Whilst surfing around the Traffic Exchanges you're sure to come across someone, or indeed many people, that will stress the importance of branding yourself when promoting your opportunity.

Why is it so important though? Simply because people are fairly predictable. People follow each other, and in order to make that connection they have to get to know you. No matter where you surf for your credits these days, there will invariably be a chat room attached to the site, and you will soon start to recognise names and faces.

This is the time to "Brand Yourself", say "Hi" to people as you enter a site, join in the conversations, help with queries if you can, there will always be somebody looking for an answer to a question...you probably had a similar question resolved not that long ago. Most importantly, have a picture attached to your profile, let others see that you're just an ordinary person, like them, looking to promote a product, service even another TE. Everyone on that site is doing exactly the same thing. Don't think of these people as your competition, but as friends and colleagues.

Everyone wants to be successful, and working together it is possible to achieve that.

When i started out on this journey, looking for ways to earn money online, I was always worried that no matter what my best efforts were, I'd be the one person who couldn't make a go of it.

Well, I now know that I'm not. Besides the few pennies i've built up at various paid to click sites, i actually had a reasonable, well, i think so anyway, commission payment from one of my accounts over the weekend. The account in question Explosive Traffic. (A great way to get your sites seen in a huge number of places without having to stop surfing at your favourite exchange...plug, plug)

Now $12.98 certainly doesn't put me in with Rockefeller's or Trump's of the world (yet!!) but its a start. Just look at what a might oak tree starts out as... a tiny acorn.

Having received this payout, it has done two great things for me.

1 - I have increased confidence to go on with this venture, knowing i can make something out of it.

2 - I can now afford to think about upgrades to potentially increase the next payment, as with upgraded accounts (at for example : Traffic Exchanges) generally means a higher commission rate as a main benefit.

So from here it's onwards and upwards, and more cash to come.

One of the key aspects of trying to market online is getting known, people will more likely sign up to your opportunity if they've had a chance to get to know you. Not the you that wants to get them into your next big money earner, but the real you, who you are, what you like/dislike, your interests, passions - basically what makes you tick. You're more likely to get a referral from people if they feel they can trust you.

Social networks allow for that, and I've found a new one - Board of Directors Social Network - a site for meeting like minded people, swapping ideas, advertising opportunities and much more. As i learn more about the offerings available, you'll get to hear it here.

Well not so much strange as completely unexpected, and downright frustrating.

There's an often used phrase that gets bandied about a lot, particularly in relationships, but i think it applies to my experience at the weekend.

"You never know what you have until you lose it".

Well i can fully understand the sentiment having been without internet access for two days, due to "Technical Issues beyond our control" was how the library staff put it. So two days of surfing the Traffic Exchanges lost, no credits earned and adverts either running out of or getting low on credits. Potentially lost sign-ups can also be added to the list of frustrating outcomes as a result of the downtime.

There are upsides as well of course, I was able to get a little creative and brainstormed my way to a few ideas for potential splash pages to be used in my campaigns, now all i need to do is to get them from paper to screen, where's that Adkreator login....

When you start to look for ways to make money online it soon becomes apparent that there are literally hundreds and hundreds of things that claim to lead you in the direction of untold wealth in short periods of time, in some cases a matter of days.

So how do you distinguish the genuine from the flaky from the outright scams? How indeed.

My first foray into this enormous field, is with what is described as "a REAL and PROVEN company".

"SFI (Strong Future International) Marketing Group was launched in 1998. Starting with just one product, sold only in the United States, SFI has now grown to more than 48000 products and services (and growing daily) sold in more than 190 countries around the world."

So I joined up, actually I've been an Affiliate there for a couple of months, expecting great things and hoping for the easy life. It's because of my experiences with this online business that I decided to do this blog.