To Traffic Exchange or Not?

First of all, I am a little confused about Google Adsense's policy in regards to traffic exchange programs while using their ads on your site. I recommend contacting them for a full explanation on the do's and dont's before using one of these programs on a site that hosts their ads. You do not want to be banned from the program just because you did not understand the terms of agreement. The rest of this post will assume you do not have Adsense on your site.

The number one consideration you should address when deciding to use a link exchange is, how much time can you spend surfing other sites to earn your credits? The more credits you earn sufing yourself determines how much traffic your site earns in return. Most sites have a 2:1 credit exchange ratio; meaning you have to view two sites in order to earn one visit to yours. Now there are exchanges out there that have a 1:1 exchange ratio but they are not the norm so if you find a reliable one use it often.

The second thing I considered was wether or not I was looking for increased sales by using these type of page views. Lets face it, traffic exchanges do not generally give you enough time per page view to really look around someones site and devolp an interest in their merchandise and services. Sometimes you come across a site that draws your attention immediately and you forget that your surfing, so think of this as you pick your Home page theme. View your page as if you were a potential customer surfing multiple sites. is there anything unique that will cause someone to stay once they have landed on your site? Is your content unique? Do you have eye-catching Headers and graphics? Does your product grab your immediate focus?

Third thing, should you use more than one exchange program? I currently use two actual link exchanges but I also use a few PTC sites that let me convert my cash earnings to link clicks or banner views.This allows others to be paid to view your site, will it increase your sales, probably not but it will most definetly increase your page views and familiarity within the PTC community. There are millions of people who use PTC to earn some extra income from home, and if you are being cycled in front of those millions on a daily basis then eventually they will begin to recognize your name and what you offer. PTC individuals are always looking for something that will benefit them, wether it is something free or an awesome deal on something they purchase online to begin with.

A great way to insure that you maximize the effectiveness of a traffic exchange program is to set up a simple poll at the top of your page. Ask your sufers to answer questions that give you insight on how to increase your sales. Offer them something free for answering the poll, create a newsletter that highlights something beneficial to them like how to earn extra money online or tutorials that are relevant to your product. If you have a specific knowledge of a subject that others may find beneficial to them use that to build a list of followers. If they find your topic interesting they are more likely to sign up for your email alerts everytime you make a change to your site. Offer your followers coupons and discounts that they recieve if they sign-up for your newsletters.

These are just a few things that I have went through to decide if traffic exchanges were right for me and what I learned while using them that help me target my potential audience more effectively. You may have other concerns or goals you need addressed but if you sit down and list them out one by one you can make your determination quickly and you will not waste your time trying to accomplish your goals.