It's about time someone let the cat out of the bag, regarding traffic exchange programs and guaranteed traffic. I wasn't seeing the truth being written about the subject anywhere, so I decided to take it upon myself to reveal the truth about these programs.

In a nutshell, they don't work. How do I know? Because I tested them. I tested them good and I tested them fairly. While I wasn't really surprised at the results, I was surprised at the depths in which these programs failed.

Oh, you'll get plenty of traffic to be sure. But it's garbage traffic plain and simple. Like the saying says, "garbage in, garbage out!"

For example, I tested the most popular and best known guaranteed traffic program, run by one of the Internet's most famous marketers. I purchased 10,000 pop-under ads for $99. I then sat back and observed.

Well, it took approximately two weeks for my 10,000 pop- unders to be displayed. And at the end of two weeks I had made zero sales. Nada! Zilch!

I have to admit, even though I wasn't expecting a cash windfall, those results made me realize the quality of traffic was worse than I thought. Much worse.

But I wanted to make sure I was being extra fair, so I purchased 10,000 more pop-under ads from the same company. Again, it took right around two weeks for all my pop-unders to be displayed. And once again I achieved zero sales.

Now I'm no novice when it comes to marketing. I've been in this game for over 25 years, so I know what I'm doing. My offer was strong and my sales letter was a proven winner.

Plus, I was making plenty of sales using other advertsing methods.

However, my test further illustrates how important traffic quality really is. It's not the quantity of traffic that's most important, it's the quality.

My advice: Stay away from guaranteed traffic programs.

My test involving Traffic Exchange Programs (also known as Start Page Rotators) brought me to the same conclusion. (Although these programs are free for the most part and didn't cost me any money.) You'll receive plenty of traffic, but converting that traffic into sales is an entirely different matter. Here's why:

1. There is much more competition for traffic exchange programs. Many new companies have joined the mix meaning that any one traffic exchange program has fewer page views to offer.

2. Many webmasters are members of several traffic exchange programs, meaning they are seeing the same ads over and over again, across the board--thus diluting the overall effectiveness of the programs.

3. Many people have pop-up blocking on their sites making it increasingly difficult to harvest email addresses using that method.

4. Cheating is very common. Many unscrupulous individuals use software to open hundreds of start pages each day in a variety of traffic exchange programs. Since no one sees the pages, no one buys the products. Also, many individuals sign up for multiple accounts making each page view much less valuable.

My conclusion: Because of rampant cheating and poor conversion ratios, Traffic Exchange Programs just aren't worth the effort.