Online Advertising Methods: Exchanges
By Trina L.C. Schiller
Last time, we started a discussion about some of the different online advertising methods available. Part One Now that we”ve covered various email marketing options, we will move on to the different exchanges, that can be had.
As webmasters, we have quite a bit of exchangable material, to barter with. This is one of the best ways to get exposure; start swapping with other webmasters.
What to trade?
Traffic
This can be done is several different ways:
You can exchanges links with web sites relevant to your own.
You can exchange banner ads, text links, testimonials.
You can even exchange RSS feeds! (Think Big)
What all this exchanging does, is to take advantage of the traffic of the other web sites. Putting yourself in front of the eyes of someone elses relevant customers. It also boosts you in the search engines, because of the number of sites that link back to you.
Now, image being able to exchange content! If you can syndicate the actual content of your site, now you”re cookin” with gas!
When you publish an RSS feed, you can actually offer a webmaster the opportunity to add your content to his/her pages. You are able to provide a small piece of code, which can be added to the site”s html, that will display your most recent headlines. Not only that, but it will link back to each individual item. That”s link exchanging on steriods!
Then we have start and exit exchanges. Start page exchanges and surfing programs have been around forever. A start page program gives you credit for each time you open a browser window, set to the program”s rotator URL. Each time you open your browser, someone elses page/ ad is displayed. With every view, you receive credit to allow someone else to view your page/ ad.
Surf programs work much the same, except that you can actually sit there and view site after site, racking up the credits for your own. They also come in two varieties:
Manual Surf & Auto Surf
Manual surf programs require that you sit in front of the screen and view each site for a specific amount of time. When that time is up, you must click on something to trigger a change in the page.
As Joe always says, “It”s a great way to see what”s out there, and to find people you want to work with.” However, it is time consuming.
Auto surf programs are pretty self-explanitory. You open a browser window set to run the program, and it surfs away… You don”t have to click on anything to change the page view, it runs on a timer, and automatically changes when the time”s up.
Most of them have an annoying little habit of taking over your work space, when you least expect it to. That is to say, they pop over the window you”re working with, to make sure you”re still paying attention. This can become problimatic if you”re really trying to concentrate on your work.
Exit exchanges are no brainers. You simply put a pop up code on your site that pops a rotator URL, whenever someone leaves your site. The more people that leave your site, the more times others can see it popping on exit elsewhere.
With all of these exchange programs, you have the option of purchasing credits, if you don”t want to get your feet wet, actually surfing.
The use of exchanges is a good way to get free traffic to your web site. With the exception of link swapping with specific webmasters, it is not targeted traffic, but it is traffic nonetheless. For it to convert to sales though, you are going to have to generate a lot of it.
The Trii-Zine Ezine
www.ezines1.com
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