Clicks 4 Education September 25, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentClicks 4 Education has a unique take on traffic exchange advertising. With the exception of it’s sister site, Surf 4 The Earth, I can’t think of another site that acts as a fundraiser like this one.
At Clicks 4 education, you can donate your credits, or cash, to the school of your choice. There is also a shop filled with a variety of items, and proceeds go to the school of your choosing as well.
What Clicks 4 Education is really famous for are their one of a kind promotions. Instead of giving out cash or credit prizes, these folks give away tangible items, quite often chocolate or other sweets. It’s definitely different, and hey, who doesn’t like chocolate?
As an advertising resource, C4E is, well… ok. there are 2 surf games to help you earn those extra credits, one being a variation of hangman, the other seems like a take on where in the world is carmen san diego, only in this case, you’re looking for the site mascot Jackie the dog.
There appears to be a team surfing feature in place here, but it’s not immediately apparent how it works. As you would expect, this ensures credits are delivered in a timely manner, but the question is how many people are actually seeing our ads here? Is it just a handful of loyal members?
On one hand, I have to applaud Clicks 4 Education for the selfless nature of their program. However as a surfer, the only thing that might bring me here to surf is my conscience.
Final Rating: 4 (out of possible 10)
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Lords of Traffic September 19, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentLords of Traffic Has got to be one of the most heavily modified LJ based click exchanges on the net. Combining popular features like team surfing and live chat, with the love it or hate it hover surf mod, this exchange has grown fast.
1st off, I have to admit, this is one heck of an active exchange. The team surfing exchanges tend to be, and it didn’t take Lords Of Traffic long to get their activity levels up to a competitive level.
But active surfing doesn’t always mean an effective exchange, which brings me to one area where LOT seems to have dropped the ball. The surfbar itself.
In their attempt to incorporate all the flashy features of more established exchanges like StartXchange or Traffic Era, the management at Lords of Traffic seem to have forgotten the importance of member ads actually being seen. The size of the surfbar here is downright HUGE and leaves little space for member ads on the average browser. Heaven forbid anyone is using the chat feature as well as the window for member ads would be reduced to little more than a postage stamp’s size.
Now, I’m not saying you can’t pull some results out of LOT. but if you hope to get a piece of the pie here, you’re definitely going to need some well planned, targeted ads. As if it wasn’t hard enough to get the attention of the average team surfer, LOT has given us a second obstacle to overcome with their bulky, cluttered surfbar.
Here’s hoping Lords of Traffic puts some thought into a better surfbar design at some point soon. A little effort in that department could make this a top exchange.
Final Rating: 5 (out of possible 10)
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TrafficEra September 11, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentDespite the fact that this exchange only just opened it’s doors this year, Traffic Era has grown to become one of the most active manual exchanges on the net.
Team surfing is a huge part of the activity here. If you’re in a good team of power surfers, the potential for big time credits prizes is outstanding. However the competitive nature of the teams at Traffic Era is without equal. The quest for clocks keeps some of these teams surfing well into the wee hours of the night. While this is great for traffic flow, what does this do to the quality of traffic here?
Well for one, the eyes of the average team surfer rarely stray from the surfbar. The nature of the team surfing at Traffic Era is basically a race to collect a target number of “clocks” which appear periodically in the surfbar. First team to reach the goal, gets the biggest number of bonus credits, and some of these jackpots are downright monstrous.
What all of this boils down to, is that team surfers at Traffic Era, are extremely hesitant to look, or more importantly act on, the ads they stumble across while surfing. In Their race for the jackpot, seconds count, and unless your ad copy is absolutely astounding, more often then not, your ad will be ignored.
So yes, Traffic Era has a sizable active membership, and many will rave about the results they are getting there. Rest assured, these folks have spent some serious time working on their ads, specifically for use at Traffic Era. Do the same, and Traffic Era may become a huge asset for your business. Just don’t expect ads that convert well elsewhere to get the same results here.
My Rating: 7 (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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StartXchange September 2, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentTim Linden’s StartXchange is home to possibly one of the most advanced traffic exchange scripts online today. While it’s simple enough to log in and start surfing for credits right away, this TE is jam packed with features to help you get the most out of your membership.
The focus appears to be on keeping members actively promoting. Surfers are rewarded in multiple ways for staying active within the site, and this has proven to make for a VERY active exchange.
StartXchange is one of several exchanges that has a team surfing feature. Teams compete for big credit rewards and with StartXchange’s ability to easily deliver 1000 hits per url per day, there’s no worry of those credits not being used.
Of course some would say that team surfing makes it much harder to get people’s attention with your ads, so the free TE Toolbox membership for upgraded members makes for a nice bonus. Upgraded members can use the toolbox to create their own splash pages, track their results and continue to tweak their ads for maximum results.
Tim Recently added a new feature to the surfbar which displays the username of the person just ahead of you in pageviews, and how many sites you must view to catch up to them in the rankings. An addictive feature which tends to keep you surfing longer, even if only to surf that few pages more to catch up.
All in all, StartXchange does a great job of delivering traffic, Has a large active membership, and doesn’t skimp on the features. Online since 2001 with no sign of slowing down, This site is always in my surfing schedule.
My Rating: 8 (out of a possible 10)
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Traffic At The Races August 31, 2008
Posted by The Secret Surfer in : Reviews , add a commentI’ve always been attracted to innovation. Fresh ideas, improvements on old ideas, it’s evolution at work and part of what makes the human race so special. So in a time when “cookie cutter” traffic exchanges, which are essentially clones of each other with a few modified graphics, are prevalent, logging in to Steve Ayling’s Traffic at the Races is wonderfully refreshing.
While the focus is on the traffic, as well it should be, it’s the method in which you earn pageviews that makes this particular TE such a treat. Rather than earning views for each page surfed, after every 10 pages you view, the race screen loads and 5 horses race for the finish line. Each horse has a value in “race points”(credits) and the horse that wins determines how many points you get. You also earn race points for each race run by your downline, and Steve has included some great looking, and rather hilarious, splash pages to help you build your team.
With thousands of members already racing and Steve’s unique adverts bringing in more every day, It’s safe to say that pages rotated at this racetrack are getting some great exposure. Throw in bonus credits appearing rather frequently, and more bonus credits on the surf verification page, and you’ll see the traffic coming in droves before you know it.
If you’re a fan of e-mail marketing, you’ll be delighted to see that free members can e-mail their downline once every 14 days, and upgraded members can do so every 7 days.
Steve seems to really be on to something with this method of earning credits. With credits being earned in this manner, you find yourself looking up from the surf buttons more often, and that’s what it’s all about isn’t it. Eyes on the ads. Bottom line, Traffic at the Races is a powerful, yet simple system that is only going to increase in value as it’s membership continues to grow. Keep your eye on this one.
My Rating: 7 (out of a possible 10)
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