Combining Traffic Exchange and Splash Screen Rotation to Get More Hits!

TL;DR: YASR is a tool that allows you to split test click through rates on your traffic exchange splash screens, for free.

In the past, we had banner exchanges.

These gave way to modern variants such as pop-up windows, link exchanges, and all manner of services for which the provision of advertising was a secondary function of the web page on which they appeared.

I remember a comment in my guest book from Geocities days -- you may need to look that one up! -- that said "Banner surfing and caught your wave." This isn't really a comment that you'll see much these days.

However, there are a few corners of the web left where advertising is the sole purpose of the site. One of these is the Traffic Exchange.

What is a Traffic Exchange (TE)?

Put simply, it is a place which displays adverts to members, who earn the right to have their own advert displayed to fellow members in return for their attention.

To make sure that they don't simply click away, and to be sure that they are humans, most reputable TE's put a little clickable puzzle on the screen (matching thumbnail photos for example) which the viewer must resolve before the next advert is shown.

When you accrue enough credits, through clicking the puzzles, your advert will be shown to fellow TE members, ideally in the form of a splash screen.

What is a Splash Screen?

A splash screen is a clickable image that promotes your site, and, when clicked, redirects the visitor accordingly.

There are many online services that can be used to create them -- such as AdKreator -- and they have been shown to be effective in attracting hits.

Of course, not every advert will generate a click through, and so splash screen should be rotated in order to test their effectiveness.

Why Rotate Splash Screens?

There are a number of reasons to rotate splash screens, including:

• Splash screens can be rotated against each other -- to test whether specific adverts for the same service work better than others.

• Splash screens for different services can be rotated to take advantage of a single source of traffic by showing different adverts in turn.

• A combination approach can be used, across different TE's, all supplied with the same rotator URL.

The important thing to remember is that the display and click through rates need to be tracked using an appropriate service.

What Do I Do Now?

To take advantage of this opportunity, you need a few things:

• An image hosting account for your splash screen;
• A free account at YASR;
• Accounts at the top TE sites, such as DragonSurf, HitSafari, EasyHits4U, Traffic-Splash, or FarmTraffic.

With these things in hand, it's just a case of creating a Campaign in YASR, sharing the URL across all your TE's, and surfing for credits!

YASR takes care of tracking hits and clicks, so you can use those credits at the times that get you the best chance of click-throughs for your splash screens.

For more information, check out the YASR web site!