The Nexus Connection

Congratulations to Jean Gibling, Crystal Hilterbrand, Thomas Johnson, Randy Ritter and Isabella Vreeken. They are the lucky winners of 2-week Expressway membership upgrades. Thanks for surfing 100 sites at eTraffic Freedom and Nexus Exchange yesterday.

eTraffic Freedom, owned by John Marks, celebrates its two-year anniversary this week and EVERYBODY is invited to the party!

All this week John is partnering with different exchanges for promotions. Kinda like a pub crawl, but no designated driver required.

I am happy to announce that today Nexus Exchange is hosting the shindig. Five lucky members at each exchange will win a 2-week membership upgrade! Here’s the deal:

1. Surf 100 sites at Nexus Exchange and at eTraffic Freedom
2. Submit a support ticket to either Nexus Exchange or eTraffic Freedom with your username. If you have a different username at each exchange, please include both of them in the support ticket. That way, you won’t have to submit two support tickets.
3. Tomorrow, John and I will compare notes and confirm the surfing activity for each entry.
4. Out of the members who surfed at least 100 sites at both exchanges, John will pick his 5 winners and I will pick ours.

The five winners at Nexus Exchange will win a 2-week Expressway membership upgrade. If the member is already upgraded, then 200 credits will be deposited into his/her account instead.

Join in the fun. Hope to see YOUR name on the winners list.

I am pleased as punch to report that yesterday was a stellar day for surfing at Nexus Exchange. The number of hits to sites in rotation skyrocketed over 300% compared to the day before. My members absolutely ROCK!

What caused this amazing jump in activity? I sent out an email, which I have been know to do from time to time. But yesterday surpassed even days during the recent weekend promotion for which I did email a couple of times.

Maybe it was what was IN the email message. I simply wanted to remind members to assign their credits so that their sites will be seen in rotation. Maybe it was the helpful advice on how to use the exchange.

Maybe it was the free stuff I included in the email. I included a link to a rebranded ebook, so members could get a copy without registering their email address on another list. I also pointed out where in the members area they could find a free download on what I consider need-to-know information, again, without need for giving up an email address. Maybe they liked that.

Or it could have been the old fashioned surf incentives: guaranteed bonus credits and increased view ratio for free members. But I do that a lot.

I would love to figure out what exactly in yesterday’s email actually made people login and surf like they did. The only way to do it is to test. And the only way to test is to change things one thing at a time in the coming emails.

If you don’t test, you don’t know what works, and you can be spinning your wheels forever. Knowing what works for you is what will get you where you want to go.

Had an interesting reply to my most recent mailing to members. An Expressway member asked, “Where do I belong?”

I am basically lazy in nature. I don’t write special emails for each membership level. I write one email and send it to everybody. Since the bulk of the Nexus Exchange membership are Freeway (free) members, that is who my emails are geared toward. I basically do the same thing with my blog posts.

My thinking is this: if Freeway members are getting such-and-such benefit, it’s obvious that upgraded members are getting better. I assume that it’s obvious, but is it?

This weekend, Freeway members are getting 24 credits for viewing 25 sites IF they click the bonus credit link in the surf bar. I expect that tidbit to get Freeway members to surf. What about upgraded members?

Interstate members, with this promo, are getting 18.75 credits plus 14 bonus credits or 32.75 credits for viewing 25 sites. Expressway members are getting 25 credits plus 14 bonus credits or 39 credits for viewing 25 sites. Upgraded members are getting better than 1:1 view ratio.

Ya think mentioning THOSE tidbits would get some more members to surf, or maybe get some free members to upgrade? When was the last time I mentioned that the price of upgrading has been reduced by a dollar per month? Did I tell people who didn’t have time to surf this weekend to buy credits so that their sites could be seen? Cardinal rule of marketing: Ask for the sale.

I know that many traffic exchange users are annoyed by email from owners promoting the latest and greatest product or service. Does that apply to specials within the traffic exchange itself? Of course not. I hope. Maybe I assume that it does. Should I?

The server move went really smoothly last weekend. Jon Atwood at ZootHost ROCKS.

This weekend’s surf promo is  … 14 BONUS CREDITS from the surf bar every 25 sites viewed. No text impressions, no banner impressions, no “better luck next time,” just credits. Claim your bonus credits from the surf bar link that shows every 25th site. With our generous 5:2 view ratio, Freeway members who claim their bonus credits will be getting 24 credits for every 25 sites viewed!

Nexus Exchange members hold a special place in my heart. That’s as sappy as I’m ever gonna get on this blog.

Till next time, surf, track, test … then rinse and repeat.

Oh, the surf promo started an hour ago and ends Sunday night at 11:59 pm New York City time. Login and surf to your HEART’S content.