One question that members ask me quite often is: “How can I get more hits to my sites?”

I can give a specific answer for HitsBoosterPro, but generally – well – it depends …..

Firstly, you need to make sure there are credits assigned to your sites.  It doesn’t matter whether you earn the credits by surfing more, or by upgrading, or buying credits.  The point is, your sites will only receive hits if they have credits assigned.  (It’s amazing how many people forget to assign their credits!)

After that, you have to look at the kind of traffic exchange you’re using.

Some, like HitsBoosterPro, allocate hits to any site that has credits assigned.  If you’re on this kind of TE, you can easily get more hits by adding your sites multiple times.  I’ve never come across a TE where this wasn’t allowed, but if you’re not sure you could send in a support ticket to ask.

Others allocate hits to member accounts that have sites with credits assigned.  There’s not much you can do here in most cases because adding more sites won’t help you, so if you’re using this kind of TE and building up credits, your best option would be to spread your surfing out a bit, and start using some more different TEs.  (One exception to this rule that I know of is Click Voyager, where upgraded members receive priority traffic.)

Our goal as TE users is to get our sites seen by as many people as possible, so it makes sense to understand all the TEs you use and work out the best strategy for maximising your surfing time.

Today marks the beginning of the 2nd annual Traffic Exchange Christmas.  The good news for me is that HitsBoosterPro has been invited to take part, but what does it mean for you?

Simply, TE Christmas is the biggest and best joint promo of the year.

There are 14 TEs taking part in a promo that lasts 14 days.  During days 1 – 12, there are lots of big cash and credit prizes to be won, and for the final 2 days … there are more big cash and credit prizes to be won PLUS top level upgrades at all 14 TEs.  Take part in this promo, and you could find your account upgraded all the way to 2012!

If you’re not a member of any of the 14 TEs, now is a really good time to join!  Here are the TEs that are taking part:

Surfing will be really high at all 14 TEs during the promo, so it’s a great time to get your sites seen.  To make it easier for you, each TE has put together some special credit offers.  The aim is to have these available throughout the whole 14 days, but they are limited in number, so there are no guarantees.  If you want to buy some cheap credits, don’t spend too long thinking about it!

This is a great promo to be part of, and I’m really excited about it.  I’m hoping it will bring lots of new members and a ton of exposure to HBPro this Christmas.

To find out where, when and how many sites you need to surf, plus get more details on those special credit offers, check out the Traffic Exchange Christmas website.

So, Logiscape have finally paid my commissions.  It’s nearly 3 months late, but it happened.

(Click here to read my earlier post about unpaid commissions at HitSilo.)

The sad thing about this is that it’s really too late to change anything.  I cancelled all my subscriptions at Logiscape TEs over a month ago, and those upgrades have been replaced with upgrades at TEs that, frankly, give me better results.  Surfing those TEs might not be as much fun – they don’t have syndicates and silos and pods – but I’m here to make money, not to have fun.

Anyway, the point is, I’ve been paid.  Hopefully anyone else who is still waiting for payment from HitSilo will see this as good news.  They are paying, just very slowly.

I’ve built up enough commissions to request payment again, so I’ll see how long it takes this time!

It’s always exciting when a new traffic exchange launches.  It’s especially exciting for me when the owner is someone I know and respect for their work ethic and integrity.

The reason I’m particularly excited about Traffic Swirl is because it’s owned by John Bell, who is also leader of the L Team.  I met John through the L Team, and I’ve been very impressed with his approach to online marketing.  Of course, no-one works for nothing, but John’s first aim is to help the people who follow him to make money by providing quality products and services that everyone needs.  That’s why I’m confident Traffic Swirl will be a huge success.

At first glance, the site is attractive, clean and professional.  The front page has all the information you need before joining, and the signup process is straightforward and quick.  (For those who like to know these things, Traffic Swirl runs on the LFMTE script, which is rapidly becoming very popular due to its huge range of features and ease of use.)  Once you have signed up, you will find the site clear and well laid out – both attractive and functional.

Free members receive 0.6 credits per view and a 10 second timer, and there is a range of upgrade options giving more credits per view and a shorter timer, plus all the usual bonuses of upgrading.  For a limited time, there is also an “elite” upgrade available, which gives you 1.5 credits per view and 5000 monthly bonus credits.

Surfing is smooth, as it should be on a brand new TE, and there’s also a chat pane so you can network with other members as you surf.  Traffic Swirl also has the great feature of displaying your gravatar (picture linked to your email) in the surf bar, along with a link to your profile every time one of your sites is show.  Personal branding – remember?

If you want to refer other members to earn extra credits and up to 60% commissions, there is a range of “swirl” themed material in the affiliate toolbox.  John has used his design skills to good effect, and the splash pages and banners are very attrative.  There’s also a great little widget that shows your picture, username and how many hits your sites have received.

Traffic Swirl has only been running for a few hours, but so far I’m very impressed with what I’ve seen.  It’s well put together and it delivers traffic – the most important feature of a traffic exchange!  If you are looking for traffic, to network, and to build your business, I highly recommend you try it out.

Traffic Swirl

After all the excitement at the end of last week, things seem to have settled down again at Sweeva.

Yes, there were mistakes made – the biggest one was making changes without notifying the membership first – but the owners admitted their mistakes and polled the members and invited opinions and suggestions.  The amount of feedback they received was a good indicator that this was an important issue for traffic exchange users.

Finally, a compromise was reached, and there are now 2 benefits to ranking up at Sweeva:

1. When you rank up, your credits per view will increase.  Free members receive 1 credit per view at rank 1, 1.2 per view at rank 2, 1.3 per view at rank 3, and this increases by .1 per view until rank 10, where they receive the maximum of 2 credits per view.  Upgraded members receive double the number of credits per view at each rank, so a new upgraded member will earn 2 credits per view and a rank 10 upgraded member will earn 4 credits per view.
2. You now receive discounts on upgrades and credit packages as you rank up.  The discount is set at 5% per rank, so a rank 10 member will receive a 45% discount on purchases.

Personally, I think this is an excellent compromise.  There are still immediate and obvious benefits to ranking up, but the difference between credits earned by a new free member and a rank 10 upgraded member is not so vast.  Hopefully, this will encourage more new members to become active, now that they have a good chance of showing their sites.

The number of credits required to get your site shown has already reduced dramatically.  When I checked an hour or so before writing this, the recommended bid was 78 credits, which is quite a change from 150+ just one week ago.  Bid amounts are still variable, and it may take several weeks before they settle to their final levels.

I also like the discounts for ranking up.  For people like myself, who buy credits, this is a very good incentive to rank up.

All in all, I’m impressed with the changes at Sweeva.  Although it may have been handled badly at first, the outcome is good, and I think it will help to reinforce Sweeva’s position as the industry leader as we come towards the end of 2010.

This is an update on yesterday’s post.  If you haven’t read the original post yet, click here to read it.

After my post yesterday, which was filled with uncertainty and speculation, Sweeva members received an email last night explaining what was going on.  I will quote it here in its entirety:

“There’s a page floating around Sweeva, and Jon’s cell phone has been buzzing with text messages..  Did we lose our minds?

==> http://sweeva.com/go/glP

Here’s the problem: In our last survey the #1 complaint was that bids were way too high. The reason they are high is because we give out lots of credits, and it increases as you rank up!

After much discussion we thought the best way to fix the problem was to bring it down to 1 credit per page viewed and 2 credits for upgraded. This decision has been accepted by some, and but upset others.

In this new system the reward for ranking up is up to 45% off credit purchases (5% for each Rank), and up to $9 off per month for upgrades ($1 for each Rank). This way you still reap the benefit of ranking up. Also, you no longer lose your unlocked benefits when you rank up

So it’s time for you to decide. Do you want to see the cost to bid go down, or do you want them to continue to go up but keep earning more credits as you rank up?

Vote and Comment Here:
==> http://www.sweeva.com/e/l/cb.nq.s.fX.g4dM7v
(make sure you click “Open In New Window” to vote)

Tim Linden, Austin Hallock, and Jon Olson”

There isn’t much I need to add to this, except that I’ve looked at both sites linked to in the email, and I’ve registered my vote.

I can actually see both sides of the argument, and it doesn’t matter to me personally which way it goes.  I surf, but I also buy credits.  If it goes one way, I earn more credits for surfing.  If it goes the other way, the credits I buy are worth more because the bids go down.

But I do recognise the position of new members who can’t afford to buy loads of credits, and I also stand by my argument that the new system will result in more members upgrading.  Whether Tim, Austin and Jon had this in mind when they made the change or not, the new system does create more incentive to spend money at Sweeva.

It will be interesting to see how it all works out.

The majority of this post is unofficial because I haven’t seen any emails directly from the Sweeva owners about this, but the one fact I do have is this: during the last 24 hours, Sweeva has changed the way members earn credits as they “rank up”.

Let me explain.

Sweeva uses experience points (xp), levels and ranks to reward members for activity.  You earn xp for most things you do on the site.  Once you’ve earned enough xp, you move up a level.  Once you reach level 70, you move up a rank.  The highest rank is 10.

The benefit of “ranking up” used to be that you would earn more credits for each site you viewed.  For free members … rank 1 = 1 credit per view, rank 2 = 2 credits per view, rank 3 = 3 credits per view, and so on.  For upgraded members, the credits per view are doubled.

I was happily surfing yesterday, earning 4 credits per view as a rank 2 upgraded member, looking forward to ranking up again in a few days and earning more credits, when I noticed I was only earning 2 credits per view.  I was surprised, and immediately sent in a support ticket.  I haven’t received a reply yet, which is unusual for Sweeva (support is usually very quick and efficient), and suggests they’ve received a lot of tickets about this.

In the absence of any more facts, from this point on, everything I’m going to say is gossip, rumour and my own theories!  So bear that in mind as you read it.

I’ve heard that the reasoning behind this change is to “level the playing field” between new and long standing members.  The difference in credits earned between a new free member (1 credit per view) and a rank 10 upgraded member (20 credits per view) is huge.  It means the rank 10 member can surf just 10 sites and put in a bid of 200 to guarantee their site is seen.  The new member would have to surf 200 sites to do the same.  This explanation does seem reasonable, but I don’t think it’s the full story.

There have been several changes made throughout Sweeva’s short lifetime that have made it easier to earn xp.  Initially, you received some credits when your site was rated highly, which I liked (it was nice to get some credits back), but they changed it to xp.  Then they introduced “10 a day is the Sweeva Way” – earn 10 more xp for every consecutive day you surf 10 sites (I’m up to 930 and leveling up at least once a day).  After that came the site of the day – earn 100 xp for viewing it.

These changes made ranking up achieveable for anyone, and made “power” surfing really worthwhile to earn that extra xp (one xp per site surfed) to reach the next level.  (Never mind the credits.  Surf to earn xp, so you can rank up and earn more credits, show your sites more often and earn more xp, rank up, earn more credits, etc.)

Since ranking up was so achievable, and even a free member who reached rank 10 could earn 10 credits per view, there was probably less incentive to upgrade.  This theory is backed by my own experience.  I have 147 referrals at Sweeva, but only 4 of them are upgraded, which suggests the take up rate for upgrades is quite poor.  Taking away the extra credits for ranking up means the only way to increase your credits per view is to upgrade.

It has been suggested that the new benefit for ranking up will be reduced upgrade prices, which also supports my theory.  Not enough people are upgrading at Sweeva, and the owners are not making enough money from it.  If this is the case, I can’t argue.  A traffic exchange is a business, and it has to make a profit.

But what will the cost be?

I was surfing at Sweeva a lot because I enjoyed commenting on people’s sites and getting involved in some discussions (and a few arguments), as well as keeping an eye on the prize of ranking up and being able to show my own sites more often.  But surfing is work, not fun.  If these changes mean the rewards of surfing Sweeva are less, I may find I need to change my surfing habits, and spend more time surfing TEs with shorter timers.

I know of one person who has recently upgraded at Sweeva and feels very let down and disappointed by this change.  She is considering asking for a refund.

The general feeling amongst the people I’ve talked to about this is disappointment.  The prospect of reaching rank 10 and earning 10 or 20 credits per view was very exciting.  It all feels a bit flat now.

But there is one thing I can definitely say about this.  The owners of Sweeva have been in the TE business a long time, long enough to have got some things right, some things wrong, and learned from their mistakes.  If this change IS a mistake that results in a lot of unhappy members, you can be sure they’ll learn from it, and find a way to make their members happy again.

Because that’s what traffic exchange is all about – the members.  And happy members are the key to a successful traffic exchange.

This post has now been updated.  Click here to read the update.

I joined Surf to Earn a couple of months ago, mostly for fun, but also for the chance of good returns somewhere down the line.

It’s essentially a fairly basic traffic exchange.  You surf, you earn credits, you get occasional bonuses, your sites receive traffic …  Rinse and repeat.

You can join as a free member, or you have the option to upgrade for the great price of $12 every 3 months.  And this is where it gets interesting.

Apart from the usual benefits of upgrading (such as a 1:1 surf ratio), upgraded members also receive positions in the 5×5 team matrix.  It’s built from top to bottom, left to right, and positions are entered on a “first come, first served” basis.  You receive one position when you pay your upgrade, and another position for every 750 sites you surf (up to a maximum of 10 positions every 3 months).  Each position can earn a total of $1,403.

I will not pretend for one moment this is some kind of “get rich quick” scheme.  A 5×5 matrix grows very wide very quickly, so it will be a long time before you earn any money from matrix positions.  But I still think it’s a very good deal.  The upgrade price works out at $4 a month, which is very reasonable for a TE upgrade, and you are getting mostly the same benefits as you would anywhere else, plus the matrix positions.  Even if it does take a couple of years or more before you earn from your matrix positions, you’re still getting a very good deal on your upgrade.

The site is one of a group of sites owned by Thomas Walls, who also owns MTE Advertising Co-Op.  I joined MTE Ad Co-Op back in 2008 and it’s still going strong, so I don’t have any concerns about the longevity of this group of sites.

All in all, I think an upgrade at Surf to Earn is definitely worth paying $4 a month for.  Or you can join as a free member and just surf to your heart’s content.  The traffic delivery is pretty good too!

I’m sad at having to write this post, but as things stand at the moment, I don’t really see any alternative.

I’ve just cancelled all my upgrades at Logiscape traffic exchanges and stopped promoting them.  (The TEs affected are HitSilo, Traffic Era, Traffic Pods and TS25.)

The reason for this is non-payment of commissions I requested at HitSilo on August 13th.

The information on the withdraw page at HitSilo states: “We process withdrawals twice per month. Withdrawal requests received by the 1st are processed no later than the 10th and requests received by the 15th are processed no later than the 25th.”

Obviously, this has been exceeded by a long way.  I should have received my commission payment by August 25th.

I sent 2 support tickets about this, the first on September 9th (I’m patient, and I know things go wrong sometimes), and the second on September 12th.  I received a reply on September 17th stating: “I am very sorry for the delay but we have had a lot of credit card fraud come through lately and we are having to verify all the purchases manually before we can process withdrawals.  As we verify the purchases, we are completing the associated withdrawal requests.  We anticipate getting caught up on the withdrawals fairly soon and we thank you for your continued patience and understanding.”

I’ve heard nothing since, and there has been nothing posted on the site to explain what’s happening, so I made the sad decision to cancel my upgrades and stop promoting Logiscape TEs.  I’ve been upgraded at most of their sites for a long time, so received a lot of loyalty bonuses, and also had a “by invitation only” Club Upgrade at Traffic Era, so this decision wasn’t made lightly.

On a positive note, it’s saving me nearly $100 a month that I can spend on upgrades at other TEs!

Hopefully, my next news post will be about something positive, because I hate writing things like this.

(I did finally get paid.  Read about it here.)

Yes, it’s our birthday – mine as well as HBPro’s.  I’m not sure how I managed to launch a traffic exchange on my birthday 2 years ago!

To celebrate its first 2 years online, there are 2 great ways to earn and save money at HBPro today.

There are cash prizes on the prize pages all day today.  Surf today, and you have a chance to win up to $5.00 cash at every prize page (plus all the usual prizes are still on).

And if you would rather buy your credits than surf for them, there’s a great special offer for you as well.  For today only, you can buy 25,000 credits (that’s 2,500 site hits) for just $5.00.  This really is an amazing offer, and it will only last until the end of today.

I have some great plans for HBPro’s 3rd year online.  There are going to be lots of new and exciting things happening over the next few weeks and months, so keep checking the HBPro emails to find out exactly what’s going on.

And if you’re not a member of HBPro yet … why not?!!  Join at the link below.

HitsBoosterPro