Traffic Exchange Widgets: Are They Worth It?

Since the avalanche of new bloggers on the web, many are on the hunt to find traffic sources for their blog desperate for more visitors. In their hunt, many may have ran into a few traffic exchange sites. And the question they face is: Are they worth it?

Truth be told, there are many upsides and downsides to traffic exchanges. However, the decision whether to place traffic exchange widgets, just like testing for the best monetization method, depends heavily on the type of content the blogger serves.



The System

Nowadays, traffic exchanges have a new concept where bloggers participating in the exchange must place a widget that displays a list of related posts on their blog, that usually comes with images as well. But here is the catch. The widget will only display related articles from other recipients within the exchange. Meaning, content not from the blogger’s site. And for every visitor that clicks onto the widget, would act as a credit for the blogger to receive visitors back from the network. Formally, traffic exchanges required users to manually view other peoples’ websites and this justified how many visitors a webmaster may have in return. Of course, many people thought this system was flawed because it created a vicious cycle where most of the time, traffic exchanges were made up of only desperate webmasters. Which of course, defeated it’s own purpose. Now, you could say that the system has evolved into a more just system that may be worth trying.

Since the incorporation of this new system, it has renewed my interest in traffic exchanges of it being another source of dependable traffic where webmasters can benefit from. The reason why this system is more likely to succeed is because bloggers are essentially giving a visitor for a visitor through a mandated widget on their blog. This ensures that real visitors are being reciprocated through the network. Although no system is fail-proof, this system is more durable and fair. Some traffic exchanges even throw out the extra incentive of offering bloggers 150%-300% visitors back for every visitor they send to their network.

However, be aware that traffic exchanges are not for every type of site. If I were to choose one particular type of site that would be a perfect match for these type of networks, it would be entertainment related websites. Reason being, most of the content you see on well known traffic exchange sites like Wahoha, Mgid, and 2Leep, are entertainment related. If you are dealing with a website that is not at all relevant, adding the traffic exchange widget may be doing yourself a disservice – despite it taking 2 clicks for a visitor to get to your content through the process.

All in all, traffic exchanges may prove to be a great alternative way to receive more traffic, depending on what type of content you serve. If you plan on using networks like these, it is advised to test whether it is beneficial or just a plain nuisance by observing your nearest website analytic software.