I keep hearing this question: “Where is the traffic exchange industry headed?” I wasn’t around 10 years ago when the traffic exchange industry was, supposedly, in it’s prime. I have been surfing traffic exchanges for 4 years now and a traffic exchange co-owner for almost 2 of those years. I love the traffic exchange industry. Growing our exchange is my passion. Delivering good quality traffic to advertisers is our site goal.
Old Time Traffic Exchange Marketing
Marcy McManaway discusses “Old Time Traffic Exchange Marketing” in her post because Marcy remembers the “good old days”. She remembers: “There were no cash prizes for surfing tho and advertisers didn’t expect it.” I admit traffic exchanges have changed immensely, even since I started using them. Owners who preached cash in surf was bad for the industry have now embraced it and offer cash incentives every day. Opponents to cash in surf argue it is bringing sub-quality advertisers in to the traffic exchange industry, people who are looking to chase pennies and not spend money. Since Hot Flash Hits is one of the exchanges which has embraced cash surfing, I decided to do some analytics of our membership. The general data shows our traffic exchange is healthy and thriving. 29% of our active membership are paying upgraded members. 25% of the top surfers are upgraded members. To me, these numbers show our members appreciate the results they are receiving at Hot Flash Hits. I feel it is obvious our members who are collecting the daily cash incentives are willing to spend money on our site, this makes for a healthy site and a happy membership.
Real Advertisers
It is even apparent to me the traffic exchange industry is constantly evolving. I keep hearing the “real advertisers” have left. I would have to disagree with this statement. Although there are plenty of people using traffic exchanges as a social outlet, there are, also, plenty of genuine business people working to build an income. Maybe the products have changed because the average person is much more Internet savvy than the Internet users 10 years ago. It seems now people have learned to perform due diligence before spending their hard earned cash on the next best product. I think this is a good trend – smarter consumers = better products. Let the “real advertisers” design a product which will appeal to today’s consumer. That is the real challenge for the Internet Marketers today.
Diversity Rocks
Thank goodness not every traffic exchange is the same. As James Dias points out in his blog post: “Traffic Exchanges have had many sides for a long time.” Not every advertiser is looking for Hot Flash Hits, we realize our site will not appeal to everyone. All we can do is make our site the absolute best traffic exchange for our members. All we can do is try our best to build a responsive membership for our advertisers. Maybe I am naive but I feel we can have the best of all worlds – happy surfers and happy advertisers. Where is the traffic exchange industry headed? I have no idea, but I am sure happy to be along for the ride.
