Randy Ritter
Yesterday on Traffic Exchange Live the main topic of conversation was, perhaps not surprisingly, centered around traffic exchanges.
In particular the hot topic was the whole issue around owning a traffic exchange with an emphasis on why you might want to and why you might not want to.
It strikes me that there are a lot of people who want to own their own traffic exchange and that they see such ownership as an easy way to earn money with little capital start-up and minimal work to do as an ongoing basis.
Jon Olson, something of an expert in the traffic exchange industry, suggested that at the very minimum a potential new owner should be looking at a $1,000 start-up budget.
He suggested $5,000 to start an exchange which was more than a bit different and $10,000 to come up with something that had the potential to really get people to sit up and take notice.
Reading between the lines I got the impression that Jon thought, and I might be wrong in making this inference, that a $1,000 budget, while possible, was not recommended.
It seems to me that setting up as a badly prepared traffic exchange owner is one of the easiest ways to fail at being a traffic exchange owner.
I suspect it takes far more time, effort and money than most people would think and I also suspect that, for many, the rewards would take longer to come and be considerably harder won than might at first be thought.
Top Flight Traffic owner Randy Ritter gave some excellent advice on the forum to potential TE owners and it was to be prepared for long hours, hard work and the discipline to be able to reinvest all (or virtually all) your income into the business to help make it grow.
It is clear from anyone who listens to TE owners like Jon and Randy that they love what they do but that they work exceptionally hard to make their businesses work.
I very much get the impression that you really must love all aspects of the traffic exchange industry and be prepared to dedicate a huge chunk of your life to the industry if you want to make money from owning a traffic exchange.
Yes it can be done and, yes, it can be rewarding but I think it is far more difficult than many people would ever think.
To Randy, Jon, Justin Ledvina, James Holmes, and the others who spoke on the subject, you all demonstrated yesterday just how powerful a community such as TELive can be.
It is great that issues like this can be addressed openly and honestly and that people are prepared to talk about key parts of the online industry without feeling the need to sugar coat things.
I, for one, feel I know considerably more than I did about traffic exchanges, as a result of yesterday’s session.
Traffic Exchange Live takes place Monday thru Friday between 4-5pm eastern.
Twitter: theteguy
Awesome sauce post man! Yup, I wouldn’t do this on a show string budget. I’d build up until I had a budget THEN launch one. It’s the best business in the world, it’s just not as easy as one may think…
Twitter: chattopatrick
Sure thing. I think that even for people who go into a project like this with their eyes wide open and after having chatted with other TE owners, and after doing their homework, I would suspect they would still find it harder, more time consuming and more costly than they might first have imagined.
P.
Great post Patrick.
Owning a traffic exchange is extremely hard work especially if you have not built your name first.
If I had it to do over again I would have waited a good year before starting a te. I would have spent that time branding myself and making lots of friends so that you have help when you launch your te. If you try and do this on your own now it is about 10x harder.
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Twitter: chattopatrick
Hi Jeff,
I think people really should sit up and take notice about what owners like Jon, Randy and you have to say.
I wish you all the very best with your TE now that it is up and running and you certainly seem to be doing good on the personal branding front as far as I can tell.
Keep going strong.
Patrick.
Twitter: andrewstark
I totally agree that setting up a budget TE is only going to give you budget results.
You need to have a unique feature that makes you different from all the other sites. Getting the graphic done and installing the script on a proper server could set you back that $1k before you even think about anything else.
Concentrate on getting residual traffic and being noticed in the community for doing good things and be prepared to deal with a lot of crap for less than minimum wage.
Andrew
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Twitter: chattopatrick
Great advice Andrew. I am with you 100 per cent on those sentiments.
Build your name, get noticed, do good things an STILL be prepared to deal with lots of bad stuff having done all that.
Sadly there are so many people who refuse to listen to advice like that.
Patrick.
Once again, another great post patrick – as always your way with words get right to the point in a very easy way to understand & read. I have been thinking about getting a TE for around a month now, but feel i have to build my name & cash flow up alot more before i can enter the world of TE’s & cut it with the ‘big boys’!
I know over the last few months there has been a big rush a new TE’s but if you look at them, they are almost the same, so if you are going to get a TE, you might as well hold-off for a while & make a TE that will stand out.
All The Best
David
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Twitter: chattopatrick
Hi David,
The funny thing is that I very nearly didn’t write this blog post at all.
It was only when I checked late last night and saw that I had no post for today that I recalled the TELive conversation and wrote about it.
For what it is worth I tend to agree with you. If I was going to start a TE, I would only want to do so on the basis that it was going to really, really stand out from the crowd.
Patrick.
I can say I am glad to be the unique individual that I am I laugh at the 1000 dollar budget I had my traffic exchange given to me in a contest. I have now had it for almost 2 years and it still alive and growing stronger everyday. Budget size don’t matter as long as you have the heart to want to make it work and you make friends with everyone and don’t cheat them. That in my opinion is what makes a traffic exchange a owner who really cares about their members not the money they can make off their members.
Twitter: chattopatrick
I would have to agree that what you say about caring for your members.
If you are not going to care for your members then I would think there is very little point in running a TE and that would apply whether you spent $10,000 setting it up or if you obtained it for free.
P.
Twitter: jamila13us
September 22, 2011 at 6:00 am
Hi Patrick,
Another great post today! Randy spoke a lot of truth about what it takes to own a Traffic Exchange., and I agree with him 100%.
I have been running my own businesses since I was 11 years old, and I can tell you that it is a lot of hard work to make it succeed. Owning a Traffic Exchange, or any business online, you need to be a person that can work well independently. If you are not a self-motivator then you will never make it online. You have to work very long hours, take care of your members and make sure that they are happy, and you need to promote – promote – promote to make your business and membership grown.
Even though it is a lot of hard work I wouldn’t do anything else. I absolutely love what I do, and I find it very rewarding when I can help someone else that is trying to make too.
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Twitter: chattopatrick
All great advice…everyone should read what you have written here and take notice.
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