A traffic exchange is a type of website

Website

A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

 which provides a service for webmaster

Webmaster

A webmaster , also called a web architect, web developer, site author, or website administrator is a person responsible for maintaining one or many websites...

s in exchange for traffic

Web traffic

Web traffic is the amount of data sent and received by visitors to a web site. It is a large portion of Internet traffic. This is determined by the number of visitors and the number of pages they visit...

. It is similar to the autosurf

Autosurf

Autosurfs are traffic exchanges that automatically rotate advertised websites in one's web browser. Therefore, they are capable of bringing a large amount of traffic to the advertised websites. Members earn credits for each site that they view, which can then be spent to advertise members' sites by...

 concept with the exception that traffic exchanges usually use a manual rotation.

Concept

A traffic exchange website receives website submissions from webmasters that join traffic exchange networks. The person who submitted the website then has to browse other member sites on the exchange program to earn credits, which enable their sites to be viewed by other members through the surf system. This increases the number of visitors to all the sites involved.

Exchanges enforce a certain credit ratio

Ratio

In mathematics, a ratio is a relationship between two numbers of the same kind , usually expressed as "a to b" or a:b, sometimes expressed arithmetically as a dimensionless quotient of the two which explicitly indicates how many times the first number contains the second In mathematics, a ratio is...

, which illustrates the amount of websites the surfer must view in order to receive one hit through the program for their promoted website. Many sites offer the ability to upgrade one's membership level for a more equal credit ratio.

As the viewers are all website owners or affiliates, it is possible that some might find certain member sites interesting and thus make note of them on their own sites, sending more traffic their way. Most traffic programs also impose a time limit when members are browsing, ranging from 10 seconds to 60 seconds. Some incorporate the use of captcha

CAPTCHA

A CAPTCHA is a type of challenge-response test used in computing as an attempt to ensure that the response is generated by a person. The process usually involves one computer asking a user to complete a simple test which the computer is able to generate and grade...

 to ensure user interaction.

Almost all traffic exchange programs are free

Gratis

Gratis is the process of providing goods or services without compensation. It is often referred to in English as "free of charge" or "complimentary"...

, although many of them offer special features to paid members and offer credits for purchase. Almost all traffic exchange programs encourage users to build their own referral networks, which in turn increases the referrers' amount of credits.

The traffic generated in a traffic exchange can be leveraged by using a downline builder to assist the user in building a referral network in the many different traffic exchanges.

In practice, traffic exchange programs are generally used by small business

Small business

A small business is a business that is privately owned and operated, with a small number of employees and relatively low volume of sales. Small businesses are normally privately owned corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships...

 owners or marketers who either want free advertising

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

or use the exchange programs for low-budget advertisement campaigns.

History

Traffic Exchanges date back to the beginning of the web and were primarily used by organizations to share sites between employees. Viewers would rate pages in a similar fashion to the now popular social bookmarking phenomenon. When interesting websites were hard to find a traffic exchange for an organisation new to the web proved an invaluable tool.

Circa 1994 traffic exchanges moved from corporate intranets to the web. In an effort to build communities the concept of rating pages was replaced with rewarding members for viewing.

It was 1996 before traffic exchanges began to charge for traffic and around this time the concept changed from a tool for locating interesting sites to a commercial one. This change in direction resulted in increased popularity at the expense of the content which is now almost exclusively commerce.

Traffic Exchange vs. Bounce Rate

Most people use Traffic Exchange programs to increase their site visit rate. Traffic Exchange programs offer both the Auto and Manual Surf options with a timing of 10 to 60 seconds. An 'autosurf' program requires no human intervention to rotate the sites in the database, and is used primarily to inflate the total number of site hits. This practice is rather controversial as it may skew the results of website popularity. People's main reason behind joining a Traffic Exchange program is to promote products and services to like minded marketers. A factor which may negatively influence the ranking is the Bounce Rate. If a website or blog has a high bounce rate then it will be considered that people are not interested in the content. The Bounce Rate is calculated by the average rate a visitor stayed on the site. So whereas the Traffic Exchange sites increase the site visit rate, on the other hand they also increase the bounce rate.

Using Traffic Exchanges Effectively

The key to using traffic exchanges is understanding that the person will only be viewing your site for 10–20 seconds. Rather than sending the person to your website, you should be sending them to a specific advertisement designed for traffic exchanges. The most effective are squeeze pages or splash pages, which have a simple headline, description, and opt-in form for an autoresponder. Then the surfer can easily type their email address in and receive more information about your product or services at a later time.

Adsense on Traffic Exchanges

Google disallows using Adsense on Traffic Exchanges . Users who wish to advertise their websites on a traffic exchange but also have Adsense ads should create separate pages for advertising in traffic exchanges that do not have Adsense ads.