Should you start a traffic exchange?

It is tempting for sure. As a TE owner you have unlimited credits, you can ad programs in the downline builder and you can mail your membership. And sellers of scripts of course state that it is easy and profitable to have your own traffic exchange.

I was tempted an bought one about 2 years ago called chickensurf, all set up and with +100 members. of which about 6 were active. I dumped it after a year.

It was a flop actually. As I know now the settings were all wrong. And at that time I had no idea how many hours you need to put in to build a membership and to keep current membership active. And I did not have insight in the math of an exchange.

My other TE I bought later is doing much better although it is still far from where I want it to be in membership numbers. My second TE was also an existing TE. My reason to buy an existing one was that it was all set up and had an existing membership of over 600. It would allow me to familiarize myself with the script and management and build from there.

Unfortunately after months of struggling and trying to get it right I found out the script and database had faults and were beyond repair. I had to start from scratch. I did under a new name, Surf-Bar-Traffic.Only few members returned.

Update: meanwhile I am moving forward. My TE is growing and people are surfing. I had help from very nice Ventrino people to sort out some script and config stuff. I also became founder in The Marketers Co-op and co-founder in AdsActly. Both I use to promote my TE leaving me more time for other ventures and activities.

Starting a TE is now even more difficult. Unless you already own one that is successful. You need friends that can help with questions about set up and configuration. You need to be pro-active and take initiatives.

And you need to surf a lot to promote your new TE unless you have unlimited funds for upgrades.

Running a successful TE is certainly worthwhile as well for traffic and profits. But it will take a fair amount of time to make it so. Because a TE is also a numbers game. If you are considering starting one you should inform yourself well. Especially nowadays with new ones starting daily.

These are some questions you should ask yourself:

• Do you have any knowledge of TE scripts and configuration; if not, do you have friends that are prepared to help you? Do you have insight in the math of TEs?
• Can you cover the costs for hosting? It will take a while before you have sufficient earnings from your TE to cover the costs.
• Can you put a fair amount of time in daily for promotions and keeping your membership active?
• Do you have contacts, or time to establish these, with other TE owners? Note: the time zone you live in can be an extra handicap for attending webinars and places where TE owners hang out.

If you can answer these questions with yes, by all means, go for it.

If not you are better of investing these funds in upgrades in successful existing TEs.