Magnify Traffic September 9, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentMagnify Traffic does a great job of distinguishing itself from the hundreds of other traffic exchanges online. From the moment you log in, Magnify has a distinctly different feel, yet it’s layout is focused and simple to navigate.
The team at Magnify have taken huge steps to ensure members return to surf daily, and offer some generous rewards for those who do. Rewards come in the form of surf ratio bonuses. Some of which are good for the remainder of the day, and some you get to keep the next day if you log in and surf again.
You can always depend on Magnify Traffic’s dependable traffic delivery as well. You would think with all these ratio bonuses going around, credits would begin to back up. Quite the contrary here as the hits have been rolling in nice and steady all summer with no sign of slowing down.
If there’s one thing I find lacking at Magnify, it’s text links. Sure, there’s a common belief that text links are worthless, but I for one have always loved the ability to convert credits to text links. It’s a great way to test short n’ sweet ads and I’ve had some great results from these things in the past. Maybe resident programmer (and co-owner) Dan Smith will incorporate text links in the future.
All in all, Magnify Traffic is a quality program that I can feel comfortable recommending to anyone.
My Rating: 7 (out of a possible 10)
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Hit Pirate
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentIs that Captain Jack Sparrow in the top right corner of this site? Can’t tell for sure, but one thing is certain… owner “Captain” Jack Schafer is no stranger to the traffic exchanges.
Hit Pirate has been delivering the page views since late 2004, and continues to fare well considering it’s lack of exposure as of late. The affiliate toolbox here features a treasure trove of promotional tools, and with Mr. Schafer offering some generous commissions, (up to 50%), it’s surprising we don’t see more Hit Pirate ads out there.
This click exchange is rather newbie friendly as well. The sidebar has links to some Hit Pirate specific training as well as some general TE tutorials as well. This is something not enough exchanges take the time to do. I believe many owners have forgotten what it was like to be a newbie. Respect To Captain Jack for not neglecting the land lubbers.
Emails from the captain are rare, and while some would prefer less emails in their inbox, I personally like to hear from the TE owners once in a while. Even if there’s nothing much to report, it’s real easy for surfers to forget about you in this community of program hoppers. A little reminder from the admin once in a while would surely make the activity at Hit Pirate even better.
Bottom line, Hit Pirate is a clean, well managed exchange, that could use a bit more promotion. No Reason this couldn’t be one of the best with a bit of a push.
My Rating: 5 (out of a possible 10)
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Traffic Swarm
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentWith a membership of over 500,000 Traffic Swarm is the biggest Traffic Exchange online today. But do big numbers like these mean better results?
Well, you can’t deny the potential for monstrous exposure in a program of this size. Getting that exposure however is not as simple here as you may think. Traffic Swarm’s method of advertising member pages requires the user to write a brief classified ad. While surfing, members choose from a set of 8 classified ads, clicking one starts the timer and loads the corresponding member page. Now, many will argue that most people would just click all of the ads, regardless of the classified itself, in an effort to gain as many credits as possible. I’m sure many surfers do exactly that. However the surfbar is not the only method in which hits are delivered at Traffic Swarm.
Another method to earn credits at Swarm is to add their search box to your website. The search box is linked to the directory of Traffic Swarm member ads. Hits coming in this fashion are possibly the highest quality hits you can get anywhere as the user was specifically searching for your site or product. In a situation like this, the best classified ad will most certainly get the click.
Traffic Swarm also lets you earn credits by adding their link box to your site. This is similar to google’s adsense and like in the previous example, members with good ad writing skills get the most clicks from these ads.
So Traffic Swarm has put together a program that offers some impressive exposure for your site. Thanks to the search box, and link box, your ads are not limited to the Traffic Swarm surfbar, but could easily be found on member sites all over the web.
My Rating: 9 (out of a possible 10)
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Dragon Surf September 8, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentSoren Jordansen’s Dragon Surf is as visually impressive as it is effective. The site’s design is a work of art by nearly anyone’s standards and the service here is equally special.
As one of the 5 exchanges involved in the recent Super Surf cross promotion, Dragon Surf is experiencing a rise not only in activity, but in it’s membership size as well. Not that Dragon Surf wasn’t already an active program, in fact DS has had one of the most active memberships around for quite some time now.
Inside the member’s area you’ll find an affiliate toolbox, which makes referring others into DS a snap. The toolbox includes splash pages that can be customized to include your photo, as well as a banner ad for whatever program you like. Also included are DS banners, pre written e-mails and safelist ads, and an impressive peel-away ad ready to copy and paste into website. Advanced users will love the included squeeze page which can be set up to include your own auto responder code.
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.
There are 2 upgrade options available, both very reasonably priced, with increasing surf ratios and referral commissions being the most notable difference. Both options include random referrals, with commissions paid on both upgrades and purchases made by anyone you refer.
All in all a solid, multi-featured exchange that is sure to continue delivering quality page views well into the future.
My Rating: 8 (out of a possible 10)
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The Hit Devil
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentThe Hit Devil looks great from the outside, but for some reason this program never seemed to get off the ground.
On the inside we find the same features you’ll find on any other exchange running on the dreaded Walker traffic exchange script. Doesn’t seem to be much to set this service apart from the competition.
Looking at the promotional tools, it’s not hard to see why this exchange hasn’t grown much since it’s launch. While there are several splash pages listed here for members to promote, none of the links are working at the time of this review. Further down the page we do find several banners, but I have to wonder how many member’s actually make it past the bad links to even see them.
Traffic stats leave much to be desired as well, with both low rate of delivery as well as low unique percentage.
In conclusion, The Hit Devil has some serious issues to address before I can justify giving a better ranking.
My Rating: 2 (out of a possible 10)
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247 Traffic Pro September 7, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentThe team at 247TrafficPro have been on fire this summer and activity seems to be increasing by the day. Lets take a look at some of the new additions and see how this exchange stacks up to the competition.
This summer marked the beginning of the Hover Surf craze. Made popular first by the gang at New Way 2 Surf, it was quickly imitated by tons of exchanges looking to cash in on the buzz. 247 Traffic Pro reacted quickly, looking to please members who preferred to hover, they developed a customizable version of the hover surf feature made it an optional feature at their click exchange. But they didn’t stop there…
Looking to reward loyal surfers, 247TrafficPro turned on their “keep the next day” progressive surf ratio. Surf long enough, get an increased surf ratio. Come back and surf the next day and your increased surf ratio remains in place. Surely an incentive to surf daily, but with all these extra credits being earned, won’t member credits begin to stockpile?
Apparently, the 247TrafficPro team was aware of this possibility and quickly developed their “Activity Points” feature. Rewarding active members with points for doing “the most regular tasks on 247TrafficPro”. Each week, the top 5 members based on points win the weekly jackpot. The jackpot contains credits, banner and text impressions, referrals and even a bit of cash.
So the activity is high and the features are full of potential, so why are my results here not consistent with other active exchanges. I can’t answer that question, but if the fellas at 247TrafficPro can, I think they’ll have a real powerhouse of a hit exchange on their hands.
My Rating: 5 (out of a possible 10)
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SWAT Traffic
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentThe effectiveness of any service can usually be measured by the abilities and dedication of the management behind the business. So with THE Te Guy, Jon Olson at the helm, it only stands to reason that SWAT Traffic would be a safe bet for your advertising needs right? Let’s step into the officer’s lounge and see if our logic adds up shall we?
Jon Olson has always been known for his patient, “Slow and steady wins the race” approach to business building. Unfortunately, early this year, things at SWAT Traffic where just plain slow. The exchange seemed to be on Mr. Olson’s back burner and the site was simply not up to par with what you’d expect from the TE Guy.
Now, if you read Jon’s famous “Hit Exchange News” every week. It probably came as no surprise that SWAT Traffic got a significant push this summer, bringing in a slew of new members and traffic delivery literally tripled. Lately SWAT Traffic has been on everyone’s lips and you don’t have to look too deep to see why.
These days, SWAT’s dynamic surf ratio is nothing unique, nor are any of the primary features you’ll find in the navigation bar. The focus is on traffic delivery, and as of late, this manual only traffic exchange has been doing it well. In a time when feature packed exchanges can lose site of the real reason we’re all here, to view each others ads, SWAT keeps the task of getting those page views simple.
What really makes this exchange shine, and by far the highest draw for SWAT is that this is the home of the elite. Upgraded members here get access to live training and consultation. These weekly seminars are hosted by the TE guy himself, and several of the most successful traffic exchange marketers today can be found here every week. Want to learn how a former pizza cook managed to grow his business into a 6 figure per year income source? These guys will share it all. Getting access to this conference room is much akin to getting the keys to the executive washroom. It’s worth the cost of the upgrade alone, and puts SWAT in a class of it’s own.
Although SWAT Traffic has yet to reach the awesome scope of it’s sister site, I Love Hits, it’s still very much a solid exchange. I expect we’ll continue to see a rise in both the activity and the effectiveness of this free advertising resource.
My Rating: 6 (out of a possible 10)
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WebCentreSurf September 6, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentWebCentreSurf? Yep, I’m a fan. This is an exchange that stands out from the rest and has no trouble delivering a steady stream of hits.
So what’s different about WebCentreSurf? Lets start with their credit transfer system. Through the private messaging system, you can contact either your sponsor, your downline, 100 random members, or the entire list of “opt-In” members. (currently over 27,000). With each message you can attach credits from your balance. But you see, that’s not even the cool part. You can create an “external credit link” which you can use outside of WebCentreSurf. This gives you the opportunity to offer some of your credits as a “bribe” to someone to sign up under you.
I have to also mention the addictive nature of the surf game here. Much like the game show “who wants to be a millionaire”, surfers are subjected to a series of trivia questions, all multiple choice. With each progressing question, you have the option to either cash out or risk moving on to the next question. An addictive way to win credits and if you know your stuff, you can grab some truly ginormous amounts of credits here.
If you fancy an upgrade, you’ll be pleased to find that along with your increased surf ratio, you also get the surf timer reduced to 10 seconds. (15 seconds is the norm here.) On top of the bonus credits you receive you also get a free solo ad to the entire opt in list as well.
When all’s said and done, WebCentreSurf is a solid advertising resource and a regular part of my own surfing routine. Definitely worth a test run if you’ve yet to promote there.
My Rating: 7 (out of a possible 10)
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Click Ranch
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentClick ranch is one of many cowboy themed traffic exchanges online these days, but in my opinion, not one to be overlooked. Quickly nearing 7,000 members, this exchange is making a steady climb in the numbers and has the stats to match.
In the way of site features, you won’t see much you haven’t seen before. Click Ranch does have many of the mods you see in most full featured exchanges, but there doesn’t appear to be anything truly unique going on inside the member’s area. Surely they must be doing something to get the activity up, right?
One source of all the activity may be their weekly surfing contest. Add on a monthly referral contest to bring in a steady flow of new members and we begin to see why this exchange is growing at such a steady pace.
The owners do seem to be onto something with their Monday cross promotions. Surf 100 sites on Monday, get 100 credits at another traffic exchange. I’m sure users with limited time to surf are getting a kick out of this aspect.
Click Ranch may have quite a bit of road to travel before they hit the “big time”, but it looks like the owners are on the right track. I’m keeping an eye on this one.
My Rating: 5 (out of a possible 10)
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Click Voyager September 5, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentTypically, Traffic Exchanges with a team surfing feature tend to be some of the most active advertising venues on the net. Click Voyager is no exception. You can easily find yourself burning through 1000 or more hits per day, and if you can catch the attention of these power surfing CV teams, you can find yourself pulling in some serious results.
Click Voyager offers multiple different ways to win credits and that’s a good thing since free members surf at what works out to be a 5:1 surf ratio. For example, for every 100 sites you surf in a day, you get a free spin on the click voyager slots where members can win up to 1000 credits.
This seems like a good time to mention the one thing I hate about click voyager. 10 credits equals 1 page view. While I totally understand this approach from the exchange owner’s point of view, I absolutely despise this as a surfer. Can’t we all agree on a uniform credit system? Oh, wait. That’s right. Almost everyone does.
Aside from that minor annoyance, there’s much to love about Click Voyager. Whether you’re bidding for the coveted daily sponsor site ad, Testing your luck in the click voyage, (where you can win up to 50,000 credits), or gambling your credits in the weekly credit lottery, there’s no shortage of ways to score some huge exposure for your business here.
So while there’s no shortage of active surfers here to see your ads, it’s important to note the competitive nature of the average team surfer. These people can be considerably harder to reach as their focus tends to be on clicking as fast as possible, so you’ll have to put in some effort if you want to convince them to stop and read your ads. Luckily the folks at Click Voyager had the presence of mind to supply with you with the tools to do so. Even as a free member you can use the built in splash page maker to create your own custom splash pages to promote your favorite program. You can have up to 3 custom splashes at a time for free. What a great feature and definitely one of the biggest benefits of a Click Voyager membership.
Bottom line, Click Voyager has a large active membership and as such should be a welcome addition to anyone’s surfing schedule. Just keep in mind that exchange specific splash pages and squeeze pages are a must in this environment.
My Rating: 7 (out of a possible 10)
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