VENTRINO TRAFFIC EXCHANGE SCRIPTS
TURNING WEB VISITORS INTO BUYERS FOR OUR CUSTOMERS SINCE 1994
The secret society of traffic exchange script owners
Published October 11, 2009 | 
The Top Ten Marketing Rules for TE Owners
Traffic exchange owners are far from secretive, the more exposure they can get for themselves and their members the better. But did you know how many of them collaborate to improve their sales? With a recent flurry in the number of sales a distributor confessed that he had found an exciting way to make more money with the same amount of effort he put into his own exchange and after some discussion we decided between us these are the top ten marketing rules required to make your TE a success:
- Other Traffic Exchanges. Not surprising but you will find other traffic exchanges a good place to find the kind of people interested in traffic exchanges.
- Virtual pages. The ability to create a short sharp shock to attract attention has existed in the Ventrino/Walkersoftware traffic exchange script since the late 90′s. In recent years this innovation has been renamed to Splash and Squeeze pages. These are invaluable tools for picking up members and smart Internet developers have created entire businesses focused on providing cool designs. Use your favourite search engine to locate them.
- Forum signatures. This is an ‘old school’ solution yet effective more than ever. Make sure you use them on every forum and blog post you comment on. Needless to say you must avoid spam, your signature should be a natural extension to the valuable information you provide.
- Your home page is your storefront. Make sure it looks professional and delivers the message your customers want to see and hear rather than what you want to tell them.
- Don’t be all things to all people. Focus on your customer persona and give them your message in the language they understand. Try to offer only the features your customers want. Each feature your customer does not understand may leave them confused and less likely to join you. Find a unique term that describes your story. My first was “Unlimited FREE traffic” which in pre Google days kept me at the top of search engines. Finding something not dominated by someone else already is difficult, but get it right and this one action will create your own world wide rave and place you ahead of your competitors. Invest in keyword analysers, and time spent surfing Google Trends is never wasted.
- Email marketing is seriously misunderstood by far too many people and most of the advice you will receive is plain wrong. You have to understand how well this medium works for your market. Some people extol the virtues of services such as aweber and icontact, but abuse these services and you are no better than sending spam. Your traffic exchange script software already includes opt-in managed mail and provides evidence of your members signup date and location should they forget and decide to report you. It also includes easy web-based database removal, another feature people will trust. Never use any list unless you created it and the recipients expect to receive mail from you.
- Autoresponders are not what they used to be, but they still have a place in marketing. Have at sometime signed up to an auto responder… and never opened one of the messages sent? You joined because you were interested and did not want to lose that link. It may take a while but you may eventually open one of the messages and take action but there is no replacement for having a good reason to buy.
- JV’s are discussed at length on all marketing forums because they make sense. Find other companies that sell related products and services and form a joint venture with them. Special promotions to your members of their products reciprocated with yours to theirs provides three benefits. You make money, they make money and your combined customers benefit from both products and services, perhaps even at a cost saving too.
- Communicate regularly. One of our script owners sends no less than 5 messages per week and has over 60,000 m
embers. Does that not speak volumes? He also takes regular webinars, posts podcasts, youtube videos and twice a year holds seminars. He sees a TE as the launchpad to the products he promotes but says he regularly makes $10,000 over a weekend by selling discounted solo mail, traffic and banner impressions. You might think a man like this is busy, but he always has time to talk to his customers and provides a toll free number for his US clients with “call me anytime” below his smiling photo. - … and lastly the surprise: Guarantee your service. How many exchanges offer a results based guarantee? This one feature has increased sales ten times for one exchange owner. “Its remarkable, I decided to test an idea I read in a free ebook on marketing, the theory is you will have to refund a proportion of the money, you cannot satisfy everyone, but the additional sales made due to the guarantee far outweigh the loss made in refunds”. See footnote.
So there it is, the secret society of successful traffic exchange script owners top ten tips for driving profit into your exchange.
Footnote to 10: Since drafting this post the owner has sold his site and the new owner immediately removed the guarantee, hence no link.
Posted in Traffic Exchange | 
make money, splash page, squeeze page, top ten, traffic exchange script, virtual pages | 
1 CommentSungha Jung Plays Bolero
Published September 10, 2009 | I have been fortunate enough to follow Sungha Jung’s progress for a couple of years. I guess he can only improve with age yet for someone so young he has a superb head start. Already an Internet star I hope we get to see him live in concert soon, just as soon as he finishes school!
How to setup DNS for your hosting at your name registrar
Published September 7, 2009 | 
If your host asks you to set the DNS for your domain and you don’t know what he means this guide may help. However you should always look for clarification from your host.
If you host asks you to set the DNS to a couple of entries that look like the following then it is likely this article will help:-
ns5.ventrino.com
ns6.ventrino.com
Who is your name registrar?
First identify your name registrar. Popular ones include namecheap.com and godaddy.com. If you don’t recognise these names use a whois tool to find out. www.domaintools.com and www.coolwhois.com are simple to use, they offer an input for the domain name, press the button and a few seconds later you can read about your domain and listed somewhere you will find your name registrar.
Got your name registrar – what’s next?
As name regsitrars will use their own method for setting the DNS you will have to check their FAQ for more specfic instructions. Most are simple and within a few clicks the job will be done.
Changed my DNS but still goes to old server, why’s that?
Patience! Officially it can take up to 72 hours for servers across the net to update entries. Typically 15 minutes but this will be in perfect conditions. Your PC will cache a routing table as well, so while the Internet may have updated your PC can still send you to the wrong place (sometimes a restart can clear this).
Am I a Racist? Virgin employee thinks so
Published September 3, 2009 | I never thought of myself as a racist. With so many different definitions just being white probably means I am to some, but I try not to let culture interfere with my decisions.
Today I struggled to understand what the guy from Virgin was trying to tell me. They have a special offer and it meets with my budget. At least I thought it did. The guy began to explain the “extras” that I am “obligated to pay”. His poor English coupled with thick Indian accent meant I could not understand what he was saying.
After 5 minutes of this I felt like ending the call but I really am interested in Virgins 50mb broadband offer so I politely asked if there was anyone else I could speak to.
Although he didn’t call me a racist I could make out from his remarks that he was a “supervisor” and that anything I wished to say could be said to him. So I explained it had nothing to do with his performance per se, I needed someone who could speak to me in clear English and without an accent, that’s all.
With emotion swelling in his response I could tell I was not going to be passed on and while I can’t say that he said anything wrong I judge from his tone I was not going to join his long list of satisfied callers (I think that’s what he was claiming).
So with a sigh I thanked him for his time and said I would consider his generous offer. The truth is the opposite of course. If virgin sales staff struggle with English then how good are their support staff going to be?
MySQL server has gone away (avoid php flush)
Published August 21, 2009 | I recently experienced a problem with a complex MySQL query which reported “MySQL server has gone away” and then just stopped.
There are plenty of posts with suggestions to help you fix this rare but annoying message and it’s likely they will help you more than this post. However I found a solution, and one that I could replicate so that for my particular issue have conclusive evidence of the cause. An unusual luxury.
Remove flush()
It is as simple as that. If you find flush() is called at any time while processing a page that suffers this error, rem it out and try again. More information on flush() can be found here: http://uk3.php.net/flush
Twitter Power: How to dominate your market one tweet at a time
Published July 7, 2009 | Back in May I made a decision to investigate Twitter for internet marketing as my preferred social media promotion resource. I did not intent to exclude any of the others but when there are so many to choose from it makes sense to pick one and focus on it. Twitter had obvious advantages for a software development company. An easy and transparent API with a fun bunch of people behind it demonstrating an interest in developing a service rather than screwing as much cash from it’s membership as possible. No banner ads, no fancy flash ads, heck not even a cookie is required to operate Twitter.
The first book I read dealt with the API which was great if you like that kind of thing. What I needed was something that dealt with the use of Twitter from an end user perspective. I needed to know what twitter was like from a business user point of view. What was twitter’s attraction? How can it be used by business? What advantages does it offer over other social media resources? How could it be used to leverage sales? Could it be used for customer support? A list of pros and cons for business use.
Amazon offered two books that cover the subject I was looking for. Amazon reviews offer a balanced view and are useful but with the two books I shortlised it looked like the authors had employed cheerleaders for their books, and nay-sayers for their competitors (I’m sure that’s not what happened but check them out for yourself and you will see what I mean).
As I had heard of Joel Comm I took a closer look and with an endorsement from Anthony Robbins felt compelled to give it a try. I must add had I known Mark Joyner had given an endorsement I would not have given the book a second look.
Some critics of Joels book say he treats the subject too elementary. He assumes nothing and if you are new to the Internet you will find this useful. It’s not correct to say that this is a waste of time for long term Internet users. Amid the explanations you will find Joels take on how something should be done and why. This is invaluable for any Internet user, especially the experienced as it is so easy to forget the most fundemental tasks sometimes. For example one reviewer criticised Joel for explaining how to upload your background image to twitter. This is perhaps elementary stuff that 99% of twitter users could do without being told, but the reviewer omitted to mention Joel explains the value of that image and how to best make it work for you. The real message was lost to some reviewers and it will be reflected in their timelines.
Not everything in Twitter Power will be a revelation to you, many of the tasks you are familiar with will be enhanced by Joels thinking. Think of Twitter Power as a game plan to the knowledge you need to build your business. You will find out how to avoid disaster and how to maximise opportunity and that makes the book a useful tool for any online business.
Joels book is about understanding Twitter and making the most of it. He writes (or is it Ken Burge) in a casual style that is focused on the task. He wastes no time trying to be clever or complex. His formula for success is straight forward and can be read by anyone without needing a PHD. My rating therefore is five stars. He delivers his message in a quiet and uncomplicated way, if you believe twitter can help you in business and your social life then this book is for you.
Audible UK charges 172% more for downloadable products
Published July 6, 2009 | 
When are online businesses going to learn they cannot get away with theft? Ask audible.co.uk and I am sure they will tell you they have plenty of customers “thank you very much” but how many are they losing because we refuse to be taken for suckers?
I knew someone called Brian Greer involved in the gray import business back in the 1980′s. At the time US companies nicknamed Great Britain “treasure island”. I have not lived in the UK for many years but I am a regular visitor. I love visiting but it is the “rip-off Britain” scenario I thank my lucky stars I don’t live here anymore.
Of course the MP’s have entertained Brits over the last few months with their amazing fall from grace but they just add up to another bunch of thieves. Bankers are worse, they can spend whatever they like and know that if they run out they can sucker-punch British tax payers for another £860 Billion. To pay their exhorbitant expenses the British people and British business have to pay an ever upward increase on their taxes.
The meeting occurred on a blistering hot day so Brian had all the windows shut, air con off, and put the heated air vent on.
Perhaps a 172% price hike on products can be justified in light of the enormous tax bill Audible UK must have to pay, but I fear it is just greed. They may make excuses but there is no reason or justification other than “we do because we can”. They look after themselves and we sit back and let them.
I would not have believed British business was so tainted until I worked for Brian Greer, a wealthy technology investor with businesses across Europe, Egypt, USA and Russia (quite an achievement in the 80′s). He married a British lady and decided to stay. Horrified that Microsoft sold software in the UK for £300 and just $100 in the USA he began a gray import operation (which despite claims to the contrary is not illegal, in fact the opposite is true, what government would encourage foreign companies to rip off it’s people?).
My complaint to Audbile UK: I was ordering “Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time” by Joel Comm for $7.49 and now it asks for £7.99 which is 172% more than the price quoted. I don’t mind paying VAT but what explanation could you possibly have for making an electronic item cost so much more?
Brian was the first person in the UK to receive a visit from the Microsoft Police. It was a time when they didn’t dominate the market with anything other than DOS (and perhaps Windows but these were early versions, possibly pre 3.1). As Brian was a senior shareholder in a well known PC brand in the US he thought they were going to persuade him to stop by offering the UK price parity. His business partner in the US found out ahead of the meeting, they were actually sending lawyers to threaten him.
Brian wore a T shirt he was given by Oracle and shorts that were just a little too short for a man in his 50′s.
So Brian had his boardroom chairs removed and replaced with point-of-display boxes extolling the virtues of Microsofts competitors. An entertaining meeting it must have been. Unfortunately I wasn’t there but I know Brian, he would not have bothered employing his own lawyers to defend his position. The man was always right and always supremely confident.
The meeting occurred on a blistering hot day so Brian had all the windows shut, air con off, and put the heated air vent on. The Microsoft lawyers were shown in and had little choice but to sit on their competitors point of sale boxes. Brian was in his comfortable executive chair at the head of the table of course. He was dressed in stark contrast to the lawyers who were all suited and booted and looking like a million dollars. Brian wore a T shirt he was given by Oracle and shorts that were just a little too short for a man in his 50′s. They began to explain what they thought would happen if he didn’t stop gray imports. At this point the meeting was interrupted by one of Brian’s 19 year old receptionists dressed even less than Brian. She brought in an ice water bucket and one can of coke for Brian. She did not ask if the lawyers would like a drink.
The lawyers were smart enough to realise their flight from Redmond had been a waste of time so tried to leave. But every time they tried Brian would throw them an olive branch so they would stay and try talk him round. He managed to keep them sweating for 4 hours.
After the meeting Brian stepped up his operation and began a massive gray import campaign of OEM licenses marked “Only for use on machines sold in the USA” and practically everyone one in the UK that owned a PC and wished to upgrade owned a copy.
So Audible UK, will history to repeat itself?
Finding product cheaper elsewhere is not against UK law and now that American companies can charge VAT there is no earthly reason why UK customers should put up with your unrealistic pricing. I will wait until I return home to complete my order, which I can do so on the US website and pay US prices. Why would anyone knowingly pay 172% more for a product, an identical product, a product delivered from exactly the same place at exactly the same time in exactly the same state? And exactly how is it that cannot be described as theft or fraud?
I don’t need followers, I need sales!
Published June 27, 2009 | 
You are probably familiar with the terms “Online Promotion” and SEO. For many years it has been assumed these two terms are the gateway to riches in a modern era gold rush, and it is true for many of those working in the industry, it has indeed been very profitable. To the person with something to sell these are costs and if they improve the profit on a balance sheet are worthwhile.
Successful online promotion can only be achieved through constant change. 15 years ago the Internet was hailed as a revolution and paradise for adverters. Instant feedback to marketing campaigns fuelled the spread of banners and it wasn’t long before every site apart from the BBC looked more like the Exchange and Mart.
We became “banner blind” and these ads lost their effectiveness fast. A few years later Google arrived with its “Do no evil” policy yet sure enough, as soon as we were all hooked, they too became banner bandits. Every webmaster who couldn’t figure a way to make money dropped Google code on the site which ironically encouraged people to leave the moment they arrived.
Internet users have grown immune to this kind of advertising. How many times this week have you bought something after clicking their banner? Can you remember the product for any banner you clicked this week. It’s known as “push”. Traditional media likes to brand us like cattle, with their mark burned into memory forever.
We are less likely to allow old media to influence us. Instead we are interested in opinion. When you buy a book from Amazon do you prefer the Synopsis by the author or the comments by his readers? Do you read the negative first or the good or do you juxtapose them both? Do you trust a book with one five star rating or another a hundred reviews and a four star rating?
The benefit of the wisdom of the crowd over traditional advertising is compelling. “As seen on TV” is now considered a warning against paying too much. Today we buy from experience rather than advertising hype. Not just our own experience but the experience of thousands of other consumers too.
Ask any salesmen their preferred lead and it is likely to be “Word of Mouth” which is an elementary way to describe social media. The difference with word of mouth is it is limited to a few friends and social media has access to billions of potential customers. Members share all kind of information with specialist groups covering any subject the mind can imagine. Each member of the group looks over the shoulder of fellow members to see what they are doing and ask advice.
The advertising interloper will always be excommunicated from these groups. Old media, advertisers and opinionated individuals are quickly identified and removed from the sphere of influence for good.
What does this mean for the person with something to sell?
It means mediocre and poor quality are unlikely to benefit from the new social phenomenon. If that’s all you have then stick with old media as it suffers from the last death throws push advertising has to offer.
Worthwhile products enjoy a boom without leaving a hole in the balance sheet. Introducing your product to targeted groups and attract positive reviews from esteemed and influential social media experts in your field will generate buzz. Place your product in the correct sales medium so it can be found and purchased easily from a trustworthy resource.
Unlike TV, Radio, Press, Banner Ads, Google Adsense or any other form of traditional advertising push media is finite, whereas a social media marketing campaign will produce infinite buzz always online and ready for review.
Too many cooks…
It’s easy to be trapped into the belief you need friends in facebook or followers on twitter to achieve your goals. As a relative newcomer to these services I speak from the experience of the lack of experience, a rare qualification! With confidence I can say sales come from something else. It is too simplistic to say “the more followers I have the better chance of sales” I can think of many arguments against this but perhaps the most obvious is that if everyone is hunting the highest number of followers it’s likely he or she is attracting the same kind of people, and how often do you read messages from the hundreds of thousands of messages that spend the odd micro second on your timeline?
My advice is to only follow those people who you think can help you in your pursuits. And don’t worry about offending people by not following or even removing them as a friend. Instead congratulate yourself on taking the right steps to protect what you want. People will respect you for it, especially those you choose to follow because you think they are worthy of your attention.
Changing a nations attitude with twitter
Published June 14, 2009 | 
So if Twitter has people thinking it can change a nations attitude towards its own government, and it appears that it is, it’s not illogical that it might be. Some would say “My dog has four legs and so has my cat, visa-vie my cat is a dog” is nonsense, but I had a cat that once thought it was a dog, well it would attack any dog no matter its size and never lost (probably because he overcame dogs brain dead cat-n-run instincts with confidence and a vicious set of eye-scratching claws). Watching Bull Mastifs run in fear of their lives being chased by a small white cat had anyone who saw it in fits. Could facebook be a Bull Mastif?
Here’s a link for CNN to help them with breaking news: http://cli.gs/uMABLD
boxbe.com is it spam or scam?
Published June 7, 2009 | 
Just lately I have been getting an infuriating amount of spam from a company calling itself boxbe – and there’s no way to stop it. Like most people I rarely take notice of spam, but feel taken when something non spammy looking get’s me to open it.
When you signup to a company and decide later you don’t want anything to do with them it’s usually an easy process to remove your account. All good forum software and traffic exchanges do that but not these boxbe people.
Somehow their rubbish finds a way through boxtrapper and spam assassin, and because I get caught each time I am wasting more and more time.
They want me to share my contacts with them, maybe they think other people want to receive their spam too! Or perhaps they think they should be allowed to because facebook does?
They are mad, why would anyone want to do that?