Making Traffic Generators Work

Many people use traffic generators, like traffic swarm, 1-2-3 Clicks, etc. Some of these systems charge for credits but most allow you to earn credits by viewing others' ads. It's a great concept, but if you don't know what you're doing, it can be a big waste of time.

When I first started working online, I signed up with Traffic Swarm. Being determined and serious, I got a Pro account which meant I paid $25-30 a month to get 2500 credits. When all those credits were gone in less than a week, I canceled my pro account, disgusted. I found out, the hard way, that Pro accounts give out larger amounts of credits when they're clicked on than the free versions. That's great for the clickers, but it stinks for the "clickees".

Because I still had a free account, I didn't quit using it, just I sharply curtailed my efforts, only visiting my site once in a while. And because it it does offer free accounts, I kept promoting it.

Well, I recently discovered that, when someone joins under you, Traffic Swarm does not tell you about it-- some affiliate programs do but many don't. They just go into a "downline" portion of your page and, if you think to check it, you'll find sign-ups there. I looked at that portion of my page the other day and discovered I had 6 people under me. (!!)

Now, I know Traffic Swarm doesn't pay cash for a downline. But even with a free account, you get 100 credits per month for each person in your downline. So, I discovered, I had been getting 600 credits a month without even knowing it! I'm not sure (and will check later), but I believe if you have a Pro version you get more credits per sign-up.

Because a friend is always extolling the virtues of traffic generators like these, I had recently put clicking for credits back onto my list of daily chores. I go there, click through ads until I have 100-200 credits in a half-hour or so and move on. I never seem to use more than that in a given day, so that's enough.

However, I noticed something yesterday. In these Click-For-Credit (CFC) sites, though displayed, ads are not accessible without leaving the CFC site, which almost completely defeats the purpose of advertising on them. I mean, since everyone is clicking on ads in order to build credits, no matter how great the ad, they're not going to leave the traffic generator because it's contrary to the reason they're looking at the ads in the first place. Not unless they're REALLY, insanely interested. So that sharply reduces the amount of responses anyone gets.

But there are a few simple things you can do to offset that.

1) On the page you choose to advertise, make sure the url is displayed somewhere. Maybe not the whole "http://www" part (as long as it can be assumed), but the actual address part. Like mine would be: "trackermo.com". Make sure that is showing in the "first fold". If it is, then those viewing your ad can write the info down and visit your site later. If the page is an affiliate, it would be worth it to create a splash page for it-- even using a blog. And put the whole link to the blog in the title part or somewhere prominent.

2) Though I normally dislike pop-ups, this is a good way to make sure your viewers CAN access your site WITHOUT leaving the traffic generator. When they click on something within the pop-up, that will open a new page and they can leave the CFC for a moment, visit your site, and come back again when they're done. You can get free pop-up scripts at most java sites. Just do a search for "pop-up script".

Doing both of these things will increase your response rates using these kinds of ads sites.--mo

Tomorrow: Optimizing Ad Blasters.