I am always seeking ways to draw traffic to not only this blog, but also the traffic exchange industry in general. Social networking is a great way to meet friends and receive traffic. I’ve tried several social networking sites and was starting to think that maybe social networking was just not my cup of tea.

And then I discovered My Blog Log in August. I was hooked immediately!
My top 5 reasons for liking My Blog Log:

1. Create your own avatar! Choose your skin color, face, hair, background and (best of all) clothes. It was so much fun choosing just the right outfit. People seem to be supportive of this as there are new features added constantly, such as an avatar store.
2. The interface is very clean and engaging. There are many social networking sites out there that just look dull in comparison to My Blog Log. The look and feel of a site is important to me.
3. There’s a good mix of business sites and personal sites. This mix makes it more fun for me when I’m browsing through communities. I do lean towards the affiliate marketing communities but when I run into an interesting personal site, I always stop to read a few posts.
4. Finding friends and contacts is so easy. There are many ways to find new contacts. You can find them from your own home page as your home page randomly shows members from the communities you’ve joined. You can find them from the communities tab, which shows the top communities as well as the new ones. You can find them from the Members tab, which shows top and new members in addition to those who recently joined communities. Of course, you can invite friends in. Lastly, if you display the My Blog Log box in your site, people can join My Blog Log and your community from the link there.
5. My Blog Log reminds me of traffic exchanges. There’s no pressure to join communities and leaving is as easy as clicking a button. Members here don’t seem to be pushy at all, which I appreciate. You visit sites and they visit yours. It’s the exact concept of traffic exchanges!

Join my My Blog Log and see for yourself!

Unfortunately Adsense does not allow their ads to be rotated in traffic exchanges. They don’t see the distinction between auto and manual traffic exchanges. So if you have any sites with Adsense, please don’t add them to traffic exchanges or they will close your account.

An alternative to Adsense that is acceptable is Bidvertiser. I have been using Bidvertiser for a year now and have gotten paid multiple times. Similarly to Adsense, these ads detect your content and show relevant ads. You can see what these ads look like in the footer.

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Now that I have begun promoting TE Index outside of the traffic exchange industry, it occurred to me that people might not even know what a traffic exchange is. I have added a new page that explains what it is. Please check it out on the right hand menu and let me know if there is anything about traffic exchanges that I should explain further.

The other day I joined MyBlogLog.com and added the widget that shows who visited the site. I hope you join My Blog Log and add TE Index to your communities. It’s a great site to meet people and stay connected. Signing up took no time at all. You can customize an avatar, and it was fun picking out an outfit. You can add to your profile and site information slowly. I’ve been having a blast looking at others’ sites and profiles.

There is a huge difference between a manual traffic exchange and an auto traffic exchange.

In both types of exchanges, members view sites in exchange for others viewing their sites. Most of these exchanges are free to join, which draws a targeted audience of internet marketers interested in free to low cost products.

The main difference is that manual traffic exchanges require members to click on a button before moving past a site and earning credits, while most auto traffic exchanges don’t require any interaction after clicking the start surfing button. Does this guarantee that your sites are being viewed by real people? Yes, despite some members barely glancing at sites because they’re only interested in earning credits, most members are giving your site some consideration.

The other difference is that manual traffic exchanges usually have games and surfing contests that keep the viewing of sites from being monotonous. So there is a fun element in manual traffic exchanges that is missing in auto traffic exchanges.

Lastly, owners of manual traffic exchanges seem more engaged in the business than owners of auto traffic exchanges. There are only a handful of auto traffic exchange owners that send useful updates and spend money on advertising their programs. In contrast, there are over 50 owners of manual traffic exchanges who are constantly pushing their business to the next level.