“Why do you like them?”, you might ask. They are not most effective way of advertising, they are not all quite cheat proof and they sure are not very targeted; 3 mayor flaws they share with most other types of free advertising. And yes, that’s all very true, BUT traffic exchange programs are free (mostly), you can do things to make them more effective and what if your target group is prone to use traffic exchange programs as well and it fits your business strategy? What if you are a beginner and you just need to start somewhere? What if you have a new site that just needs some initial traffic?

Of course your strategy should not be entirely build upon use of traffic exchange programs, but if you have time, why not take some advantage of them? Use a multi page browser, take heed of following advise and if you enjoy surfing, these programs are right for you!

A good strategy for beginners is to try to sell high ticket products in a niche market. The efforts and costs of selling a high ticket product are quite same as trying to sell a low ticket, cheap product, so why not start with high ticket products? If this is your strategy, you would be wasting your time with traffic exchange programs.

I believe that most people that are surfing these programs are not interested in this kind of products. They are more likely interested in low ticket products and free offers. They are most likely interested in marketing tools (auto responders and such), free traffic, downline builders, new opportunities and programs.

My business strategy is largely build around getting downlines and targeted at people with lots of time but who are not willing to invest a lot of money. This is a very slow and long term strategy and does not involve a lot of actual selling. Traffic exchange programs are a good place to start recruiting. People who surf these programs expect to see ads for new opportunities and programs, downline builders, free ebooks, tools etc.

Normally I do not promote idea of using your home page for traffic exchange programs or to use auto surf programs, but there are exceptions. When you have a new site and want some initial traffic, sign up for a few programs and benefit from start bonuses. When you have a new page (offer) or site and you are not interested in Page Rank, you could use auto surf programs to get your ticker starting and get some traffic (but never do this with your main site!).

How much do you need to surf for credits? Well, there are people saying that you need to surf at least one hour per day! That would be people who are in your upline I suppose. Actually, I do not have a recommendation for time you should spend, that's totally up to you, but can I tell you how I do it? At this very moment, writing this article, I have 4 programs running and I am playing a bit of solitaire. Point is that I am running a special offer at this moment and I need some extra credits, so when I stop writing for a while, I continue surfing for credits.

Mostly I surf when I feel like it and have no other urgent matters at hand. Or when I am doing something and need something else to distract me for a little while or when I need some fresh ideas. I surf in bursts, only with a few programs at time and try to get credit ticker running to get some of bigger bonuses. surfing too many programs at same time isn’t that effective and seems a lot like working, and I try to avoid that. Typically I surf traffic exchange programs when I feel like it and that is about 2 or 3 times a week for about 1 to 3 hours. And I get a lot of bonuses this way (extra free traffic).

There are so many of them, so which should you join? Well, I would be inclined to say that you should just join those that appeal to you (as those are likely to appeal to others as well). But there are a few thing you could or should take into consideration.