15
Oct

Ah traffic exchanges.

Say what you want about these free traffic programs but you won’t find another niche of Internet marketing where there are so many successful people willing to help other struggling marketers for free.

I have met some amazing people in the traffic exchange community.  Probably the best thing I ever did for my business was to start attending the online conferences at Affiliate Funnel, SWAT Traffic and Traffic Exchange Live.  These conferences have given me the opportunity to learn from some extremely successful marketers and also to also get to know them on a personal level as well.

One of the guys I met recently at Traffic Exchange Live is John Holmes who just took over the ownership of SWAT Traffic.  James hosts a Blog Talk Radio show on Internet marketing.

For the past week James has been interviewing some of the biggest names in the traffic exchange industry in a series called “Discover Traffic Exchanges”.  The last interview aired yesterday but thankfully all of the shows have been archived so you can listen to them whenever it is convenient for you.

Here’s the full list of interviews:

Episode 125: Tim Linden of StartXchange  >> Listen Here
Episode 126: Tony Tezak of Tezak Traffic Power >> Listen Here
Episode 127: Open Session  >> Listen Here
Episode 129: Randy Ritter of Top Flight Traffic  >> Listen Here
Episode 130: Marc Eglon of Jetstream Traffic  >> Listen Here
Episode 131: Guido Nussbaum of Traffic Witch >> Listen Here
Episode 132: John Guanzan of ThumbVu  >> Listen Here
Episode 133: Jon Olson of I Love Hits  >> Listen Here
Episode 134: Kym Robinson of Traffic Showdown  >> Listen Here
Episode 136: Lynn McCutcheon of Traffic Pro-X  >> Listen Here
Episode 137: Paul Kinder of Traffic Splash >> Listen Here

Seriously, go listen to these!

In any other industry you would find these interviews packaged and sold together for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.  You can click the links right now and go listen to these interviews for free!  They are great to listen to while you are working and I guarantee you will gain some valuable knowledge about these owners, the traffic exchange industry, and how to run your own successful online business.

There is a lot more to this business than just getting your links in front of as many people as possible.  Start taking some action and get to know who your fellow Internet marketers are.  It won’t cost you a dime and you will be amazed by how far you can go with just a little help from the people who have been where you are now.

12
Oct

Ponzi Scheme Frustrations

Author: Jerry Iannucci

Hello again!

Sorry I haven’t been updating my blog as often as I would like.  I’m still around, I just haven’t had much time to write.

But today I am ready to rant!

Yep, welcome back!

So, lately I have been spending way too much time on Sweeva.  Frankly, i’m addicted.  Whatever.  In case you live under a rock Sweeva is a social marketing site / traffic exchange.  So by using it you are not only getting your site seen by other marketers but you are also getting to know a lot of other marketers socially who are promoting their own sites.

I guess recently it has really started to bug me to see how many talented Internet marketers I know are out there promoting illegal pyramid and ponzi schemes.

I know.  These programs have been around even longer than I have.   It’s not like I haven’t seen hundreds of them come and go over the years.  But it’s interesting now to finally see the faces and talk to the people who are promoting these programs in a social environment such as Sweeva.

Ok, for the record i’m no angel.  I’ve been known to bend a few laws in my time.  If I am in a hurry I might go a few mph over the speed limit.  I probably play the stereo in my car louder than I should and I might even admit to having a few mp3s on my computer that I didn’t pay for.  Hey, I’m like a modern day Jesse James.

Let’s be realistic here.  The police probably aren’t going to break your door down and haul you off to jail for promoting an affiliate link that might not be entirely legal, but does that mean you should do it?

As long as nobody gets hurt, right?

Wrong.

People do get hurt.

Money doesn’t just magically appear.

No program pays out more than it takes in.

The only way for you to make money in these programs is for other people to lose money.  Your success can only come from someone else’s failure.

Am I the only one bothered by that?

No, i’m not a lawyer or a judge.  I can’t pass absolute legal judgment over every site out there.  But if you are not selling a product or service and the only thing you are offering people is a money making opportunity then chances are it’s either an illegal pyramid scheme or an illegal ponzi scheme.

What’s that?  You program offers a product or service?  I guess that makes it legit, right?

Of course it does!

In fact, Bernie Madoff would be a free man right now if he had only thought to provide his clients with some ebooks and a rotating banner ad on his blog.

You can dress it up anyway you like.  If people are spending money on these things with the goal of making more money back then slapping on a worthless product or ad credits isn’t going to make them any more legit.

It’s frustrating to me though because sometimes I just want to grab these people and tell them what they are doing is wrong… but I can’t.  Who am I to tell them what they should or should not promote?  Right?

Look, if you have the money and you want to gamble it on one of these programs I don’t really care.  Maybe you’ll get lucky and eventually make a profit.  Congratulations on your wise business investment.

My problem is with the program owners and the people who use these programs to prey on newbies who don’t know any better.  The people who only care about making money and don’t care where it’s coming from.  To me that is more than just breaking the law… it’s just wrong.