Advantages and Disadvantages of Traffic Exchange Programs

As a newbie in the blogging world, I get too excited to see views on my blog increasing each day. I tried to research several ways on how to increase traffic on my blog. I tried all those recommendations, from promoting my blog site to social networking sites, giving sensible comments to fellow bloggers and more. Well, I got some good results since I was able to increase my views a bit each day. However, once you get a taste of some success you crave for more. That was what happened to me. I became impatient on getting the usual 20-30 audience views per day. So, I tried surfing the internet for better ways to get more traffic on my blog.

While surfing, I came across the term traffic exchange program. So, what is a traffic exchange program? It is a program in which you join so you can surf other members' websites and vice versa. This in return will earn you more traffic on your blog or site. There is a credit ratio scheme in which for every number of views you have made on other websites, you also get the same corresponding amount of views on your site. if you do not have time to surf other websites, you can also make used of paid advertisement for traffic exchange. Anyway, there are hundreds or even thousands of traffic exchange programs on the internet. Try to choose one that would best suit your needs. Each traffic exchange program has its own ways to get more views on your site. There are text ad exchange programs, banner exchange, blog traffic exchange and more.  As for me, so far, I have tried three traffic exchange programs. In my next blog, I will be discussing regarding my experiences on these sites.

Moving on, you might get overjoyed that traffic exchange programs may be  the answer to your slow traffic views on your site. However, this style has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of Traffic Exchange Programs:

• Traffic exchange programs are used for low budget advertisement promotions by small business owners or marketers.
• With the traffic exchange, there would be an increase on the views of your blog which would increase trust from search engines.
• For a newbie, the traffic you get from traffic exchange programs can help you get some new readers on your site.
• While earning credits by viewing other sites, you may have the chance to see other sites related to yours. You can keep in touch with the site owner and start some direct link exchange. You can gain a good back link from a site with high PR rating. This in return can improve your site when it comes to search engine visibility. You also get direct traffic from the other site.
• In addition, you will gain higher impressions on Google analytics and other analytics platform. If you are selling some advertisements on your blog or site, you can have the chance to get advertisers at a good price.

Disadvantages of Traffic Exchange Programs:

• Based on my experience, I became so hooked up on surfing other sites using traffic exchange programs. I did not have much time to write more on my blogs.
• There are traffic exchange programs that have low conversion rate. You need to do some investigations and trials just to get the best traffic exchange programs that would suit your needs.
• There are no returning visitors and you rarely get some clicks on your advertisements. So, it means less revenue on your part.
• There are some traffic exchange programs that are against Google Adsense' rules.
• You can see some display ads on your websites which are quite irrelevant to your site. Some of these ads involve pictures of a sexy young woman or other stuffs. Readers may find it inappropriate.
• Most surfers from traffic exchange programs do not spend much time reading the content of your site. You do not get full benefit of the program.
• There are sites that you surf that may bring harm to your computer or may slow down your computer performance. Sometimes, it takes time to open these sites which is also time consuming.  
• And the most important thing, you will get high bounce rates which is not good at all. Higher bounce rate means that people are not interested in your blog content. The bounce rate increases when your visitors stay only for a few seconds on your site. 

Finally,  as much as possible try to stay away from traffic exchange programs if you do not really need it. A good organic traffic on your site is good enough to boost your site or blog on the online world. Traffic exchange is not highly recommended by experienced bloggers as there are more disadvantages than advantages. At the end of the day, it is always your choice. Just consider those advantages and disadvantages I mentioned above.

Traffic Exchange Programs

I tried three traffic exchange programs for my new blog and I am still using two of these traffic exchange programs. At first, it was just an experiment for me and now I am beginning to like it. Well, I was able to get some good and bad results. Anyway, let me discuss to you thoroughly my experiences on these three traffic programs I am using right now.

Entrecard.com Review

This is the first traffic exchange program that I tried on my new blog. I came upon this site while surfing for potential traffic exchange program that would suit my blog. I read some feedback before I signed up on the site. Some feedback were positive but  there were negative feedback as well. Still, I gave it a shot. I joined Entrecard.com, read the FAQ, then uploaded the Entrecard business Card 2.0 on my blog. Anyway, Entrecard features the following:

• Instant increase on web traffic
• Reaching new customers which will generate increase in sales and revenue
• Tools in the dashboard that would allow a blogger to network and make new friends with other bloggers. Once you get to view other business cards, you can communicate with other bloggers through a private messaging system.
• This a chance for you to increase your rate on Alexa.com, a website responsible for rating internet traffic on a particular website or blog. The higher rating you achieve, the more traffic you get on your blog or website. 
• Prompt and efficient customer service 

How it works?

Once you downloaded the Entrecard business Card 2.0, you can start advertising. You can visit other members of Entrecard and then press the "drop" portion on the card. In addition, other members will also get to visit your site and drop on your card. Every time you drop a card, you earn 1 EC  credit. Once you earned enough credits, you can buy ad space on other sites or blogs for 24 hours. It is quite easy to learn the platform on Entrecard. Familiarize its functions and for sure you would be successful in this program.

My verdict: 
I have been using this traffic exchange program for almost a month now. So far, I do not have high traffic returns. It is time consuming to open some blogs or sites. Most members only stay on the blog for a short period of time. However, on a positive note, I get to exchange some links with other fellow bloggers. In addition, I also discover more blogs that have interesting content. All in all, it is fair enough especially if you have ample time to browse other sites.


EasyHits4U.com Review

This is another traffic exchange program that I signed up. I have been in this program for almost two weeks now. EasyHits4U features the following services:

• 1:1 Traffic Exchange
• Manual surfing
• 20 seconds or more per visit
• Guaranteed unique hits 24/7
• 5 levels referral program
• Earn cash for active surfing, you get to earn US$0.30 for every 1,000 sites you viewed
• Geo Targeting of your ads
• Promote up to 15 sites or blogs
• Surfing and referral contests
• Promote site with unlimited banners and text ads
• 50 free credits & 500 text ad impressions upon sign up

How it works? 

This is a 1:1  traffic exchange site. For every site you visit using the system, you get one visitor to your website. You stay on the site for about 20 seconds or more which is good since your site or blog might pique the interest of your readers. You can surf around 300 sites per day. However, for some international countries, there is a limit on the number of sites to surf. Premium members receive much more sites to surf.

My verdict:

This is a good traffic exchange program for entry level bloggers. You can really earn instant traffic on your site or blog. At first, I got around less than 50 views with Entrecard but with EasyHits4U, I get tremendous increase on my traffic each day. I get around 200 to 300 views a day. This is good to increase visibility and ranking in some search engines. In addition, their customer service is quite accommodating and prompt in replying inquiries from members. I have observed that most of the users on the site are PTC users. It is great for these users since they can get direct referrals for their PTC sites. As for my blog, it is indeed great to increase traffic but later on, I realized that it has weak conversion points. I never have a chance to earn from these views. I would not recommend this site for those who have Google Adsense account since it is against their rules. This is good for new blogs but later on, once you get established, you can start getting more traffic without the aid of traffic exchange programs. All in all, traffic exchange programs have helped a  lot of newbies and EasyHits4U is just one of the most reliable traffic exchange programs that would generate high traffic to any blogs or sites.

Adgitize.com Review

When, I started planning to write about traffic exchange programs, I was surprised to receive a news from Adgitize.com that they are going to close by January 31st, 2012. It is sad to see this site goes. I have a very brief experience from this site but I can say that I earned some traffic and even earned a little amount of income. I wish for the best for the site owner, staffs and other fellow bloggers.