Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Don't Spread Yourself Too Thin

I have this bad habit of joining traffic exchanges -- either because of a design I just love or they are having a two or three way surf with an exchange I already belong to.

I find myself surfing less and less particularly at sites where I have heaps of credits that are being used up slowly or not at all.

I'm starting to see the wisdom of picking a few sites that deliver good traffic to your opportunities.

I will probably be terminating my accounts at a lot of smaller non-productive traffic exchanges.

Pinpoint targeting of my efforts isn't available but with the scattershot approach of belonging to 50-60 traffic exchanges that deliver little or no traffic (or deliver poor quality traffic) I am spreading my surfing time too thin and wasting my efforts .

Monday, May 30, 2011

Learning to Give up When:

It just isn't working.

I belong to a local chapter of Freecycle (http://www.freecycle.org/) and some of the members irritate me no end. They are what the moderators refer to as "frequent flyers" which means they always say they want your stuff BUT they never show up to pick it up (or they say they DID show up but you weren't home).

One in particular first says "I came by and you didn't answer the door" and when you reply then says "I can come back by in a while" and never shows up again. This is also a person who refused to pick up a large box of food simply because I put it on my front porch so I could do errands--errands I'd already put off for hours waiting for her

To keep myself from going ballistic about these repeated no-shows, I've decided to simply not give them anything.  There are plenty of people who do want what I'm offering and don't make me jump through hoops to give it to them.

How does this have anything to do with online marketing? There comes a time in online activities where you need to take a good long look at what you are doing -- evaluate what the results are, look at the costs (in both time and money), see if the results are a good use of the costs -- and perhaps change what you are doing  or in extreme cases stop altogether.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Ask and You Shall Receive (Sometimes Anyway)

Well today I moved out of my comfort zone and asked a total stranger for a ride to CEC (the electric company here).

The problems were: I had to pay $36.00 to CEC today (no ifs ands or buts about it) AND the closest bus stop was at least a mile away each way (did I mention its windy today, with a chance of rain and/or hail?)

I had asked the park manager yesterday if he could give me a ride but he was leaving on vacation and suggested I call this other person.

What does any of this have to do with online activities? Well, for me asking for help online or offline is difficult. I am shy and retiring (stop laughing, I said RETIRING not RETARDED!! rofl). All jokes aside, I am shy and I try to be independent.

But what is the worst that can happen if you ask for help? The absolute worst is that the person will say no. Having someone say no to you is not the worst thing in the world.

Most people will say yes though--whether the request is offline or online--because they either like helping other people or they like sharing what works for them (particularly if its something they have developed themselves).

So if you see somebody doing something with their online promotions that seems unique or interesting to you, contact the person.

Say something along the lines of "I saw you promoting such and such opportunity at this traffic exchange; how's that working out for you?"

Again, the worst thing that can happen is that the person will say I'm not interested in sharing my methods or my results with you.  And even if they aren't interested in sharing their methods or results they might have ideas of where you can go to find help (webinars, e-books, etc).

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Post a Day Challenge: Forced Surfing Revisited

http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2011/05/forced-surfing-few-thoughts.html

I've been thinking more and more about this site.  While I agree that traffic exchanges are in the business of "I look at your site, you look at mine" personally I prefer a more organic type of traffic to my opportunities--not someone who is (like me sometimes) surfing because they have to keep their sites active.

I've had my account suspended at this manual traffic exchange 6 times since I joined which (April 23 2011), all for not having active sites in rotation. The last time I surfed at this site was May 19, 2011 -- one week ago.

Does forced surfing mean I pay MORE or LESS attention to the sites I am being forced to view? I don't know for a fact, but my assumption is that I would pay LESS attention to the sites and MORE attention to the required number of sites I have to view to get unsuspended.

Yes I have discussed the issue with the owner of this particular traffic exchange. It's clear that he's not going to change how he does things but I do wonder why out of all the traffic exchanges I have ever belonged to his site is the ONLY one forcing surfing in this way.

Post a Day Challenge From Tim Linden

http://www.timlinden.com/blog/contests/the-post-a-day-challenge/

I am formally accepting the challenge of writing at least ONE useful post per day at this blog.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The Scam is: Forced Traffic to Their Affiliate Link

"I received this email too and responded. I believe the only thing that they asked for was a resume. What exactly is the scam?"

http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2011/04/craigs-list-job-scam-again.html

If you actually received this email (and aren't just playing devils advocate here) you would realize that the link included in the email (the one you say you received) does NOT in any way shape or form go to ANY job site or ANY resume submission site.

They call it a Feedback Report but that link goes straight to Free Gift Reports.

This company/organization is sending forced and fraudulent traffic to their affiliate link for Free Gift Reports.

The second email, the one from Watson (supposedly), goes straight to Job.com, and as I stated in the original posting there were NO openings for Watson Realty listed on Job.com (nor were there even any jobs on Job.com for my geographical location).

There was no request for a resume from either of these sites.

Free Gift Reports is an offer/ptsu site.

Job.com is a job site

BUT its very odd that a company would link directly to their front page NOT a job description or their company profile on Job.com.

Now the Watson Realty link has its account suspended. http://watson-realty.info/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi?id=db30b143de

I hope the commenter is happy giving his resume information to spammers, scammers, liars, and thieves.

Another question: How does the commenter even know what postings on Craigs List I am referring to?

Especially since the first one was taken down as fraudulent by Craigs List almost immediately after my post here.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Forced Surfing: A Few Thoughts

I joined a site a few weeks ago, a manual surf site.  Of all the surf sites I've ever belonged to (close to 80 at one time, about 50 now) this is the only site that forces surfing or forces buying credits.

If you don't have a site in rotation, your account is suspended.  If you DO have a site in rotation but it has no credits, your account is suspended. No questions asked, no excuses accepted.

Now I chose to join the site, but I didn't know that my account would be suspended 2-3 times in less than 2 weeks. The first few days I belonged to this site I surfed over 442 pages.

I think there ought to be some consideration that people have lives outside of surfing, outside of online activity, outside of promoting, outside of marketing.

I have medical and financial issues that outweigh ANY online activity.  I am on several medications due to an unexpected hospitalization last year

I have an income of $416.00 per month (and an outgo of  $700.00-$800.00 per month, not including food)

I have been preparing for a colonoscopy, I have been trying to get a room ready to rent out, I've been trying to find a job, and I have been focusing my limited online time on sites that are actually directly earning me money (Clix Sense, PTR sites, survey sites).

In 12 years online I have been paid by THREE surf sites: Share-Traffic, 1 Heluva, and Total Rune (a whopping total of $31.00) so why would my priority for my limited online time be a surf site?

Clix Sense has paid me $41.00 in the last month. DO THE MATH!!

http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2011/02/priorities-ptr-is-not-important.html
http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2010/08/backing-away-from-ptr.html
http://suellenjillroley.blogspot.com/2010/09/i-really-hate-being-sick.html