I have said it before, and I stand by my word. Alexa Internet is important. Are they 100% accurate – no. Do they figure into a search engine’s algorithm? It’s never been proven.

But for all the Alexa naysayers, there’s a second search engine where an Alexa rating will factor into your results. (The first one being ExactSeek.com.)

And the site that could be an even bigger threat to Google and Yahoo than MSN? A9.com – Amazon’s search engine that incorporates the Alexa rating into the displayed results.

Am I nuts? Am I alone in thinking they might be a contenda?

I’ll be back with some search engine news regarding that. It may blow your skirt up…

When I first started out with FreeTrafficDirectory.com I was just trying to win a bet. Some colleagues bet me that I couldn’t get my site in Alexa’s Top 100K, get spidered and included by Google, create and sell a profitable product, and get a PR of at least 3 in 90 days spending less than $100. I won in 34 days flat, and if memory serves I spent less than $30, including my hosting fees.

I couldn’t use Google AdWords, I couldn’t solicit people from my other sites to visit, and I couldn’t go on a reciprocal link campaign. I had to get my visitors as if I was just starting out for the first time and do these things as if I was nearly broke.

One of the primary tools I was able to use was the traffic exchange method. I quickly learned that all of them are not created equal. I’ll go a bit further into this on Thursday. In the meantime, here is a list of the ones I joined.