Everywhere you read about starting up a new Web site venture, the use of traffic exchanges to get an initial flow of readership and traffic is encouraged. The concept of a traffic exchange is simple at heart: you display links to other sites and other sites display links back to you.

The frequency with which your link is displayed is usually determined by a "credit" system. Your site earns credits when viewed, and these credits are then used to "purchase" display time on other web sites in the traffic exchange network. An alternative method used by some traffic exchanges is that you earn credits by surfing through other members sites. Every time you view a web page in the exchange you earn credits.

Some of these are automated and display the member web sites in an continuing loop. Others are manual and require you to be at your computer, actively surfing. The one thing both systems have in common is that there is a timer in place to prevent you from just clicking through the system quickly in attempt to earn credits too easily.

There are some very good exchanges out there, and which one to use varies on your goals. If you want to increase your Alexa ranking, it's useful to join an exchange that is more likely to have members that use the Alexa toolbar. One such exchange is LinkReferral.

Whatever your goals are for you web site, it is important that you have targeted traffic - visitors that are interested in the content or service you have to offer. An exchange like TrafficSwarm does this, as it organizes your site its directory of web sites by categories.

If you don't really care about the type of traffic your site receives, an automated surfing site may be useful - although it's a very debatable topic if it will actually increase your sales or conversions. Something like AutoSurf Pro does indeed send traffic your way, but it's very undirected and the visitor is only going to be on the site for about 15 seconds.

A list of useful traffic exchanges can be found at Tempest Networks, along with suggested promotional methods.