Frequently Asked Questions

The system used to say "For Traffic Exchange Owners Only".  I don't run an exchange...

It sounds like this is all auto-surf, and I run a manual-only exchange...

We have multiple interface "tracks", including one specifically for manual-only exchanges.  Note that the achievable volume of traffic will be lower, until we bring more manual sites online.  Also, if your site has both manual and auto surf components, each can use a separate interface, to keep the types of hits separate. 

Will I have to modify my traffic exchange script to work with the network?

No.  That's the beauty of this system: We provide an 'interface file' that will work WITH your script.  VS-TEN will call that script on your server to decide what page to show next.  After you have signed up, you will need to contact richp with the kind of traffic exchange script you are using, so we can send you the correct interface file for your system.

What about popups?

We have an optional flag for popups permitted/provided in the beta.  Realize that no system is perfect... if it was, no one would need a reporting mechanism.  If you flag your site as popups permitted, your site will only be seen by other exchanges that permit popups.

What about banners and/or text ads?  Is this site-view exchange only?

We originally planned to do this, but there were too many technical issues standing in our way.  So we are currently offering on-site-only text ads, and will be offering a banner-exchange system in the near future.

How much does this cost?

Basic membership and network tokens are free. There are multiple upgrades available if you want more ad space, more traffic, and so on. See our pricing page for more details.

One thing you should note is that if you join the network during the beta, you will be permanently fixed at 50% of whatever the pricing ends up being.  The early bird, in this case, gets the better rate!

What's so different about this compared to, say, trading visit credits with another exchange, and/or using a simple rotator?

The VariSearch Traffic Exchange Network was designed to give you significant ease of use and control over your inter-exchange traffic:

1. When you exchange credits the old-fashioned way, you have to manually enter all the sites to cross visits over, which is tiresome to say the least.  If you're very, very lucky (and skilled), you might do a partial database transfer, but that still requires maintenance in the long term.

With VS-TEN, you never need to know the other exchanges' sites, and they never need to know yours.  We do the discovery and exchange process for you!  We treat each exchange as a supplier of site data that goes into our rotator, which is colored to your sites' preference.

2. If you're in a 'credit boom' period, the last thing you want to do is give out more credits; you need to increase your burn rate, not the credit totals.

With VS-TEN, you can control inbound and outbound rates of exchange separately, to get the balance you need.  During a credit boom, you can shut off the outbound network pages, and add more inbound pages, so that other network members can surf down your credit overload.

This gives you the added benefit of increasing the unique viewers that are seeing your customers' sites.

3. Whatever you've done, it is either only with one traffic exchange, or only with one script, and not very automatic or replicable.

VS-TEN, by design, is a place where many exchanges of different types will come and do business.

4. Your error reporting is going to get fouled up, since you'll get site violation complaints without knowing what site they were viewing.  To your customers, that looks like bad service on your end.

VS-TEN provides a separate error reporting system in the network page being displayed, so that compliance violations can get reported to the appropriate webmaster. 

We also keep a record of the violations, so that we keep the network clean. 

These reports include the site's local UserID and Page ID, and the actual URL being surfed, plus the IP and reverse-DNS lookup of the person doing the reporting.

5. We also offer a centralized blacklist to help all the webmasters avoid sites that are causing trouble through popups, downloads, phantom rotations, ad explosions, et cetera.

Access to this list can also be automated, giving you a "backend filter" to check sites against.