One of the great ways to generate interest in your blog is via one of the many traffic generating sites that are available. However, not all of them are very good. In fact, I’ve had little success with several so here’s my top list of traffic generators that work vs. those that don’t.

1. BlogMad
2. BlogSoldiers
3. ClickPirate
4. EntreCard
5. Traffic Swarm
6. AutoHits
7. AussieEarners
8. BlogExplosion
9. BlogAdvance
10. Google Ads

So here’s the truth. This is an non-scientific analysis of how traffic generators actually work, despite whatever statistics they provide in their system. The effective sites were counted as providing more than an average amount of time on the site, over 2 years that was approximately 02:12 minutes.

Of the ten sites that I surveyed, only one merits any real ad spending. And that’s the first one. Please note, though, I don’t use Google AdSense anywhere that it matters, so if you are using any of these sites, you may find that you are violating AdSense TOS.

Better than Average

1. ClickPirate – accounted for only 269 trips to my site but the traffic stayed much longer (11:26 minutes), viewed nearly 3 times as many pages and had a much lower bounce rate. I regularly purchase advertising through ClickPirate, and would recommend it. Grade: A++

Around Average

2. Autohits.dk – only generated 126 actual hits to my site, but the average time on site was a decent 3:38 minutes and a respectable bounce rate. I have purchased advertising on this site several times and been pleased. Grade: A+

3. AussieEarners – only recently added to the stable but in that short month generated about 195 actual hits with a decent 2:01 on the site. Its bounce rate wasn’t that hot, but at least the traffic seems reasonable quality. I haven’t purchased any advertising on this site yet. Grade: A-

Shorter than Average

4. EntreCard – accounted for over 640 visits in two years, but with an average of 43 seconds on the site, it was marginally better than BlogSoldiers. I gave up on EntreCard mostly because it failed to demonstrate any value, and the system kept changing. You might have better luck with them than I did. I stopped when they deleted two of my sites for alleged TOS violations despite the fact that they were quality sites. Pity they couldn’t remove the EC farms and the porn effectively. Worse, it wasn’t worth buying advertising on here because of the gross mismatch between EC prices and actual traffic. Grade: C+

5. BlogSoldiers – generated slightly more interest than BlogMad, but it’s average time on site was 29 seconds! I’m still using this site, as it does generate fairly decent traffic levels. I also purchased advertising for both banners and blogs through their service. I quite like the fact that you can create banners and text links and try them out over extended periods. I have purchased advertising here, and would probably do so again. Grade: B-

6. BlogMad – in two years BlogMad generated 575 visits for my blog, but with an average time on my site of just 7 seconds, it was largely ineffective. Worse, I tried to buy advertising but this company’s got a really ineffective ecommerce system that prevented me from buying any credits at all! Sorry but that is really shooting yourself in the foot, is it not? Grade: C-

Largely Useless

7. BlogAdvance – was a very dark horse in the race, and in only one respect did it manage a less worse than average result: time on site – 1:19 minutes. The site is currently non-functional, and fails to accept my sites. I couldn’t figure out why, and generally reckon that this site is now over. Grade: F

8. BlogExplosion – Really only created an average time of 4 seconds on site, and a little more than 1 page! With a high bounce rate, it’s not worth it. Worse, I had a problem on my account and it was never fixed. Grade: F

9. TrafficSwarm – generated no hits to my site at all. Complete waste of time.Oddly, though, my Google ads only attracted 51 viewers to my and they only stayed 19 seconds! 19! Wow! Grade: F

Unknown Potential

10. AdWords – But the biggest surprise was for me, AdWords. AdWords produced really poor quality traffic overall with 51 visitors and a time on site of just 19 seconds. Most likely this reflects the complexity of the AdWords system. I’m still not convinced AdWords is an appropriate tool for InvestorBlogger at this time. Grade: Unknown.

These stats are from over 57000 page views taken over 2 years. Not all sites were tested for 2 years. Nor were all sites tested continuously. But this reflects my own personal experience with these ten sites. Your own mileage may vary considerably from these statistics!