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Converting Chinese Adult Traffic – The Niche Paysites That Work
Converting Chinese Adult Traffic – The Niche Paysites That Work.
To date we have looked at most of the types of country specific traffic available to webmasters every day and, more importantly, which niches they convert on. In this article we will finish up our look at the foreign traffic and how profitable it can be with the final main country on the net – China.Chinese Adult Surfers – Quick Analysis.
As with Japanese traffic, most webmasters seem to think that Chinese speaking adult surfers are pretty worthless when it comes to buying porn memberships and this is true – If you do not know what niches to offer your Chinese surfers that said, we found some interesting results given the three (3) month test we had on our Chinese traffic and, the results we observed might just make you change your mind about sending the Chinese surfers you get to your sites off to traffic trades.Chinese Porn Surfers – The Niches.
Because we knew relatively little about the Chinese traffic we had on our sites we decided that, rather send it to a specific language hub site we would send it to our main hub page and, allow the Chinese surfers to filter themselves through to the sites that interested them on their own, to our surprise, only 40% of the traffic we knew was Chinese chose to filter itself to a Chinese specific language hub site, the remainder, choosing to go through our main English hub site.Fetish.
Across all of the niches we offered the surfers, the Fetish niche was the one that converted most consistently month after month and, more than converted, actually retained members once they had signed up to the paysites.Gay.
Unlike the traffic we had that was Japanese a lot of the Chinese traffic that hit our site decided to visit the Gay niche paysites we had to offer them and, there was less than 10% difference between the Fetish and Gay signups we observed month after month. Quite a difference when compared to surfers from Japan and, a pleasant one at that.Amateur.
Specifically teen amateur niche sites or, at least sites that had amateur looking teen modes on the tours also did well on our Chinese traffic however, the conversion ratios for the recurring programs didn’t do as well as what we had expected with most memberships being cancelled within 2 months. Non the less, the Chinese surfers did join and most of them re-billed in excess of 1 month before leaving the site.Teen.
As mentioned above, it would appear that Chinese porn surfers are looking for teen niches again though, the teen paysites we used featured amateur looking teens prominently on the pages so whether this was a choice on the surfers part to join the teen sites or, because we only offered amateur looking teen paysites isn’t known.Asian.
Unlike Japanese surfers, Chinese surfers also joined the Asian niches that were offered up to them and, surprisingly enough, we noticed more signups to English Asian sites than localized Chinese pay sites.Chinese Adult Surfers – The Results.
Overall we were very impressed with how the Chinese traffic we had flowing through our sites both acted and, converted on the sites that we offered them to join, especially since the Japanese traffic we had didn’t seem to like the gay niche sites yet Chinese traffic worked wonderfully on exactly the same gay niche pay sites.Across the board I think a revisit of Chinese traffic is needed with more options on our part when it comes to the teen and amateur niches especially just to see if the results we experienced thus far were unique or, are truly indicative of how the Chinese surfer navigates and joins pay sites.
Article written by Lee
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Cleaning Up The Myths On Scrubbing
Time and time again on message boards I see the same old topics regarding scrubbing usually preceded by some company being accused of scrubbing their webmasters surfers to much and the webmasters sales being lower because of the sponsor ‘scrubbing’ their surfers however, the reality of this is, it isn’t the sponsors who control how much or how little the surfers credit card transactions are ‘scrubbed’.
The E-Commerce Dilemma.
Irrespective of whether you are an online bookmaker, bakery or adult pay site owner the fact of the matter remains that only credit card fraud is on the increase and, in addition to the rise of online credit card fraud the methods in which the perpetrators of these crimes carry them out is also changing often combating the methods put in place by the online transaction processors to stop this happening luckily however, this is where ‘scrubbing’ comes into effect.So What Is Scrubbing?
Scrubbing is a method used by the credit card processor that the companies who’s site you are sending a surfer to uses. Scrubbing is in effect, a method of calculating the probability that any single transaction (or group of transactions) could be fraudulent. That is to say, is being carried out by someone other than the true owner of the credit or debit card.Scrubbing is probably the single most useful tool provided to our sponsors by the credit card processors to ensure that every transaction that gets sent to them is credible and, once the transaction is allowed (or not) a part of the information contained with the transaction is sent to a central database to help other clients of that processor guard against receiving unlawful transaction purchases.
How Does Scrubbing Affect Me?
As a webmaster, believe it or not, scrubbing is actually a good thing for you. You know that each transaction processed is first of all a legitimate one and, secondly, you know that the sponsor who you are using is not going to go bankrupt due to excessive illegal transaction. This means that the sponsor can improve the services they offer YOU as a webmaster to assist you in making more money.In essence, the scrubbing of credit card transactions at a sponsors level increases the amount of money you make long term not only with that individual sponsor but, with every other sponsors who uses the same transaction processor.
Article written by Lee.
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What’s In A Niche?
Many webmasters realize what the different ‘fetishes’ the surfers have are but, how many of us realize these are actually niches and, how many of realize that these niches can be broken down into smaller sub niches of the particular fetish the surfer is looking for?
Lets take an example of say, the ‘lesbian’ niche.
Of course we all know what the lesbian niche entails, two women getting naked with each other right? Wrong.
There is much more to it than that, for example, obviously lesbian sites appeal to, well, they appeal to guys who want to fantasize about getting it on with two women but, what about the female surfers? Sure, some women probably join lesbian paysites too.
That’s one ‘sub-niche’ of lesbian right there, this can be broken down even further though for examples, Ebony Lesbians, Teenage Lesbians, Mature Lesbians, the list goes on and on and on.
So how do we choose a niche to market in adult?
The first and foremost thing you should try when choosing ‘your’ niche is to try something that either excites you or, appeals to you in a non sexual manner, if you are into Lesbian Midgets getting it on, then start off with that for your niche.
Likewise, if guys getting down and dirty is the thing that floats your boat, choose that as your niche, you should already know enough about the niche you choose primarily to be able to sell something to the surfer. If it excites you, it will more than likely excite a surfer and result in a sale.
Of course, the above statement isn’t always true, I know plenty of straight webmasters who market the gay niche VERY successfully, they have found a method that works for them and developed their business from there it probably wasn’t easy at the start but, nothing easy will make you the ‘real’ money that there is in adult.
You need to experiment, constantly adapt and change the way you do business, if you try something and it doesn’t work, ask yourself why, what could you have changed that might have made a difference and, instead of changing it on the first site you built, change it on your next one, that way, even though it may not work at this moment in time, you will no doubt find it will work at a later date just as you will find that something that works well for you now may not work at all later on in your business career.
Once you have mastered a general niche you should then think about trying some of the sub niches that are available to you, there is more to teen than than just cute teenage girls lying naked on a bed and getting screwed rotten by some guy. just as you saw there was more to the lesbian niche above.
Take your sponsors tour for ideas, often you will notice things that spark some though and, once you have that spark, you should ensure it develops into a flame.
Even something as simple as a tattoo on a model or a piercing can be the tart of a whole new niche, look at the things that other webmasters may not be, just because there isn’t a proliferation of teenage pierced lesbian sites, doesn’t mean that someone doesn’t want to join one and, who knows, that weird sexual fetish you build a site for now may become popular in 6 months time.
Basically, what I am trying to say is that as adult webmasters we need to investigate all aspects of the niche we want to or, currently do market, just because a surfer comes to the front page of a lesbian site, doesn’t mean that they wont also be interested in an ebony site, its all down to how we market our sponsors paysites as webmasters.
Article written by Lee
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The Gay Adult Market – Gay Subcultures
I thought I would take a break from writing about online adult marketing for a change and instead, give many of the straight webmasters looking to break into the gay market a bit of an insight into what makes a gay man ‘tick’ and, whilst this is going to be different from guy to guy, the one thing that will remain constant throughout is that this article is based on the gay lifestyle and subculture in both society and, the internet.
What Is A Subculture?
Lets start at the beginning shall we? To understand this article you are first of all going to need to understand what a subculture is well, a subculture as defined by http://www.dictionary.com is, ‘A cultural subgroup differentiated by status, ethnic background, residence, religion, or other factors that functionally unify the group and act collectively on each member.’In layman’s terms, that means, that a subculture is a group of people (or individual) that have something different about them than other people.
In the instance of this article we are going to be looking at the gay subculture and specifically, how this culture is broken down into its own set of subcultures.
The Gay Subculture – Lets Define The Gay Culture.
Gay culture is the heritage of culture, knowledge, and references to which gay people fall heir by the fact of their sexual orientation.Some individuals argue that there are to many gay people who do not participate in ‘gay culture’ for the concept to be meaningful or that gay culture in itself is placing labels on the stereotype most people think of when they thing about gay people however with this said, there are also those who argue the flip side of the coin. One thing is for sure however, gay culture certainly does exist and, within this culture itself there are many complex facets ranging from sexual preferences through to the types of vacation people take.
Gay Subcultures – The Facets.
Whether we choose to think about the different subcultures within the gay community or not one thing is for certain, the subcultures in our community are wide and far reaching from your local gay bar to Soho in a city thousands of miles away most of the gay subcultures can be found almost anywhere in the world and, from this aspect, it makes gay individual no different than other person. For example, the BDSM lifestyle is large in the straight culture however, it is also hugely popular in the gay culture to often with groups of individuals who devote their whole way of life to this. In essence however, many of the gay subcultures are no different to that of their straight counterparts the only difference being, the individuals who practice them, are gay.Gay Subcultures – An Overview.
For many webmasters who currently work in the straight market their first attempt and even their second attempt at marketing to the gay lifestyle may fail however, many do not realize the simplest of rules when it comes to marketing products and services to gay individuals online, you need to be as, if not more, detailed and direct to gay surfers than straight, give them something they can find anywhere at anytime and the chances are they will not buy however, give them something that suits their tastes perfectly and you have a customer for life.Article written by Lee
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Domain Name Transfer Agreement
Domain Name Transfer Agreement
For most people, buying and selling domain names is a fundamental income provider for their business model, as such, you should ensure that when buying or selling domain names you should have a legal contract to assist in the transfer of sale.Domain Name Transfer Agreement.
This Agreement is made on the Day of 2001 between:
(1) [Your name and address goes here]. (hereafter referred to as the assignor) and;
(2) [The buyers name and address goes here]. (hereafter referred to as the assignee).
RECITALS:
(a) The parties have been in discussion concerning the transfer to the assignee of the registration of the designations ‘[full domain name goes here]’ and ‘[further domain name goes here]’ (whether in lower or upper case) hereafter referred to as (the “domain names”) as website addresses on the internet.
(b) The parties wish to reach a mutually acceptable arrangement in relation to such discussions.
Now therefore, in consideration of the parties’ mutual covenants and undertaking, the adequacy and sufficiency of which are acknowledged, the parties agree as follows:
1. The assignor hereby agrees to assign, and/or cause to be assigned, to the assignee the domain names. The assignor shall do such things and execute such documents as reasonably requested by the assignee at the assignees expense to perfect such assignment and shall comply with the standard requirements of [insert domain name registrar here] as in force at the time of this agreement.
2. In consideration of the parties mutual obligations under this agreement the assignee agrees to pay the assignor the sum of $$ [Amount in words goes here] [currency goes here, Dollars, Sterling Etc] immediately following notification that all of the domain names within this agreement have been recorded at the relevant registries as in the ownership of the assignee thereby evidencing the transfer of the domain names to the assignee.
3. The assignor, whether through himself, any alias and/or his servants or agents shall immediately cease and desist from and shall not resume using the domain names or any other designation whether a trade or service mark, trading name or domain name that contains words colourably similar to that of the assignee.
4. The assignor further agrees that he shall not, directly or indirectly, individually, through any alias, or in conjunction with any person, firm or corporation, apply to register any trade mark, service mark and/or any other word or words colourably similar to any such trade names or marks.
5. The assignor further agrees that he shall not, directly or indirectly, individually, through any alias, or in conjunction with any person, firm or corporation, apply to register any trade mark, service mark and/or any other word or words colourably similar to any such trade names or marks, cause enable or assist any third party to do the same.
6. The assignor represents and warrants that it has not, directly or indirectly, through any alias or in association with any other person or entity, filed, reserved, received or granted a transfer of license of any domain name that contains the trade marks or any word or words confusingly similar thereto in any country or federal, local government, region or state authority, or with [insert domain name registrar here], or any other internet registration agency. The assignor covenants that it will not, whether through himself, any alias, through his servants and/or agents undertake any such registration, filing, or reservation or cause or assist any such registration, filing, or reservation to be made, by itself, or in connection with any other person or entity.
7. The assignor represents and warrants to the best of its actual knowledge, as of the date of its execution of this agreement, that:
(a) The assignee has the right to dispose of the domain names;
(b) The assignor has not received notice of any existing or threatened claims or proceedings by any third party other than the assignee relating to the assignors use of the domain names;
(c) The assignor has not received notice that the domain names are subject to any outstanding order, decree, judgment, stipulation, written restriction, undertaking or agreement that would prevent the assignor complying with this agreement;
(d) The domain names are not subject to any lien, charge, security interest, mortgage, third party interest or other encumbrances;
(e) The assignor has not granted any licenses to or authorized any third parties (including any affiliate of the assignee) to use the domain names or any other confusingly similar domain names; and
(f) The assignor, does not own directly or indirectly through any alias, third party or likewise any other domain name containing words similar to that of the assignees.
8. Each of the parties hereto warrants and represents that the person (s) executing this agreement on its behalf has full authority to execute this agreement and bind it as a party to this agreement.
9. The terms and conditions of this agreement shall be maintained in confidence. No party may disclose such terms and conditions to any third parties other than to the attorneys, accountants, officers or members of the boar of directors of the assignee or assignor or otherwise without the express written permission of the other party.
10. This agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective heirs, clients, licensees, representative, successors, predecessors, and assigns. In this agreement words denoting persons shall include bodies corporate and unincorporated associations of persons and vice versa.
11.This agreement incorporated herein constitutes the entire agreement of the parties. It may be modified only in writing signed by both parties. This agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, all of which shall constitute a binding agreement when one or more counterparts have been signed by each of the parties.
12. This agreement shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the [Your country goes here, United Kingdom, United States, Etc], and the parties hereto submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the [Your country goes here, United Kingdom, United States, Etc].
13. Both parties acknowledge that if either party violates all or part of this agreement the other party may seek legal remedies to restrain any further violation of this agreement and in such a case, the violating party will be wholly liable for the cost of any such order.
Signed by: ……………………………….. Date: ………………………..
For and on Behalf of [Your company / legal name].
Signed by: ……………………………….. Date: ………………………..
For and on Behalf of [Buyers company / Legal name].
Article written by Lee
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Saving Time Online – Shortcut Keys
The one thing that i have started to do just lately is use shortcut keys. These are actually very easy to get used to and, will save you a lot of effort over a period of time.
Below you will find a list of the more common shortcut keys in both Windows and Internet Explorer.
Even if you get used to using one or two of these shortcut keys you will notice the time you start save over a week, hell, i don’t even type the whole domain into my IE address bar anymore!
Here are the shortcuts for Windows along with the description of what they do:
Alt + F – File menu options in current program.
Alt + E – Edit options in current program
F1 – Universal Help.
Ctrl + A – Select all text.
Ctrl + X – Cut selected item.
Shift + Del – Cut selected item.
Ctrl + C – Copy selected item.
Ctrl + Ins – Copy selected item
Ctrl + V – Paste
Shift + Ins – Paste
Home – Goes to beginning of current line.
Ctrl + Home – Goes to beginning of document.
End – Goes to end of current line.
Ctrl + End – Goes to end of document.
Shift + Home – Highlights from current position to beginning of line.
Shift + End – Highlights from current position to end of line.
Ctrl + Left – Moves one word to the left at a time.
Ctrl + Right – Moves one word to the right at a time.
Ctrl + Backspace – Delete word to the left of cursor.
Ctrl + Del – Delete word to the right of cursor.
Alt + Tab – Switch between open applications.
Alt + Shift + Tab – Switch backwards between open applications.
Ctrl + Esc – Bring Up start button.
Alt + Esc – Switch Between open applications on taskbar.
F2 – Renames selected Icon
F3 – Starts find from desktop
F4 – Opens the drive selection when browsing.
F5 – Refresh Contents
Alt + F4 – Closes Current open program.
Ctrl + F4 – Closes Window in Program
Alt + Enter – Opens properties window of Selected icon or program.
Shift + F10 – Simulates right click on selected item.
Shift + Del – Delete programs/files without throwing into the recycle bin.
Holding Shift – Boot safe mode or by pass system files.
Holding Shift – When putting in an audio cd will prevent CD Player from playing.The following list are shortcut keys when using Internet Explorer:
Alt + Left – Back a page.
Alt + Right – Forward a page.
F5 – Refresh current page / frame.
Esc – Stop page or download from loading.
Ctrl + Enter – Quickly complete an address.
Ctrl + N – Open New browser window.
Ctrl + P – Print current page / frame.Hopefully this list of shortcut keys will get you saving some time even if its just a few minutes a day. After all, we all know the one thing webmasters need more of is time.
Article written by Lee
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Building A Surfer Trap – Stage 1
The last 2 weeks I have had a LOT of webmasters email and ICQ me regarding traffic and, not getting any sales.
So, I thought it would be a good idea to make a step by step tutorial on building your own surfer trap.
Now these are some of the arguments I have heard why people haven’t already built one over the last few weeks…
* To complicated to follow.
* I want surfers returning to my site.
* Don’t have the time.The first two however seem to be the ones that I hear over and over again.
First of all, a surfer trap IS NOT complicated, in fact, it is probably one of, if not THE easiest type of site to build.
Secondly, Why get a surfer visiting your site over and over again if they are not paying for trial memberships? All you are doing is wasting your bandwidth.
Thirdly, A surfer trap can be built over a period of time, my very first trap was built within 1 hour my next was built in a day and my next one was built in a week.
So onto the start of building our surfer trap…
The first thing that I want you to do is to look at the Multi-Site FPA’s that ARS in the marketing section and choose ONE of them.
Download it, optimize the keywords on the FPA, make sure you add meta tags, titles descriptions and Alt tags on all images.
Once you have done this, you now need to search through ALL of the single site FPA’s and download and optimize one for each of the ARS sites that you have on your Multi-Site FPA. (Even the gay sites!)
This should take you 2-5 minutes for EACH FPA, any longer than that and you are doing TOO much work!
Once you have all of the single FPA’s downloaded, optimized and uploaded onto your server that is the first stage completed.
Article written by Lee
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Unspoken Secrets
here is a belief among new webmasters that there is a set of golden rules among those of us whom have been at this business for many years to making money well guess what, these are those unspoken secrets….
Secret #1.
There are no secrets to becoming an adult webmaster. One of the most common reasons why so many new webmasters give up in this business is because they hear about the money that the big guys make, submit two TGP galleries to The Hun, get a $200 hosting bill and no signups. They then figure that the affiliate they are using is rubbish and then spend the next 2 months surfing the Net looking for the “be all and end all” of affiliate programs which is going to net them $2 million within the next 6 months. The fact of the matter is, that genie in the lamp you are looking for doesn’t exist. It all comes down to hard work, perseverance and common sense this is a business venture you have started like it or not and, it needs to be treated as one.
Secret #2
Don’t give up. You need to treat what your doing as a business. Of course, you can have fun with it but, at the same time you need to be making continual business plans for your development in much the same way as if you were self employed. Which, of course as soon as you start to make some money you will be.
Secret #3
Stay focused. There are a million and one ways to make money in the industry. You could build free sites, TGP galleries, AVS sites, pay sites, search engine pages, the list goes on. There are many different avenues to drive traffic. The key is to try everything. Eventually you will find the one venue that your are very good at. Continue with this until you know this in your sleep – work it so often and well that you master it. One other thing to remember, it wont make you money overnight, if you think it will, your starting out for the wrong reasons, putting it simply, Adult web mastering isn’t for you.
Secret #4
Build it and, it (And they) will come, don’t spend time worrying about your keywords, meta tags, the amount of images you are using, just because someone tells you this is what is required of your sites. Just build a site or gallery submit it, forget about it and get started on building your next, and the next, and the next site after that. Just keep on moving forward, if you forgot to do something on one of your sites don’t worry, add it to the next site that you build.
Secret #5
Start to network. Other webmasters are great for bouncing new ideas off, a group of webmasters who start at the same time all communicating with each other are going to develop more than a sole webmaster on their own. Networking is a big part of any successful webmasters daily routine. Make the most of the people you meet on the boards or aim or icq, it will benefit you long term.
Secret #6
This one you will probably hear day in, day out for the rest of your business life. “It’s too late for newbies to make money” I am sorry to be the one to tell you this but, this is rubbish. As long as you follow the basic rules above and work at it, you can and will make money in this still thriving industry.
Now you have heard the “secrets” you have wanted to know its up to you to put them to good use.
Article written by Lee
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The Ins and Outs of European Domain Name Registration
A domain name is more than just your online adult business address; it’s a crucial aspect of your online adult business. It is closely linked to the way a surfer thinks of and, more importantly, remembers your site. In many European countries, domain names that end with a country code carry more weight with the Internet-surfing public than dot.com domain names. So, if you want to have of a chance of selling to a foreign adult surfer in a European country you might consider registering a European country code top-level domain name (ccTLD) for your site.
Obtaining a ccTLD could potentially:
- Increase your chance of getting listed on a national search engine. Many national search engines require a company to be local, however that may be defined, to be listed with them.
- Get you a higher ranking with a local search engine.
- Make your business more accessible to customers and vendors in a specific country.
- Make your business seem more local and thus help overcome any fear local customers might have of buying from a non-European outfit.
What Is a ccTLD, Anyway?
Generic top-level domains (TLDs) are not linked to any geographic area. They include the well-known and familiar .com, .org, and .net domain names. In contrast to these generic TLDs, there are ccTLDs: Each country and territory in the world has its own TLD. They include, for example, .at for Austria, .be for Belgium, and so on.
Essentially the domain name policies regulate who can register what type of a domain. In principle, nearly anyone can register a generic TLD.
It is important to keep in mind that you might lose a domain name you recently registered in Europe if another company can prove in court that the name is rightfully theirs. If the court decides that the plaintiff has a right to it, you will lose that domain name however, I am assuming that nobody reading this is going to be considering registering ccTLD’s for the purpose of cyber squatting.
Each country or region has its own rules, policies, and regulations about who can register a ccTLD, and how. Common restrictions include the requirement to be a local registered company or to have registered the company and/or company name as a national trademark in a specific country. However, some countries are less strict about who can register. As always, it depends on the country and its particular rules.
The table below is meant to give you easy access to the information you will need when you are ready to register a European domain name for your site.
Here is an explanation of the categories used in the domain registration table:
- Country: Name of the country you might want to obtain a domain name for your business in.
- Name of domain: The ccTLD (a two-letter abbreviation).
- Must be local: This can mean that your business presence, your company’s physical presence, or your trademarks must be local.
- More domains possible: Some countries limit the number of domains that you can register.
- Same name as owner: Some countries require that the registered name be the same name as the owner’s company name or trademark.
- Signed contract: Some domain name registration agencies demand a written, signed declaration or contract to be sent in. If in doubt, read up on specific rules relative to the specific domain name registrars you will be using.
Country Name of Domain Must be local More domains possible Same name as owner Signed contract Austria .at No Yes No No Belgium .be Yes Yes No Yes Denmark .dk No Yes No No Finland .fi Yes No Yes No France .fr Yes Yes No No Germany .de Yes Yes Yes No Greece .gr Yes No No No Iceland .is Yes No Yes Yes Ireland .ie No Yes No No Italy .it No Yes No Yes Luxembourg .lu No Yes No No Netherlands .nl Yes Yes No Yes Norway .no Yes No Yes Yes Portugal .pt Yes Yes No No Spain .es Yes No No No Sweden .se Yes No Yes Yes United Kingdom .uk No Yes No No Now you can see the possibilities available in respect of registering more than just dot.com addresses perhaps you might like to find a country you would want to gain some extra traffic from and see about registering a ccTLD and developing it.
Also, you could improve your chances of gaining additional traffic to your new ccTLD domain by having some country specific language on that domain, again, how your site comes across to the surfer is just as important than the domain and, there are plenty of Adult Site Translation companies out there who can assist you with this part of the ccTLD development.
There are, of course, other ways to gain additional foreign surfers other than just registering a ccTLD for example, on European Webmasters we have a domain name registration section that will allow you to translate specific text in order to gain type in foreign traffic on dot.com TLDs perhaps, if you don’t want to or, cant register a ccTLD in the country of your choice you might like to take this approach at gaining additional foreign traffic to your sites.
I hope this article has given you a little insight into the varieties of domain names available in and around Europe and that you might just register a domain and see for yourself how profitable the European markets are.
Article written by Lee
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Domain Name Registration Services What To Look For
Once upon a time, if you wanted to register a domain name, you could only do it by visiting Network Solutions at http://www.networksolutions.com/ and paying them whatever they asked for, about $35.00 per year.
Then ICANN, http://www.icann.org/, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that is the non-profit corporation that was formed to assume responsibility for the IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management functions previously performed under U.S. Government contract by IANA and other entities, decided to change the rules.
The initial testing phase of the new competitive Shared Registry System for the .com, .net, and .org domains quietly began to take place in April of 1999.
It started with five participants who were the first to implement the new system for competition in the market for .com, .net, and .org domain name registration services.
Previously, registration services in the .com, .net, and .org domains were provided by Network Solutions, Inc. under an exclusive contract with the United States government.
In the two years since this program began, things have really changed.
Just this last week, ICANN reported that two of their registrars, Tucows and New York-based Register.com, had recorded more new registrations for Top Level Domains (dot-com, dot-net and dot-org) than VeriSign’s Network Solutions.
This marks the first time ever that VeriSign’s Network Solutions was out-sold by any of the registrars and signals that their past dominance of domain name registration is certainly fading.
Why?
Because besides others being allowed to make domain name registrations, these new registrars are also cutting prices.
The Rules have most certainly changed.
The Shared Registration System (“SRS”), ICANN’s accredited registrars program, allows people to submit application to become a registrar along with a non-refundable $1000 filing fee.After someone is accepted into the program then they must pay a yearly fee of $5000 to maintain their status as an accredited registrar.
This situation has created a very competitive environment which can only be beneficial to all of us as the price to register a domain name has fallen like a rock from a very tall building.
However, if you plan to register a new domain name using a virtual unknown registrar, make certain they do indeed have the legal accreditation from ICANN by visiting the ICANN web site and viewing their posted list of ALL accredited vendors:
http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.htmlIt will only take you a few moments to make sure you are dealing with a reputable vendor of domain names. Those few moments will make the entire process legal and worry-free.
Article written by Lee
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