I’m usually not a huge “traffic co-op” guy, because the hits cost more than I like to pay. Some co-ops charge more than the a la carte price per hit at the exchanges they use. Others have reasonable discount pricing, but only for large buys.

On the other hand, a good co-op can be a key factor in promoting your product, service, opportunity or site. There are too many traffic exchanges out there to keep up with by surfing, and coordinating a la carte buys for maximum exposure is pretty difficult.

I’m a fan of John Bell’s Explosive Traffic for several reasons, all related to the above:

• Right now, ET lists 3,727 traffic sources. That’s a pretty wide net to cast — and when I look at where the traffic is actually coming from (there’s a nice, detailed dashboard), I see sources that I definitely want to be advertising on but don’t have time to surf.
• The hits are affordable. I can earn them “free” by running the ET rotator myself (on my own site or using credits at TEs I do surf), or buy them for a very reasonable price.

But among holiday season deals, I have to say that this one takes the cake — the price isn’t just “reasonable,” it’s insanely great. Through December 17th, Bell is offering an Explosive Traffic upgrade for $3 a month … and it comes with 1,000 hits a month. Oh, and 50% commissions. Oh, and a better “run the rotator to earn hits” ratio.

There aren’t many traffic exchanges where you can get a thousand hits for three bucks, unless you’re buying large numbers at once, so this is a fantastic deal even before you count the other benefits. If you’re already a free member at  Explosive Traffic, I strongly suggest taking advantage of this offer. If you’re not a member yet, it’s time to expand your online promotion presence on the cheap!

Psychological projection or projection bias is a psychological defense mechanism where a person subconsciously denies his or her own attributes, thoughts, and emotions, which are then ascribed to the outside world, usually to other people. … Projection can also be established as a means of obtaining or justifying certain actions that would normally be found atrocious or heinous. This often means projecting false accusations, information, etc., onto an individual for the sole purpose of maintaining a self-created illusion. [Wikipedia]

‘Nuf said.

I use a lot of traffic exchanges. I endorse most of those TEs, at least implicitly by promoting them through splash pages, surf promo plugs, etc. But it’s been awhile since I’ve done an all-out “you really, really, really, need to belong to this TE” post.

I joined Fair Trade Traffic about a year ago, and thought it was OK. The main thing that stood out about it was how good-looking and well-designed it was for a Ventrino exchange (nothing wrong with that script, it’s just that most owners leave it in the naturally ugly — for any script — default state). On that front, by the way, it just keeps getting better and better.

A month or so ago, I noticed they were running a special “one-year upgrade for $20″ sale, and decided to take the bait.

On the strength of no more promotion than I do for just about any TE I belong to, I’ve already knocked down more than $30 in commissions, promo winnings, etc. So the upgrade has paid for itself and then some, and that’s not counting the very nice surf ratio (1:1) and the fact that my promotions there get pretty damn good results.

To re-purpose a quote from the boilerplate from a popular script provider, if you’re not using Fair Trade Traffic, you’re leaving traffic, money and results on the table. Today’s the last day of that $20 sale on the annual upgrade. Go get it!

I see it’s been more than a month since I’ve blogged here at KN@PPSTER dot biz. Quite appropriately, my first post was about the first surf promo over at Big Bad Hits.

Appropriately, I say, because the TE, and the increasing number of surf promos we’re having with other sites, is what’s been keeping me so busy. We’ve got one going with Gary Calvert’s Supersonic Traffic today … check it out!

This post is mostly by way of getting back into the swing of blogging here, and because I really, really, really need to catch up on my thank yous. The list is already so long that I’m sure I’m going to miss a few people. Call me on it, so I can get your name up in lights!

• Thanks to all of the traffic exchange owners who’ve helped a new TE grow, by talking us up or doing a promo with us. That includes, but is not limited by any means to, John at ListBuildSurf, Craig at Giant Hits, Chris and Lisa at Showbiz Hits, Jonathan Black at Sea Star Hits, Dwight at  Traffic Jam Pro and The Traffic Toolbox, Cathy and Jolynn at Hot Flash Hits, Crazy Kaye at Krazy Exchange and FiveHits … and more to come (see our calendar)!
• James, Rich and Justin at Ad One-Ten for getting “stickers” to work on Big Bad Hits. That took more than three weeks and required some novel custom coding; I’m grateful that they didn’t just write off the AMCS exchange world as a sticker venue. We are the first AMCS exchange to sport stickers, but I doubt we’ll be the last!
• Robert Honeyman at AMCS Web Services, who continues to prove that my favorite TE script still has a bright future. He just plain didn’t have time to be the implementer of stickers on the script, but he helped make Big Bad Hits unique among AMCS TEs from the start by catering to my … eccentricities … and in the last week alone he’s made a major script improvement at my request (a modification to the daily “leader board” reporting that makes promos much easier).
• And last, but not even close to least, our members. We’re coming up on 300 of them. They’re driving a growing surf average, ranking us up on Traffic Exchange List, promoting the hell out of us, and making this all worthwhile even apart from the obvious considerations (e.g. making money). It’s a pleasure to work with all of them.

Even as I closed the bullet points above, other people to thank started occurring to me. But I couldn’t get through the list if I spent all day on this post, which I can’t do. So just consider it a start

… you never know for sure until you look.

Thursday afternoon I heard that Timtech’s Key and Vault Game would be running Friday and Saturday at StartXChange and Showbiz Hits.

If you’re not familiar with the game, it goes like this: Surf 77 sites at each of two traffic exchanges (one a Timtech site, the other not). On the 77th site, you’ll be invited to claim a “key” (a red key at one site, a blue site at the other). Once you’ve claimed both “keys” — or one of them and the “skeleton key,” which shows up randomly at SurfSkeleton and can replace either red or blue — you’re invited to open the “vault,” out of which will pop something nice. Maybe even cash (I think about $100 a day gets paid out on the game), but at least a ClickTrackProfit goody (tokens, experience points, etc.).

But anyway, the thing is, the sites running the Key and Vault Game each day get lots of traffic. If you’re looking to be seen on any given day, the Key and Vault sites are the place to do it.

So a few hours go by, and then I sit up and say to myself, “dammit … I meant to see if the start pages at Showbiz Hits were still available. Too late now.” Because Showbiz Hits start pages are a great deal any day at $2 a pop to be the first site every surfer sees. Sucks to be me. I should have run right over there.

Well, maybe Sunday will be open. They’ll probably pick up a bunch of new members Friday and Saturday, and maybe I can catch some of those new members surfing. Besides, I do need to drop over there anyway and rack up some credits.

Guess what? Friday and Saturday’s start pages weren’t taken. I couldn’t believe it. Of course, I have trouble believing their start pages aren’t sold out weeks in advance all the time. let alone on a day when they’re going to be flooded with regular surfers and new members.

You betcha they’re taken now, though. You snooze, you lose. Or, in my case, not.