What is your experience with Traffic Exchanges?

Traffic Taxis is one of the many different traffic exchanges out there that one can join and earn page views by "surfing" (or viewing other peoples' sites).  By the way, while most traffic exchanges are free to join, they usually come with upgrade options, usually offering extra benefits (such as better surf ratios, free referrals, etc).  Also, people can also buy credits if they choose (which can be a bit useful for people who don't have time to "surf"). 

Hey guys.   Here is another hot topic for you all: traffic exchanges.  If you've been in the Internet Marketing business or web promotion business for a while, you have probably heard about them and there are many different traffic exchanges out there (if you are looking for a good sized list of traffic exchanges out there you can join, just go to a downline builder such as Traffic Tornado, and you will find that there are tons of traffic exchanges you can join and those are not the only traffic exchanges out there).  Anyways, traffic exchanges are those programs out there where (and serve as alternatives to the traditional PPC methods) you basically surf other peoples' ads and websites in exchange for them visiting yours.  Some exchanges have a 1:1 surf ratio (where you get page views for every fellow member's site you visit), while others may have say a 1/3 surf ratio, where every 3 sites you surf counts as 1 credit (or page view).  Anyways, in this post, I am hoping ot get your take on the traffic exchanges.  For me, I find promoting on traffic exchanges to be challenging.  I usually promote some of the downline systems I use, such as GDI (using downline builders like GDI Coop) as well as splash pages I have set up for some of my sites, though I rarely get sign ups on my links, and that is even when using splash pages.  How are traffic exchanges going for you all?  Are you able to generate income with them?  Feel free to share your thoughts.

Looking for some tips on using traffic exchanges?  Here is some advice of mine based on experience:

• be careful about joining too many of them as they can become very time consuming (as you do have to spend at least an hour or two per sitting to get extra credits).  I recommend you limit 5 at the most initially and work with those.  Once your conversion rate builds and your income goes up, you could join more over time.  By the way, some traffic exchanges will suspend or terminate your account if you are inactive for too long (which can be easy to do if you have too many of them)
• Never promote a website if you have adsense ads on them (per google's TOS).  If you must do so, I recommend you get some splash pages and promote them that way.  This way, the only people that visit your site are the people who are actually interested in it and not just some random surfers.  One good resource I recommend for making splash pages is Instant Splash.  It is cheap to join and is pretty easy to use and you can make some pretty quick and easy to make splash pages.  More advanced users could probably opt for sites like TE Toolbox and/or Instant Squeeze page generator.  Also, Easy Hits4u comes with a built in splash page maker that you can use as well.
• While traffic exchanges are usually free to join, most do offer paid memberships as well for more features.  You can do so if you want, but be aware that most of them will offer paid memberships too.  My advice to you is to choose one or 2 traffic exchanges to upgrade at (those can be your primary traffic exchanges) and stay with a free membership at the others until your conversion rate climbs.  Upgrading at too many of them can get expensive of course.  Plus as a free member you can get a feel for the ones you use and see which ones give you best results.  BTW, you can refer new members to them as well and earn both credits when they surf as well as generous commissions whenever they upgrade their membership (in my experience, most people will probably remain free members, but there is always a chance that some fo them will upgrade).
• Expect a low conversion rate with traffic exchanges, even at the manual ones (there are automatic exchanges too, but most veteran marketers will say that manual exchanges yield better results than the other ones).  I tend to find myself surfing for hours on end and get little or no response for my programs, so you will 1) want to get as many credits as you can in a given session and 2) diversify the ads you post).  By the way, there are rotator services out there you can join (such as Instant Splash and TE Toolbox) where you can list multiple ads and post them on participating traffic exchanges (not all of them allow rotators, but most do).
• Always try to use a catchy splash page when using traffic exchanges.  I find that replicated websites don't work too well (especially when promoting opportunities).  Also they say that you are supposed to create an email sign up feature so that you can build your email list if you have one.