In this installment of our Basic Traffic Management series, I will outline some of the most popular methods for driving traffic into your adult web site. In the coming months we will examine each of these traffic sources in greater detail, as well as some unique new ways of combining them for maximum traffic flow. For now, let's take a quick look at some of my favorite traffic sources; those that every site can use:
Search Engines
Considered by many Webmasters to be the finest traffic available, search engine traffic is usually the most profitable, and therefore hardest to obtain. Why is it so profitable? The reason is simple: people who use a search engine like Alta Vista to find "free porn" are going there because they don't know any better. These folks are "newbies," and all they know about the Internet is that they're horny, they want to blow a load, and the guy on television said: "all you have to do is just search for free porn:"
They will click on the first thing that catches their eye, and it will likely appear to them to be the greatest thing since sliced bread; causing them to quickly whip out the plastic. They may never pay for porn again, but they probably will do it once. At a site they found on a search engine.
You should realize that unless you really know what you're doing, you are unlikely to obtain a worthwhile ranking under anything than the most obscure search phrase. One piece of software that may go a long way to improving your search engine marketing results is WebPosition Gold. I'll be doing a feature-length report on using this software, sometime in the future.
Link Lists
With an often furious onrush of fresh traffic, followed by a steady flow of visitors once your site falls from the "new sites" list, the traffic generating ability of a listing at "Persian Kitty" or the like is hard to ignore.
Link Lists are often (but not always) hand-edited directories that rank submitted sites either alphabetically, categorically, chronologically or preferentially. As such, someone has to verify their content, and approve their placement before listing. This tends to minimize cheating, sending higher quality traffic to your site.
While some may require reciprocal links (which is only fair), for the majority of adult sites, Link Lists will provide your best and steadiest flow of fresh, high-quality traffic.
Top Lists
Top Lists rank the listed sites not by their title, genre, or order in which they were submitted, but by the amount of traffic the ranked site sends into the list. Want to be #1? Just send more traffic than the #2 site. It's that simple. Hence, their real nature is as a "Top Referring Sites List."
These enormous traffic pumps, while still commonplace, are not as popular as they once were because many (most?) are overwhelmed by cheating webmasters who use falsely generated traffic to increase their ranking, and misleading descriptions and blind linking to increase their return hits. Still, they almost always return more traffic than you send in, regardless of your ranking on the list, and are a great way for you to "wash" less-productive TGP traffic. If a surfer likes the picture, he is likely to click on the banner for more.
Using a Top List is simple: first, you setup an account using an automated form. You are then given a link code along with a banner or button to place on your site, in as good a position as possible. Start sending traffic in to the list and you will move up the ranks:
Picture (Pic) Posts
Often overlooked today, and passed over by many surfers and webmasters alike, the lowly Pic Post was one of the first places a surfer could go to find quality "free porn" on the Internet. They are simple sites, where you submit a sample image along with a banner and description. If a surfer likes the picture, he is likely to click on the banner for more like it.
That's the theory anyway, and in the past, it was the practice also. Now, with the explosion of free porn on the Internet, the Pic Post has been relegated to the back burner - with one major exception: single-model "real amateur" sites.
Much of the problem with Pic Posts was the arrival of the same old sponsor pics and banners. Everyone recognized those photos, everyone had already visited those sites, and nobody was ever going to click on them again: But, if your site is the "only" source for your particular content, then a surfer who likes what you have to offer WILL click to see more! Hence, "real amateur" sites can make excellent use of Pic Posts - even if few other adult webmasters can.
Thumbnail Gallery Posts (TGP's)
Pic Posts declined in surfer popularity with the advent of Thumbnail Gallery Posts (or TGPs). The reason for this is simple: for the same effort that it takes to see one image, the surfer can now see ten or more! While Pic Posts conditioned surfers to expect free porn, TGPs conditioned them to expect UNLIMITED free porn!
This combined with the fact that (IMHO) TGP traffic is really ripe with minors and free loaders, means that it can be very difficult to make a "sale" - if what you're trying to sell is "porn." What I mean by that is if you expect a surfer, who is sitting in a sea of FREE porn, to click on your CyberErotica banner and whip out the plastic so that you can collect your commission, then you're dreaming! It's not that sales won't ever happen, but your conversion ratio will be so poor as to invite ridicule. So why bother with TGPs? Loads and loads of bulk traffic!
Remember I said that you're unlikely to sell any site memberships to TGP surfers? Perhaps you can sell them something else: Or better yet, give them something for free - like "Join4Free" type memberships and other e-mail collection programs that will pay you a decent commission for each valid e-mail address you can send them!
If you spend the time to submit your site to each of these resources as appropriate, your traffic worries will be over. Of course, too much is never enough (especially when it comes to driving traffic to your site), so I'm going to outline some more "advanced" traffic building tools in my next installment. Until then, check out the traffic resources linked above, and start working it! ~ Stephen
