I was developing a real estate advertising site (that is still not finished) and decided I wanted to do something different for getting traffic. This new project is brande new, you folks are the first. It is a link exchange on steroids.

If I may, I would like to start the tour as it would appear on the host site of the link exchange directory.www.realestate-synergy.com is the site I was building before I got sidetracked with the link exchange but that is where I start the tour. In the left menu on that page click the "Link Exchange" link. Then, click the "real estate" button in the far right column in the directory list, and finally click the "Advertising" button. This would be the last page, but more categories and layers could be added if necessary. There is no need to click the links.

I would like to point out that the entire directory display on this site is all pulled from a remote site I built to manage the link exchange and is displayed with just a few lines of code on this realestate-synergy.com website. Before I ask you to visit the site feeding this one I would like to show you 1) the search engine and 2) how to add a link

first click on "Search" button. A smaller window appears (shouldn't be affected by pop up blockers) in which all the search is conducted of only the link exchange (no outside web sites) and in which the search results are displayed.

Close the search window and click "Add My Site" button. Again, a small window appears explaining how my link exchange script (Bungee Bones) is a third party script and gives the brief terms of the exchange. It presents two options, the left one is supposed to be for those with their mind made up to add their site and it takes them directly to the registration page. The right one takes those who want more info to the link exchange home page. Please note that these two previous links provide the host site (referrer) ID for crediting the source and or two month cookies for those who come to the link exchange, leave, and then later return to register. (Also, there is a bug that I need a work around for. If this small window is already opened but the directory window gets on top of it and blocks it, clicking the "Add My Site" button again acts like a dead link and the small page doesn't come back up to the top window position. Any fixes?}

Please select the right link and go to the link exchange site (BungeeBones.com)
You will now be leaving the host site of the directory to the producing site of the link exchange where participants (website owners) would register and participate.

This is the site I would like reviewed if I could and I apologize for the long winded background info to get here. I really need folks to get in and kick the tires, slam the doors, do test rides, etc. I believe everything is working properly but there are still a couple of features I need to add. Maybe you'll pick up on what is missing, I hope.

Thanks all!

Ok I clicked on the Bungee Bones link and read this

That is all I needed to see, I would NEVER participate or have anything to do with a website that said something so obviously geared towards unnatural link exchange. "Human edited and automated in the same sentence?" Doesn't make a lot of sense. I am sorry, I have no respect for these kinds of sites, and I cannot dig any deeper for you - the only person that site will ever help is the owner if they ever talk people sending them money for a completely valueless service.

__________________
Want to save up to 50% off Real estate webmasters product websites & common upgrades? Check out my latest blog post regarding our end of the year sale.

Thank you, webmaster for the honest assessment. May I respond?

Perhaps I used the wrong approach and am unclear. What I meant, on a deeper level than what you are talking about, is that search engines are already a COMPLETELY automated system while in the tradition of DMOZ and Yahoo (two very successful HUMAN EDITED directories as you know), this Bungee Bones concept I am attempting is about using human editors aided by computers. Let's have the humans do what they do best and let the computer do what it does best. But if we are going to use human editors, then also let's ensure that they get compensated in some way for their work (unlike DMOZ which is volunteer). Yahoo does compensate its editorial staff from the high fees it charges to get listed. Their fee structure was anti-"small person" as a baby sitter was expected to pay the same as a lawyer and pay per click cleaned their clock when it introduced bidding on keywords. DMOZ is always a problem. Long waits to get listed, poor edits, etc.

Bungee Bones is more "anti algorithm" than anything else. The algorithm based searches, working in support of pay per click ads, have basically overtaken these directories for the above reasons. Any suggestions for better ad type to get this point across would be greatly appreciated.

To borrow your style, ahhheemmmm, :-)

"I have no respect for these kind of sites" and "I cannot dig deeper" in the same sentence?" Doesn't make a lot of sense. How can you make a judgement that this site is "these kind of sites" after reading only two sentences? ;-)

And what exactly is "these kind of sites" anyway? I have researched link exchange and haven't found anything else like Bungee Bones. I know from what you say that you have no use for and haven't collected a list of "these kind of sites" but if any come to mind I would sure like to check them out.

You see, the goal is really to return compensate to the webmasters, the ones who actually do provide the links to fill the link exchange. I would put the commission plan for the webmasters up against any real estate broker's commission schedule for a comparision of which will return more to the sales staff (i.e. the webmasters). I am extremely confident I would win every one of those comparisons. But I do hear what you are saying, and it often is difficult for people to see beyond their fears and prejudices so, even before your response, I had decided to offer a FREE VERSION.

With the free version, they will still have to perform some "community service" with every website they submit by reviewing some previously submitted sites (about 5 websites). This insures the quality of sites and addresses the labor shortage problem that DMOZ has.

Because it is an "exchange" they will still have to place the links on their site (but that is the service I provide and what I automated so they won't have to add links themselves manually). So, just as in a link exchange, its value as a service is entirely dependant on the quality of the sites in the exchange and the amount of traffic they generate. Joining for free and taking a "wait and see" attitude about the income opportunity is a good third optiion, I agree.

The only thing they will lose out on is the income producing potential. This, to me, is unfortunate, because sharing the proceeds from the success of a website is, to me, fair. This exchange of fees between the sites receiving the traffic and those sending the traffic is what made Google so successful. To have users participate in building the success of a website without a long term compensation plan for them is extremely unfair but is very common among successful websites all over the web. Instead of compensating on a "per click" basis, which has a built in flaw of click fraud, Bungee Bones is simply proposing getting paid "per site" instead. Much easier to account for and harder to defraud. The end result (i.e. traffic) between link exchange and pay per click is the same, per site is more honest, not less. But all the same accusations were levied against Pay Per Click when it started too.

The only sites that would benefit from the free plan are the sites that only receive traffic and don't send any. But even they will probably lose more than they will save. So, with that, free sites are more than welcomed to join too.

I really do appeciate your response. I was beginning to get concerned because NOBODY had. I took it all as constructive and do appreciate you taking the time to do so. A very good and long time friend had the similar reaction. I did ad a flash movie and it sounds like you missed out on that. The movie tries to emphasize some of the points I made.