A manual traffic exchange is a credit based service that allows you to display your web page(s) to other members, and in exchange, you view their pages. It all starts when you sign up. Most traffic exchanges will ask you to enter a website URL when you register your account. You should enter the main site you want to promote.
After logging in for the first time, you may be required to view a number of pages before your account becomes active. The standard term for viewing web pages in a traffic exchange is 'surfing', so you will probably see a link that says 'Start Surfing' or 'Surf For Credits'. When you click on that button or link it will take you to the site viewing area which is also referred to as the 'surfbar'. The actual surfbar is the section at the top or the bottom of the page that usually has a banner add, a timer and some pictures or a button that you need to click to view the next page.
Each time you view a page you receive credits. This will usually be less than 1 credit and varies greatly starting at around 0.33 credits per view. At Whirlwind Traffic our free members receive 0.5 credits per page viewed, so each time you view 1 page you receive 0.5 credits in your account. That means that if you view 100 pages, for example, your page can receive up to 50 views by other members. Upgraded members receive a higher rate of credits for each page viewed and in some cases you can receive more than 1 credit for each page you view.
Most manual traffic exchanges also require you to 'auto assign' some of your credits. This can cause a little bit of confusion. Firstly, the reason for auto assigning is to ensure that members aren;t hoarding all of their credits. After all, traffic exchanges are all about viewing pages. With auto assigning it means that a certain percentage of credits (usually between 50% and 75%) will always be added directly to your site(s) instead of being 'banked' in your account. So, using the example above, if you were to view 100 pages on a traffic exchange that has a credit rate of 0.5 and a minimum requirement of 50% auto assigned, that would mean that you would still earn 50 credits but 25 would go into your account and 25 would be assigned directly to your site(s).
Manual traffic exchanges work great as long as you learn how to use them properly. Check out the new members pack in our member area for some excellent e-books that will help you get started.