Text Ad Exchanges

[Rob Wilson]

I've been using traffic exchanges for a while and I really like them. In fact, I run two, so I definitely believe they can be effective sources of advertising. However, there has been a development - text ad exchanges. These are pretty cool too - people look at your text ad and you look at theirs. On these exchanges, there are lots of options to gain credits and display your advertising. Banner ads occur throughout the site. There are solo ad emails that go out to all the members (these usually have the highest potential for earning points). Sometimes admin emails come through with promo codes for more advertising on the site - for free.

There are different ways the text ads can be displayed. Some have just straight-up, text only based ads you view and can click on to get to the website and gain additional credits. Some also have html based ads, so you can add some color and imagery to your ads. Some have traffic links - which is just a really short, clickable description of your site. Some have links that display below banners ads as well. Plus there are ads available that people can see when they log-in - these are clickable and usually allow html so they can look really nice.

I am a member of a bunch of text ad exchanges. I have found sending solo emails particularly effective. Others have told me they have better conversion rates with banner ads or log-in ads. I know have gotten some conversion from traffic links too. I found that I needed a separate email address to hold all the emails you will get. Definitely recommend getting a Gmail account for this, and some exchanges only allow Gmail accounts to be used. Gmail is cool because you can set up filters so the emails get marked so you can sort through them easily. You can also download them to your own emal program, like Eudora or Windows Mail or whatever, and set up folders and filters there to sort the mail.

Because there is so much - so many links to click on the sites, lots of banners to clicks, tons of solo ads that get emailed, etc... it can feel a little overwhelming. I have found that if I set up a little schedule for what I am going to do, that this helps a lot. For example - I'll spend an hour clicking on solo emails on a given day, and that's it. Whatever doesn't get clicked in that time, doesn't get clicked that day. Or I'll spend 30 minutes going through traffic links on a site. Whatever I don't get to, I don't get to. I do skim the subject lines or the link descriptions and prioritize the ones I am going to click. So it is a good idea to put some thought into the titles of your ads.

Also because there is so much, that means you need to be persistent in placing your ads. Keep at it, and because most sites let you save ads, so you can just go in and click post ad and don't have to retype everything every time, it is not too time-consuming or difficult.You can edit the titles and descriptions of your ads to vary it up.

Should you only join the big ones? Well, no. Sometimes I get better conversions on a smaller site. Because there are fewer ads competing for views, mine are more likely to get looked at. However, because it is a smaller pool of people, eventually they will have all seen your ads, so you'll want to vary the programs you promote to keep getting sign-ups. Also with sites that are just starting out, you can often get more promo codes, which help you build up a store of advertising to use as the site grows. But the big sites are good too precisely because they are big sites, so there is a wider audience available to view your ads. So join both types so you have a mix. You can always leave sites later that you decide aren't worth your time.

Giving it a shot with both sizes is good because you never know when a site will suddenly take-off or get energized. And you can be a part of that by placing ads and referring members. I've been in big sites that are extremely active and worthwhile but also in big ones that nobody seems to use. It's the same way with the smaller ones. Then there will be a contest, or even a few really active users who start it going and the site will take off and get busy!

For my StartupSpace viewers here, I can offer a special promo code for my new exchange - Rainbow Traffic Text Ad Exchange. Promo code - startupspace. Join, then verify your email and log-in. Click on advertising and enter the code. You will get 100 points, 1 solo ad, 1 banner ad, 1 navigation link and 1 traffic link. Don't forget to also enter the main promo code - rainbow - to get 1 solo ad and 2 banner ads.

Rob
Rainbow Traffic Text Ad Exchange