Friday 2 November 2007

Autosurf

An autosurf is a type of online advertising program. Autosurfs are traffic exchanges that
automatically rotate advertised websites in one's Internet
browser. Therefore, they are capable of bringing a large amount of traffic to the advertised
websites. Members earn credits for each site that they view, which can then be spent to advertise members' sites by adding them
to the autosurf rotation. Sites may additionally be added by external advertisers who pay the autosurf operators.


Concept

Autosurfing is a unique form of advertising: normally, advertisers pay intermediaries to display advertising to their target
audience, and the advertising is presented to the audience in places where they are likely to see it, such as in public places,
or packaged with entertainment. In this sense, no money changes hands between the audience and the advertiser.

In comparison, autosurfers are paid to view pure advertising (that is, advertisers' websites) for a certain amount of time
(usually, less than 30 seconds). Interested viewers can pause the surf timer or open any site in a new window, giving themselves
more time to peruse an ad. If the viewer is not interested and does nothing, the surf timer will restart after the specified
period of time and a new site will be loaded into the browser. The surf rotation requires no feedbacks of any kind; in contrast
to manual surfs, paid to read email or paid to click sites.

Autosurfing allows members to promote websites of their own choice, according to a system of credits earned by surfing.
Members usually earn credits in a fixed ratio to the number of sites they view. Member-promoted
websites may or may not be their own websites. If not, they are most often the members' referral page at another autosurf or an online money-making program. This is because many
autosurfs are structured as pyramid schemes: members may earn a commission for each site
that their referrals view, and are therefore encouraged to build a downline.

As autosurfs are run from websites, online payment processors are used for members to upgrade
and withdraw their profits. The most popular form of e-currency used is e-gold or
e-bullion. StormPay was a very popular payment processor
until February 2006 but has now converted to an auction site.

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