06-Dec-2006
Is The Traffic From Hit Exchanges Worthwile?
| After my post about Blog Directories I thought I'd now give my opinion on the Hit Exchanges such as Blog Explosion, Blog Soldiers and Blog Mad. The question is: Are they worth the effort? I gave the three I have mentioned a good trial and there is no doubt that they brought me visitors - 729 to be precise. I was getting about 50 a day. Then, as you may have read, I received a notice from Google stating they would cancel my AdSense account unless I stopped using these sort of programs. I did as Google requested and the strange thing is, though I was now getting 50+ visitors less a day, it didn't make a scrap of difference to my AdSense earnings, other affiliate commissions or anything else about my blog. Though I had already suspected as much, it now confirmed to me that the visitors received from these Hit Exchanges are really quite worthless. They don't justify the effort. Firstly are they 'really' visitors? Some Stat Counters and Trackers don't even register them as such. It is just an unproductive merry-go-round. If you choose to use Hit Exchanges then yes, on lots of counters, you'll see your number of visitors rise quite dramatically, providing you put in the effort. But these are purely cosmetic, they aren't the quality hits that a blog really needs. If you think about it, with most of these schemes, the clicker only has to stay on your site for 15 or 20 seconds and then they'll click on to the next site. What good is that? Obviously you may get one or two, who may linger for a while, but it will be a very small percentage. No, what we all need is good quality visitors to our blogs. Forget the statistics that Hit Exchanges produce they are meaningless. Quantity doesn't, in this case, mean more business or even more people interested in reading your literary masterpiece. Probably the only worthwhile way to use Hits credits is, as suggested by Martin, for banner adverts. This way any visitors, though there won't be that many, will have chosen to view your blog and will not leave 15 or 20 seconds later. Okay, that's my opinion of the day! You may possibly disagree. Good luck, Mike. Other recent opinions: Secret Of Getting Success With Blog Directories myLot For Money And Referrals Money From Signing Up New Affiliates Advert of the Day: Books On Blogging. Read what's on offer in the book world on the subject of Blogging and Blogs.  Subscribe to Mike's Money Making MissionSubscribe to Mike's Money Making Mission by Email  Labels: Blog Explosion, Blog Mad, Blog Soldiers |
Do google like banner ads clickthroughs though? I have a bunch of credits sat waiting to be used, but really don't want to be thrown off Google Ads so close to payday :S
Unfortunately Google seem to be law unto themselves.
I can't personally see what can be wrong with hits from any Banner, even if they are on a Hit Exchange. This isn't traffic driven by any incentive, visitors have chosen to visit.
On Blog Explosion, for example, my click through rate is only 1.2%. (I had 21 clicks from my last 1692 banner impressions.)
But, in saying this, I can't confirm 100% that this is the way Google looks at things. I suppose if you have any doubts - don't do it! It's not worth the risk if you are heading for payment.
Mike.
Mike.