Web Biz Insider September 5, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentWeb Biz Insider is big. We’re talking HUGE member base to rival some of the biggest exchanges online today. Not long ago, this site was a consistently top ranked click exchange that everyone was using. But in the first half of 2008, WBI seemed to be on a downward slide.
As of late, owner Matthew Graves has been an active little admin, revamping the site to make some, in my opinion, long overdue improvements.
Finally! We have the ability to use text links at Web Biz Insider. Your “enhanced text ads” are highlighted in yellow, and really stand out against the deep blue surfbar. Banner ads are now much more manageable than before and now work much like we’ve become accustomed to in the majority of the exchanges.
All of the features that once made Web Biz king are still in place as well. You can email your downline once per week, adding any available credits you may have as an incentive for readers to open your emails. Having trouble building a downline? No Problem. Mr. Graves will allow you to purchase a downline, and frequently offers special pricing on downline member packages. Yes, these are REAL people too as tracking of your email ads will verify.
So effectively, this site is not only a manual traffic exchange, but a credit based safelist as well. While traffic flow isn’t what it once was, Web Biz Insider appears to be back on the road to the top. As Matthew’s site rapidly approaches 130,000 members, I think we’ll see WBI as a top contender once again in the near future.
My Rating: 6 (out of a possible 10)
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Soaring 4 Traffic
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentRay White’s Soaring4Traffic has been quietly climbing a number of TE ranking lists as of late and having spent some time surfing there this summer, I’m beginning to see why. The traffic delivery is steady, and results have been about what I’d hope for in an exchange of this size. Let’s take a closer look and see what’s keeping s4t members coming back to surf.
A quick look through the navigation links reveals much of what you’ll find in any traffic exchange, personalized splash pages to promote Soaring4Traffic with, and a downline builder featuring a good variety of programs. Ray’s site also has a downline builder exclusively for traffic exchanges which ties into another feature called your “surf center”. Basically, the surf center makes keeping track of your surfing schedule a simple task as you can quickly load up your favorite exchanges, each in their own tabs at the start of each surf session. When a surf session is completed, the date and time is recorded, and the sites you’ve surfed are moved to the bottom of your surf center. A handy little tool, and the video tutorial for new users is a welcome bonus.
Surfing S4t is quite rewarding for a 3:1 exchange when you factor in the generous bonus credits appearing in the surfbar. They rate at which they appear seems to be set just right as it’s hard to tear yourself away from surfing in anticipation of that next bonus. Keep surfing long enough and you may see the game page. Crack open the correct egg, and you can win some healthy bonuses here as well.
All in all, for a relatively new exchange, Soaring4Traffic appears to be offering a quality service for it’s members. Aside from a few unique differences, S4t seems to be sticking with a proven model for traffic delivery and it’s showing in the stats. I can’t see any reason why this program won’t continue it’s steady climb to the top.
My Rating: 6 (out of a possible 10)
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Blue-Surf September 4, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentScott Martin’s unique exchange Blue-Surf is a class act and you’ll know it from the moment the page loads. The professional yet eye appealing design gives a great impression and the service itself leaves little to be desired.
A completely custom built traffic-exchange, Blue-Surf is one of a kind, yet navigation is simple and intuitive making it a snap for newbies and old pro’s alike to get in and start advertising their pages right away.
Site-wide stats are boldly displayed on the home page, and I really love a site that is willing to share this valuable information with it’s members. A quick glance will show not only the number of members currently surfing, but also how many sites, banners, and text links are in rotation. Stats like these help me decide where to focus my advertising for maximum effect and I applaud Blue-Surf for making this info available.
Automatic daily bonuses for surfing 100-300 sites is a definite plus. That’s on top of the bonuses you can receive on the Blue-Surf prize page which appears often enough while surfing. No shortage of bonuses here.
Some great looking promotional tools go hand in hand with Blue Surf’s commission structure, offering up to 40% commissions on your referrals upgrades. While most exchanges these days have a similar structure, you’ll find referring others to Blue-Surf to be surprisingly easy.
Blue-Surf continues to rank well in the lists, and I have to agree with the trend. Blue-Surf is a winner. The only reason I don’t rank it higher is that it is relatively new, and as such doesn’t have the large reach of the “big” exchanges. However the activity at Blue-Surf is growing like crazy and will no doubt rival the top 5 before long.
My Rating: 7 (out of a possible 10)
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Traffic G
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentSince their inception back in 1999, Traffic exchanges have evolved in many ways. Currently the average surfbar timer is set to 10 seconds (even lower in some cases), but believe it or not there was a time when most exchanges had a 30 second timer. One of the few traffic exchanges to stick to the 30 second timer is TrafficG, and from where I’m sitting, it doesn’t seem to have hurt them one bit.
The 30 second timer isn’t the only thing that’s remained the same. In fact, if you’ve been a member of TrafficG since early 2005 or so, you’ve probably noticed that NOTHING has changed. A quick look at the history page shows the last site upgrade/event dated May 8th, 2005. I suppose the folks behind this exchange decided to stand behind their system taking a “if it ‘aint broke, don’t fix it” attitude. As their service continues to rank well on many ranking lists, and my own results there continue to be above average, I have to think they may be right.
Truly an oddity, TrafficG stands apart in other ways as well. These days most exchanges only award credits for a percentage of your 1st level downline’s surfing, but at TrafficG you earn credits on your referrals activity 5 levels deep. Huge potential for residual traffic building here.
If you’re a fan of banner advertising, you may want to have a look at TrafficG’s free banner exchanger software. Basically, you add your banner link, then load up the software which displays banners while you go about your normal PC activities. The software will prompt you occassionally to click and ensure that you haven’t walked away from the computer. It’s a unique approach to banner advertising and I used to love testing banners this way. Sadly, the delivery of banner credits has slowed down considerably lately, possibly due to the ever increasing size of the TrafficG membership.
Bottom line, while TrafficG may not be a top 10 exchange these days, it’s most certainly top 20 material and that puts it miles ahead of most of the competition in both the size of it’s membership and the results it delivers.
My Rating: 7 (out of a possible 10)
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Real hitz 4 U September 3, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentWhile RealHitz4U will always be the #2 Boxing themed exchange in my book, that’s not to say it’s a shabby traffic service. In fact, the program has been make a steady, if a bit slow, climb in most of the ranking services, and it’s not hard to see why.
For starters, RealHitz4U offers some wonderful looking promotional tools for bringing in new members. This makes building your downline there a snap and with the 25% commissions for free members it’s no wonder we’re seeing these ads everywhere lately.
Traffic delivery can be a bit sporadic, sometimes moving like greased lightning, and occasionally slowing to a crawl, but the admin seems to react fairly quickly with surfing incentives to boost the traffic flow when necessary.
If you’re a fan of traffic exchanges with downline builders built in, the one at RealHitz4U is worth a look. It has only 4 programs in it, and all of them are downline builders themselves. Seems like that could be quite attractive to surfers obsessed with downline building.
What about credit bonuses? RealHitz doesn’t disappoint in this category either, offering bonus credits periodically while you surf, and giving out daily surf bonuses to the top 10 surfers as well.
To be honest, RealHitz4U appears to be doing everything right, and I’m surprised it hasn’t grown faster than it has. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s running on the frequently despised Walker Traffic exchange script, maybe it’s something else I’m just not seeing. All in all, this one is part of my “second string” of te’s which I surf regularly. I Imagine it will work it’s way into my primary routine eventually at the rate it’s growing.
My Rating: 7 (out of a possible 10)
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Free Traffic Lotto
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentIf there’s one thing I hate to see in an exchange, it’s a credit system that doesn’t follow the 1 credit equals 1 pageview system. There’s a handful of sites that do this, and at Free Traffic Lotto, 3 credits equals 1 pageview.
I can imagine many a user logged in for the first time, was delighted to see they were getting 1 credit per click as a free member, only to find out that they were essentially surfing at the standard 3:1 ratio the whole time. It’s disappointing, and a bit misleading, and I wouldn’t doubt that many a member has walked away with a bad taste in their mouth, never to return.
The design looks like an artifact from back before the y2k scare, and probably isn’t helping bring in many new members either. And this a site that launched what, 2 years ago?
Here’s something else that gets under my skin. A free lotto ticket every 5 pages where I “might” win something. Is this really necessary every 5 pages? I mean I’d really rather have my ads shown than this lotto game. I’m sure the intentions where to keep surfers eyes on the ads, but based on my own tests, I’d say it’s time for some fresh ideas for this lotto thing.
Also can’t remember the last time I got an email from this program, which is always a red flag to me. The occasional update to remind members you’re there wouldn’t hurt the activity a bit. Seriously.
I’m really hard pressed to find much to like about Free Traffic Lotto. Here’s hoping the management decides to make some improvements soon. Maybe I’ll have another look sometime down the road, but it won’t be soon.
My Rating: 1 (out of a possible 10)
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Max Traffic Pro September 2, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentI’ve always liked the way Max Traffic Pro does things. At a glance, it seems to be no different than your average exchange, and in some ways it isn’t. You have your 10 second timer, 3:1 Ratio for free members, URL rotator and so on. But a closer look reveals a few unique aspects that really make MTP shine.
The first is the method in which Max Traffic Pro delivers hits. If a member sees your site, they won’t see it again until they’ve surfed 50 other sites. This makes for a nice balance of unique hits vs repeat exposure. This makes it much easier to reach all of MTP’s active members, rather than burning all your credits on the same handful of people.
Another feature you don’t see everyday is Max Traffic Pro’s banner and text link exchange. Member’s can add a snippet of code to their websites which will display random banners or text links from MTP members. Each display earns users their own impressions on sites that have the code in place. Makes for some nice bonus exposure outside of the exchange itself and I love the potential there.
At the end of the day, Max Traffic Pro is an above average exchange with a unique spin on traffic delivery. I’ve got a good feeling I’ll be surfing this one for quite some time.
My Rating: 7 (out of a possible 10)
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Easy Hits 4U
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentWhen you talk about super fast traffic delivery, EasyHits4U has got to be on the tip of your tongue. You’ll be hard pressed to find an exchange that delivers hits faster than this place. Online since 2003 and claiming a membership of 87,000 members on the front page, EasyHits4U is a monster of a program that will have your site seen by thousands in a relatively short period of time.
Free members here surf at a 1:1 ratio, which sounds great until you factor in the 20 second timer and realize you’re getting about the same ratio you would on a 10 second, 2:1 ratio exchange. Still not bad, and it doesn’t take long to rack up a decent amount of credits.
EasyHits is one of the few tes that offers a cash bonus for surfing 100 pages in a day. It may be only 30 cents, but you have the option to trade in your cash for credits or a limited time premium membership. For example, 40 cents is worth 67 credits or 2 days of premium membership. Power surfers can basically score themselves a free upgrade just by doing what they do normally. All that power surfing might explain why the traffic here is lightning fast.
While this sounds like it would be a great place to advertise, I’ve had a tough time getting any results there. It seems to take considerably more pageviews to generate a click thru for me here than at other active exchanges. I really have a hard time justifying surfing there at this point. Maybe the ownership will look into improving results for their members in some way. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
My Rating: 6 (out of a possible 10)
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Traffic Bunnies September 1, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentWhen pressed to name off the most active traffic exchanges online, Traffic Bunnies is always on my list. Boasting an awesome 15,000+ active members on it’s front page, TB has become a real advertising powerhouse.
I can’t log in to TB without taking a moment to play with the navigation buttons on the members page. Look at ‘em bounce! maybe I’m easily amused, but I love a nice looking site, and Bunnies really shines in that department.
Moving on to the good stuff…
Free members will love the bunny’s generous 2:1 surfing ratio, and bonuses come in the form of credits, banner impressions, or text link impressions as you surf. It surely doesn’t take long to rack up some hits to your page here. Traffic flow is good too so as a traffic exchange, TB is solid.
But apparently, that’s not good enough for Owner Cindy Battye. Have a look at Traffic Bunnies Connect for some powerful networking features. This is a feature far too many TEs overlook in this surfer’s opinion, so a big thumbs up to Cindy for helping put the network back into network marketing.
All in all, Traffic bunnies is much more than a cute theme, it’s an advertising goldmine.
My Rating: 8 (out of a possible 10)
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