Vinterchange Review December 16, 2008
Posted by Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentI used to love surfing Vinterchange. The “Vinterchallenge” trivia game was always fun and because I was good at answering the skill-testing questions, I managed to win a lot of free credits every week. And the quotes displayed on the surf bar were funny, sad, poetic and sometimes inspirational.
But alas, time has moved on for Vinterchange. As with any business, not just with a traffic exchange, either you deliver a service consistent with your customers’ requirements, or your business suffers.
This is what has happened to Vinterchange.
Nowadays free members of a traffic exchange simply will not surf an exchange with a 20-second timer with a surfing ratio of 2:1. Period. For those of us who have used traffic exchanges for several years know if was quite common to have a 20 second or even a 30 second timer four or five years ago. But times have changed. The surfers have spoken. The industry has evolved.
So…why does Vinterchange still have a 20-second timer with a 2:1 surfing ratio? Beats me. But is sure goes a long way to explain why my surfing results are almost non-existent these days.
Maybe Jennifer Herold is trying to make a point. I don’t know. But it really is a shame to see such a fine manual traffic exchange suffer such a pointless defeat.
Final Rating: 3 (out of possible 10)
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Traffic Heroes Announces New Owner December 13, 2008
Posted by Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentRich Morris announced today the sale of his traffic exchange, Traffic Heroes, to Brett Phillips.
Rich has been plagued with some serious health issues and is to be commended for his excellent work in keeping Traffic Heroes a decent traffic exchange. He never stopped promoting his business and the golden age comic book theme continues to stands out in almost every crowd.
It will be interesting to see if Brett makes any significant changes to Traffic Heroes. As stated in an earlier post, this super hero themed exchange offers some of the most insane free credit bonuses ever from time to time and somehow manages to deliver every one of them. I hope Brett keeps the surf game intact.
Mr. Phillips is no stranger to the traffic exchange industry. He brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge. If he can make a concerted effort to really promote Traffic Heroes, then this may be a traffic exchange to watch.
I certainly wish Rich the very best and hope he keeps in touch with his traffic exchange friends and colleagues. And I wish Brett much success with his new business.
Hit Weasel December 9, 2008
Posted by Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentThis is a great example of an exchange that has all the basic building blocks of a good traffic exchange, but lacks some fundamental elements which currently prevent it from becoming one.
First, the positives of Hit Weasel:
- A 2:1 surfing ratio for free members. Most new exchanges these days start with a 3:1 ratio;
- Progressive surf ratio, meaning the more you surf, the more you earn because your surfing ratio increases with activity;
- Free banner impressions. If you have credits assigned to one or more campaigns, then you can enjoy unlimited free banner impressions on the surfing frame;
- Earn triple bonus credits on certain days of the week (currently on Sunday).
As you can see, there are some unique features with Hit Weasel. I really like the free banner impressions. But unfortunately, there are negatives with this manual traffic exchange:
- The graphics suck. If it looks like you spent $5 on the site design, then what does that say about your perception of your business? Don’t get me wrong, you don’t need to spend $5,000 on the graphics, but if you want to compete in today’s traffic exchange market, you’ve got to look professional;
- 15-second timer. It’s too long. This is a negative for many surfers;
- Almost total lack of owner participation in promoting Hit Weasel. Folks, if you want to own and operate a successful traffic exchange, you must be in front of your membership on a consistent basis, and you must bust your ass off to bring in new members. Without this show of commitment, your exchange will die a slow death.
So what about the results? Well, they suck too. The only bright light is I have received some decent results through the banner impressions. Not on a consistent basis, but just enough for me to keep some splash pages in rotation to receive these banner impressions.
A new paint job and a re-focus by the owner may be able to save Hit Weasel.
Final Rating: 3 (out of possible 10)
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Dragon Surf December 8, 2008
Posted by Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentTwo days ago, on December 6, 2008 Dragon Surf turned two years old. Congratulations!
In the traffic exchange world, that’s a lifetime!
Owned by Soren Jordansen, Dragon Surf has propelled itself into the top ranks of manual traffic exchanges.
With over 33,000 members already after only two years in operation, this traffic exchange continues to bring in new members every month. That is a key statistic for surfers because it means a continuous stream of new people looking at their splash pages on a consistent basis. Fortunately for us, Soren is an owner who understands the success of a traffic exchange is directly related to its ability to attract new members.
At the present time Dragon Surf is a member of the “Super Surf” group, a group of exchanges what when surfed together yields higher surfing ratios on each exchange than if the exchanges were surfed individually.
Famous to Dragon Surf is the “Cave Game.” As mentioned in a previous post, surfing bonuses are in place here and work much like many other exchanges. Every 15 pages you’ll be presented with the Dragon Surf game. You choose to look in cave 1,2, or 3 where you will either find credits, banner impressions, text links, or an angry dragon. If you get the Dragon, you’ll win nothing, but from my experience you win more often than not. Just by surfing long enough to play a few rounds of the game free members can effectively raise their surf ratio to 2:1.(Normally 3:1). Tack on an extra 10% bonus when using the new Super Surf feature and Dragon Surf is a very rewarding exchange to surf.
But as often said within these traffic exchange reviews posts, the results are what matter most. And on that front, Dragon Surf delivers. From my extensive testing, this exchange continues to be one of my top performing exchanges, month after month.
Happy Birthday, Dragon Surf. May you continue to provide exceptional value for your members.
Final Rating: 9 (out of possible 10)
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Blue-Surf December 7, 2008
Posted by Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentIt’s very rare these days to see a custom-built traffic exchange, but that’s exactly what programmer Scott Martin did - he built Blue-Surf from scratch.
The fact that Blue-Surf is a custom-built exchange does not, in and of itself, make it a successful business. But it does say a lot about the commitment and pride of the owner. And in today’s world of cookie-cutter traffic exchanges popping up almost every week, it’s a refreshing change to see someone being unique and original.
Since the launch of Blue-Surf, Scott has continually added new features to his exchange. For example, take his “Average Surf” promotion. To promote consistent surfing - and to reward the “average” surfer - if you surf more pages than the average pages surfed the prior day, then you will get a 15 credit bonus at the end of the day. Scott displays this “Average Surf” number in the members’ area.
Scott has also introduced some cool graphics. In the “Assign Credits” area there is a graph showing hits earned and hits delivered. A neat way to visually see your surfing efforts and the use of your credits.
Best of all, I really like how easy it is to navigate between members’ pages once logged in. Scott uses a very clean, eye-pleasing design to make it easy to find your way around the members’ area.
But at the end of the day, surfing traffic exchanges is about results. Blue-Surf is no different. Unfortunately, my surfing results are average. My results with text links tends to go in cycles – for awhile, the results are great, at other times terrible.
So what’s the bottom line for Blue-Surf? An average performing exchange bolstered by a very attentive and smart owner who is committed to growing his business. And that is a good sign for traffic exchange users.
Final Rating: 6 (out of possible 10)
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eTraffic Freedom December 5, 2008
Posted by Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentI’m not generally a big fan for design makeovers if the original design was professional in appearance. But John Marks, owner of eTraffic Freedom, has significantly improved his free manual traffic exchange by doing just that. Mind you it’s been awhile since the change was made, but the results don’t lie and continue to be good.
Based on the popular LJ script, John has introduced a few unique features like bonus banner and text impressions for surfing 100 pages or more in a single day, and a site rotator. John also provides his members with a very comprehensive library of promotional material to promote eTraffic Freedom, something not all owners provide.
Having tracked my results over an extensive period of time, the surfing results for this traffic exchange is average. But the real value lies in the text links. I experience exceptional results with eTraffic Freedom’s text links.
John now provides daily email updates to his members. For some this may be a turn-off, but John keeps his emails short and to-the-point and keeps everyone informed. For someone who says he never knows what to write, he’s doing a very good job!
Liked and respected by fellow owners, Mr. Marks is quickly becoming a solid player in the traffic exchange industry. eTraffic Freedom continues to grow at a steady pace and appears to be settling in for the long haul. Keep up the good work, John!
Final Rating: 6 (out of possible 10)
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Traffic Witch December 2, 2008
Posted by Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentO/K, here we go again – another traffic exchange launch. So when Traffic Witch launched with much fanfare on November 26, 2008, I did a bit of a yawn. Until I looked at it a bit deeper…
The owner is Guido Nussbaum. So what you ask? Well, he’s one of the biggest names in the JV giveaway market, a market not generally associated with traffic exchanges. Why is this important? Because he has access to a large number of Internet marketers who do not yet use traffic exchanges. So that means a lot of new and fresh eyeballs looking at your splash pages. Finally – an owner who understands the importance of bringing in a lot of new members to make your advertising efforts really pay off. And if that’s not enough…
Jon Olson and Robert Puddy personally helped Guido build Traffic Witch. Now that’s a solid team!
Traffic Witch runs on the standard LJ script, so surfers will be comfortable with its design. Features include a 10 second timer, dynamic surfing ratios (meaning the more you surf, the more traffic you will receive), a rating feature (you can rate other surfers’ splash pages) and fantastic commission rates – up to 75% commissions on member upgrades.
Although it’s a bit early to judge results from this new exchange, members have been reporting fantastic results with their banners and text links. But the surfing results I’ve received so far have been very good, an excellent, early indication of the worthiness of this new exchange.
So…will Traffic Witch stand the test of time? I think so. With over 1,000 people joining in the first 8 hours alone, and with solid backing from Jon Olson and Robert Puddy, this exchange should be able to continue to bring in new members on a consistent basis over the long run. And that, my friends, should translate into surfing results for you.
Final Rating: 7 (out of possible 10)
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Visit Maniac October 16, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentDo you have to be crazy to advertise at Visit Maniac? Well, there’s been a number of cosmetic changes going on lately, as well as a significant increase in promotion so I’ve decided to put this new and possibly improved traffic exchange to the test.
For starters, the new design while a bit on the dark side, is a vast improvement over the previous one. It fits the theme and serves up a professional image. An audio message on the front page adds to the presentation nicely. But can Visit Maniac really “drive thousands of maniac buyers to your websites” as the front page headline states?
Currently, hits are being delivered quite well actually. Stats show a decent amount of daily hits being delivered with just under half being unique. Shouldn’t be too hard to get repeat exposure here, and there does seem to be a notable number of active surfers here.
Could be that the recent advertising push from the admin, combines with the fact that Visit Maniac offers 45% commissions for ALL members has led to an increase in new members coming in the door. One things for certain, the numbers have been on the rise over the past couple of months.
Nothing really worth mentioning in the way of features here. Nothing you haven’t seen anywhere else, and most will seem extremely familiar. The members area page does have a nice set of step by step instructions for new members though. Something I’d like to see more of around the TE world.
In the end, Visit Maniac does seem to be on the rise, though I’m not really seeing much in the way of results just yet. If the owner can keep up his recent burst of momentum, and maybe dream up some useful, unique features, we may be hearing a lot more from this one down the road.
Final Rating: 4 (out of possible 10)
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Mythology Surf October 14, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentI really love an eye catching design, and Mythology surf certainly grabs your attention right from the start. Just don’t stare into the eyes of “Zeus” or his female counterpart for too long. It’s downright creepy and just a bit mesmerizing.
Mythology surf has a number of ways in which it encourages activity, although it does cap daily surfing to 1500 page views per surfer. This is actually quite high for a surfing cap and makes me wonder why they’ve bothered with the limit at all. The top 20 surfers are awarded on a daily basis, and a quick look at the standings reveals that most are averaging around 500 views per day with only a handful coming anywhere near the cap.
In addition to the top surfers competition, there is a surfing game which requires members to collect “cards”, each depicting a different “God” from ancient Greek mythology. It compliments the theme well and does a fairly good job of encouraging regular surfing.
What’s surprising to me is the high percentage of unique hits being delivered here. The high traffic flow is expected with all of the competitive surfing going on, but stats are showing that there are quite a few surfers participating here, and for an exchange this young, that’s pretty impressive.
Results haven’t been much to write home about thus far, and I’m thinking it’s going to take some well targeted, exchange specific ads to really grab any attention here. Approach this one as you would any of the big “team surfing” exchanges, and you may just enjoy the traffic at Mythology surf.
Final Rating: 5 (out of possible 10)
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Traffic Project October 7, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentTraffic Project is yet another LJ script based traffic exchange with all the standard features. You get your full page views, banner ads and text link ads, and a small handful of credits for signing up, but there’s really nothing truly unique about this program.
The first thing that sticks out here is the site’s presentation, and not in a good way I’m afraid. Everything from the layout to the promotional tools look dated and downright amateur and I’m sure this has had a negative impact on this site’s success.
Free members can earn a 2:1 surf ratio at Traffic Project, and the pro upgrade is one of the most affordable in the business, though it would be hard to justify spending any money, or time for that manner, in an exchange like this one. Traffic delivery is substandard, and there seems to be little effort from the admin to improve the business.
The downline builder here does feature some reputable programs, however the inclusion of sites like “Pooh Bear Surf” make me question the integrity of this entire service. If it’s true that you are judged by the company you keep, the owner of Traffic Project may want to re-think some of the programs he’s pushing in his downline builder.
All in all, there’s little to save Traffic Project from a red number score here. I will however be back for an updated review in the future. Hopefully we’ll see some improvements by then.
Final Rating: 2 (out of possible 10)
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