’m at today. I started out dabbling in HTML when I was 15. Then I moved on to bigger and better things programming in PHP. I’ve built tons of things including libraries, web sites (including an entire social network and my newest one Blue-Surf), and downloadable scripts. At this point in my life (at the fat ripened age of 22 :P) I’m expanding into online marketing.. which is probably how you found me.

In this blog, I’ll share with you my journey into internet marketing. I fully expect to become a successful online marketer because I give everything I do 100% effort. So I welcome you to follow along with me. Occasionally I’ll post some codes or scripts that you may find useful. I may also post my reviews of programs or ways to make money online. Along the line there may be an opinion or two (or 500).

I’m aware that my blog is only as good as I make it. So! I ask that you leave feedback, comment on my articles, and.. if you like what you see.. subscribe!

That should about do it for my introductory post. I look forward to writing more!