Autosurf

Autosurf is a form of online advertising program that automatically rotates the advertised websites in one's Internet browser. The advertisers pay money to the hosts, which then pay the viewers a certain percentage commission or on an hourly basis to view the rotated websites. This is how autosurfs gain many loyal viewers. Today, autosurfs have evolved to the point where they also allow the viewers to advertise their own websites with the credits that they earn by viewing other ads on the autosurf rotator. Since autosurfs are capable of bringing a huge amount of traffic to the advertised websites, and the members get to view other members' websites as well, autosurfs are sometimes referred to as 'traffic exchange sites'.

Autosurf concept

Autosurfing is in some ways similar to the concept of advertising on TV. Advertising companies pay large amounts of money to TV stations to run commercials, and in return TV viewers get to watch the programs for free, as long as they put up with commercial breaks.

In comparison, AutoSurfers are paid to view pure advertising (websites) for a certain amount of time each (usually less than 30 seconds). Interested viewers can open any site in a new window to give themselves more time to peruse an ad. If the viewer is not interested and does nothing, the surf timer will simply move to a new site after the specified period of time.

One flaw in the concept (from an effective advertising standpoint) is that the viewer need not actually watch the rotation. Most sites won't allow a viewer to minimize the web browser window and use the computer effectively (the autosurf window will re-maximize every time the page rotates), but an autosurfer can walk away from the computer. The surf rotation doesn't require feedbacks of any kind.

Why would someone spend time to AutoSurf?

Mainly, the cash. AutoSurf programs offer a commission based on the member's account level for viewing a minimum number of sites. To upgrade the account level, members need to put some money into the program. Many people have used autosurf to earn extra income, sometimes up to hundreds of dollars daily using certain strategies of "compounding" their earnings. Some people look at autosurfs as an investment program that can give them a very high return.

Another reason people autosurf is that most AutoSurf programs allow members to promote websites of their own choice, according to a system of "credits" earned by surfing. The member-promoted websites may or may not be their own websites. Some websites offer credits or money to their members in exchange for promoting them.

How are autosurfs able to pay so much?

Paid Autosurf Programs usually pay fixed daily interest on a member's investment (the monetary amount of their upgrades). The most stable programs are those paying 1% daily for members who surf a fixed amount of sites every day. The process usually takes less than an hour daily.

1% daily works out to a 365 Annual Percentage Rate. That sounds pretty high for people who are used to investing their money in savings accounts or certificates of deposit. How do the AutoSurf sites pay out such high rates? The answer is not as simple as the question.

There are many potential money sources for an autosurf owner. One source of income is the members' upgrades. A constant stream of new members and new upgrades is vital to any autosurf program. Part of the money invested by new members is usually used to pay the older members. This is reminiscent of a Ponzi scheme, and serious programs need additional revenue streams to stay in business and to grow.

Some programs also invest their members' upgrades in other high yield investment opportunities, including FOREX investments, HYIPs, and other autosurf programs. If a program is paying 1% daily, the owner can invest the money into another autosurf program (even one paying the same 1%) and surf every day. With the right strategy, using compounding, he can produce much more than 365% in a year. The same program owner may also choose to invest in a higher-percentage program to easily generate enough money to pay the payouts, but the risk is always higher in high-percentage autosurfs, because it is harder for these companies to generate enough income to continue paying commissions to their members. There have been several collapses of major autosurf companies in the years since autosurfing has become a significant player in web advertising.

Advertising is another important source of income for autosurf program owners. All autosurf programs generate millions of hits and people interested in advertising for their sites may pay to buy some of those hits. Autosurf programs may also sell text links and banners displayed in members area or on the main page.

Some autosurf programs also provide hosting services, professional design and promoting, marketing tools, and auctions. The biggest autosurfs sell hosting packages for their members and there are even hosting companies running autosurf scripts to bring in more clients. Such sources of income may provide the owner a serious revenue opportunity. A few of the biggest autosurf programs even have their own payment processors and online stores. Payment processors take fees of up to 5% from every transaction. Autosurf program may also charge payout fees over and above the fees charged by the payment processors to process the payments.

Some programs also provide other money making opportunities to their members, like "paid to click" and "paid to signup" options, "matrices," and "doublers," etc. A program with a few thousand members may earn thousands of dollars monthly selling PTC and PTS features to advertisers.

And keep in mind that not all an autosurf's members surf every day. Any time a member doesn't surf the required amount of sites on a given day, more money stays in the program because the autosurf doesn't owe that member a commission for that day. In fact, almost no one manages to surf 365 days without a break. Some people even go on vacations (or just forget to surf) for several weeks out of any given year.

While the easiest way to keep an autosurf program going is to reinvest the money into other autosurf programs, only multiple sources of income can guarantee a program's stability. Well-organized programs also invest in advertising and promotion of their autosurf program, buying ads on other autosurf programs and with search engines.

Risk

Just like any other type of investments, investing in autosurf programs has its own risk. The autosurf industry today is full of scams. Since autosurf scripts can be bought with as little as $5, many individuals have taken autosurfing as an opportunity to create modern Ponzi schemes. They design their sites to look like professional autosurf companies, offer high interest rates (in return for high investments), and run away with the members' money when the programs start to collapse. The number of scam autosurfs is so large that most newbies will fall into at least one of these scams, especially if caught up in dreams of the high percentages these programs offer. People try to squeeze out a profit as fast as they can and then let their profits ride, instead of withdrawing their money from what can only be unstable programs.

To help newbies avoid falling into these scams, senior autosurfers usually pass them some of the most famous 'words-of-wisdom' in the autosurf world:

• "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" - diversify money into several autosurf programs

• "Investigate before you invest" - do serious research on a program before deciding to put money in it

• "Don't invest money that you can't afford to lose" - 'nuff said

And never use outside funding such as a credit card or a loan to invest in these programs.

Look before you leap!