2 - Setting Up Your Traffic Exchange Account

April 1, 2008

Now that you’ve learned how to sign up for a Traffic Exchange, let’s discuss setting up your account within the exchange.

Setting up your Traffic Exchange accounts basically involves 3 things:

1. Adding your website(s), the site that you want other members to visit
2. Adding your banner ad(s)
3. Adding your text link(s)

Adding your website(s)

First you’ll need to login and obviously you can do that by clicking on the LOGIN link. Once inside, find the navigation menu and look for a link that says ‘My Websites’, ‘Add Sites’, ‘URL Manager’ or something similar. This link will take you to the page where will enter the URL’s, or website address, of the website you want to advertise.

Many times you’ll only be asked for the url of your website but sometimes you’ll also be asked to enter a title for your site as well. Ocassionally a brief description will be required or a catagory selected.

In some cases, you will be required to click a ‘test’ button that checks your site for frame-breaking code before it is accepted into the system. The Traffic Exchange admin may also check each URL manually before approving them.

Each exchange has its own set of rules regarding the types of sites that are allowed. For example, some exchanges do not allow the use of rotators while other programs have banned paid-to-promote type sites and apparent ponzi schemes. Be sure to read the terms of service (TOS) of each exchange before submitting your URL(s).

Adding your banner(s)

The procedure for adding banner ads and text links is pretty much the same as for adding your URLs. You’ll need to find the appropriate menu link and add the correct information.

There is sometimes confusion in getting your banners set up properly. First you must have an image of the banner hosted somewhere on the internet. Usually, the program that you are promoting will give you an image url or tell you that you need to copy the image and upload it to your own hosting account.

There will be two urls to be added when entering a banner.

One will usually say ‘target url’. This is the URL of the page you want a person to see when they click on the banner (the page you are promoting).

The other will usually say ‘image url’, which will be the actual banner, and is the location on the internet where your image file is hosted. It will be a URL that ends in .jpg or .gif.

Some affiliate program owners supply you with the banner “code” to place on your website. An example of this HTML code may look like this:

<A HREF=”http://example.com/mypage.html“><IMG SRC=”http://example.com/banners/banner1.gif“></A>

The URL after the IMG SRC= is the “Image URL” (http://example.com/banners/banner1.gif) and the URL after the HREF= is the “Target URL” (http://example.com/mypage.html).

Note: do not include the quotation marks when entering your URLs.

After clicking on the link to add the URLs, you should see your banner displayed on the banner page. If you do not see your banner displayed properly, then something is wrong, and you will need to change it.

Common errors are:
1. you have a typo in one of the URLs.. it is best to copy and paste this information
2. you have entered the “target URL” in the “image URL” spot or vice versa.
3. you have entered the entire HTML code and not just the URLs.
4. you have saved the banner on your PC’s hard drive and not a server.

You may also have to wait for admin approval before your banners are entered into rotation.

Adding your text link(s)

Once on the text link page, you’ll be asked for a Link Name, Link URL and the Link Text.

The Link Name is for your own use so that you can easily identify what your links are for.

The Link URL is the website that you want other members to go to when they click on your Link Text.

The Link Text is what will show wherever the Traffic Exchange owner displays Text Links, This is most generally on the surf bar but also can be inside the members area as well. You’ll be limited to the number of characters that you can use, so be sure and choose your words wisely. Make it much like a headline by grabbing the viewers interest and making them want to click to your website.

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