NetMarketingForum.com v4.0

Well, that last 'topic' got my creative juices flowing....Here's an interesting question....With some interesting answers.

I do beleive there are too many hit exchanges out there, but maybe I'm wrong. So what can we do to make this industry better. Check out the options, or add your own two cents.

I believe the best thing would be a more competitive market. Owners would be forced to constantly update their exchange with new features and advertise in more and more outside places.

If there was a more competitive market to the TE industry then exchanges would be under constant improvement. It would bring out the Dawinian "survival of the fittest".

It seems a little harsh, but I believe that would seriously improve the industry.

I agree with Josh. A more competitive environment where TE's either update and stay with (or ahead) of the current trends, or go away.

Competition is good for business. It forces an atmosphere whereby creativity flourishes, development thrives, and yes, money is made. Nothing wrong with some good old 'competitive edge' marketing.

It is time for this to be treated 'as a business' environment. No, not every TE would survive, but those that create their own 'competitive edge' will do very well.

And once a few exchanges start to improve, guess what happens?

The ENTIRE TE industry improves with it! It benefits EVERY business that is involved!

I know that mine is NOT a popular viewpoint (that of less TE's are needed for others to thrive), but I stand behind it.

Dilution of market share, if it continues, will ensure that NOBODY will benefit from their efforts. Which is but one of my reasons why I campaign for owners to quit releasing new programs, and concentrate on their exsisting ones.

IF this so-called 'industry' is to grow, it MUST CHANGE to meet the challenge. There is no way to develop a diffferent future if everyone continues to live in the past.

survival of the fittest, with failing exchanges going out of business just like in the real world. The problem originates because there is no consequences for bad management.

New exchanges coming on line wouldnt be a problem, if failing ones dropped off the list as and when they were no longer viable. Thats real competition, in a real world enviroment.

other than that see my sig file

Other. Explanation: fearing dilution of market share seems like an atavistic viewpoint, it is like fighting over one mouldy old crumb whilst ignoring a huge feast laid out all around.

How about increasing market share by penetration of markets instead of by all fighting over the scammer market oops I mean the "marketer" market?

There are how many niches on the internet? Even if you only count, say, the niches that MPAM has thus far mapped out how many of those niches have been penetrated?

I just saw today in these forums that someone has a gaming exchange, aha, gotta check that out, thats another niche notched up, what is the next niche to equip with an exchange?

Maybe MGR should simply equip MPAM with an exchange per niche and be done with it.

How many niches have been equipped with scams? Might it be easier to approve sites if you merely had to figure out whether the site was in the correct niche? Instead of having to find the relatively rare exceptions to reject maybe you'd be in the position of simply looking for the rare exceptions that are of sufficient quality and value to be worthy of acceptance? Maybe resulting in a much higher quality of experience for the surfer, heck maybe even attracting surfers who just surf without even wanting/needing the credits they could earn by doing so?

So my suggestion is still lets find at least one exchange per niche that is truly themed, that is, one in which "extraneous ads" will be minimal as compared to "actual content". Like maybe a place where folks can show off their Harley sites, and one where folks who are travelling the world documenting their travels on the web can share their sites/experiences, and so on.

Now maybe it might be that an exchange might not be the best medium for that. Maybe a Yahoo Group with its file uploads ability and links ability and calendar and so on might work better, I don't know. But if I am going to have 160,000+ niches I'd like to be able to surf any one of them I choose and not have its actual topics be flooded out by off-topic spam, and oh yeah TIME, TIME is important, I'd like to be able to, for example. devote a few minutes to each niche and not find I've been logged out when I get back to the first niche (LONGER SESSION TIMES PLEASE) and I'd like to be able to devote a few days - maybe even an entire business-week - to each niche without finding that the first niche has expired my account while I was off giving an equal amount of attention to the rest of the niches.

(So lets see, 160,000+ minutes is how long a session, and 160,000+ weeks (or even days) is how long before an account expires/suspends?)

-MarkM-

Hi All

A surfers two cents.........

---STOP recommending worthless, small, poor quality exchanges. I see those recommendations everyday in downline builders, in this forum, newsletters, etc.

---Offer real benefits rather than worthless games, contests etc. Surfing contests are a prime example of something that dilutes my hard earned credits. WOW, someone surfed 2500 sites over a weekend......gee wonder how many of my credits were wasted by this mindless surfing.

---Give us some real tools.

---Tell us where are referrals are coming from. This can be done and is being done by some exchanges. That should help weed out the ineffective exchanges.

---Give us in house email systems witout the email....the ability to comunicate with our team. Now, in most exchanges we have teams of unknowns without any ability to communicate with our team. How can you have team building without communicating with the team.

---If you do not have enough confidence in your own exchange to advertise it, close your doors! Why should I advertise it for you to make YOU successful. The majority of exchanges you never see a site on any other exchange.........and some of you wonder why your membership doesn't grow.

---Give your 'pro' members some real benefits. Put the 'pro' members in some kind of rotator and assign them referrals from your advertising. What good are more 'credits' when we cannot use the ones we earn from surfing!

---Send us informative emails on your exchange. How to emails. If you think of your membership as nothing more than a list to send the latest, worthless programs, close your doors.

---Answer your email. There are exchange owners in this forum who never answer their mail or worse who answer it weeks after the email being sent. I guess the best one is the owner who we buy credits and it takes days to get the credits. In some cases not even a thank you is received. I am sure most of the owners are not overwhelmed with credit buyers! At least send a personal thank you.

---Be realistic in your giving away credits...give a minimum at sign-up, cut down the percentages of what we get for referring others. What good is it for me to earn thousands of referral credits when I will never be able to use them?

---When people join send them a real email other than those mindless here is your surfing url and referral url from 'Admin' or some other useless signature. Are you a real person? Then sign as a real person. Give some thought to these emails. This is your chance to make an active surfer from this newbie.

I am whittling down my list of recommended exchanges and shortly will eliminate about 20-25 from my list.

Well I guess that's about enough for today! I am looking forward to these recommendations being implemented

Cheers!

Tony

Excellent, excellent, outstanding

Me and RT have been shouting most of this from the rooftops, we get called names for saying it. I'm glad a serious user has the same thoughts we do.

I suggest everybody prints this list off and pin it up in front of their computer, read it every day.

Outstanding.

You fancy taking part in a seminar RT and I are doing tommorrow Tony?

Robert

Put me down as another serious surfer who agrees 110% with Tony.

Implement these things and see things improve.

Tony, I wish we could get these kind of suggestions from more surfers like yourself. I have copied that list and will take serious note of what you are saying. Personally, I have implemented some of those already but some also made me think of improvements. Thank you.

As to Jon's poll. It's hard for me to answer just one because the answer to the poll (in my opinion) is everything except More Exchanges, unless new exchanges are added by serious business people and not hobbyists, then the answer would be 'all of the above'.

We've talked about it in many other threads before, and we can bring the issues up again. I will refrain from mentioning any single exchange owner(s) because that will distract the thread, so.....

1. Develop what you have before you open something else.
2. Treat your exchange like a business not a hobby.
3. Make frequent changes to your program and don't sit back and expect things to fix themselves.
4. Listen to exchange owners with proven track records.
5. Form alliances with other exchange owners or other business owners and cross promote.
6. Keep traffic flowing no matter what it takes.
7. Listen to your members.

I could go on but i think that's enough for now.

- Pat

Hello Robert,

Give me the details!

Cheers!

two different times to suit all time zones, the first slot will
be 1pm EST (that\'s 6pm in the UK)
and again at 7pm EST (that\'s midnight in the UK)

download for the voice room software is
http://www.trker.com/go/673/ez

I agree with Tony 100%

I'm online to make money period. And I want the best for the time I spend surfing everyday.

There are some great exchanges, but there are some that hasn't delivered a hit to my site since the day I joined.

I've been doing the same thing Tony's been doing, by compiling a lists of exchanges that actually deliver hits. When I started this lists I started off with 115 traffic exchanges, and the lists has falling to 58 exchanges.

- I also like the idea of group conferences.

I'm looking forward to changes!

I have to agree with the others, excellent post Tony! You brought up several issues that are viable, and needed.

And, I have to admit, an area in which I totally suck. . . e-mail!

I do a very poor job of e-mailing members. It is not that I e-mail too much, I NEVER send e-mail! Last update from CC was almost 3 months ago.

So, I WILL listen to your suggestion, and make a concerted effort to improve CC by honing my e-mail skills. I am, afterall, working to offer my members a better environment from which their advertising efforts are not wasted, and I MUST be responsive to their input to do so.

Thanks Tony, for if nothing else, you have made an impact upon one TE owner thus far, me.

Hello Robert,

I will be at the 1PM session.

Cheers!

By the way, I quite often choose which exchanges to surf by starting with one or two or three I specifically had in mind then adding more as I encounter them while surfing. So I thought maybe owners might like to know that possibly promoting might increase surfing as well as signups. What if lots of surfers are doing that? I dunno if any others are but it might be interesting to find out... or even to recommend it as an interesting methodology to try...

-MarkM-