The Nature of the Beast, marketing on the internet 2008 Options

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The Nature of the Beast
Why do I call this series on using the Internet to market with ‘The Nature of the Beast‘? Two reasons actually:
First: you must recognize that when you are using the Internet to do anything - whether it is to market, or simply email a family member - what you are dealing with is a created beast with set behavior and parameters that can really hurt you unless you recognize what it is you are actually involved with and respect it. It’s kinda like extreme sports or bull baiting. If you approach either lightly, you are bound to get hurt.

Second: it is in fact a beast . It was created by humans. You are a master of the Internet as long as YOU respect it’s nature and funnel it’s energy into useful activities. Knowledge + respect + understanding is crucial to the successful use of what we call the Internet and all the applications we can think to apply using it. If you lose sight of that, you are (in essence) in deep do-do. (Rather back to the extreme sports and bull baiting thing.)

If you choose to be arrogant and misuse the Internet - it will take it’s toll so beware. Like an enraged bull you pricked with your puny lancelet, then stumbled over your cape at the wrong moment, it will trample and gore you. For those who choose cautious learning and application - the rewards can be plentiful. It is really up to you on what you do and how you decide to use the Internet.

A very Brief History:
Back in the very late 1920’s and 30’s a theory of what we now and call the Internet was born. You could make a case the idea was actually presented in turn of the century literature in some ways. None-the-less, it was not really until 1945 when an RAF electronics officer and member of the British Interplanetary Society, Arthur C. Clarke, wrote a short article in Wireless World that described the use of manned satellites in 24-hour orbits high above the world's land masses to distribute television programs that the concept of the Internet began to take hold. +

Clarke’s article described involved a geostationary meteorological satellite with such detail that it later became the basis of the orbits later assigned to Weather Satellites. Those orbits and satelites later became the basis of what developed into NASA in the United States and it’s Global Partners. From there evolved a complex Military and Defense application that was called an internet. The original internet coordinated mostly defense computers, satellites, command stations, nuclear weapons, and their carriers with one another.

The whole military internet - computer - satellite scene was a bit scary. Civilian applications began to emerge, mostly to help NASA fund itself. Then people finally realized that there were in fact no ‘manned‘ satellites, nor would there ever be. They are virtual robots sending and receiving data to and from a network of computers. People ultimately control them, their use and that data. The satellites which we have launched over the years are indeed a Beast, one which man created. Those satellites tie in together an entire network of computers - again created by humans. From all that evolved the Network and the Application came which we all now know as the Worldwide (or www) Internet. Man created the Beast, Man needs to control it and himself.

From the very beginning the Internet has been based upon computers interfacing with other computers. Big or small, the Internet - or net - is nothing more than one single computer linking to other single computers in languages they can each understand. The language is not necessarily human, although humans created the language. It is a computer language, which, like humans, has evolved and become rather complex.

In the language complexity, has come common ground. As stated previously, the internet itself has evolved from a purely military - defense - offense platform to a rich environment which supports a complex environment of diversity, culture, and - most of all - creativity. How YOU choose to use the internet is up to you. However it is you choose to use it, some basic principles apply. This series of articles addresses using the Internet in a very narrow application: as an online advertising or internet marketing medium.

Next up… the Nature of the beast - search engines.

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+ Arthur C. Clarke and the geocentric satellite, http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/satcomhistory.html
Arthur C. Clarke is most known as a prolific and noted writer of popular Science Fiction. His genre specialty was called ‘hard science’ as he took scientific reality or possibilities (whether proven fact or theory) and wrote speculative fiction from the science. His signature novel is 2001 - A Space Odyssey. He died early this year from respirtory complications http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...-90-797817.html. Read more about Arthur C. Clarke at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke

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In this article we discuss The Nature of the Search Engine Beast

In the early days of setting up the military and defense application of the worldwide internet, it was discovered that computers (in order to process data as well as perform efficiently) need to interface with OTHER computers. In order to this HUBS were needed. Larger computers where needed which transmitted data from one computer (server) to another. Sometimes an entire SERIES of transmitting computers were needed. As the internet evolved into the public sector, the need arose for ways to catalog websites for humans to be able to find them. Directories were created which would list webpages in their database for people to be able to search.

Search Engines themselves did not exist prior to 1990. It was not until 1993 with the launch of Aliweb that a web crawl-based search engine first appeared. 1994 WebCrawler introduced the first word searchable list that has since become the standard for all Search Engines.

By Wikipedia definition, A Search Engine is:
A Web search engine is a search engine designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. Information may consist of web pages, images and other types of files. Some search engines also mine data available in newsbooks, databases, or open directories. Unlike Web directories, which are maintained by human editors, search engines operate algorithmically or are a mixture of algorithmic and human input. +

Search Engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN are not only a series of large computers which link together a huge network of other computers, they act as HUBS for information. They are also in essence big ol’ databases which serve as even bigger ol’ calculators. They collect data which they then rate and calculate into what humans see as their ‘rankings’ and ‘page relevancy’ ratings. They then act as agents for queries. We call this process using a Search Engine. We ask this big complex network of computers a question, that network gives us an answer.

The results we see in the answers for our questions are ranked. The top most - or number 1 answer - being shown first. Note most Engines have something called Top Sponsor or Side Sponsor (even Bottom Sponsor) results. Those are paid advertising. This article does not address paid sponsor advertising, only the natural ranking of the answers to the questions you ask a Search Engine. This applies to EVERY engine whether it be Google, Yahoo, MSN or all the other related engines like AOL, Ask Jeeves, Excite, DogPile and etc.

The Search Engines all have their complicated equations at arriving at rankings and pr. Bottom line is it usually centers on some very basic elements:

• Your website’s meta tags
• Your website’s content
• Your website’s traffic
• Your website’s linking
• Your website’s overall popularity
• How your website agrees with the robots attached to the specific Search Engine

The Search Engines basically look at the above criteria, add weight to this criteria or another, add all that stuff together and then come up with a ranking a rating for your website. That formula changes constantly. None-the-less, however it is they add things up, they basically add them up based on those things listed above. The next articles deal with each item, starting with The Nature of the Meta Tag Beast

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+ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_search_engine

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In this article we discuss The Nature of the Meta Tag Beast
Every website, no matter what KIND of website has two aspects:

1. The aspect HUMAN EYES see. Us humans see the text and all the images and graphics on a website when we land on it. We are able to do so because of coding - which can be html code or encrypted code (or both) enables our computer to present that website to us in a form we can ‘see.’ There is a lot of things going on in the back round of that website which human eyes do not normally see.

2. The aspect the computer sees. While much of the text will be in what ever language the owner of the website has chosen, the computer sees everything else in that html code or encrypted code (or both) that normally humans do not see. You can see what the computer - or search engine - sees by choosing the View Source option in your browser next time you have a website in your browser. That is what the computers and search engines are reading.

Meta Tags are basically the information a Robot attached to a Search Engine (or the Search Engine itself) needs in order to add YOUR WEBSITE to THEIR DATABASE. Remember, Search Engines are huge databases listing millions of websites. The premise is really simple. You have website you want listed in a Search Engine. Search Engine has database it wants to list you in. How do the two get together? Simple: you put the basic information about your website in a formula the Search Engine can understand.

Hello Meta Tags.

The most basic Meta tags are these:
<title>Website Name</title>
<meta name="description" content="Three or less short sentences. Describe the purpose of your website. Use some keywords in the sentences.">
<meta name="keywords" content="site name, function, function phrase, function phrase, purpose1, purpose2, purpose3, more1, more2, more3, etc,">

<meta name="rating" content="General">
<meta name="ROBOTS" content="ALL"
<meta name="Robots" content="index,follow">
<meta name="revisit-after" content="7 days">
<meta name="distribution" content="Global">

The best placement for meta tags on any website, including blogs, is at the top right under the <html> <head> of your web page.

Note, they need to be formatted correctly. In the Key Words, Search Engines need commas! If you leave those commas out it cannot properly place your keywords in their database. Each keyword or keyword phrase separated by a comma tells the Bot or Search Engine that information goes in one field of the database. It is really important to pay attention to the details the Engines need to add your site to their database, or index it.

Quick note - about a year back some clever bunch of gurus started proclaiming that Meta Tags were dead, Content is King.* Content is very important to the Search Engines in 2008, especially relative to your Meta Tags. But tags are by all means dead! They remain the blue print or summary to your website which the Engines need in order to properly index your page and then track your website’s performance. If you blow off the tags on your website based upon bad advise and mis-information, chances are you will hurt your web page’s presence in the Search Engines.

Especially important: don’t ARGUE with the Search Engines. It is a useless, frustrating experience for YOU. The engines simply are. You fit into them. You don’t, you don’t get indexed. The only one who is hurt by that is you! Learn what the engines want and expect. Give it to them. You will be very happy with the results. Buck them, you won’t be. This is the nature of the beast.

Next up we discuss…The Nature of the Content Beast

*As usual the Gurus were trying to SELL something. Lol. This is fine, but be honest and up front about the whole thing and tell the entire story, leaving out the mis-information pleasel
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In this article we discuss The Nature of the Content Beast

In the past couple years Search Engines have moved away from sole dependence on the meta tags telling them all they need to know about a website. As this happened, any kind of endlessly duplicated site fell out of favor which means most affiliate sites unfortunately.

At this writing, Search Engines focus on unique content. However, it remains important that your CONTENT match the keywords and description in the META TAGS. This is a VERY IMPORTANT principle to always keep in mind. Not shouting here, just emphasizing facts to keep up front and always in your mind when you consider your website’s performance in the engines.

As mentioned in the last article, the move away from emphasis on Meta Tags to content is a development that led some so called Gurus to declare meta tags to be dead, and content to be King. Long live the King.

These Gurus are half right - half wrong. In a logic statement that means they are wrong. This another thing to remember about the ANY computer: you are either wrong or right. Yes or No. There are no gray areas with logic or computers. Yes or no. The internet is governed by Computers and their Robots. You either get it right or you don’t. Period and no argument involved. The self proclaimed gurus, while hitting on one cylinder missed on another - making them wrong.

A practical illustration: your website is about traffic exchanges and auto surf or manual surf. You have lots of those key words in your content, but either no meta tags at all, mis-constructed meta tags, or meta tags lacking in key words relevant to your content. Your presence in the Search Engines is dismal. Why is that? The engines most likely discounted or over looked you. If you did not construct your meta tags properly, no matter what your content, the Search Engines tend to run away. Why? They are idiot savants. They tried to index you from your meta tags which were not constructed properly and couldn’t. They gave up and went away. You can have a very active website with tons of traffic to die for, but end up no where on the Search Engine map because you followed some so called Guru’s advise that claimed meta tags are dead and content is King failing to understand that BOTH are necessary.

On the flip side, you have all kinds of keywords about traffic exchanges and what not in your meta tags, but very little matching words in your content. Engines hate that. It is their nature. You can stuff all the keywords you want about traffic and what not in your keywords all you want. Knock yourself out and sideways. But the simple fact is if your content wanders of into some sort of tangent that has NOTHING to do with traffic exchanges as listed in your meta tags, the Engines get frustrated and go away.

One other interesting note: suppose you failed to add ANY meta tags? Usually the engines have a hard time indexing you properly and may not. Sometimes they will try, but the result is usually not very good. Another thing about Search Engines is they are busy and tend to be easily put off. If they come to your site and have a hard time with it, they go away quickly. You might have a very active website with (again) tons of traffic to die for, but find your website at the end of the bus simply because you followed (again) some so called Guru’s advise that claimed meta tags are dead and content is King. Yeah, content is king, as long as you have the demise to go along with it.

Again the point on computers and the Search Engines: they are on or off, yes or no. Make it difficult on them, they make it difficult on you. You need your meta tags in place in the proper format. Then, you need lots of relevant content to support your meta tags. You do that - you are in with the Engines - and THAT is what makes you a Lord in the Search Engines.

Not to overstate the case: Search Engines look for relevant content on your web page which support the meta tags they need to index that webpage. They will come back to you each time your publish in fact once they know you exist! There are certain activities which yank their chain like - publishing, traffic, linking with other websites, and submitting your site to be indexed by the Search Engines.

As many Engines interface and network with one another you find that if you submit to one, you call others over to you. Once an Engine knows you exist, others come around. Once you are indexed, when you have traffic happening, or linking, or you are publishing new content - all those engines come back to you. And those Engines have friends. Lol.

Conversely, once you piss an engine off - you rather upset a whole lot of them. Nothing upsets an engine more than you ignored the fact they need you to give them the info they need in meta tags you have in the back end of your website, then the content they crave from the front end of your website.

Content is still King, but meta tags remain basic. it is hard to be crowned a King when you have no horse to ride, no castle, no subjects, and no recognizable demise the Search Engines can index.

Next up we discuss The Nature of the Traffic Beast

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In this article we discuss The Nature of the Traffic Beast

There is a lot of rhetoric on traffic, what works, what doesn’t, who has what to sell you and etc. First off, let’s get real about the topic and exactly what it is we are discussing this article. To do this, we get real from the Internet’s point of view.

The Search Engines, like myself, do not care who has what to sell, why, whether for, or what agenda they may have. Traffic is just that. Hits to your websites. Visitors to your websites. And, yes a blog or forum is considered a website ok? A splash page, landing page, squeeze page, ffa site, links page, affiliate page, pixel page, traffic exchange (auto surf or manual surf), or what ever page is a website. Don’t get distracted by the rhetoric for or against any type of website. Especially, don’t get distracted by all the rhetoric surrounding any medium which PROVIDES traffic.

What are we talking about here? Traffic. Who needs traffic? ANY website. Where do you get traffic from? Read on.

As far as the Search Engines are concerned, traffic comes from several primary mediums:

Visitors or hits or views to your website
Links found on other pages to your website - especially links back to you (called reciprocal.)
Search Engine visits to your website

So we are all on the same page on this article - the views, hits, and traffic we are discussing are those that the Search Engines see! To see what a Search Engine sees and records as traffic, look in your cpanel for your domain. There, you will find all kinds of statistics, including traffic to your website. We are NOT necessarily talking human eyes, visits, and hits. While human hits are part of the overall equation - they are not the only - or even major part of what ends up helping your overall ranking with the engines.

What do I mean by that? (or how dare I suggest that?) Simple. There are some venues - like manual surf sites for example - which are outstanding at getting humans to view your websites. Along the way, you get some traffic from them. You join a manual surf site and get 100 clicks a day accompanied by (we hope) human views. Outstanding. Over a month’s time that equals 3,000 hits to your website. Not so outstanding.

A typical website listed in the top 10 in Google on keywords that have a million or more websites in that index average more than 5,000,000 hits every month to obtain and maintain that position. That is AFTER website optimization, links in, and etc. You don’t get the traffic you need from manual surf sites - no MATTER what the owner is trying to sell or tell you. I have seen posts from members of manual traffic exchanges claiming the got 35,000 hits monthly. They were not free members I can tell you that! They were upgraded, and probably paid a nice penny for that traffic. And, while that is good traffic from one exchange you spent a lot of money at, it is not near enough to make a dent in your Search Engine rankings. If you are looking for attention from the Search Engines, you gotta look elsewhere for the sheer volume of traffic you need.

So, you start with free traffic you can get in volume. One of the best place for free traffic in the volume you need which makes the Search Engines sit up and take notice is with well managed auto surf exchanges which allow for power surfing. Note the conditional - well managed and power surfing. Like manual surf sites, there are a lot of auto surf sites. Some of those sites are not especially well run or managed. An auto surf site works best for everyone when a member can get in, set the thing up to run 24/7 and walk away. Kind of like watching television or listening to the radio. You have it turned on, you may not necessarily be paying attention. You may not, the other surfers may not, but guess what? 5 buzzilion hits later, the Search Engines ARE! And did.

On a manual surf - where surfers are required to view the websites - and on some autosurf traffic exchanges who expect the same, surfing 24/7 would be considered cheating by human standards. The Search Engines could care less about cheating. They record hits. Period. You join an auto surf exchange that allows the power surf to happen, that exchange will send massive traffic to your website. Massive traffic is what helps boost your website up in the Search Engines.

Very Important Note: It is always best to use a link that belongs to you in this kind of online marketing. If you are an affiliate, the traffic generated using exchanges goes to the main domain. So when you place your affiliate link on ANY traffic exchange, the only one that is benefiting from that traffic is ultimately the program itself. If you are only looking for sales and sign ups from a manual surf traffic exchange or an auto surf exchange which requires humans to view the sites while surfing, by all means use your affiliate link. But if you looking for Search Engine presence so you can fish in the Big Pond, use something that belongs to you.

So why should you care about whether or not the Search Engines have you listed on the first couple pages of their key word search results? Well, millions of people just like you go looking for stuff on the internet everyday. You want them to find YOU! Getting listed on page 1,2 and even 3 of Google rather helps. Hurrah that 5 people at a manual surf site saw you today. Maybe one took note finally and signed up for or bought something from you. Maybe. Back in 2003/2004 I belonged to a number of manual surf sites and never got a single sign up or sale to anything I ran on those. I always had much better luck with the auto surf sites and then the Search Engines.

Does Search Engine marketing work? Does my presence in the search engines help me or people in the Xtream Group every day? Yep. I still have sign ups to programs I have not actively promoted in years in ANY medium based solely on my search engine presence. Vortex Marketing Group is one of them. I do not actively promote them outside of a couple of article pages which I keep in the engines through a handful of auto surf sites. Yet every month I net new sign ups courtesy of my Search Engine presence - which the surf exchanges are prime in keeping my pages up in the ranking. My Group has members in it that found us solely through a Search Engine search. They had never even heard of a traffic exchange or even ever read an email or looked at a classified ad or ffa post until they meet us via a keyword search and got involved with our Group.

Helping all that traffic are my links which leads us to the next topic…. The Nature of the Linking Beast

Find effective traffic exchanges - both auto surf and manual surf at Xtream Traffic

Get upgrades at auto surf and manual surf sites as part of your subscription to Xtream Marketing Resources. Xtream Global Marketing Resource Center
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In this article we discuss The Nature of the Linking Beast
When it comes to linking and links on your website, there are 3 basic types:

• Temporary and Semi-Temporary
• Permanent
• Reciprocal

Temporary and Semi-Temporary
The most well known of the temporary links are FFA or free for all boards, the most well known of the semi-temporary link venues are classified ad boards and message boards. Temporary boards, especially the FFA links have been widely bashed and trashed yet their value as a linking resource remains. It is important to note that the major detractors of these venues were, and remain, people who:

• 1. Do not understand how these venues work
• 2. Have misrepresented what these link venues do for you
• 3. Were usually trying to SELL you something… sell being the operative word.

So we are all on the same plate in this article - having your link temporarily on 2 billion ffa boards does NOT mean that 2 billion people will ever see your ad or website. However, the Search Engines will - and do. This is something the detractors and those trying to sell you something else overlook (or at least try to get you to overlook.) There are those who claim the Search Engines themselves discount or discredit ffa boards, yet, in many cases (especially in Google) it is not uncommon to find a link recorded in the Engine that was placed on a high profile ffa network like Prospective Ads or Traffic Wave.

The semi-temporary link boards like classified ads and message boards have had kinder treatment from the critics, yet they are often included in many of your adblasters like Blastomatic for example. The same blasters the detractors love to bash. Unlike the ffa links which roll off the boards quickly, usually in 24 hours or less, posts to classified ad boards can remain on the link venue for anywhere between 4 - 8 weeks and beyond - depending on the board or network.

Both types of link boards tend to be free, making them places where many new marketers will begin their online marketing and internet advertising experience. Because of this, keeping your programs and links in the boards are very effective ways of bringing new people into the things you promote. They are especially effective for programs with free memberships or goodies.

Bottom line on these venues is not to let someone else’s prejudices keep you from benefiting by using these resources. Let the nay Sayers have their nay, while you have your way. Lol.

Permanent
Permanent link venues can be anything from a Yahoo Group to someone else’s website. Search Engines like permanent links and oftentimes such links will not only attract them to you, but send them on a circular journey back to your site - especially when those permanent links are reciprocated.

Reciprocal
Reciprocal links are the most powerful and effective form of linking for 2 reasons:
Those links are permanent
The person with the website links BACK to you and your website.

The Search Engines love reciprocal links. The especially like it when you link to webpages with higher pr (page relevancy) than yours. They look at that linking like: “Oh this big important website thinks you have relevant content and are special.”

Alexa has a similar thing going on where you can link to or recommend a site be linked to yours, or recommend a link.

Reciprocal linking requires a lot of research on your part to find website owners who will link up to you. You can do some creative reciprocal linking on your own however. Let’s say you join a forum and make posts. In your signature on most forums you have your links embedded so each time you make a post, there they are in that thread. Put the forum link and your thread links on your website. Walla, you are linked up.

Weave a tapestry with your links:
Once you start your reciprocal links, think of your links and the websites as part of a larger tapestry - one you are weaving to attract the Search Engines to you and drive your website (or websites) up in the engines. When you publish your website, the spiders associated with Engines will visit you. They find a link, they go visit that link. That link leads back to you. They find another link, go off there. That link leads to another website that links back to you. Back and forth they go, indexing, recording, calculating.

Like traffic, you need a whole lot of links going on to interest the Search Engines. Jerry Lee Lewis nailed it with his song Whole Lot Of Shakin Goin On. Same thing applies to the Engines. You need a whole lot of traffic and links going on to shake up the Engines and make them notice you. You can help this process along yourself through your links and the traffic you get through those traffic exchanges - especially the auto surf traffic venues!

Next up we discuss The Nature of your websites overall Popularity Beast

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[Smiley]

Wow! Cherie!

Very Good! and Informative!

The commas I did away with a few years ago cause they were ignored by some search engines. Obviously some do use them!

So BEST to still use them. Ignore and some use, good to use them.
Doesn't hurt even on the ones that ignore.

Meta Tag Re-visit leaves me with a question....

Standard is 14 day.

If content on Main page almost NEVER changes, does 14 day hurt?

How long do most Search Engines keep these on "Active" file?

Mine Stats, Content, Numbers, change Daily or every other day as I update the Index page and/or Header, plus I have "Live" Stats.

I changed mine to robot=7 days from 14 days.

Why is the Re-visit so Important and what happens at the higher day number
verses the lower day number.

Do you get a Higher ranking at a 4 day re-visit verses a 14 day re-visit?

[Smiley]

Note:

I also noticed ref url pages and splash pages aren't being indexed by search engines as much as they use to.

Is it the Meta tags, or mostly ignored?

[xtream]

Note:

I also noticed ref url pages and splash pages aren't being indexed by search engines as much as they use to.

Is it the Meta tags, or mostly ignored?

It is a combination of things actually:

1. Lack of unique content - back a few years mirror sites and endlessly replicated sites (like affiliate pages) were all the rage. The search engines changed their algorithm to discriminate against what they perceive to be mirror webpages. The engines now favor websites with unique content. This means that usually the main domain will do well in the engines, and not an affiliate link.

There are EXCEPTIONS to that however. There are times when an affiliate link will do quite well in an engine, INSTEAD of the parent or main domain! I see that happening in Yahoo quite a bit. Sometimes, depending on how well the affiliate does in the marketing, the engines will pick up the affiliate page, then exclude the parent or main domain site.

If you have ever waded through a search result, you will usually encounter a statement like: These are all the sites listed in your search, x number similiar pages were excluded, do you want to re-do your search to include all the excluded pages... If you say yes, sometimes you will then find your website - but usually at the back of the bus somewhere. This means that while the search engines have in fact indexed you, they have excluded that website from the main search because they feel it is a mirror or replicated website.

2. Special characters in the link itself - some engines exclude sites with special characters like &, =, ?. They conclude the site is a replicated one.

3. Lack of meta tags or misconstucted ones - some parent sites are either missing meta tags altogether or have ones which are not constructed properly. This is duplicated on the affiliate page of course.

When promoting any program as an affiliate, you truly are better off using your own page: splash, squeeze, hub, whatever you want to call it. You can use a blog even. While most affiliate pages are great to start with, in the long term strategy you want your own page, one you can customize yourself, add unique content, add the proper meta tags, and etc. This gives you a better chance for getting your link moved up in the search engines so people can find it, and then hopefully join the program under your sponsorship.

[xtream]

It is a combination of things actually... There are EXCEPTIONS to that however.

Here are examples of exceptions:
12-09-08

key word auto traffic exchange:
Yahoo! yes 12 37,100,000 http://www.smileytraffic.com/?rid=93

key word manual traffic:
Yahoo! yes 35 64,400,000 http://www.smileytraffic.com/?rid=27547

key word manual traffic exchange:
Yahoo! yes 17 14,300,000 http://www.smileytraffic.com/?rid=93

key word auto and manual traffic exchange:
Google yes 36 425,000 http://www.smileytraffic.com/
Yahoo! yes 3 4,280,000 http://www.smileytraffic.com/?rid=93
(note smiley traffic main page is now in the top 40 in that key word phrase... whoo-hooo!)

key word autosurf traffic exchange:
Yahoo! yes 23 1,520,000 http://www.smileytraffic.com/?rid=93

key word auto surf traffic exchange:
Yahoo! yes 10 1,710,000 http://www.smileytraffic.com/?rid=93

Yahoo seems to be a bit more friendly to affiliate links than Google for the most part.