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Articles by Rainey Stricklin

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Crossing the Great Gay Divide

The gap, it seems, that was once wide and impenetrable, is closing lately. For most, that's a good thing.

Rainey Stricklin ·
opinion

Gay Can Be Tapped Further

Getting your website in front of a first-time gay customer may not be as easy as it was, say, 10 years ago, but there's still a good portion of the market that has yet to be reached. According to some of the most successful gay site operators, saturation in the gay market is a long way off.

Rainey Stricklin ·
profile

EpochStats

What's most striking about Internet payment service provider Epoch is that though it has just kicked off its second decade in the business, the company's innovation, attitude and drive are reminiscent of a startup company destined to succeed.

Rainey Stricklin ·
opinion

Valuing Affiliates

The affiliate model changed the direction of adult content on the Internet and arguably contributed to its enormous profitability. But what if affiliates disappeared?

Rainey Stricklin ·
opinion

Gay Rewind

With rowdy parties, 2257 inspections, scandals, programs opening and closing and its first-ever dedicated webmaster show, 2006 was quite a year for the gay adult market. The year brought many changes to the market — some positive, some negative — but on the whole, we've seen the gay market grow and mature this year.

Rainey Stricklin ·
opinion

Promoting Gay Sites

The differences in the gay and straight markets run much deeper than just content. While in many ways marketing is marketing no matter the product, the gay market is very different from other types of content. How program owners and affiliate managers market their programs to webmasters, therefore, sometimes requires different strategies.

Rainey Stricklin ·
opinion

The Summer Slowdown

Toward the end of every year, I start to see board postings and hear grumblings from webmasters about the infamous "summer slowdown," complete with that sense of impending doom that sales are going to dry up and we'll have to ration food for three months until we can get back to the regular flow of traffic and sales.

Rainey Stricklin ·
opinion

A Debate Over Barebacking

Mentioning the term "barebacking" at any gay webmaster gathering is sure to spark a heated debate, but despite the controversy the niche continues to thrive within the gay market.

Rainey Stricklin ·
opinion

Set Goals, Reap Rewards

January is a month for calendar-induced idealism about the New Year. We tend to spend time reflecting on the previous year and set lofty goals for the coming year. But as time rolls on, many of us wonder what happened to those plans

Rainey Stricklin ·
profile

Getting Gay At Internext

The gay audience is one of the most sought after demographics in today’s adult Internet industry and at Internext Expo in Las Vegas last week, a few experts gathered at the Gay and Lesbian Webmaster panel to discuss the state of the market

Rainey Stricklin ·
opinion

"Where's The Traffic?"

"Where's The Traffic?" was the question asked at the opening seminar of GFY's inaugural Webmaster Access event held this past weekend in Los Angeles, and a panel of industry veterans answered

Rainey Stricklin ·
opinion

Maximizing Exit Traffic

Building an exit traffic strategy involves more than simply pasting a snippet of JavaScript into your HTML pages. Exit traffic can be a substantial revenue source if you’re willing to invest the time

Rainey Stricklin ·
opinion

Diversify Your Traffic

If you had a million dollars to invest, would you put it all in a single stock? Of course you wouldn’t. That would leave you completely dependent on one company’s success or failure. Anyone who has ever done any investing knows

Rainey Stricklin ·