I love Traffic Exchanges
Team Surfing - Wave of the Future?
First of all, I do team surf. Team surfing is done at traffic exchanges. The basic concept is simple - a group of people band together and their total surfing accumulates a value. At the end of the contest period, such as a day or a week, credits or cash are split amongst the team members. Team surfing has become more and more popular as a way to connect and advertise. Part of the hope of traffic exchange owners is that this will encourage people to surf more so that their team will win and they will get rewarded. Having people stay on the site longer makes the traffic exchange a more active one. It also encourages upgrades because usually surfing ratios are better and so your team has a better chance of winning with more upgraded members.
There are some benefits to team surfing for the surfer too. All the places I team surf at have a real time chat, so you can talk to your team members while you surf. This is good because then you have a group of people you can network with. Usually the chat rules for sharing links and promoting things are more relaxed than they are if the surf also has an all members chat. Within the team, the idea is to join each other's programs or at least to help promote each other's programs if you can't join. That's part of the teamwork. Also, chatting helps keep the boredom from creeping into the sometimes tedious surfing process, helping you stay longer at your task. Some exchanges have a variety of smiley figures to put into the chat to add humor and color into your daily surfing routine. You can also learn from each other's experience by sharing about programs that have worked for you and programs that haven't. General networking and mentoring can spring up in these teams. Occassionally, you'll feel that you are going to work with fellow employees or even friends - that just happen to be located all around the world and you are sharing your "daily grind" together. That is, in the best scenario.
In some teams however, no one talks about anything or there is little or no connection and sometimes little surfing. In some teams, there is no sharing of ideas and experience to help out people newer to some programs or tips on how to do things more easily and effectively. In some teams it can be all about winning, so there is minimal to no contact and people just surf an enormous amount. In all of those scenarios, the whole concept of teamwork is missing. In some teams the leader is not a motivating figure, encouraging team members individually and as a group. Sometimes, leaders can be basically absent. Worse yet, I think, is when they are scolding or non-compromising. Sometimes family members get sick or computers need replacing or life intervenes and there has to be some understanding that there are a lot of people who can not surf 16-20 hours a day. Because you do feel like you are working in close proximity with your team member there can be drama as members have different expectations, join and leave,
or say something that upsets someone else.
Sometimes team members will follow one another to other teams on different sites. Is this a good thing? To a degree. It is nice to have some people around that you already basically know and can get along with well. The feeling of recruiting someone to be on another team you are on can be a good feeling as the other team members appreciate both the new member and you for bringing them. But if the teams are all the same, there is no networking with new people, their are no new ideas in the mix. So the teams that try to stay as in tact as possible and go on all the team sites, I think they are missing part of the fun and part of the potential.
Teams have to be about more than winning. I would rather be on a team where the members were fun and helpful than on one where there was no communication. Obviously not everybody is going to want to talk all the time and won't have the same quality of networking connection with every team member. That's fine, I certainly don't talk everyday even if I am surfing with people I like because that day I may be more focused on chatting with a different team on another site or concentrating on a contest on the current site. Or I could be more strapped for time than usual and want to use it all for surfing to help out my team. Good teams understand this. Because there will also be days when I don't get as much surfing done because someone may need assistance figuring something out on the site or even help with another site or with something in their personal life that they need to share. Having that balance between it being a social and networking medium and having it be surfing to promote your business is important. And it is certainly attainable, making team surfing a positive and fun way to both network with individuals and advertise to the masses simultaneously.
Oh, hold on, I have to go, a team mate is asking me a question...
Here are some links to some team surfing sites if you are interested and want to give it a try. I recommend you do! If you remember to network, be nice, and have fun, you'll have a terrific new advertising tool at your disposal.
http://lords-of-traffic.com/?rid=899
http://www.startxchange.com/?referer=robdomanesq
http://www.trafficera.com/?ref=robdomanesq
http://www.generalentrafficempire.com/?rid=62029
http://www.trafficmuscles.com/?rid=3385
http://www.hover-traffic.com/?rid=5382
Rob
http://rainbowtraffic.a1te.com
There are some benefits to team surfing for the surfer too. All the places I team surf at have a real time chat, so you can talk to your team members while you surf. This is good because then you have a group of people you can network with. Usually the chat rules for sharing links and promoting things are more relaxed than they are if the surf also has an all members chat. Within the team, the idea is to join each other's programs or at least to help promote each other's programs if you can't join. That's part of the teamwork. Also, chatting helps keep the boredom from creeping into the sometimes tedious surfing process, helping you stay longer at your task. Some exchanges have a variety of smiley figures to put into the chat to add humor and color into your daily surfing routine. You can also learn from each other's experience by sharing about programs that have worked for you and programs that haven't. General networking and mentoring can spring up in these teams. Occassionally, you'll feel that you are going to work with fellow employees or even friends - that just happen to be located all around the world and you are sharing your "daily grind" together. That is, in the best scenario.
In some teams however, no one talks about anything or there is little or no connection and sometimes little surfing. In some teams, there is no sharing of ideas and experience to help out people newer to some programs or tips on how to do things more easily and effectively. In some teams it can be all about winning, so there is minimal to no contact and people just surf an enormous amount. In all of those scenarios, the whole concept of teamwork is missing. In some teams the leader is not a motivating figure, encouraging team members individually and as a group. Sometimes, leaders can be basically absent. Worse yet, I think, is when they are scolding or non-compromising. Sometimes family members get sick or computers need replacing or life intervenes and there has to be some understanding that there are a lot of people who can not surf 16-20 hours a day. Because you do feel like you are working in close proximity with your team member there can be drama as members have different expectations, join and leave,
or say something that upsets someone else.
Sometimes team members will follow one another to other teams on different sites. Is this a good thing? To a degree. It is nice to have some people around that you already basically know and can get along with well. The feeling of recruiting someone to be on another team you are on can be a good feeling as the other team members appreciate both the new member and you for bringing them. But if the teams are all the same, there is no networking with new people, their are no new ideas in the mix. So the teams that try to stay as in tact as possible and go on all the team sites, I think they are missing part of the fun and part of the potential.
Teams have to be about more than winning. I would rather be on a team where the members were fun and helpful than on one where there was no communication. Obviously not everybody is going to want to talk all the time and won't have the same quality of networking connection with every team member. That's fine, I certainly don't talk everyday even if I am surfing with people I like because that day I may be more focused on chatting with a different team on another site or concentrating on a contest on the current site. Or I could be more strapped for time than usual and want to use it all for surfing to help out my team. Good teams understand this. Because there will also be days when I don't get as much surfing done because someone may need assistance figuring something out on the site or even help with another site or with something in their personal life that they need to share. Having that balance between it being a social and networking medium and having it be surfing to promote your business is important. And it is certainly attainable, making team surfing a positive and fun way to both network with individuals and advertise to the masses simultaneously.
Oh, hold on, I have to go, a team mate is asking me a question...
Here are some links to some team surfing sites if you are interested and want to give it a try. I recommend you do! If you remember to network, be nice, and have fun, you'll have a terrific new advertising tool at your disposal.
http://lords-of-traffic.com/?rid=899
http://www.startxchange.com/?referer=robdomanesq
http://www.trafficera.com/?ref=robdomanesq
http://www.generalentrafficempire.com/?rid=62029
http://www.trafficmuscles.com/?rid=3385
http://www.hover-traffic.com/?rid=5382
Rob
http://rainbowtraffic.a1te.com
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