To quote one of my favorite authors - Jeffrey Gitomer - "All things being equal people want to do business with people they like. All things NOT being equal people STILL want to do business with people they like."

That is where in an impersonal media like the internet where you can't actually shake hands and talk face to face the idea of branding becomes important. Using a picture in a page like this one or your advertising page in the exchange can start to build that relationship.

Now a picture is not like meeting someone face to face. It can start to add the necessary personality to your advertising. It can also add to your recognition. If every time I surf in the traffic exchanges I see your face then I start to recognize you.

Now after a period of time and I still continue to see you each and every day especially if I am frustrated with my efforts I start to wonder. How come I always see this person day in and day out.

Then when you are offering something of interest to me I am now much more receptive to checking it out. When your offer of a free report is on a topic of interest to me I am now comfortable to give you not only an email address but a good email address. Why? Because after constant exposure over time even though I have never met you you have become familiar to me.

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Now if your report is of value to me when your email arrives in my in box I will actually look forward to reading it. No longer are you someone trying to sell me something. You are a friend making a recommendation.

Get to that point and you now have a customer. The point is that people like to buy they just don't like to be sold.

Take this example. You are looking to buy a big screen TV. You do the research and ask your friends that have big screen TV's what they have and how it has been.

When you ask Jim he goes into a whole spiel about what great service he got from the ABC store. How they came and set it up, left everything super clean, spent 25 minutes after it was set up showing you how to use all the features, etc.

Are you going to think real hard about using ABC store? If it was $50 more there than at XYZ wouldn't you still seriously think about using ABC store despite the fact that they were a bit more expensive?

I would because they were recommended by a friend. Become the friend by branding yourself and supplying good information. Stop being the peddler and becoome the friend that recommends things.

Your business will love you for it.

Was an interesting discussion in the Swat Captain's seminar last night that got me to thinking. (Always a dangerous thing ;) ) If you are a Swat Captain and don't attend you are missing the boat on some great business building information. The weekly conferences are more than worth the price of the upgrade. Click the link below if you don't belong to Swat Traffic and join and upgrade today so you can be there next week.

Swat Traffic

Now before you misunderstand I like and use traffic exchanges. They can be a very effective way of generating subscribers. This is not a rant against traffic exchanges.

The other major point is that if everyone did what I am going to talk about traffic exchanges would cease to work. The good thing is that 90% or more of the people using traffic exchanges will never get this and complain that they don't work. But...

If you are looking to create a real business this is a mindset change you need to consider.

What is your time worth?

A point brought up by both Robert Puddy and Soren Jordansen was that you should be buying credits instead of surfing for them. It is what I do.

The reason behind it is that with the price of credits you should be able to generate the cost back quickly and your time would be better spent working on the steps that are necessary to do that rather than spending the time and effort surfing.

Let's break it down with some examples.

First you need a total system. If you don't have one then you need to start building one. For me I use a squeeze page and have a follow up email series attached to it.

I can average a signup for about every 120 page views so that means I get 8-9 subscribers per 1000 credits. Becuase I have built my system I know that each subscirber is worth $1.30 through the warm up series. (Even more long term.)

8 x $1.30 = $10.40

As long as I am buying credits for less than that they are virtually free. (Yes I pay first but within a couple weeks the money comes back.)

Now it took a while to get there and I will bet right now you are saying to your self "That is fine for you but..."

If you said that you are missing the real point.

If you weren't surfing two hours a day to save some money would you have the time to create, track and improve your system? Wouldn't your time be better spent doing that than generating traffic you can't convert to a positive return. If you can convert it to a positive return wouldn't your time be better served adding more systems to your business when you can get the traffic for virtually free?

Really interested in hearing your opinion on this. If there is an interest I will do a series on how to create the system. Depends on how many people actuallly comment and get the concept.

Mike Paetzold

If you have ever surfed a hit exchange, chances are you have heard of Tony Tezak, one of the most active and successful hit exchange users to ever pick up a mouse. It got me thinking, because of Tony's success at surfing the exchanges, what would be my idea of the perfect clicker? What kind of personality is required to do really well at hit exchange advertising? What does that person need to 'do' to become successful?

The perfect clicker must be dedicated. They must not get discouraged if they see their numbers drop, and they must not get too excited if they see their numbers soar. Slow and steady, seems to be the best way to go. Have a goal and work towards it. If you want to hit 1,000 hits a day, work on a plan and stay focused until your reach that number.

The perfect clicker must NOT rely on their downline. Sure, it's great to get the residual traffic that hit exchanges provide, but they must not be afraid to get in front of their computer and click for an hour or so each day. Not only does this help the industry as a whole, it helps the clicker know what works for promoting different pages and what does not.

The perfect clicker must spend money. Yes, folks we are all trying to run some kind of business, and while the hit exchanges are free to use, buying traffic or upgrading in various hit exchanges is something everyone should look at. I mean, let's be real, your fingers do start to get tired after a session on TS 25 *lol*, invest wisely in a hit exchange that gives you the best bang for your buck and then get back to clicking the next day!

The perfect clicker must understand how hit exchanges work. The more they understand the more they become effective promoters. They know that you won't be able to sign up any referrals on a copy cat affiliate site that reads like an e-book, they know how to create smart and catchy doorway / splash pages.

And finally the perfect clicker must have fun while surfing. Yes, it takes a lot of time and yes it becomes 'boring' but they are excited because they know with each and every click, that could mean a sale and or a referral. If you do not have a love for what you are doing, you should not be doing it. This is why this could be the GREATEST industry to get involved in, because I don't know about you, but I love these programs!

Are you a perfect clicker? I know I'm always working at becoming one myself! =)

Source - Hit Exchange 101 - Jon Olson

If you are using traffic exchanges, the best thing you can do for any online campaign is to create a splash page, tailor made for the specific product or program. Let's face it, splash pages work and get great results, but out of a dozen splash pages I see while surfing, only about 4 to 5 of them really grab my attention.

The following is a small tutorial on what I consider to be key points to building very effective pages.

Rule number 1 - You need to grab the viewers attention immediately! There is only a few seconds that your page has to make a lasting impressions and to get the most attention, you need to capture the viewer's eyes right away. This is done by two ways, the first is a 'stop them dead in the their tracks' headline. It can be funny, it can be bold but the important thing is that it's memorable. The next thing to add is an eye catching graphic. Whether it be a logo or a funny graphic you found online, this needs to go hand in hand with your headline. Let them both feed off each other to create an intro so powerful, people have to stop and look.

Rule number 2 - Do not bore your readers to death! Keep your splash page's ad copy to the MAXIMUM of one paragraph. What should you put in these 3 to 4 sentences? Simple, to the point copy that creates curiosity and outlines major features of the site you wish to promote. Again, the idea behind splash pages is to get people interested, DON'T TRY TO SELL THEM! This is very important, because if you try to sell your viewer, trust me, 15 seconds is not enough time to do so. Get them curious about your site and then let your ad copy on the main site do the selling. Rule of thumb, splash pages are to get people interested, not to do the selling.

And finally Rule number 3 - Always request an action! It does not matter how impressive your headline, graphic and copy are, without telling your viewer exactly what you want them to do, you have wasted an otherwise perfect splash page. Whether it be to click and open a new window, fill out a form (e-mail capture) or bookmark a site, you must tell the viewer exactly what you want them to do. Keep it simple, and right to the point!

Those are my three rules for the perfect splash page. I call them the A.C.A.'s of splash page design. Grab their 'Attention', create 'Curiosity' and then request 'Action'!

Have fun with your designs and if you ever need any help with splash pages, you can always check out http://www.hitexchange101.com/howto.html for more information on this and other great traffic exchange tips!

Copyright 2004-2006 - Article provided by Jon Olson of HitExchange101.com