An autosurf is a type of
online advertising program. Autosurfs are
traffic exchanges that automatically rotate advertised
websites in one's
Internet browser. 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.
Autosurfs differ from manual traffic exchanges in that the site rotation is automatic; an ad viewer need not respond or even view the sites. Many autosurfs also pay their viewers a percentage or hourly
commission to view the advertised sites; this concept can be likened to a
paid to surf site. However, a large number of autosurfs are
investment autosurfs: to earn money surfing, members must pay a fee and are then promised a certain return on their fee. The "investment" is claimed to be (usually disguised as) a membership or upgraded membership fee and the "return", a per-site commission. There is a strong possibility that most investment autosurfs are
Ponzi schemes, and thus breaking the law and/or deceiving their users; whereas paid to surf sites usually had a viable business model where advertisers would pay for the site to be viewed but not earn money in return.
CONCEPTAutosurfing is an unusual 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: 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 simply restart after the specified period of time and a new site will be loaded into the browser.
One flaw in the concept from an effective advertising standpoint is that the viewer need not actually watch the rotation. Most sites contain code to re-maximize the web browser window every time the page rotates, preventing the viewer from using their computer effectively, but an autosurfer can walk away from the computer, or disable the relevant script actions in the browser. The surf rotation requires no feedbacks of any kind; in contrast to manual surfs, paid to read email or paid to click site.
BENEFITAutosurfing 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; for example, for each 4 sites a member views, he or she may earn 3 credits, which can then be allocated the member's own site, which will cause three other members of the autosurf to visit the site at some point in the future. Of course, as the member may not actually be viewing those 4 sites, the 3 visitors to his site may also not be viewing the member's site but just logging a hit from their
IP address.
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 most 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; the most obvious place to advertise is on other autosurfs. Also, most members do not have their own sites.
In the case of investment autosurfs, members either pay a fee to join and/or to upgrade their account level. This fee can usually vary from a few cents to thousands of dollars, and the minimum and maximum is set by the site operator; as such it is more like an investment because the member chooses how much to risk. The program then offers a commission based on the member's account level for viewing a minimum number of sites, for example, for a period of X days, every day that the member views Y sites, Z% of the upgrade fee will be credited and can be withdrawn from the site. The product of Z% and X is always over 100% to ensure that the member makes a profit. Members also have even more incentive to build a downline because further commissions are received based on the amount of money that referred members put in or earn.
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. The most common payment processors are currently
AlertPay,
SolidTrustPay,
TriStarMoneyChangers,
CEPTrust and
AsianPay.
StormPay was a very popular payment processor until February 2006 but has now converted to an auction site. The investment autosurf concept is against
PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy, however, such sites using PayPal are few and usually do not last long before PayPal blocks their account.
