If you have followed my previous post on Traffic Exchange Programs then you must have now some idea about traffic exchange programs. If you haven't and are interested to have a go at it then Click Here. In my previous post about Traffic Exchange Programs, I have written about some general traffic exchange programs. If you have already participated in such programs then you must have surfed more general websites and lesser blogs. General in term that they include both general sites and blogs. But this post totally focusses on some good blog specific traffic exchange programs available, which are there completely for bloggers and not for general websites.
Unless you are willing to spend fair amount of money on advertisements and online promotions, its always better to participate in blog traffic exchange programs to promote your blogs. (Blog) Traffic Exchange Programs are very helpful for new blogs to get noticed. It also helps medium sized blogs to get more readers. In most cases, a typical blogger would work hard and spent hours (and hours) authoring or searching for contents for their blog(s). But worst thing of all is to realize that visitors dropping by to their Blogs are very sparse and few.
How do these programs work?
The most basic principle of the Blog Traffic Exchange Programs is very simple - "You view other member's Blogs and in return other members view your Blog". You need to earn credits in order to get blog traffic exposure. You will gain these credits by visiting the blogs of other community members. When you have enough credits your blog will be placed for rotation and your credits will get reduced each time other members visit your blog.There is 1:1 or 2:1 surf ratio, meaning that for each blog (1:1) or each two blogs (2:1) you visit provides you a visitor for your blog. Minimum surfing time for a blog ranges 20-30 seconds. After that you have to click on matching numbers or image to move on to next blog. Most of Blog Traffic Exchange Programs also allow you to buy credits from other members and also run paid programs. These schemes are for those who don't have enough time to surf other members blogs and are willing to spend some money for visitors in return.
Requirements
Registration is totally free. You don't have to pay anything. The most basic requirement is that you own a blog and all you have to do is create your account and submit your blog for approval. Some Blog Traffic Exchange Programs require you to initially surf member blogs and reach a certain credit limit before your blog is approved or placed for rotation.Top Blog Exchange Programs
Here are some top Blog Exchange Programs available and working well at present in the order of their Alexa Ranking. Click on the Alexa Ranking next to the Traffic Exchange Site listed below to check its Alexa Ranking while you are reading this post. While I was preparing this article a well known Blog Traffic Exchange program Blogazoo was not available and another Blog-clicker was also not quite working. So I have not included them here.
| Blog Explosion |
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 Alexa Ranking as of 11/17/2007 : 23,215 Blogexplosion is like a web traffic generator for your blog. It is a blogging community where people can find and read your blog, get your blog reviewed or even chat with other bloggers all around the world! You visit other peoples blogs and in return they visit yours hence increasing site traffic to your blog. You are required to wait for a minimum of 30 secs to surf a member blog in order to earn a surf credit. After that time you will then need to click on a matching number and then you'll be taken to another blog. The surf ratio is 2:1. They have multiple features useful for bloggers. You can add multiple blogs. You can find a blogmark option for you to bookmark good blogs as favourite to view anytime later. They provide useful Blog Explosion stats on how well your blog doing within their network. You can get your blog reviewed by other members . You can add banners to promote your blog with clickthrough reporting! It also runs interesting Contests and Games. You can earn daily Mystery Credits (bonus credits) while you are surfing. You can participate on monthly contests to win thousands of free visitors to your blog plus Monthly Traffic Lottery. Battle of the Blogs contest is interesting. If you have some extra money to spend, buy traffic credits for a low price.
There are even more things to do. You can specify certain categories you would like to see or else don't like to see. You can even block blogs that you don't want to see next time. May be you will love to chat with other bloggers on the site with the "BlogExplosion Shoutbox!" For this, all you have to do is sign up and get your blog listed. You will have to wait for 48 - 72 hours before your blog gets approved. After you have successfully created your account you can start surfing right away, before your blog(s) get approved, and accumulate credits.
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| Blogmad |
 Alexa Ranking as of 11/17/2007 : 45,958 They say BlogMad.net is a blogger's fun site. It is relatively a newcomer. It has had a real successful marketing effort that has driven up its traffic quickly. Many of the users are very passionate and surf seriously resulting a great deal of hits generated every day. Bloggers earn credits by surfing other member's blogs and are rewarded with credits. The credits are then used to get traffic back to their own blogs or to play different games on the site. Bloggers can use various features of blogmad to boost traffic to their blogs. The site is full of games and other funny things. It allows upto 4 blogs per account. This has a 1:1 ratio. The surf timer is 25 seconds. After 25 seconds you have to click on the matching number to visit another blog. And the process continues.
You get a signup bonus of 25 credits for signing up plus 1 credit for every referral you get to sign up through your referral code. There is also bonus for every surfer level you reach and random bonuses which appear while you are surfing. You can exchange credits for banners to be displayed on these sites and get even more readers from a different spectrum altogether. Getting your blog approved in blogmad is relatively fast even if your blog is only a few days old.
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| Blog Soldiers |
 Alexa Ranking as of 11/17/2007 : 138,961 Blog Soldiers is a Manual Traffic Exchange designed to generate visitors to your blog(s) for free by viewing other members blogs in return for credits. There are several ways to earn credits. The easiest way to do so is start surfing after you log in and view other members websites. Each visit earns 0.5 credit to your account which can be applied towards showing your blog(s), showing your banner(s) or showing your text link(s). While surfing you earn letters which spell out the name of the next rank. When you earn all the letters for the rank you are promoted and you will earn Credits, Banner Impressions and Text Links.
BlogSoldiers now offers 50 bonus credits for new members, massive new incentives for referrals. You can only have one membership but can earn from referrals 5 levels deep by encouraging new members in signing up. Minimum surf time per blog is 20 seconds. After 20 seconds you have to click on the matching image to view another blog. It is 2:1 ratio traffic exchange and conducts regular surfing contests where the top ten surfers win 500 to 100 credits each. Plus a bonus system that kicks in as you are surfing sites.
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| Blog Advance |
 Alexa Ranking as of 11/17/2007 : 263,575 BlogAdvance is a community built by bloggers for bloggers. They claims of having a tireless and friendly support team and provide you 100% satisfaction. You earn credits or cash (if enabled) by Manual Surfing, visiting Paid To Click Ads, referring others to the site with your Referral URL, or playing the Jackpot Slots. Random rewards are also given each day when you login to your Member Area. They offer a wide range of services for those looking to make some money as well. You can buy ad space and generate a hefty revenue for yourself. They offer free banner advertisements for those members who join the forum as well.
The surf ratio is 1:1 and like a few other programs, they give you free bonuses points when you log in or surf. Initially they only gave 0.5 credits for one blog viewed but now you will get 1 credit per blog viewed. Minimum surf time required per blog is 20 seconds. After 20 seconds you have to click on matching number to view another blog. Like Blog Soldiers it is relatively small Blog Traffic Exchange Programs at present.
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Conclusion
Blog traffic exchange programs are good way to get traffic to your blogs. But if you were surfing other sites just to get your credits, don't you think that other surfers do the same? Most of the members surf for credits and are more interested on accumulating credits. Which means they don't stay long on a particular blog with some exceptions.Like everything these programs too have positive and negative aspects. It is upto you which one you want to agree with. There has been lots of debate on the technical issues of these programs. Almost all of the blog traffic exchange programs have flaws in technical side. They even take long time then expected to approve your blog or answer your simple queries. Some of the programs have less member blogs and poor rotation system. So after surfing few blogs you come up against the same blog(s) you have previously surfed. Manual surfing is also time consuming and tedious.
So I would like to suggest you not to spend all of your time trying to earn credits after each and every posts just to let other pass by your blog. Instead use these programs occasionally and only after posting a quality content, which you think can make a impression on others at first sight. Which in turn increase your reader base and returning site visitors.
See Also
Traffic Exchange Programs-Easy way to get site trafficMake money through your blog
Resources for finding content for your blog
Submit your site to search engines
