WinterPerkins.com

Wow… what a really eye opening and interesting 3 days it’s been! I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing this play out, taking in everyone’s opinions and ideas. We’ve had such a wide range of viewpoints, that things are a making much more sense for me.

I really do believe there’s room for all of us in this industry. There’s also plenty of room for us to disagree, and still coexist peacefully. Disagreement doesn’t have to breed misunderstanding, and I think that’s been proven here.

Today, in this final installment, we get into a little bit of the controversy surrounding Taxis, the demographics of surfers, and even take time for a little role reversal. Good times!

If you’re just coming to the party, you can find Installment 1 & 2 of this interview below:

He’s Just One Man (Part 1)

He’s Just One Man (Part 2)

Again, my questions and follow up statements are bold; David’s answers and follow up answers are plain text.

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Winter:
There have been many posts and threads dedicated to opposition of you and what Traffic Taxis brings to the “TE table,” but you’ve thrown your share of mud as well. Do you regret this public animosity?

David:
Ahh well, you know to every business there are politics. I have definitely learned to curve my tongue over the years. Sometimes no matter what you say or what you do, there will always be haters. Some for very good reasons, some for misleading information, and some simply for just a lack of facts…

Take the most recent situation with the module error.  I mean, I literally almost lost everything I had.  I was fortunate to have someone I know and trust to get me out of it. Now don’t get me wrong, I know everybody that had something to say was just being reactive to the situation.  I did lose a lot of loyal members.  And I can’t blame them. It is my job to protect all of my members’ investments, free or paid. I am ultimately responsible in the end to what happens.  But it happened.  There was absolutely no way that I could have not made a presence in public to speak my mind, and defend myself.  I take a lot of pride in what I do.

It’s taken some people a long time to start using my name when making certain references about things they like or dislike, but you just don’t do that without the facts.  And from my perspective, I know some people don’t like sites that offer cash incentives to surf, but it’s what I like to do. Anybody who knows me personally would have easily understood what was going through my head as an owner.  I will respond, I will defend and it will always be my job to protect my business, my members and their investments as well.  It didn’t just hurt me, but it hurt my members too. But all in all, Taxis fortunately has deep enough roots that it didn’t skip a beat. It made me have a reality check on life and to actually realize how quickly things can take a turn for the worse.

Like I said above.  I learned from it. I moved on. And that will never happen again…  I do however need to say that my members did reach out to me and thanked me for sticking up for the business and doing my best to protect their invested time and money.  So it was a good lesson.  No regrets. No bad feelings and things have been better than ever since.

Do you think maybe you put some people on the defensive right away by the way the email was written? I understand it was reactive, that’s clear, but to some it came off very rude and accusatory. We have bad days, spout off before thinking… its human. Do you think that spurred the some of the negative reactions you received?

Oh for sure.  Like I said before, if I could take it back I would.  But I am a passionate person.  If I feel threatened, I will bite back.  It’s how I’m wired.  It’s not a bad thing, but it can rear it’s ugly head sometimes…. and in this case it did.

Winter:
Very recently, Ian Bakewell posted in NMF on the fact that cash surfing hasn’t ruined the industry, but more changed the demo. His point being, work to increase your own demographic if you’re not seeing the results you want. I might add he also complimented your “hustle.” Any thoughts?

David:
Well I appreciate the compliment, but it’s not necessary.  I was just simply paying attention and catering to what I have found to be the majority of almost all surfers.  Not every single surfer falls under just one straight up demographic. They are all equally dynamic. And with that said, I don’t think the demographics have changed at all.  I still promote in all the same places as I always have. I have never stepped foot in a paid to click site, and I don’t even advertise in places where one might expect to find a huge mass of those people. The members do about 99% of the “Surf For Cash” advertising.  The members are really the ones that transform a site.

I would consider Taxis a place to find a huge mass of those people. That’s my outside perception… PTC heaven. You don’t think so?

Taxis is an untapped membership.  Get inside the minds of people that use the site, and I think that most peoples concerns will go away.   We all know that each site has a slight variance in the type of people that surf them.  Figure that out, not just here at Taxis, but at any site, and you will always find results.

Maybe that’s a source of frustration. Figuring out just who these cash surfers are, and what the hell they would want to buy and invest in… other than Taxis.

Frustration from the users, or frustration from other program owners?

I’d speak for me in saying my personal frustration. From a marketers point of view, an advertiser.

Ok well let me ask you an honest question. Do you see the same types of pages at Traffic Taxis that you see at other non cash incentive traffic exchanges?

All day every day.

Case in point. The demographics are no different. I just simply offer some different things. The fundamentals are the exact same at Taxis than any other manual traffic exchange. Log in, surf, assign credits.

Winter:
You say Taxis isn’t a cash surfing exchange, but the surfers view ads with the mindset that they will be rewarded monetarily for their efforts. How does that differ from PTC, other than the monetary values aren’t set in stone?

David:
Can I ask a question so Im clear on what you are asking?

Of course.

In a Paid to click site.  Doesn’t the advertiser pay for those sites to be clicked?

Yes

Ok, Taxis members don’t pay for people to click on their ads. I pay for that as part of my advertising and promotion budget.

But don’t you feel that by essentially monetizing the views, less people are there to really view the websites and trade traffic? Instead only there for the cash value of the click?

The people that come to Taxis to just click for cash, usually don’t stick around too long. Once they realize that they have to actually do what you’re supposed to do in a manual exchange, they move on.

But truthfully, I am sure that there are definitely people who come there to win cash. Just as easily as there are people who surf any other site, for what they are offering as bonuses. But pound for pound, we give out more credits and impressions then anything. You are definitely going to earn a whole lot more at a PTC site per page view, then you will at Taxis. But again, I have never surfed a paid to click site, so I’m just kind of assuming. And if they are, well then all the power to them. They do still spend money, they still bring in referrals and they still put one way links back to Taxis.

Winter:
You’re not very public about what you’ve done with Taxis, or what made you take the direction you’ve taken with your TE. I think a good question might be why? Why cash? Out of everything else you can give, and do give, why the cash?

David:
Ahh that’s a simple answer.  It just happened.  It wasn’t planned.  It was just an easy emotion to play on.  It’s all part of marketing.  The members respond to certain things. And believe it or not, the members respond just as they always have, whether there’s a cash incentive or not.

I guess I got lucky with the best of both worlds. I just enjoy learning what makes people tick.  If all marketers spent the amount of time I do, watching extremely close to what gets people to jump, who knows what could happen.  I never set out on this direction, Im just playing the cards I have been dealt.

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Below is a little role reversal. David wanted to ask me some questions, and I couldn’t refuse of course. He was very open and honest with me, so it was fair play to pass the “hot seat.”

Below, David’s questions and follow up statements are bold; mine are in plain text.

David:
Now may I ask you a few questions?

Winter:
Absolutely

Since it’s only fair….

Sure

David:
If you had a rock solid understanding of how to tap in to a market of these… so called “New Demographic Members”, and you were turning results.  What would be your answer to the idea that surfing with cash incentive is hurting the industry?

Winter:
Honestly, it probably wouldn’t sway my decision much, if at all. My business is priority, as is feeding my family. So I guess about the same as yours lol If it was working for me and working very well, people could talk about it all day long, and I’d be ok with that. Ok, I do see your point. I mean, what you’re doing is obviously profitable in a big way, and I can’t fault you for that. And to lay the entire industry’s success or failure on your shoulders is a huge stretch.

You can only do what works for you, it’s what we all do on a daily basis… or at least try very hard to.

Well I don’t think that anyone can genuinely say,  it’s my fault. People were giving away cash for surfing long before I ever found the IM world. I just think Taxis get a lot of slack, because it’s a very active site and it does have influence.

I agree it DOES have influence, but I don’t think you or Taxis can single handedly bring down an industry that has been going strong for 10-15 years.

No of course not. And if I did have that kind of influence…. Im certainly not aware of it lol.

If you did, it would probably be a good thing for everyone if you weren’t aware.

David:
Do you have your own definition of what a “surfing for cash” site is vs. a manual traffic exchange that gives out cash incentives in promotions?

I think for me personally, there’s a line. And it’s not a solid line… just my own personal line. If the basis for the promotions are cash, and on a very regular basis, then for me, it’s filled with cash surfers. Thus not effective for me, because I have NO idea what to market to them.

I do take a level of responsibility for my advertising. I can’t blame my lack of response on this exchange or that. Recently I tweaked my squeeze headline and got immediately more signups than I had the previous day on an exchange that I had ZERO results in. I couldn’t blame the exchange I surfed the day before for being unresponsive… it was MY ad. I try to always take that into consideration when I judge an exchange on its performance. Much of that performance level, the responsiveness or lack there of, depends on how well I’m able to market there, to move those surfers into taking action. I’m sure if I could figure out what the hell Taxis members wanted to buy I’d be good to go lol but I’m clueless there, thus it’s not effective for me.

So it really isn’t the actual site in it’s simplest form that seems to be the debate.  It seems like it’s just a simple case of what you think the mindset of surfers at certain traffic exchanges are.

I think so. For me, yes. It’s about who I want to market to, and what I’m marketing at the time. If my page isn’t working at a particular exchange, I advertise it elsewhere… just that simple. I’m not blaming the exchange, but results are results and I go where I can get them. I think everyone does.

Very good point.

If I had something I knew Taxis surfers would buy into, I’d definitely be marketing there. Until I tap into whatever it is you unleashed, I’ll be promoting my blog squeeze page in Taxis purely for branding

David:
Would you say that the same types of surfers are using the top rated sites as well as the “cash for surfing” sites?

Winter:
I think it’s a possibility they are using top exchanges. I certainly see the same junk promoted no matter where I go. I get lower results when joint surf promos are going, when jackpots are going, when Super Surf is on. I think anywhere that offers surfing for a base incentive, no matter what it is, those aren’t the views I need. Because they just don’t work for me and my campaign. Not that they can’t work for others, but they don’t seem to work for mine.

So what would your personal opinion be on the “cash surfing” trend?

Some of the early exchanges saw a decline in activity, so they offered cash incentives. I came from the PTC word, cash incentive advertising to the core. I don’t think it can kill the TE industry. The industry bigger than that. It’s bigger than an incentive no matter what that incentive is. I think the net is changing, there’s new blood daily, and the focus should be on how to serve them… that’s the key to success I think, but again, I’m not an owner. I can only offer a viewpoint from where I stand.

For me it’s not so much of how cash surfing affects the industry as a whole, but more how does each TE owner affect their exchange. If you can’t figure out how to keep up with the mindset of the waves of people coming in every day, any particular exchange could go under. Prolonged success of an exchange in my mind is more about what the owner does for forward movement, progress… keep things geared toward what’s trending, what’s hot. Things can’t just be done the way they’ve always been done. That will kill a business in any industry, any day. I still get good results from TE’s. I got I think 10 subs today, so I can’t complain.

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David:
Well in closing…
I think there will always be room for growth.  For anybody to try and stop that is just crazy to me. If your business is no longer meeting the needs of your clients, you either adapt or suffer. Taxis will always remain to be a site to offer everything it can to try to appeal to all demographics.  I know what works for me.  I spend my time paying attention to what makes people respond. And the day I started taking that approach was the day my business went to the next level.

So for what it’s worth… to each their own, if you have an edge, use it.   At the end of the day it is still a business and no matter how closely associated you are with someone, they are still your competition.  If TE’s do not expand to meet different demographic requirements, they will continue to appeal to the same small circle of people that find these lovely programs.

Good luck to all those new owners out there, do what works for you.  And if you get knocked down, just get back up and try it again.

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I enjoyed this experience a lot! I asked some tough questions, and got very open and honest answers from Mr. Foley. So a huge thank you to David for taking the time to share his views with us! I hope I was able to bring about a greater understanding of the “cash surfing” trend, what it means for the industry, and maybe even how to adapt and keep up with the evolving Traffic Exchange climate.

I cover a range of online advertising topics, and try to present every post with integrity and honesty. (Shameless plug on) If you enjoyed my coverage of this topic, don’t forget to subscribe by email above and to your right, so you never miss a post! You even get 12 professionally designed animated banners (created by myself) as a bonus. (Shameless plug off).

Have a great weekend, and please don’t be hesitant to share your comments below! Your opinions matter, and we need to see them!

Popularity: 13%

As promised, here is the 2nd Installment of my exclusive interview with David Foley of Traffic Taxis.

If you missed yesterday’s 1st Installment, you can find it here: He’s Just One Man (1st Installment)

I was so excited to see so many different viewpoints on the issues yesterday. We had new program owners, seasoned program owners, cash surfers/incentive surfers, and all of those opinions are important. It’s really starting to help me see the bigger picture here, and I hope that’s what you’re gaining from this as well.

We even had well known people with past differences giving their professional opinion and keeping it classy. You guys rock, thank you for that!

You’ll notice that this Q & A session spurred some followup questions. My questions and comments are always bold; David’s are always plain text. Let’s keep this spirit of discussion going with today’s Installment… enjoy!

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Winter:
I think everyone notices the amount of email you send (even I tease you about it from time to time), but I’d really like to know if there’s a concrete reason. Are you just spamming us so we don’t forget about Taxis, or do you have positive results from the method you use?

David:
One thing I always praised myself on was my ability to look at why someone does something.  Not just take things out of context.  People will always have a strong opinion about this and this is simply a case of what you like, and what you don’t like.

Let’s begin with the word spam. Can you please define that word for me? Because it’s a word that people use, and I don’t think they really understand it.

- I guess I mean in a general sense, maybe bombard is a better word.

The word “Spam” as applied to Email means “Unsolicited Bulk Email”.
Unsolicited means that the Recipient has not granted verifiable permission for the message to be sent.

Reasons for why I might feel the need to send more than 1 email a day is really simple.  I am a very active owner. I stay engaged. I have always been a very reactive and situational person.  And when I feel like I want to have an interaction with my business, I do it.

I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars designing and perfecting the most advanced administration I possibly can so that I can see exactly down to the absolute second, how responsive surfers are; or are not.  It not only helps me to understand the mindset of a surfer, but even just how someone responds to an email.

I like seeing activity… I like when I see people respond.  It’s what drives me.  If it didn’t excite me,  I wouldn’t do it. Email is king, and it’s just an email, nothing more, nothing less.

Winter:
What would you say to those surfers that love Taxis, but might not be as excited about the all mails as you are?

David:
Im sorry…
but seriously, if you are going to be an internet marketer, these are just things you need to let slide.  I get hundreds upon hundred of emails daily. To me it doesn’t matter who they come from, and whether they come once, twice, three times a day.  But one thing you do notice is which owners are active and which one are not. You can guarantee, if you see an email pop up in your inbox from Taxis.  I am right there on the other side doing my job.

Winter:
What value do you see in the cash surfing/surfers trend?

David:
Well, this is definitely a topic that has been coming up lately.  I see a lot of different ideas and perspectives on this one. I think the most important thing again, is establishing the term “cash surfing.” Let me ask you a question. Define to me what you consider to be “cash surfing”?

- To me cash surfing is surfing that is ONLY done for the money that can be won, cash that can be gained from surfing. They might not even have a page in rotation because hits don’t matter… the cash does. Its equivalent to PTC, viewing ads for cash.

Ok. What you defined above is a behavior of a surfer.

- How so?

Well surfing that is only done for the money that can be won, would define an action of why a surfer is using an exchange.

- But aren’t you contributing to that cash surfing mentality since you’re giving away so many cash prizes? Isn’t that targeting them directly?

If by contributing to it means offering a member the chance to win a cash prize if they are surfing at my site, then yes. But there is obviously a big difference between the “chance to win” and “paid to surf” which is understood as earning a definite amount per page clicked.

Being a program owner is no different than hosting a party. A promotion is suppose to increase excitement. How fun would an email be if you just said.  Please log in and surf.  Make sure you watch every single page.  Please assign your credits and make sure you use splash pages and squeeze pages?

Now don’t get me wrong… I always make my plugs and I have my rants sometimes when I see people not using the site to its full potential. And I definitely do enjoy reminding them about why they are really suppose to be using a Traffic Exchange. But I think it’s just human nature to want to be where the fun is… call me crazy.  But who likes a dull party?

- Do you think your “party” is affecting other exchanges that focus on results as opposed to fun? Do you think Taxis is a factor for their decreased sales and activity?

There are thousands of sites out there.  One single site could never have that kind of an impact.  The world is just simply too big.  But….. at the end of the day, no matter how you look at it. Each and every single Traffic Exchange is in direct competition with one another. I soley concentrate on what I do.  If what I’m doing is not bringing me satisfactory results, I simply just switch gears and  find something that does.

There are so many new people coming online each and every single day.  All with new and different reasons why they enter this niche. As the expression goes. ” You can’t do the same thing over and over again and expect different results”. If something isn’t going the way you want it to, do something about it.  I spend a lot of time figuring out what makes people tick and I adjust as quickly and effectively as I possibly can.

Winter:
Can you give any tips at all for what some people see as the changing TE climate, how to adapt.. without giving away secrets of course.

David:
No need to reinvent the wheel, you just need to change the way it rolls :- ) I mean now that program owners and people that are known in the industry have started to talk in depth about it, the members and the surfers definitely have a right to be supplied with the facts.

I have yet to see any at all.  We all know climate change happens in everything. No single industry stands still for too long.   I haven’t been here long enough to make an honest and true educated decision. But I think it’s safe to say what I was saying above.   Yeah change happens, always has, always will.  You either sit by and watch it change around you, or you get on the ball and keep up.

- What would you say to those that feel its too hard to keep up when so many exchanges are offering cash prizes?

Find a new business model. Running a traffic exchange is the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life. It’s not a part time job. It’s not an easy learning curve.  And I would say that I got in at a very good time.   If I tried to come in to this realm right now, today… forget it. There is simply just too much competition out there… unless you come out with guns blazin and something that shocks the world, it can be very discouraging to try to compete.

There are many many times I sat in front of my computer and considered shutting it down forever.  And I’m sure there are people out there that wish I had lol,  but for me, I was always somebody that struggled with keeping goals.   If this was an easy job, everybody would do it. But that constant learning curve is what kept me going. I was always pushing and pushing for more and more information.

Best advice I can give to any new owner with the same passion and drive I have.  Just don’t stop. No matter how hard it seems, it will get easier.

Winter:
Recently there’s been a lot of talk, a lot of negative talk about how ineffective TE’s are becoming, and how hard it is to keep things moving. There’s also been a good point made that the negativity might be what’s playing a role in TE activity decline. How much of an impact do you think the negative press and cash surfing debate has had on TE’s as a whole?

David:
Well people definitely will always be responsive to feelings. And depending on the source, it can have monumental effects. TE activity decline I think is a non existent term. If a TE is declining in activity it says a few things loud and clear.  What you are offering…or better yet, what you might not be offering is what’s driving people away.

Yeah there are tons of blog posts, forum posts, conference discussions on these matters…. they should be behind closed doors if it is really a concern. If you are worried about decline or activity with your program, stop putting the content out there to further increase the negativity.  It’s definitely not helping. An awareness approach is a more appropriate in my opinion.  I don’t see the trend here at Taxis, it still grows everyday  and as long as I continue to pay attention to what makes people respond, I don’t think I will ever see it.

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I will post the last and final installment tomorrow, that even includes a little switcharoo! David had some questions for me as well, and it’s only fair, right? Again, please feel free to discuss what was covered today. You guys did awesome yesterday, lets keep that same productive, debating spirit going today!

Popularity: 30%

So there’s been quite a bit of discussion on how cash surfing is affecting the industry. It’s hard to keep up with popular opinion because the industry as a whole seems to be hugely divided on this issue. Most of us attend conferences, frequent the forums… but you’ll hardly ever see David Foley. David has been the key focus in a lot of these discussions because he proudly offers cash incentive rewards at Traffic Taxis, and is crushing with it. What better way to get some important questions answered than directly from the man himself? I asked David to do an exclusive interview with me, so I could ask the questions on everyone’s mind. I’m always at conferences… I have a clear idea of exactly what you want to know, and had no trouble asking.

David was very open and honest on every question I had. The interview lasted well over 3 hours, and is so in depth that I need to break it down into smaller posts. Here is the very first installment of my candid interview with Mr. Foley of Taxis. I think it will be an eye opening experience for everyone… it was for me.

I will allow open and free debate here. I do not want only one viewpoint on this topic, so please let me know what you think! I will however do whatever it takes to make sure this discussion stays focused on the topic at hand. Please leave your comments, make sure they are focused on the topic. We can debate and discuss this intelligently without slander, name calling, and mudslinging.

Winter:
What’s the real purpose for the jackpots and how do they benefit surfers?

David:
Well, I rarely use the “In House” Jackpot anymore. I have witnessed the pro’s and con’s and I know what the surf trend patterns are.  It’s definitely not an easy thing for people to understand from context,  but basically it’s just a way to spark emotion in people.  The surfers can benefit from it in many ways.  The unique amount of surfers inside the site is increased, they are in a good mood and enjoying themselves and it’s an incredible chance for them to take advantage of branding.

Winter:
What cons did you notice when using the jackpots too often, and how did that define how you use them now?

David:
Con’s… Hmm.  Well if I give that away, it won’t be a family secret. But I can say that from an admin point of view, it’s a lot of work and a lot of responsibility.  It is playing with fire. Really the biggest con at this point, is that once it started to be duplicated, or I should say, once people were trying to use the same approach, I had to regroup and move on.

Winter:
But no one has used that approach as successfully as Taxis so far. Do you feel that maybe the glitter of the “jackpot” surf has diminished in general?

David:
Well, I mean people will always love that word… If you were in Vegas, I can’t think of better word one would want to hear. So no.. absolutely not.  I think that as long as people continue their own approach on the “jackpot” surf, it will always thrive. It does bring excitement and it’s a word that almost everybody in the world can understand.

Winter:
There’s been a lot of talk lately about trying to understand the mentality and way of thinking of the new blood, the new surfers. It’s a popular belief that they believe in getting something for nothing, doing very little work for a lot of return. Do you think Taxis is playing into that mindset, or simply capitalizing on an attitude that has been around for a long time? Do you think you’re feeding into, and breeding surfers that expect something for their efforts instead of real results?

David:
The tools have and always will be there for the members of Traffic Taxis to excel and get the absolute best of their advertising.  In the beginning it was a passion to try and help each and every single person I could.  And I still do, but in the beginning you are also learning yourself.

There isn’t a single Traffic Exchange owner out there that hasn’t shaken his/her head at the idea that, no matter what you say, no matter how hard you try to steer people in the right direction, they will always do what they do.   There are so many learning curves in marketing.  All of them are critical and even just learning how TE’s work in their own right is quite a steep learning curve itself.

Taxis offers something to every single type of person that comes through that door.   Which path they choose is always an unknown.  Some people just like to surf to surf.  Some take their business serious and use the right tools.   Some like the excitement of winning prizes….  I find that the more you try and restrict people, the less responsive they are. All the tools are right there, when they are ready for them, they will use them. And… if you don’t have it to offer…. the guy next door always does.

Winter:
So does that mean you’ve given up on trying to encourage your members to do the right things, learn the right way, use the right tools?

David:
Nope not at all.  The job of an exchange owner in a sense is actually a lot easier than the surfers.  My job is to deliver traffic to webpages and keep the doors open.  The surfer’s job is to understand their demographics and respond accordingly.A lot of people like to use the reference, you view my page, I view yours.  Well, we all know that people tab surf, we all know people are encouraged to surf more than 1 site at a time. We all do cross promotions which involves asking the members to do more than just look at one site at a time.  If that was the case and it was that cut and dry, then I think the expression, “you view my page, I view yours” would be correct.

As much as people dislike hearing the simple facts, the failure rate for niche marketers, especially in Traffic Exchanges is high. And in my opinion it’s simply because there is just so much information that needs to be understood in order to properly execute successful campaigns in a Traffic Exchange. I always extend my knowledge when someone comes asking, but sometimes asking too broad of a question can be more confusing to people than if they hadn’t asked.

But to sum that up… No you can’t ever give up. If you love your business then you will always find the time to answer the smallest of questions for people, even if it might not be what they want to hear. But you know, sometimes messages do get lost, we are only humans… lol which reminds me of a coozie my father owns that says “ To err is human, to really mess up…you need a computer”.

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There is much more of this interview to come, but please feel free to discuss what’s been covered already. I think you’ll be surprised what you find out from reading the whole series of posts on this interview. Tomorrow, I will continue where we left off… til then!

Popularity: 55%

Traffic Exchanges are suffering financially. Less upgrades are being purchased, less real marketers joining for the sake of exchanging traffic. We’re beating a dead horse here, I think everyone is in agreement that Traffic Exchanges are hurting. We can talk about that fact until we’re blue in the face (which seems to be the popular thing to do), OR we can combine our efforts and find a way to move this industry forward!

As I write this post, I’m literally rubbing my forehead in frustration. I attend tons of conferences and the topic is almost always “Boohoo the cash surfing is destroying the industry.” Come on! Where’s the positive attitude that can move real manual exchanges forward into a new era? Where are the new innovative ideas to breathe life back into the exchanges for us that actually use them the RIGHT way?

We are still here; we are still surfing; we are still building our business! WE matter! Cash surfers/surfing purely to earn a few cents (sorry if this offends but I’m being 10000% honest) do NOT matter! They aren’t what keeps this industry alive, they’re not who should be getting the attention and energy that us real surfers rightfully deserve.

The conferences are a wonderful way to get a group of owners and surfers together to discuss the state of the Traffic Exchange Industry, and I love them, absolutely love them. But why does it have to be a group bitch session? Can we not use that time productively to work on changes instead of just collective griping?

We know cash surfing hurts the industry, we know people are investing less money into upgrades, credits. Now what? No amount of collective griping is going to change those issues. No amount of ranting is going to contribute to helpful ideas! Let’s think! Let’s do things that have never been done before.

If people are not spending money like they used to on upgrades, maybe it’s time to rethink upgraded membership benefits? Just because the structure and benefits of an upgrade have always been the same, and have always worked, doesn’t mean you don’t have to adapt and rethink them at some point.

It is the “This is the way it’s always been done,”  mentality that kills a business, that keeps it stagnant, from achieving progress and forward movement. I love the Traffic Exchanges, and I love the owners. It just breaks my heart to see the “lie down and take it” attitude creeping in. You guys are better than this! You’ve been here for years, this is YOUR industry! There’s nothing you can’t do here… so let’s do it already!

This is my public plea for the groaning and complaining to finally take a back seat to real thought, progress and innovative ideas that I know are just waiting and fighting like hell to be born. Let’s put the spotlight back where it needs to be, on us surfers that need for the Traffic Exchange industry to succeed, so that we can do the same. Cheers!

Popularity: 61%

My post yesterday on the Dirty Tactics of Internet Marketing and How To Avoid Them really sparked a huge conversation. Tons of comments, lots of emails, even skype messages thanking me so much for bringing this topic to light. Because of the huge response, today I’d like to share even more examples of the methods being used to prey on newbies. Keep your eyes peeled for this tricky tactics!

The False Sense of Urgency

The Lie

You will never see this offer again!

The Truth

You will see that offer, or very similar offers again in the future. It might take a while, but you have time to save and get another great deal later. Every owner will offer you a chance at a deal on a continuous basis, for as long as you’re a member of their program. It might not always be the SAME deal, but it will still be a great deal!

The Lie

Limited slots, copies, downloads available!

The Truth

There are no limits on how many can be downloaded, how many slots can be filled, how many members can join. Why would the creator limit the amount of money they make from their program or digital product? Exactly… they wouldn’t!

The Lie

Only 100 70 50 24 Left!

The Truth

This is a very simple tactic done with HTML. Text is written, you apply a strikethrough tag… period. These numbers are not updated in real time, they are not live stats, this is written before the site is even live, specifically to create a sense of urgency! Pure example… I did it right in this post up there. Super easy to do, and just as misleading.

Multiple Daily eMails

For some reason, this practice is becoming widely used and abused by many Traffic Exchange owners. You know the drill… you get your daily Traffic Exchange email, and not even 10 minutes later you get the “Oops I forgot blah blah blah,” or the “Oh I’m so stupid, I forgot,” mails.

Now I don’t mean to say that this doesn’t really happen. I’ve forgotten to include a link, or send the wrong link once in a great while. But every single day? Every single time you send an email you screw it up? If you are that clueless as to how to get your emails sent out correctly, with the correct information, that often… maybe you shouldn’t be running a Traffic Exchange or be in control of the mailings. I’m just saying… come on.

The REAL reason this is done, is because it keeps the site in front of your face. It brings more surfers in immediately. It gives them a reason to email you all day long instead of just mailing once and hoping more people read and act accordingly.

I’m confused as to why this is so effective (assuming that it is effective) because to me it is beyond annoying. Please don’t underestimate my intelligence by pretending to forget something in every single mail. Mail me once to let me know about your promotion of the day. If I like it, I’ll come surf; if not, I’ll pass on the promotion. Don’t bombard me with emails all day long because you didn’t get the results you wanted from your first email. Or at least title your email subject truthfully: “I didn’t get enough surfers in here with the first email, so let’s see how many fishies I can catch with this one!”

Exclusive/Private Invitations By eMail

While it’s nice to think you’re important enough to be invited personally to take part in a product or website launch, giveaway event, or seminar, trust me… we are not that important to the promoter! There is nothing exclusive about the emails you receive inviting you by “Private Invitation Only.”

Do not be fooled! These emails go out to every single subscriber on that list. You were not hand picked or personally invited. It sucks to find out your importance ranks about as high as anyone else on their list. The only exclusive aspect of these invitations are that you’re subscribed to this particular list… that’s it!

If someone wants to personally invite you to take part in anything, you’ll receive a personal email, a Skype message, a contact on your blog… not a mass email.

When you’re new, these exclusive invitations make you feel special, make you feel important. They do exactly what they are meant to do; make you stop, open the email, read it all, and of course jump into this private event! Don’t fall for it… it’s most likely 100% open to the public.

Exceptions

There will always be exceptions to the rule. When a program launches for the first time, it’s very likely they will have a launch special discounted offer. There’s a possibility that you really won’t see an upgrade offer this cheap again… so take notice of those, and take advantage if you can. If you can’t, you will see discounted offers later, maybe just not that cheap.

Humans make mistakes, we all do. It’s totally possible to forget a link in an email or even include the wrong link. Accidents happen, and that’s acceptable. I’m speaking strictly of the repeat offenders that are using this as a common practice on a regular basis. There is no truth in their “mistake,” it is total BS.

When you get a little more well known around here, you actually will get personal invitations to take part in website and product launches. It’s really exciting and an honor! If you do not get invited personally, it is not exclusive.. it’s a mass mailing, no more no less.

There are many, many tricky tactics used in Internet Marketing. These are just a few to watch out for. Be safe out there, and bring your boots. The BS can get extremely deep to wade through!

Popularity: 32%

Do me a favor… look at your inbox. Does it look similar to this?

**ALERT** Only 18 Left, 50% discount, less than 24 hours

Internet Marketing Just Got Replaced… UH OH!

Watch This & You Can Literally Be Making Money This Afternoon!

Winter, 1,000 Backlinks A Month. Really

These are actual subjects pulled from my personal inbox. Chances are, yours looks about the same. What’s all the hype about? Just marketing, plain and simple. Internet Marketing seems to be a world filled with dirty, back alley tactics, but is it really that much different from real world applications? Hardly!

Take a look at infomercials… they are geared to target you when you’re sleepy, your defenses are low, and they all claim to have the secrets of xyz, the most amazing thing ever, a product you can’t do without! By taking advantage now, we’re not going to charge you $100, not even $80, not even $60… you get all this for the low low price of $19.99. AND if you act now, you get xyz (a $50 value)… free!!!!!!

Now how familiar does this sound? Almost every marketing email in my inbox follows the same exact pattern. It’s something that will blow my mind, I can’t live without it, I get it for the low price of not $239, not even $99, not even $49… you get all this for the low price of $27 (maybe even free). AND for acting now I get a bazillion ebooks (that I’ll probably never read) included free!!!!!

See the connection? Marketing is a dirty job. Marketing is full of liars, full of fluffed up figures and stats, full of amazingly convincing ad copy designed 100% to get you to pull out those wallets, dig deep, spend it even if you don’t have it. These products (for the most part) are NOT designed to help you succeed; they are designed to make the creators money… period.

Don’t get me wrong. There are some really wonderful ebooks, programs and websites out there. I’ve gotten tons of help from the right books! There are many helpful tools out there, it’s just sifting through the crap to find the treasures.

Does marketing really have to be this grimy? Do you really have to sink to this level to be a successful Internet Marketer? The answer is NO! You can be successful by recommending products, services, and websites that you actually use, and that are helpful to you, thus will be helpful for your list.

The focus should not be on just making you a little cash here and there, the primary focus should be helping your readers succeed! Helping someone that is newer to this game than you are succeed in their efforts here is the best success you could have as a marketer. You might not make a sale on day one, you might not make a sale from that person within a month. That’s ok… you have made a friend, you have made a connection with another human being that now trusts your judgement, trusts your recommendations, your knowledge. That’s priceless!

Now that you’ve gained their trust, you could in theory promote anything semi-relevant that will make you some money, but if at any point, you take advantage of that trust and promote something you know will not be helpful to them, you’ve broken that bond of trust… good luck getting it back!

Sometimes it’s hard to decide what will be really helpful to newbies. Now I use the word newbies with all the love and respect in the world. We were all newbies at some point, and we just wanted some help and guidance! I used to wrestle with figuring out what to promote and what to let slide (even if there was a good possibility I’d make some nice cash). Here is how I help myself determine if it’s worthy of my list.

If my mom was new to Internet Marketing, and she had no clue where to start, what tools would I recommend? What websites would I push for her to advertise in for the best results?

If my best friend of 10 years said “Winter, what you do is amazing! I want to work for myself online too. Please, tell me what to do!” Would I recommend the product, service, or website in question to them? If it was a must have tool, and it was worthy of her attention, would I tell her it’s extremely important to upgrade, or could she get the services she needs as a free member?

These few questions really helps me put into perspective whether or not I’d like to advertise a product or service to my list. Are they my mother, are they my best friends of 10+ years? Of course not, but anyone subscribed to my lists deserve the same respect and consideration. They did not sign up to be taken advantage of. They did not signup to be used and abused and suckered into every opportunity that looks promising. They signed up because they felt the information I provide will be helpful, useful, interesting.

Your list is valuable for many reasons. Yes you will make sales from your list, and that is A goal, but it’s not the only goal. You want to be of value, you want to be helpful, you want to be a source of information that they can trust… today, tomorrow, 2 years from now. You might have a subscriber to your list that buys a crap product right away. Then what? If they don’t get anything out of their purchase that helps them further their efforts, how many more times do you think they’re going to join a program or buy a product on your recommendation. Not many, maybe not ever again, maybe they’ll even unsubscribe!

Treat your list with respect, treat them with dignity, show them the same consideration you would a dear friend. Building that trusting relationship is far more rewarding than making that instant sale. Recommend products, services and websites that you use AND have been successful for you.

It’s all about the golden rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated.

Marketing is a dirty job, but you don’t have to get filthy to see results. You don’t have to resort to scheming, underhanded, scammy marketing tactics to make a sale. You just need to promote from a place of honesty and integrity. The end results are priceless!

Popularity: 62%

Recently, I published a post about some amazing things I learned from Jerry Iannucci’s guest appearance at the Affiliate Funnel Conference. For those of you that don’t know, Jerry is the man when it comes to Safelist Marketing, and wrote a widely popular book called “Safelist Marketing Tactics.” If you still haven’t read the book, you can download it directly by clicking this link. Something you won’t find in the book, but that Jerry recommended highly at the conference, is a newer safelist, State-of-the-Art-Mailer. I have fallen head-over-heels in love with this safelist over the past couple of weeks! I want to share what I find are the coolest features SOTAM has to offer, and just how innovative Brad Webb and Jaye Pause (the creators) are. Other safelists will clearly have to bring way more to the table, or learn to be comfortable in SOTAM’s shadow.

What’s so special about SOTAM?

Profit Sharing

LIVE Click Rate Stats

Button Escalation System

Video Tutorials

So there’s the super short version of what’s unique about SOTAM. Let me explain just how groundbreaking these features are.

Profit Sharing:

How many website owners do you know that are willing to share their profits with members? Not many! I’m not talking about commissions here folks, I’m talking about sharing the website’s profit with all active members! Do you find it hard to get referrals? How about getting those referrals to upgrade or buy ads? It can be as difficult as pulling teeth… from someone that has their mouth wired shut. With SOTAM, you do NOT have to referrals or be upgraded to earn a little money. You just have to be active in the safelist… that’s it! If you read 75% of the email ads you receive in that period (a month), you earn a share of the profits for that period. You won’t make a million dollars from profit sharing, but you can surely earn enough to cover an upgrade, if you choose to do so (which is a bigtime “worth it”). It’s super easy to check your activity level right from your member’s area, and the stats are always live. Here are my live stats from this morning (see screenshot below). SOTAM emails expire 6 days after being sent, so this Profit Sharing System keeps the members extremely active… brilliant!

Live Click Rate Stats:

You want to talk about transparency in a business? It doesn’t get any more see through than displaying your website’s real time, live advertising statistics. How many safelists do you know that are so comfortable and proud with their performance to display live, real time stats of how many of the emails are actually opened? Again… not many! The stats are even broken down to each Button Level so you can see exactly how each level is performing, and ultimately which is the best Button Level to advertise to. These stats are real time, they aren’t some fluffed up stats from 5 months ago. They show exactly how the safelist is performing today, right now, this moment! You can even see just how much activity has increased since SOTAM opened… killer stats to say the least. AND you can even click the handy dandy help question mark to see how to improve your Click Rates if they are falling below the average… love it!

Button Escalation System:

At first, this system is a tiny bit confusing. It was to me, but luckily Brad and Jaye created a video tutorial that explains exactly what it is and how it works. Because they explain it so well, I won’t go into some long detailed explanation here. As you click, you earn credits that build up and move you into a new Button Level. As you move up, you’re able to advertise to more members, and at a better performing level. I don’t like to click tons of mails, so I upgraded to a higher button level (which Profit Sharing can help me maintain). Now I can earn even more credits when I read mails, and it pushes me into an even higher level, thus improving my advertising efforts. This is another feature that keeps SOTAM so insanely active and effective. Huge thumbs up to Jaye and Brad for this unique feature!

Video Tutorials:

Safelists can be a little overwhelming at first, and with the amazing features built into SOTAM, it can be hard to grasp how to take advantage of them right away. SOTAM has short video tutorials for just about everything in the site. They’re not complicated either. I watch them once, I know what I’m doing… so simple. And it’s not a hard thing to do, make videos, but this goes to show you just how important it is to Jaye and Brad for you to succeed with SOTAM. Another huge thumbs up from me!

These are just a few of the features I really love at SOTAM. This post has quickly become a book, so I’ll let you discover all the other aspects that really just make this the safelist way above the norm. If you’re smarter than me, you’ll take notice of the upgrade offer when joining. It’s easy to make your upgrade payment back from the Profit Sharing, so take that into consideration… and if you can, take advantage of that offer. I promise you (from personal experience) you really won’t see it again lol. Feel free to join SOTAM below and quickly step up your safelist game.

Popularity: 39%

I started my weight loss journey on May 10th, 2010 (Mother’s Day), and here I am two months later, 20 pounds lighter! My belt has a couple of newly acquired holes, my pants slide off and on without unbuttoning or unzipping, my shirts fit like moo moos, and my shoes don’t fit my feet anymore. I am most definitely not complaining, and have never been happier to say that I have nothing to wear!

My decision to lose weight started out as a vain one. We took some pictures and created a short video, and used them to put together a virtual Happy Mother’s day page for my own mother. She lives about 700 miles away, and we don’t see each other that often unfortunately. The page turned out awesome, she loved it, and I was so happy to have made her Mother’s Day special. Out of all those positive things, the ONLY thought stuck in my mind on that day was, “Jesus! Look at me! I can’t believe I’ve gained so much weight!” I couldn’t even enjoy what we had done because I was so horrified at how I looked. Pretty shallow right? … maybe! But it’s the 100% raw truth.

That day… those pictures and those thoughts lit a fire under my fat, jiggly butt like never before. I’ve always said to myself, “You know, I’m going to start eating right and exercising so I can get rid of this weight,” but I never really did. Easy to say, hard to do. On that particular day, something just clicked for me, and I never looked back, never wavered in my goal, never steered off my path. Looking back on Mother’s Day 2010, I realize now that I actually gave myself a present that no one else could ever give me. I’m giving myself the gift of life… a healthy life, a happy life, a more enjoyable life… and I thank myself for that.

I continue to use the tools provided free on LiveStrong.com to manage my eating habits, and am still a huge cheerleader for Jillian Michaels’ Yoga Meltdown. I do this workout about every other day, and the results are just amazing for me. It’s a workout that I have fallen in love with for so many reasons. I have really bad knees (the fact that I sit cross legged in my chair 24/7 doesn’t help my poor knees any), crunches and other related forms of exercise really put a strain on my neck and back… not good for me. The Yoga Meltdown routine helps me burn fat, build toned muscle, improve my flexibility and balance without any of the side effects most workout DVDs seem to provide as a bonus. So really, just 5 thumbs way up in the air for this workout… love it all the way around!

I told myself that it would be much to embarrassing to take more photos until I reached my weight loss goal. But more and more I’m thinking, “How will it really be inspiring to anyone if they never see my progress?” So I have decided, that while embarrassing for me, seeing my progress in pictures might be helpful enough for someone else that I can live with that fleeting moment of embarrassment. Very soon I will start including pictures of my progress along with my progress posts. No laughing please lol I am not the most photogenic person in the world… seems to run in my family.

I’d like to give a HUGE thank you to the people giving me constant encouragement. I get the most beautiful emails from this blog, Facebook, and even Skype messages congratulating me on my progress, sharing of your own personal weight loss struggles and successes, and even “Way to go!”s to keep me moving forward. This is a direct source of inspiration and motivation for me, and it helps more than you know… thank you so much for your support!

Popularity: 25%

Affiliate Funnel’s Saturday Conference continues to be my #1 resource for learning how and where to market online, so whenever humanly possible I just do not miss it. Friday, during TE Live, Jerry Iannucci mentioned that he would be speaking at Saturday’s AF Conference, the topic being Safelists. This was right up my alley because (like many of you I’m sure) I have tried to use safelists many times with little to no success.  Now Jerry is the man when it comes to safelists, so I knew there was no way I could walk away from that conference and not know how to use safelists properly… and I was right!

This post is a couple of days overdue, but for good reason! I wanted to put some of the things I learned from Jerry into practice, test them out, then share how successful or unsuccessful those attempts were for me. Affiliate Funnel usually has some sort of prize giveaway, trivia type of deal and this Saturday… I won! The prize??? An upgrade to Jerry Iannucci’s Safelist Marketing Tactics woot! Now this is a site I joined a long time ago, had already been jaded a bit by my attempts to market in safelists, and never even downloaded the book…. dumb right? Yes! But the upgrade and the knowledge I gained from Jerry in the seminar gave me new inspiration to try my hand once again in safelists… and I’m so glad I did!

One thing I learned… I’m going about marketing in safelists ALL wrong. Normally, I’d copy and paste an email ad from whatever program was launching, including the headline they provide, send it off into the world and be angry when I get absolutely no signups. A) In no way am I promoting myself or building my own list, B) everyone else is coping and pasting those same emails and sending them off on launch day just like me. How did I ever expect to get great results?

I also took the time to read Jerry’s Safelist Marketing Tactics ebook cover to cover. Wow.. is all I can say. I learned SO much, and Jerry really explains it in the simplest way possible. He even covers how to use filters in your email client to organize the safelist emails, how to track your results, how to tweak your ads…. I mean everything! So my Sunday was spent getting myself organized… *gasp* organization is not my strong suit for sure! But it was so easy, and now I’m all organized and ready to go. If Jerry can get me organized, he can get anyone organized, so a huge thank you to Jerry Iannucci!

I’m so excited about everything I learned from this book, that I uploaded it to my own server so that you can grab a copy of it below, for free, no signup required… just click and download. Grab the book, and please do yourself a favor, don’t do what I did…. leave it on your computer unread for 6 months.

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY OF SAFELIST MARKETING TACTICS HERE

What’s even cooler about this whole deal… Affiliate Funnel is creating a new splash page to rotate that shows the winner (me) and what I won/who gave it away (Jerry, Safelist Marketing Tactics)! So I we get promoted directly at Affiliate Funnel, me just for winning and him for giving away a prize. How much cooler does free advertising get!

Be sure to grab Jerry’s book, read it, and I can promise you… you’ll be ready to give safelist marketing another try. I’m psyched and can’t wait to share my improved results here in a later blog post.

Tips of the day:

Never miss an Affiliate Funnel Conference! You’ll always learn something useful, and maybe even win an awesome prize.

Grab Jerry’s Safelist Marketing Tactics book below. You won’t believe how easy to follow it is.

Safelist marketing is NOT dead… we’re just doing it wrong!

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY OF SAFELIST MARKETING TACTICS HERE

Popularity: 20%

Ok I give… I’m throwing my thoughts in the ring here on the whole “cash surfing” issue. I know this is a hot topic, it’s on many blogs right now. I try to keep my comments on other blogs short, and I just have a little bit more to say about it.

The central theme seems to be that David Foley is almost single handedly bringing down the Traffic Exchange industry as a whole. And I love David, he is my friend, but to give one person credit for a dive of the industry is a bit much. I think it’s a combination of many things, some that we can’t even control. Yes, David kicked off a cash for surfing trend in Traffic Taxis. Do you know how many owners were chomping at the bit to get into the Jackpot Surfing coop? A ridiculous amount. Yes, David still turns the cash surfing on daily, but at some point, there has to be a level of responsibility for these other owners that play “follow the leader.” David is responsible for Traffic Taxis and how he chooses to market that site, just like every owner is responsible for the marketing of their own exchange.

That being said… in MY mind, cash surfing exchanges are no more similar to non-cash surfing exchanges, as manual surfs are to auto surfs. Cash surfing exchanges in my eyes, are not really manual traffic exchanges anymore. They are a breed of their own, and rightfully so. When you look at the traffic exchange industry as a whole right now, there are really 2 categories of surfers in my mind, extremely different categories: those who are here to earn some money while surfing, and those that are here to earn real visits for their websites. You cannot grab a real visitor’s attention by saying “Hey come surf for some pennies.” You in turn, cannot grab a cash surfer’s attention by saying “Hey here’s a real business opportunity for you.” See what I mean? Two totally different groups, two totally different mindsets, therefore to me, two totally different markets.

As much as half the industry hates cash surfing, there is another half that loves cash surfing. Like it or not, I believe it’s here to stay. Why? Because it makes owner’s like David Foley a LOT of money, and some people are just willing to do what we aren’t: surf for hours on end for a few cents. It would make cash surfing owners even more money if they would embrace the fact that they are no longer a real manual surf exchange, and target their cash surfers by saying “By upgrading you can find even more money in the surfbar, and get random referrals!” This is a PTC/cash surfers dream! They would come out of their pockets so quick to make just a bit of extra cash. Trust me… I was in that industry for years before coming here.

Also, we have to take into consideration the outside factors that allow this new cash surfing industry to thrive. Think of the world’s financial markets, think of the new breed of kids coming in just starting out trying to make a little bit of cash online. Cash surfing is appealing because it’s easy money. Little, tiny amounts of money yes, but nevertheless easy money. People have less and less money to spend on real business opportunities as well, which can account for some of the decline in responsiveness.

I dislike cash surfing because it serves no purpose for me, my goal, or my business. I don’t hate cash surfing anymore than I hate PTC sites. It’s just not my choice of advertising methods. I think the fire can be put out, at least just a little bit, if we stop looking at cash surfing exchanges as real manual traffic exchanges… they clearly are not. The traffic exchange industry will continue to grow and change, and not always the way we want or expect… that’s business. Just spend your advertising dollars the way you want to, where you want to, and all should be ok in the end.

I’m personally close to over with this whole debate, but I had some things to share, and I do believe I got all my points across finally! Til next time… later taters!

Popularity: 17%