Affiliate toolbox A section of the exchange that provides splash pages and banners you can use to refer others to the program, coded with your affiliate link.
Auto assign The amount of credits in your account, typically calculated in the form of a percentage, that must be assigned to any ads you have in the exchange. This requirement in some exchanges ensures all members are providing enough advertising inventory for surfing activity.
Banner ad A visual advertisement in traffic exchanges, usually 468X60, sometimes 125X125 squares are used.
Co-op A service that acts similar to a traffic exchange, but has agreements to show ads in multiple exchanges. An excellent way to diversify your advertising.
Credit A unit of measure to control the viewing of ads on the exchange. One credit generally equals one ad view on the exchange. Credits are earned by upgrading, buying them or surfing for them.
Conversion Exchanging one item for another, such as credits to banner ad or text ad impressions, or converting commissions to credits. Some exchanges will offer better conversion rates if upgraded.
Frame breaker The ad must be contained and held within the surf bar, think of the ad being confined inside a picture frame. If the ad jumps away from control of the surf bar, it cannot be submitted.
Geo-target Targeting traffic from specific continents, sometimes specific countries. This is only available in a few exchanges. Most show ads to worldwide traffic without any form of sorting or segmenting.
Impression The general term for one display of a banner ad or text ad on an exchange.
Lead capture page This is the page you advertise to get someone on your list for email marketing. It may ask for name and email or just the email address.
Log in ad The first ad you see when you log in to the exchange, even if you do not start a surf session. Used by some exchanges instead of start pages.
OTO one time offer This is an exclusive offer you see when you first log in to an exchange after registration. This is usually the best price you will ever see on an upgrade membership. Sometimes other offers may be presented if you do not accept the first offer.
PTC Paid to click. Sometimes referred to PTC or Bux sites. Same operation as a traffic exchange. However, the emphasis is to earn money by viewing ads.
Random referral Referrals that join the exchange without using an affiliate link. Some exchanges attach these new members to upgraded members, as a perk of upgraded membership (see next term).
Referral Someone who join an exchange using your link. Most exchanges will award some form of credit compensation in your account, based on this member’s surfing volume. Referring other people is an excellent way to build residual credits in multiple exchanges.
Rotator Software that allows you to put multiple ads (URL’s) on to 1 URL. You can leave the same URL in an exchange and just change ads without changing a lot of links as you try different ads. Most exchanges prohibit rotator use, because you could show ads that have not been approved by the admins. This software is typically used by exchanges or advertising programs where every entry is manually approved ‘in house’.
Splash page A quick loading advertising page used in exchanges. Similar to a bill board used on the highway. The ad has a few key points and a call to action.
Start page The first ad all surfers will see in an exchange. This can be daily or weekly and is a paid service with a set fee. No credits are used, and there is no guarantee of how may views you will receive.
Surf The process of viewing ads on exchanges to accumulate credits.
Surf bar The component of the exchange software that serves the ads, displays the timer, and shows the verification code.
Surf ratio Always presented as the number of times you view ads, to how often your ad can be seen. A 2:1 ratio means you must view 2 ads in order to have 1 of your ads shown.
Surf promo This is an event in a traffic exchange, and may be linked with multiple exchange partners. Surfers may get more credit than usual per surf. Another possibility is to surf a certain amount of sites and get additional credits or banner impression awards. Some exchanges may award a temporary upgraded membership.
Surf rewards Rewards given at different intervals to encourage long term surfing. Typical rewards include banner and text impressions, but may include jackpot draw tickets and small amounts of money.
Text ad Words on the exchange you can use as a form of advertising, generally limited to 20 characters.
Timer Controls how long you must view an ad before you can click the verification code to advance to the next ad. Some exchanges give shorter timers to upgraded members.
Top tier Term for first world, english speaking counties, generally accepted as USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Upgrade The general term for a paid membership on the exchange.
URL This is the specific location link of your splash page or lead capture page. The exchange will need this data to get your page, in order to display it on the exchange.