The joys of blog traffic exchanges and poor rotations
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Rant
Readers and others out there that have made use of sites like BlogMad.net, BlogExplosion.com, BlogClicker.com or BlogAdvance.com probably know what I'm talking about here. For those that don't, visit any of those sites and go through a few minutes (in some cases) or a few hours (in others) of blog clicking to bank some credits to drive traffic to your own site and you'll see what I'm going to rant about here.
To be fair, I have to give a lot of credit to BlogMad.net, and even a fair amount to BlogExplosion.com, both of which seem to be pretty good at keeping a fresh rotation on their sites. In the case of BM (BlogMad), I could cruise there through several hundred clicks before cycling back through the same sites. BE (BlogExplosion) seems to keep a decent stock of sites in their rotation also, and in the same way (though not at the same click earning rate) as I find at BM, I can browse there for several hundred clicks before seeing the same thing too many times.
Sadly, that's not been the case lately for a few other traffic exchanges. Specifically, BlogClicker.com, which I'm finding seems to have a pretty poor rotation tonite. In just a few (less than 20) clicks, I'm seeing the same sites repeatedly. I'm sure that the folks that run those blogs are happy to get the traffic on their sites, but at the same time, they'd probably prefer that their blog get exposure to many more individuals than just li'l ol' me.
BlogAdvance seems to have similar issuses, though in not quite the same way. There, lately, I've seen that when I do surf I don't see a lot of repeat traffic, but I also am not finding that many visits coming back to my own blog here in exchange for my clicks.
I'm sure that things will again change over time, as these various competitors offer better incentives to visitors, either in the form of more credit per click, or more bonus credits along the way, or some other means of burning off the excess of credits that some of their members have. Without burning up those credits, there is no real incentive for a member of the exchange to use their valuable time to actually click through to other members sites.
Perhaps part of the problem for some of these sites is that credits are sold to members as a method of advertising member blogs. While that makes great sense to me for banner ads, or perhaps directory listings and such, I firmly believe the number of credits that is offered for sale needs to be limited, and the cost needs to be somewhat prohibitive so as to keep members active in the clicking. If the credits are sold too cheaply, than members that buy them can be incredibly lazy and never have to really even visit other sites. Again, that's a recipe for disaster.
I believe (again, to give some credit where due), BlogMad, thanks to some suggestions from other members, is on the right track here. They received a suggestion (I'm not sure who it was, but I remember that individual getting a reward for the suggestion, and deservedly so) that they should auction the credits that they will sell. They were also smart enough in advance to recognize the problem that their competitors had with selling credits, and they had already been headed down the road of capping the pool of credits that will be for sale in any given period of time. By doing so, they (and their members) can be assured that there should be a steady stream of clickers out there surfing through the blogs that are out here.
I hope things pick up again at BC (BlogClicker) and hope things get less busy (apparently that is the problem) for BA (BlogAdvance) members. Keeping those rotations fresh is perhaps the most important thing that these exchanges can do keep people using the services. If they don't do that, they'll find themselves relegated to the bottom of the list of sites any of us visit with our limited surfing time.
Readers and others out there that have made use of sites like BlogMad.net, BlogExplosion.com, BlogClicker.com or BlogAdvance.com probably know what I'm talking about here. For those that don't, visit any of those sites and go through a few minutes (in some cases) or a few hours (in others) of blog clicking to bank some credits to drive traffic to your own site and you'll see what I'm going to rant about here.
To be fair, I have to give a lot of credit to BlogMad.net, and even a fair amount to BlogExplosion.com, both of which seem to be pretty good at keeping a fresh rotation on their sites. In the case of BM (BlogMad), I could cruise there through several hundred clicks before cycling back through the same sites. BE (BlogExplosion) seems to keep a decent stock of sites in their rotation also, and in the same way (though not at the same click earning rate) as I find at BM, I can browse there for several hundred clicks before seeing the same thing too many times.
Sadly, that's not been the case lately for a few other traffic exchanges. Specifically, BlogClicker.com, which I'm finding seems to have a pretty poor rotation tonite. In just a few (less than 20) clicks, I'm seeing the same sites repeatedly. I'm sure that the folks that run those blogs are happy to get the traffic on their sites, but at the same time, they'd probably prefer that their blog get exposure to many more individuals than just li'l ol' me.
BlogAdvance seems to have similar issuses, though in not quite the same way. There, lately, I've seen that when I do surf I don't see a lot of repeat traffic, but I also am not finding that many visits coming back to my own blog here in exchange for my clicks.
I'm sure that things will again change over time, as these various competitors offer better incentives to visitors, either in the form of more credit per click, or more bonus credits along the way, or some other means of burning off the excess of credits that some of their members have. Without burning up those credits, there is no real incentive for a member of the exchange to use their valuable time to actually click through to other members sites.
Perhaps part of the problem for some of these sites is that credits are sold to members as a method of advertising member blogs. While that makes great sense to me for banner ads, or perhaps directory listings and such, I firmly believe the number of credits that is offered for sale needs to be limited, and the cost needs to be somewhat prohibitive so as to keep members active in the clicking. If the credits are sold too cheaply, than members that buy them can be incredibly lazy and never have to really even visit other sites. Again, that's a recipe for disaster.
I believe (again, to give some credit where due), BlogMad, thanks to some suggestions from other members, is on the right track here. They received a suggestion (I'm not sure who it was, but I remember that individual getting a reward for the suggestion, and deservedly so) that they should auction the credits that they will sell. They were also smart enough in advance to recognize the problem that their competitors had with selling credits, and they had already been headed down the road of capping the pool of credits that will be for sale in any given period of time. By doing so, they (and their members) can be assured that there should be a steady stream of clickers out there surfing through the blogs that are out here.
I hope things pick up again at BC (BlogClicker) and hope things get less busy (apparently that is the problem) for BA (BlogAdvance) members. Keeping those rotations fresh is perhaps the most important thing that these exchanges can do keep people using the services. If they don't do that, they'll find themselves relegated to the bottom of the list of sites any of us visit with our limited surfing time.