[ecchi]

Sorry, I have just seen this thread so I may be about to try "closing the stable door after the horse has bolted", but if you are buying traffic there are a few things you should know.

1. Before you buy make sure you know enough about buying traffic, for example a lot of sellers are selling pop unders which is very poor traffic as most surfers will never even see your site, but will register as a "hit" (pop unders are pop up windows that have your site in them but blur (pop up under the main window) and are usually ignored by the surfer).

2. Be aware that you will really have to "work" any paid for traffic, just dumping it on your site or, worse, on a sponsors site, means you will end up paying several dollars for every one dollar you get. Remember, the seller could have easily dumped his traffic on a suitable sponsor, it would be less work than selling it, so he will be charging you more than he could have made doing this.

3. Always read all the FAQ's and small print, there are some good traffic sellers but they are outnumbered by the cowboys and crooks. Look carefully at what they say they are giving you (exit/pop-under/404/redirect/etc) and also look for what they do not say they are not giving you, for example if they don't say that none of their traffic is pop-under then some (or all) of it probably is.

4. Also check where the traffic comes from, if they do not tell you be aware you will probably get a fair quantity of non-English language surfers (European, Asian, Russian, etc).

5. Never believe their claims without checking, I have seen plenty of sites selling pop unders and saying that they are the best kind of traffic.

6. For your first few purchases always buy the minimum amount. It might seem like a good idea to buy 100,000 hits for only five times the cost of 10,000 hits, but not if the traffic is no good. Always remember that although there are good honest traffic sellers, there are more crooks than honest dealers, and you will undoubtedly get caught a few times before you find the perfect seller.

7. Never rely on other people's recommendations, they are a good starting point, but even if the advice comes from your best friend, always check everything out first. This is for two reasons. Firstly the person giving you the advice could be an affiliate who is only advising you because they get a percentage of what you pay. Secondly, even if the person advising you is genuine, a good crook will be able to fool people, and the person advising you may have been coned themselves.

I hope some of this is useful to you.