and then I mean the manual Traffic Exchanges (TE's) only, not the autosurf sites where the program usually runs in the background without the rotating pages are seen.

Here at the forum I didn't find a topic about Traffic Exchanges, so I decided to start one myself because when it's about getting traffic you can't ignore TE's.

At the manual TE's people visit your site for a preset time (usually 10 up to 30 seconds) and then click to visit the next site. In return for the viewed sites, they earn credits to expose their own site(s) in the system.
Of course they can stay on the viewed site longer, if it is offering an interesting opportunity and when they want to read the full page instead of just the headlines.

Depending on what you are selling or promoting using TE's can be useful.
If you are looking for resellers, affiliates or referrals a manual TE probably will work for you.
Best results are obtained by using so called splash pages, just a few headlines what it's about, not too much info on the site (the visitors don't stay that long to read it)... and of course with a link to the site providing more detailed information.

Most TE's are 100% free to join, and offer optional upgraded membership.
You can generate 100% free traffic.
The disadvantage is you have to do a lot of clicking yourself in order to earn your credits, or spend money to buy credits or upgraded membership (providing a certain amount of credits monthly).

TE's is big business, there are thousands of them by now, all over the world in many languages.
If you join a TE I certainly would recommend to pick one with at least 25,000 active members, with all respect for the smaller ones... but you do need an audience for your website, not just a few members only.
The leading sites in this industry have over 100,000 members, however not all will be active surfers.

In general webstores don't have benefits from TE's, the average TE-member is looking for opportunities.

Good luck in your business,

Annette Bonus

__________________
* please read signature rules *