Panelists for the seminar included Greenguy of Greenguy & Jim, Scott Rabinowitz of TrafficDude, Jack Mardack of ProfitLabInc., and Johnny V of Wildline. XBIZ Senior Editor Stephen Yagielowicz moderated.
Greenguy kicked off the seminar by talking about how link lists have evolved and whether they are still a source of quality traffic. “If you’re not building and submitting free sites, you should be,” he said.
He added that adult surfers have become a broadband market, and the future of free porn traffic on the web is movie content.
Rabinowitz said the biggest issue is avoiding recycled traffic, adding that it’s important to make sure surfers haven’t been “beaten to death.” His recommendation: Do your due diligence and ask questions about where the traffic is ultimately coming from.
This is particularly true when dealing with traffic brokers, who should provide a stats reporting mechanism by which a web operator can measure success, he said. He did point out, however, that legitimate brokers have a vested interest in a webmaster’s success.
Mardack discussed one of the least understood sources of traffic for adult web operators: blogs. He pointed out that blogs are a unique animal and that adult webmasters should appreciate bloggings unique aspects rather than being crippled by them.
Most importantly, he said, blogging is a social activity. Whereas adult web operators are historically secretive, to be successful as bloggers, they must be more open.
“A blog is like a membership card,” he said. “It’s like a handshake with other bloggers, and the most common missed opportunity is failing to realize the potential benefits of the social aspect of a blog.”
Three of the social aspects Mardack referred to are the “ping,” which let’s blog hub Technorati.com know every time a new blog posting is created; “trackback,” links in a post that lead to other people’s blogs; and the comment feature, which allows bloggers to use each others content in their own blogs.
Johnny V summed up the theme of the seminar by saying adult web operators have three primary concerns: having content, getting it “out there” and getting eyes on it. The last point, he said, is where many web operators fail.
He also addressed the topic of why traffic is becoming harder to convert.
“The end user is becoming more savvy,” he explained. “It’s no longer a fledgling industry. The only way to really know what works for you is trial and error.”
He added that traffic conversion will never be a turnkey process; rather, it’s a matter of keeping meticulous stats and measuring every aspect of the sales process.
“You’ll learn some of the best ways to convert your niche by talking to other people who are converting it — your competitors,” he said.
“Take your time to find out what works,” he added. “Watch your stats. It’s all there in front of you.”