I have been wanting to write up a short report card and poll on the three major Blog traffic exchange services for the past few weeks however, once I sit down in front of my computer, I tend to start writing about the frequently insane goings-on in my life instead of my intended topic.

This week I actually was able to stay focused and complete this project which I will share with you below and ask for your feedback.

To summarize, I took the three Blog Traffic Exchanges of Blog Explosion, BlogMad and Blog Soldiers and rated them based on my own personal experiences in the three categories as follows:

a) Site Layout & Services offered - this covers ease of navigation and the extras which are offered to their members
b) Popularity - number of active members based on traffic (this allows me to only count active accounts and not simply members)
c) Customer Service - Turnaround time for tickets, email inquiries and feedback

I have then put on a quick poll for all of my readers so you can rate these services based on your own personal experiences.

Your opinions are also welcome since this may help new users get a better idea of these exchanges and if they want to be a part of them based on this report card. If I have missed a great service that you may use or know about, please feel free to share it here as well.

I do realize that 'this poll is quite unscientific' and probably only a few people will even bother sharing their opinions on the matter however, I am posting this anyway since I know it might be helpful. I definitely would have found it useful prior to trying to decide where to sign up and spend my valuable time in building traffic to my own site.

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Blog Explosion

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Overview:

Blog Explosion or BE advertises itself as one of the fastest growing blog communities on the internet. It boasts over 45,000 blogs currently in it's directory and was for the longest time considered the 'cadillac' of all the blog exchanges.
Their surfing numbers are .5 credit per viewing a blog for 30 seconds. The ratio is 2:1, meaning for every 2 blogs you visit, yours will be displayed 1 time.

Site Layout & Services offered
BE has one of the most user friendly layouts and additional services currently being offered by any of the Blog Exchanges.
In addition to the usual blog rotations, they offer popular services such as Rent my Blog, Battle of the Blogs, Blog Rocket and other ways to increase your traffic and win credits.

Popularity
Based on the number of members they boast, one would expect huge traffic from this exchange however this is sadly no longer the case. After the original owners sold this service back in June, active membership, based upon my traffic, has been plummeting like a wounded duck.

In an open letter to the members in September, the BE staff acknowledged some of the issues & problems raised by its members and expressed an intent on correcting these. As of writing, no noticeable change has been made.

Customer Service
Based upon my own experience and the many other's I have heard about, I would rate the current level of customer service and ticket turnaround time as poor. Blog approvals are slow and they are not currently meeting the timeline standards which they set themselves & publish on their own site.

The open letter I mentioned above also stated that "the new owners have requested to remain in the background...." I now realize why, as I wouldn't want my name associated with this kind of level of service either.

My Rating:


** Overall Rating = D **
Not recommended




Your Rating:

Click to Rate Blog Explosion & see results!

(poll will open in new window)

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BlogMad

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Overview:
BlogMad bills itself as the ultimate Blog Traffic site.
Their surfing numbers are 1 credit per viewing a blog for 25 seconds. The ratio is 1:1, meaning for every blog you visit, yours will be displayed 1 time.

Site Layout & Services offered
I have found the BlogMad site to be rather cluttered and difficult at times to navigate. After using it now for a number of months I am somewhat comfortable in its layout.

In addition to the usual blog rotations, BlogMad offers services such as Cage Fights, Lotteries, Hangman and a number of other ways to increase your traffic and win credits. They appear to be continuing to add new and interesting services all the time. They seem to be picking up a great deal of new users every day.

Popularity
The member count at time of writing is currently listed as 7992 subscribed to BlogMad. Based upon my own traffic, I believe it to be by far one of the largest active bases of all the three services I am reviewing. if you're blog is looking for hits from other bloggers, Blogmad is definitely worth your consideration.

Customer Service
Based upon my own experience the customer service appears to be usually rather quick although not always reliable. I had a minor issue a couple months back which they were unable to resolve however the problem finally was corrected a couple of weeks later.


My Rating:


** Overall Rating = B **
Recommended





Your Rating:


Click to Rate BlogMad & see results!

(poll will open in new window)

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Overview:
Blog Soldiers is a Manual Traffic Exchange designed to generate visitors to your website. It appears to be a very bare-bones service which does exactly what it advertises.
Their surfing numbers are .5 credit per viewing a blog for 20 seconds. The ratio is 2:1, meaning for every 2 blogs you visit, yours will be displayed 1 time.

Site Layout & Services offered
I found the Blog Soldiers layout to be very simple to navigate & non-descript as they appear to have a very limited number of services aside from the blog rotations.

Popularity
I was unable to find the official number of active users however I estimate it to be lower than the other two, based on my own traffic.
Although the number of users appear low, the quality of traffic I have received either through comments or emails seems to be very good.

This service could easily be number one if they continue to focus on their core business, add a few supplemental services and advertise in order to attract new members. I am quite satisfied with their service.

Customer Service
Based upon my own experience the customer service appears excellent. Quick turn-around with no issues.

My Rating:


** Overall Rating = B+ **
Recommended





Your Rating:


Click to Rate Blog Soldiers & see results!

(poll will open in new window)

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So hopefully the above information may be somewhat helpful for those of you looking to join one or more of the Blog Exchange services.

That's all for now, my 'community service' is done for this week....Now it's drinking time!