Do You Keep The Surfers Attention?

Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: Traffic, WebDesign | Response: 0

A new discovery says that people are born to respond to information a certain way. It also indicates that when we use our in-born or natural style to process information, we relax and feel good. The same research also indicates that 92% of thousands tested have changed that style to one they think works better. The change causes stress. So 92% of the viewers of your site are stressed. Because people often visit your site and click off almost instantly, you face the problem of getting their attention and keeping it long enough to persuade them to buy.

The fact is that people today have shortened attention spans. If you don’t get them in the first few seconds, you lose them! You can either build a terrific web site — or just end up with “click thrus.” Many site owners think it enhances a site to add animation or cool sounds. But the answer is to make your site appeal to the individual. Great sites of the future will know how to “individualize” their message.

Even though we all have to learn how to use a computer, high tech has not made people think the same way. You are not battling high technology; you are fighting to keep the attention of three (3) basic in-born styles. This may sound overwhelming, but it is really a simple matter of anticipating a viewer’s response before he or she gets to your site. Anticipation of responses makes or breaks your site.

So how do you anticipate how a viewer responds before it happens? It is really simple. You start by learning how you personally respond to information. Why is this the beginning place? It is because you and the way you react when receiving or giving out information influences everything about your site. Next you learn about the other ways people respond to information. It is easy to begin anticipating reactions as you get a whole new perspective on how people are born to process information. Things start to make sense to you and people are no longer such a mystery.

These conclusions are drawn after over 20 years of research. The research verifies that it is possible to appeal to most views rather than 2 – 4 in a thousand. So, when someone tells you how to write killer copy, or make your site jazzy with new technology, you are hearing from only one of the basic in-born styles. Take everything with a grain of salt until you evaluate it according to the simple guide that lets you appeal to ALL styles rather than only one.

Article written by Lee

Basic Bookkeeping For Adult Webmasters

Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: Forms & Contracts | Response: 0

Knowing how much you are spending on expenses for your online enterprise each month can be a very powerful tool. Taking out that shoe box at the end of the year and giving it to the Accountant is one way. But a very simple bookkeeping system can provide you with exactly how much you made each month after all expenses. In this article I will provide you with the knowledge to setup a simple system to track your revenues and expenses. Not only will you then know exactly what your Net Income or Loss is each month but at the end of the year you will have a nice neat little package to hand your Accountant. Which will result in lower accounting fees at tax time.

The first thing you need to do is find a way to file all receipts. Your receipts are the backup for all your transactions. Go to your local office supply store and buy an accordion file labeled with monthly slots. Each time you receive a business related receipt, file in correct month. Remember you need to file all your receipts for your numbers to be accurate. When you receive an email receipt for content or hosting print it out and file it. File sponsor cheque stubs, credit card receipts, ISP bill, etc. At the end of each month take out all your receipts and divide into revenue and expenses. Remember you must have a receipt in order to claim the expense. The receipt should show the detail of the purchase, vendor, amounts and date. Ensure that the expenses are needed or used to generate revenue for your business.

Now the next step depends on how much detail you would like.
Revenue-Expenses=Net Income or Loss. For a quick snapshot of the month add up the revenue receipts, staple all receipts together and put the total on the front either adding machine tape or handwritten. Repeat with all your expense receipts. You can put a quick summary of the month in a spreadsheet program. Or for a very small investment you can setup a computerized tracking system. I recommend buying a very inexpensive software such as Quicken. Most major banks, credit cards and even paypal are setup to download transactions to Quicken. You can purchase the Personal Finance version of Quicken for around $70. There are several other inexpensive personal finance software packages that you can purchase that will work as just well. But I personally prefer Quicken. The software you choose will have a list of business accounts already setup. For an adult enterprise you will need to customize the account names. This is very easy and quick to do. Add in accounts for content purchase, hosting, isp, traffic purchase, etc.

Once a week you will open up your program download your transactions from your bank account, credit card, paypal etc. If you have an expense that you pay cash for you will need to add that transaction in. I am assuming that all your sponsor cheques are being deposited into a bank account or paypal. If you receive a check and cash it, manually add the transaction in. After you have finished entering your transactions for the week ensure that the receipts that you have balance to what you have entered in the software.

You will be amazed at how simple it is to use a software package such as Quicken to track your revenue and expenses. These software packages come with pre-made report tools. Such as income statement, analysis of expenditures, cash flow projections. You can even setup budget numbers for your business.

If your business consists of a lot of transactions in a month you might want to consider using a bookkeeping/accounting service. There are many online and locally owned businesses that charge a very low rate for doing small business bookkeeping. Remember you don’t need an Accountant to do general bookkeeping. Many small business owners think they need an Accountant to do the monthly bookkeeping. This could result in unnecessary fees. Depending on the size of your enterprise and your passion for numbers sometimes employing a bookkeeper to do the data entry can be a blessing! Most bookkeeping providers will even provide customized reporting based on your needs.

Article written by Lorna

Organizing Your Hard Drive And Server

Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Hosting | Response: 0

We have probably all done it at some point, we get in such a hurry to upload our new site that we have just spent the last 20 minutes building that we don’t think about maintaining the site at a future date or, worse still, we need to change a site we built 6-8 months ago and can not remember where we uploaded it to.

By organizing your server from day one of your steps into becoming a webmaster you will, inevitably, save yourselves a lot of time in the long term future of our business model.

Lets take a look at how we can accomplish this ‘organization’ though.

On your hard drive you need to have a ‘central’ location for all of your online files and folders, what better place to keep this than in a folder named ‘Online’ of course, this is just an example but it will son become apparent to you that this is probably the most logical folder name to use.

Now, within this folder you are also going to need to have a few sub folders, i would suggest using a folder for each of the domains that you own so for example, for your first domain, you would name it myfirstdomain.com, your second would be named myseconddomain.com etc.

Within these domain folders you will also need to have a selection of sub folders again, I would suggest names for these folders such as /html/, /scripts/, /articles/, you are now well on the way to organizing your server.

In addition to these sub folders you will also need to create sub folders for your images that you will be using on your sites, I would suggest using the names /banners/ and of course, /images/ for these two folders, you now know that the /banners/ folder contains all of the buttons and banners you will use on your sites and the /images/ folder contains all of the .jpg and .gifs you will use. Inside the /images/ folder, it might also be advisable to create a sub folder called /thumbnails/ which, you can store your thumb nailed pictures in if required.

One other advantage to organizing your folders and sites in this manner is that over time, it will assist you when it comes to dealing with hot linkers. Instead of having to find the paths to all of your individual image directory, you know instantly where you put them, without the need of logging onto your server.

Ok so you now have a semi-organized folder structure on your HD, so far we hopefully have a folder structure that looks somewhat like this:

C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/

C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/html/
C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/scripts/
C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/articles/

C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/html/Banners/
C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/html/Images/
C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/scripts/Banners/
C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/scripts/Images/
C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/articles/Banners/
C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/articles/Images/

So, hypothetically, if you created a article called ‘Article One’ you would find this in the following place on your HD:

C:/online/myfirstdomain.com/articles/articleone.html

See how easy that was to find on your hard drive?

Of course, on your server the folder structure will be no different so, your structure will be mirrored EXACTLY from your HD to your SERVER I.E.:

/usr/www/sites/myfirstdomain.com/articles/articleone.html

Not only will you make your server layout a lot easier to navigate but, it should, in theory, save you time when submitting your sites to the search engines, free for all’s etc as, in your head, you will already know the location to any single page.

Try this as an example…

You have created an article site called ‘Online Marketing’ on your third domain, where is it located?

That’s right, you will find it at http://www.mythirddomain.com/articles/onlinemarketing.html

How much time would you have usually spent logging into your server trying to find this page?

One other MAJOR advantage to keeping your server and HD structure the same is backing up your data now becomes easy as pie. you simply have to download your folders into the /online/ directory on your HD, then simply burn that entire directory to Cdrom.

Hopefully this article has given you some insight into how proper organization can be of use to you on your HD and on your server. If you are just starting out in the adult industry hopefully you will see that spending a little time to make a structuring system such as this can save you a lot of time long term.

One last question for you however, where would you find your article called ‘Marketing Shoes’ on your 56th domain name?

Article written by Lee

Traffic Brokers – Buying Additional Traffic

Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: Traffic | Response: 0

For many adult webmasters traffic is the one thing they can get and, good converting traffic it would seem is hard to find in bulk. For those webmasters who simply can not or, will not work towards getting a good converting traffic base you now have several options. These option come in the form of the Adult Traffic Brokers that have seemingly multiplied over the last 12 months.

Traffic Brokering – The Basics.

So what is traffic brokering? In layman’s terms, it is the process used when one company sells / buys their traffic to / from another in order to turn the traffic they are selling / buying into a profit. Often webmasters will purchase traffic from a broker for several reasons, the main one being that they simply could not have generated the same amount of traffic they have purchased by any other means.

Traffic Brokering – The Costs.

The costs for purchasing brokered traffic vary greatly from traffic broker to traffic broker however, as a rough guideline, you could spend anywhere between US$1 and US$3 for each thousand (1000) unique hits that the traffic broker sends you. The cost of this traffic however can change for many reasons as do the rules for where you can actually send the purchased traffic to.

Brokered Traffic – The Uses.

There are many uses for brokered traffic as those webmasters who do it on a consistent basis will tell you. However, by far the most popular method of using purchased traffic would seem to be sending it to a central ‘hub’ site or a gallery page. From this point on the traffic can start to filter itself even more.

In addition to this, some webmasters choose to send their brokered traffic directly to their sponsors pay sites if they have purchased niche specific brokered traffic.

All of the above methods have their pro’s and con’s involved however, for most webmasters, the fact that they have purchased traffic at a relatively low cost will mean they can turn a profit. That said, purchasing traffic from a broker does not guarantee you a profit on your investment.

Traffic Brokering – Overview.

In overview of this article i would say that for webmasters who are unable to gain mass traffic through conventional methods, the traffic brokers offer a service of value and, whether the traffic that you are buying is profitable to you is an outcome that no one can say until the traffic has been used. one thing to consider though when purchasing traffic is that you need to have a clear, concise plan of what your needs for the traffic are, do not just send it blindly into the proverbial unknown but build up a solid plan of what you ultimately want to achieve.

Also, before buying traffic ‘en mass’ you should always spend a few dollars in the first instance to run a small test of the traffic, this way, you will be able to send thousands of hits to your sponsors or hubs and judge for yourself which broker will offer you the best traffic for your money.

Article written by Lee.

Cascading Billing – Using Multiple Payment Processors For More Profit

Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: Billing Solutions | Response: 0

‘Cascading Billing’ has been somewhat of a buzz word of late in the online industry however, there seems to be some confusion as to what this billing process actually involves or even does other than ‘process payments’ this is what we will take a look at in this brief article.

Cascading Billing – The Basics.

Simply put, Cascading Billing is a method to enable your surfers to buy membership to your site or, products utilizing multiple third party credit card processors and, other payment options. The process used, as its name suggests, is that of a ‘cascading’ feature meaning that, if you have multiple processors set up on your site and a surfers credit card is declined on your primary processor, the details will then be passed onto a secondary credit card processor where, they will either be accepted or declined and, if declined, the details can then be passed onto yet another credit card processor or, some alternate payment solution.

Cascading Billing – The Benefits.

From the initial reaction this new payment process has received in the online community it would appear that this new solution actually does work and, work well. Many companies who are adopting the ‘Cascading Billing’ process are reporting an increase in sales, some reporting upto a 20% increase over the normal procedures they used. This increase in sales also enables affiliate programs to pass the new found benefits onto the webmasters themselves through raised payouts and better sign-up ratios.

Cascading Billing – The Options.

As with any type of online payment processor or, payment system, you need to evaluate what your individual needs are and, using a cascading billing program is no different. With many solutions currently available and in development stages the choices for webmasters and program owners are growing and growing.

However, that said, first and foremost you need to choose which processors or, billing solutions you will use to begin your cascading billing. In an ideal world, you should choose two of the more reputable third party payment processors as your primary and secondary processor in addition to a tertiary payment option or, perhaps even a custom dialer solution. Generally speaking, this will give you the best way to monetize your own and, your webmasters traffic.

Cascading Payment Solutions – Overview.

When all is said and done, cascading billing offers webmasters and online e-business owners ample opportunity to increase their profits through minimal outlay either by renting the scripting that will allow you to utilize the cascading billing option (costs from $300 a month) or, having such a solution custom coded which, you can have done from as little as US$5000. Either way i am certain we will start to see many more of the top online companies offering this type of payment solution in the near future and, with some of the larger online companies already adopting this method, it is sure to start happening soon.

Article written by Lee

AVS Changes – Is The Proverbial Sky Falling?

Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: General, Promotion | Response: 0

With the announcement yesterday from several of the large AVS systems, Free Age Card, Sex Key and, Gay Passport (also speculation on and off the forums state that Mass Pass were aware of this happening) that they will no longer allow webmasters to use the terms; AVS, Adult Verification Service, AGE Verification Service and, Access to thousands of other sites what does this hold in store long term for AVS webmasters?

Quite simply, it looks at first glance as if these changes have something to do with the speculation surrounding VISA and AVS systems from a few months ago.

In fact, these changes have been on the horizon for some time now however, until yesterday webmasters seemed to be unsure as to what, if anything will be changing. Even though the speculation has been circulating for some time, one of the first AVS systems to envoke these new rules, Sex key, came out with the following statement; ‘While we knew changes were coming, we just now found out what we believe are the new requirements. With this new information, we are trying to comply as quickly as humanly possible.’ quickly followed by; ‘We felt it was better to give people a chance to modify their sites this weekend rather than to not be in compliance Monday.’- Craig Tant.

One thing is certain, come Monday, there WILL be a lot of unhappy webmasters

So apart from the added workload for webmasters what other issues is this likely to bring up in the immediate future, well, again, based on the rumors and, i should stress that is all they are up to this point in time, from a few months ago we could expect one or more of the following items to happen to the AVS model as we know it.

1) Visa starts to charge the AVS companies the $750 fee just to process memberships.
2) Visa starts to charge individual webmasters the $750 fee to use an AVS service.
3) AVS Systems cease to exist.

So, lets break each of the above items down and see how it will have a long term effect on both AVS webmasters and, the adult industry as a whole.

AVS Companies Charged $750 Visa Fee’s.

In itself this isn’t a big issue that we should be immediately worried about, after all the AVS company will be the one footing this bill and, with the amount of traffic and sales that these programs get $750 is a relatively small pebble at the foot of a mountain. That said however, some of the smaller AVS systems might end up having to close because they cant afford the fees in much the same way that some Amateur paysite owners had to close their aff programs.

Webmasters Charged $750 Visa Fee’s.

This is the option that i am most concerned with, after all, with thousands of AVS sites being built each day and being submitted to literally hundreds of AVS companies the potential cost of this could run into thousands for individual webmasters.

Of course, with this expense there also comes some benefits. The immediate benefit that comes to mind is that a lot of the dishonest webmasters will refuse to or, be unable to pay this fee that in itself will lighten the strain for the rest of the industry.

There is also the possibility that webmaster may need to pay this fee for each and every AVS that they submit to which, in itself will not only harm the individual webmasters but, it will also see the rise and, dare i say it, fall of some of the smaller or less profitable (from a webmasters point of view) AVS companies. No doubt if this did ever happen the likes of Cyberage, UGAS, Global Male Pass et al will be unaffected as, they have enough of a webmaster following and traffic base to ride this potential storm out.

AVS Systems Cease To Exist.

This is potentially the worst case scenario and, whilst i will be the first to admit that this is VERY unlikely to happen, the possibility needs to be looked at.

What happens to all of your sites you have in the AVS systems? What happens to all of your potential rebills? What happens to all of that AVS traffic?

Well i would say for the most part, changing your sites from AVS to the free model wont be such a big deal for webmasters however, the financial losses to individual webmasters and companies could run into hundreds of thousands a month. With these financial losses will more webmasters leave the industry or, will more of the AVS webmasters start running TGP’s and dilute the traffic quality even further?

Speaking of traffic, we all know by now that AVS traffic is qualified potent traffic but, what will happen when this traffic, should the AVS be closed down, hit the adult web again? Quite simply long term the effects of such a force could have positive and negative effects ranging from paysite memberships sales rising to the onslaught and proliferation of free porn being searched for again – good news for TGP owners.

As you can see from the above, all of the speculation, rumors and, facts speak for themselves in so much as, if you are an AVS webmaster, you NEED to start diversifying your business model to ensure that even if the worst doesn’t happen, you are still able to be profitable online.

Article written by Lee

Protecting Your HTML Code With JavaScript

Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Scripts, WebDesign | Response: 0

We all know that source code theft is wrong and covered by copyright never the less some webmasters will inevitably try to steal the work that the honest ones amongst us create.

Unfortunately, there is no sure fire way to stop people from stealing our HTML code but, we can make it hard for them.

The following JavaScript coding, when placed in your <body> tag can make it harder for the opportunistic webmaster to steal your coding.

Simply copy and paste everything below into your body tag and change the text in the var message=”” field.

<!–Start Copy–>
<SCRIPT language=”JavaScript”>
<!–
var message=”Copyright 2000 by Your Site. WARNING ! All content contained within this site is protected by copyright laws. Unauthorized use of our material is strictly prohibited.”;
function click(e) {
if (document.all) {
if (event.button==2||event.button==3) {
alert(message);
return false;
}
}
if (document.layers) {
if (e.which == 3) {
alert(message);
return false;
}
}
}
if (document.layers) {
document.captureEvents(Event.MOUSEDOWN);
}
document.onmousedown=click;
// –>
</SCRIPT>
<!–End Copy–>

Whilst this is not a sure fire way to stop the occurrence of HTML theft as mentioned already it will deter those webmasters who perhaps were there for the simplistic reason of viewing your source code.

Article written by Lee

How To Claim Back European V.A.T

Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: Billing Solutions, General | Response: 0

With the recent legislations requiring US businesses to charge Value Added Tax to EU Member state customers for purchases of digital product / image downloads there are many new questions going around enquiring how companies and small business owners can claim the VAT back this is what we will look at in this brief article – The basics of claiming back your VAT from Europe.

What Is V.A.T?

Value Added Tax (VAT) is a consumption tax levied on goods and services in many countries across the globe. Over the last decade, legislation in the tax systems of Europe, Canada, Japan and South Korea allow for a refund for the majority of non resident entities, worldwide to a refund of VAT in most instances however, especially in the business world, registration must be achieved prior to claiming back your VAT and, preferably before the purchase of Vat able goods takes place.

Who Is Entitled To A VAT Refund?

Most businesses will be entitled to receive a VAT refund however, as the laws vary from country to country, the best way for you as a business owner to find out the laws as they affect you is to contact your company accountant who, should be knowledgable enough to inform you of what you need to claim back from each of the EU member states where V.A.T has been charged.

What Products Can I Claim V.A.T Refunds For?

Most typically value added tax recoverable expenses can take form as one or more of the following items:

Business Property Expenses.
Transportation Costs.
Inter-company Billing.
Marketing + Promotional Services.
Exhibitions, Conferences + Business Meetings.
Importation V.A.T.
Digital Downloads (Business Related).

How Do I Register For V.A.T?

When a company inside the domestic US conducts transactions in the EU countries where value added tax registrations may be required the registration for the VAT refund should be done prior to the transaction taking place however, on occasions which vary from individual EU member states this registration process may be done retroactively. By becoming registered to claim your VAT back the company is legally required to d the following:

1) Register for the VAT in the EU country where the transaction takes place.
2) Account for VAT on all invoices or receipts issued to your European customers.
3) Deduct the V.A.T incurred from your European suppliers of goods or services.

Value Added Tax – An Overview.

When all is said and done, other than the obvious need to increase your pricing structure for certain global markets registering for and, charging value added tax actually has a great deal of benefits. You now get to claim addition refunds from any expenses that you incur from the day to day running of your business, your promotional activities become vat’able so you can now increase the level of global marketing you do and, claim full value back from the EU member states (where applicable). basically, registering in the EU member state will enable your business to grow on a global scale and, at the same time, afford you the luxury of being able to market your goods and services to a greater client base at virtually no cost to yourself this is a good thing especially when you take a look at the growth that international internet usage is making each month.

Article written by Lee

Promo Material – Make The Most Of Your Marketing

Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: Promotion | Response: 0

Now They Signed Up – Learn How To Keep Them

Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: General | Response: 0

Member retention is going to have a large effect on the adult industry over the next few months, with Visa chargeback rates being lowered and, many affiliate programs lowering their payout model something has to give and, hopefully, the thing that does give will be that affiliate programs start to realize that once they have your surfer, it becomes their responsibility to make that member retain.

With that in mind this article will look at a few things that we have been doing on some of our paysites for the last few months and, instead of having to provide an excess of plug in content we have started updating our sites regularly within the niche confines of what our members are actually looking for, also, despite this increase in content, we have started doing something unique so far as member retention goes – actually communicating with the member directly.

Communication Pays.

Actually spending the time to listen to what your members want can be beneficial on many levels for example, how many of the big sponsors offer the member a chance to become involved in a ‘community’ inside their paysites, i can only think of 3 paysites that i have personally visited that do this.

Often, offering your members a way to communicate to YOU what they want inside the site can, and usually will increase the value of their membership to you in the long run. offer your members weekly polls, offer them incentives to keep an active membership, perhaps some kind of loyalty program, in addition to a method of your paysite members being able to communicate to each other inside your site.

Content Updates.

We all know that paysites need to update however, how many paysite owners spend the time to ask their member what they are looking for? As mention in the previous section, offer your members polls on the next updates you will be doing, ask them what sections of the site need improving and, more importantly, ask them if they are happy with how your site looks and feels overall.

Renewal Time.

So you have managed to keep hold of your paysite member for a few days without them canceling and, their trial period is ending what now? Well, more often than not, communicating to the member that they are about to get rebilled can have a positive effect, send them an email prior to the rebill informing them of what your next set of updates will be, let them know they are a valued member of the site and, more importantly than this, that you are there to help them and listen to their suggestions. This is also an ideal time to remind them of why they joined your site in the first place, you have a lot of exclusive content that, simply put, no other paysite can offer them, you listen to their feedback and, again, value their feedback, all of these things will ensure that your member base retains well over the trial period.

Second Month Renewals.

So you have managed to keep your member for a month, and, again they are due a rebill, as with the first rebill you gave them, re-iterate the points of your site and, tell them what has changed over the past month, give them some sales speak about how your site is doing and, more importantly, what you have coming next month, by communicating these updates to your members a day or so before they have to renew, you should, in all honesty, keep their interest in your paysite and, more importantly, make more money from your members.

So Your Member Cancels.

Okay, so perhaps you managed to rebill your member for a few month or, perhaps they left after the trial period, what now? Simple, send them a follow up email, find out the reasons they cancelled their membership to your site and, see if you can offer them an alternative to stay, perhaps a reduced cost membership or, maybe even an alternative site altogether, if they entered your teen pay site and, were looking for amateur teen pics, even though you know you don’t have them yet, you will probably know of a site that does, tell this cancelled membership about this site and, get them to try it out, if you can match what the surfer is looking for to a site you own then you have a second chance at keeping their membership and, making money.

Retention Overview.

When all is said and done the one thing that is apparent so far as pay sites go is that a lot of them do not communicate with their members and build the sites they operate around what their members are looking for, we can all say we actually do this constantly but, how many of us really, hand on heart, can prove that they ask, listen and, more importantly, implement the feedback from their members base?

Article written by Lee