Traffic Filtering – Country Specific Redirects

Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: Traffic | Response: 0

To some, actually marketing to foreign surfers is a waste of time rather than a business practice. Unfortunately, they are missing out on additional revenue. We are already beginning to see some of the major sponsors in the adult industry embracing these foreign markets and, not just by utilizing dialers.

However, filtering your traffic base is often the hardest part of this money making equation. That is where the following piece of PHP coding can come in handy.

PHP FILTERING CODE

<?
$user_lan = $HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE;

if($user_lan==’de’) {
## German
$redir_url = “http://www.germanlanguagepageurl.com”;

} elseif($user_lan==’fr’) {
## French
$redir_url = “http://www.frenchlanguagepageurl.com”;

} elseif($user_lan==’it’) {
## Italian
$redir_url = “http://www.italianlanguagepageurl.com”;

} elseif($user_lan==’es’) {
## Spain
$redir_url = “http://www.spanishlanguagepageurl.com”;

## US traffic or Rest of world not defined above
} else {
$redir_url = “http://www.yourmainpageurl.com”;

}

header(“Location: $redir_url”);
exit;

?>

So, we know that the above piece of coding can redirect surfers based on their country of origin however, in order for you to maximize this to its full potential you will need to know the country specific codes (Also called ISO 639 codes) for each of the main browser languages. Some of these are as follows.

da | Danish
de | German
en | English
es | Spanish
fi | Finnish
fr | French
it | Italian
jp | Japanese

The problem you now have is finding where to send your filtered country specific surfers to. Of course, there is always the dialer option however, this is not going to be as lucrative to your wallet as what most people will have you believe.

In fact, I very rarely use a dialer on my foreign traffic instead, I tend to send them to a language specific tour page from one of the big sponsors and, if they do not sign up to that sponsors site, this is the point where I throw a dialer at them and, if the dialer still doesn’t make any money off the surfer I then recycle the surfer for a fresh one through a toplist or banner exchange heavy page.

In doing this I find it is often more productive than ‘regular’ English speaking traffic as, if you give the surfer something they are looking for, they will be more inclined to buy.

Hopefully this article has given you some insight into filtering and using your foreign traffic as oppose to just sending them off to a dialer program.

Article written by Lee

Search Engine Optimization, Is It Worth It?

Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Search Engine Optimization | Response: 0

One of the trendiest takes on Internet marketing these days seems to be the notion that securing top search engine rankings “no longer works.” Where it started, I have no idea.

But rarely does a week go by when I don’t see one or more Internet marketing “experts” claiming that search engine positioning is largely a waste of time and should not be a primary focus of Website owners.

Well, as the saying goes, “there are two sides to every story.”

But let’s not make this article about my side, or your side, or anyone else’s side. Let’s forget about my opinion and other “expert’s” opinions and stick to the indisputable facts, as reported by highly credible third party sources:

According to a Forrester Research Media Field Study, getting a loyal audience in the first place is best done by Search Engine Placement.

According to a GVU Users Survey, 84.8% of Internet users use Search Engines to find Websites.

In a study released by ActivMedia Research in September 1999, Search Engine Positioning was ranked as the #1 Website promotional method used by eCommerce sites.

And look what I just found in the April 2000 issue of Target Marketing Magazine.
“Top Ways Websites are Discovered”

Banner ads: 1%

Targeted email: 1.2%

TV spots: 1.4%

“By accident”: 2.1%

Magazine ads: 4.4%

Word-of-mouth: 20%

Random Surfing: 20%

Search Engines: 46%

You’ve now seen the numbers and know that search engine promotion is very much alive and kicking. But let’s take this a step further. Let’s talk about the *quality* of prospects coming to your Website through search engines as opposed to other advertising mediums.

Every time your potential customers use the search engines, they qualify themselves as *hot prospects* by conducting searches on keywords that are directly related to your product or service. Their choice of keywords is proof that they have a genuine interest in what you offer. These people spend their valuable time exploring the search engines for your type of product or service.

Think About That.

They didn’t stumble upon one of your ads, or wander past a hyperlink to your site. And they didn’t get a banner ad thrown in their face. They made the *decision* to actively search the keywords that brought them to YOUR Website. And when they get there, they are ready and willing to do business with you. At the very least, they’re seriously considering it and, that’s the most powerful sales tool you can have!

But merely getting your Website “indexed” or listed in the search engines is not enough. In order to get any significant traffic from the search engines, your Website must be listed within the top 30 search results (preferably the top 20).

Very rarely will anyone look beyond the first 30 results returned from a search. This makes perfect sense because the most relevant sites are always listed at the top. So if your prospect doesn’t find what they want within the first 20 to 30 listings, they’ll simply do a new search.

If your site falls anywhere below the 30th listing, you don’t stand a chance against anyone in the TOP-20. Hence, it should be your goal to achieve Top 20 positions.

How Do You Get Your Website Listed In The Top 20?

1) You can attempt to gain these Top 20 rankings yourself. However, this can easily become a full time job. (I think this is why so many marketers advise against focusing on search engine positioning.)

2) You can hire a reputable company who can achieve AND maintain your Top 20 rankings for you (be sure they guarantee their service and have several verifiable clients that currently have multiple Top 20 rankings).

3) You can do nothing at all. But as you’ve seen from the third party statistics referenced above, search engine positioning is something you can’t afford to ignore.

Whatever choice you make, I hope that your eyes have been opened to the tremendous profit potential that exists with top search engine placement.

Article written by Lee

The Negative Marketing Technique

Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Promotion | Response: 0

Negative marketing is a wonderful thing in its own right however, negative marketing can, surprisingly enough have a NEGATIVE effect on your sales.

How many times have you seen a site that has, about half way down the page some text telling the surfer no to click on anything because ‘these are only counters’?

Counters in themselves can be VERY useful tools to the adult webmaster however, counters are given to us for free because of one simple reason, the graphics used on them are made in such a way that they will actually draw clicks from your traffic.

Most of the time however, these counters that take your hits are helping you much more than you know, from giving you addition traffic, valuable surfer stats and many other things.

Now, the same is also true for banner exchanges as is for counters, they are a useful addition to the variety of tools available for adult webmasters however, many webmasters, as mentioned above tell the surfer NOT to click on them, something i just never seemed to be able to get my head around. As you reading this post kind of proves, tell someone not to do something and you can guarantee they WILL do it

However, as i started off this quick article saying, Negative marketing is a good thing, after all, you have now got the proof to tell you that it works why not put this to use on your site?

For example, rather than telling a surfer…

‘Click Here For The Hottest Porn Site On The Web’

Tell them…

‘DO NOT CLICK HERE’

Wonder what they will do

Article written by Lee

How To Choose A Legal Content Provider

Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: Content | Response: 0

How To Choose A Legal Content Provider.

If you spend anytime in this business no matter in what capacity, you are going to hear about how important using legal content is. Legal content is content that you have specific permission or license to use on your sites. Permission can come from your sponsor who offers you free content to promote their site, as long as certain criteria is followed. It can come from the producer of the images if he/she is a friend of yours, though I would still advise you obtain a license from them anyway. And the third way of course is to purchase content from one of the myriad of content providers out there. It is the third way I am going to discuss in this article.

Being the intelligent Webmaster you are, you have decided to purchase some legal, fresh content for your sites. Makes no difference what type of site(s) you run, free sites, TGP’s, pay sites etc. fresh, unique content is always a plus. So you begin your search for the content you are in need of. You are going to find that in most all cases you are going to find a LOT of content providers that offer what you are after. You can go to any resource board and get a list of providers that covers page after page, some more detailed in information than others. Some names you will have heard of before and some you will have never heard of, so how do you choose? Here are some of the basic questions you should ask yourself:

Do they carry the type of content I need. Seems simple enough, but if you are looking for Asian lesbian images, no sense wasting your time on a provider that specializes in Gay content. The provider’s site should be laid out that you can easily assess what they offer with the first 2 pages of their site.

What am I using the content for? This becomes very important when selecting what image packages you buy. If you are going to use the content for free sites or TGP’s where the main goal is to get them off your site and on to your sponsor, then quality is not going to be as important as price. If you plan to utilize them in a pay situation, such as AVS or members site, quality should be your first consideration.

What price am I willing to pay? By knowing what you are using the images for, you have a fair idea of what they are worth to you. Do not be fooled into thinking that buying a MEGA disc for .10 an image is a killer deal. It could be, but if the image CD only contains 100 images that you can utilize and the rest are trash, what is the point? Much better to pay a higher price per image to get exactly the kind and quality you want. Shop around of course; per image prices can vary greatly per provider.

How do I know these guys are legit? Excellent question! J More than ever these days you cannot swing a cat and not hit 100 content providers. Every college guy and his brother with a digital camera and a girlfriend think they can make a quick buck in the Adult market. I could very easily list over a dozen so called content providers right now, that have come on with incredible deals only to be gone in less than 3 months. Then the Webmaster finds out the license he has for the images are not worth the paper they printed them on. This is one of the easiest areas for a Webmaster to get ripped off in. So what to do? Research my friends, research!

a. Ask the provider for copies of the 2257’s they are required by law to have on premises. Any reputable provider will supply these to you; many include them with the license even if you don’t ask for them. Any provider that bulks at doing so upon request should be taken off your shopping list.

b. Read over the license agreement very carefully, before you buy. Not every license is the same, some allow you a certain percent of images for promotional use, such as creating banners etc. some prohibit it. How many sites and domains you can use the images on vary, as does the price they charge to add or transfer a domain or license. Remember the license is a legal document and should be treated as such.

c. Ask around! Reputation is so very important in this business and the good providers know it. Don’t be shy about asking the provider directly for references, emailing fellow Webmaster’s and even posting for comments on the boards. Make sure you get a good cross span of answers from all sources, so you can quickly weed out anyone that is deliberately trying to make a provider look bad. This could be their competition or a Webmaster that tried to use the content illegally and got busted. So make sure you ask people your respect and trust. Find out not only about how they’re prices stack up, but also about their customer service after the deal is done. And NEVER assume just because a provider is listed on your favorite resource board that they are legit. Though most resources will try and screen people they list, there is no guarantee. There is no substitute for researching it for yourself.

Following these simple guidelines will save you a lot of grief in the long run. It may take a day or two for you to get the feedback you need, but it could save you from taking down hundreds of galleries later on. Or worse, paying for a product you never receive. And trust me, that happens.

Article written by Bestat.

http://www.exclusivecontent.com.

Straight From The Horses Mouth – Get Googlized

Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Search Engine Optimization | Response: 0

Many webmasters wonder how to ensure their sites will be included in Google’s index of web sites. Although Google crawls more than a billion pages, it’s inevitable some sites will be missed. When Google does miss a site, it’s frequently for one of these reasons:

* The site is not well connected through multiple links to others on the web.
* The site launched after Google’s last crawl was completed.
* The design of the site makes it difficult for Google to effectively crawl its content (excessive frames, tables, etc).

Google’s intent is to represent the content of the Internet fairly and accurately. To help make that goal a reality, we offer this guide to building a “crawler-friendly” site. There are no guarantees a site will be found by our crawler, but following these guidelines should increase the probability that your site will show up in Google search results.

Do…
Provide high-quality content on your page – especially your home page.
If you follow only one tip from this page, this should be it. Our crawler indexes web pages by analyzing the content of the pages themselves. Google will index your site better if your pages contain useful information. Plus, your site has a better chance of becoming a favorite among web surfers and being linked to by others if the information it contains is relevant and useful.

Submit your site to the appropriate category in a web directory.
Listing your site in the Open Directory Project http://www.dmoz.org/ or Yahoo! http://www.yahoo.com/ increases the likelihood it will be seen by robot crawlers and web surfers.

Pay attention to HTML conventions.

Make sure that your <TITLE> and <ALT> tags are accurate and descriptive. Also, check your <A HREF> tags for errors since broken or improperly formatted links can prevent Google from indexing your page.

Make use of the robots.txt file on your web server.
This file tells crawlers which directories can or cannot be crawled. Make sure it’s current for your site so that you don’t accidentally block our crawler. Visit: http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/faq.html for a FAQ answering questions regarding robots and how to control them once they visit your site.

Ensure that your site is accessible through HTML hyperlinks.
Generally, your site is crawlable if the pages are connected to each other with ordinary HTML links. If certain areas are not linked, you may be excluding older browsers, differently-abled users, and Google. Google can crawl content from a database or other dynamically generated content as long as it can be found by following links. If you have many unlinked pages, you may want to create a jump page from which the crawler can find all of your pages.

Build your site with a logical link structure.
A hierarchical link structure is not only beneficial to you, but also to Google. More of your site can be crawled if it is laid out in with a clear architecture.

Don’t…
Fill your page with lists of keywords, attempt to “cloak” pages, or put up “crawler only” pages.
If your site contains pages, links or text that you do not intend visitors to see, Google considers them deceptive and may ignore your site.

Feel obligated to purchase a search optimization service.
Some companies “guarantee” your site a place near the top of a results page. While legitimate consulting firms can improve your site’s flow and content, others employ deceptive tactics to try and fool search engines. Be careful – if your domain is affiliated with one of these services, it could be permanently banned from our index, we have found search engine optimization software like Web Position Gold works best but, again use it in moderation.

Use images to display important names, content or links.
Our crawler does not recognize text contained in graphics.
Use ALT tags if the main content and key words on your page cannot be formatted in regular HTML.

Provide multiple copies of a page under different URLs
Many sites offer text-only or printer-friendly versions of pages that contain the same content as the graphic-enriched version of the page. While Google crawls these pages, duplicates are removed from our index. In order to ensure that we have the desired version of your page, place the other versions in separate directories and use the robots.txt file to block our crawler.

Article written by a Google employee

New European V.A.T Laws – Are You Prepared?

Date: 2011.02.23 | Category: Billing Solutions | Response: 0

Under a new law that has been passed in the EU from July 1st 2003 any internet based company selling services or goods to customers inside the EU will have to pay the member state of their customer/client the equivalent V.A.T (Value Added Tax) Rate.

This in itself is not a big problem, online business have been paying taxes for many years, the problems start to occur when you take a look at the current state of the V.A.T system in the EU state members on an individual basis.

The following list shows the percentage of V.A.T that you will need to add to your clients bills if they are located inside a member state of the EU:

Austria – 20% VAT
Belgium – 21% VAT
Denmark – 25% VAT
Finland – 22% VAT
France – 19.6% VAT
Germany – 16% VAT
Greece – 18% VAT
Ireland – 21% VAT
Italy – 20% VAT
Luxembourg – 15% VAT
Netherlands – 19% VAT
Portugal – 17% VAT
Spain – 16% VAT
Sweden – 25% VAT
United Kingdom – 17.5% VAT

This will pose several problems for the adult industry namely, how will our billing processors be able to handle transactions from European Union citizens? After all, with so many different VAT rates across the EU their billing systems need to be able to correctly calculate the correct amount of VAT to the surfers final order.

Several accounting firms have set up new divisions to handle this for the mainstream side of the internet industry however, until just recently, the adult internet was unaware this was happening.

It would seem that although the international market place is a wholly viable one for adult webmasters to break into, it brings with it more complications that simply breaking the language barrier.

This new law will be a good test of the adult industry processors to see how they can handle the economic changes of the global market place and, more importantly, how they handle the new frontiers of international marketing on a global scale.

Article written by Lee

Newbie Basics – The HTML Layout

Date: 2011.02.23 | Category: WebDesign | Response: 0

In this article we will look at some HTML tags that you will be using in every HTML document that you create. They are the base for every web page and are the essential pieces of HTML coding to ensure that your pages display correctly.

The Structure Tags.

Here is a look at the main structure tags. You will have to get used to these since you will be using them for all your pages.

We would suggest that you start by copy and pasting the structure into your document then creating my page once they’re in place.

Make it a habit to ensure that all surfers (regardless of their browsers) will be able to identify your creations. Each of these HTML tags are used in pairs with a start and ending tag in the same way as we mentioned in the previous chapter.

<HTML> </HTML>

The HTML tag tells the browser that your page is a valid HTML page.

The first and last tag on all your HTML documents will be this tag.

The complete HTML coding for the remainder of your document will be placed between these two HTML tags.

<HEAD> </HEAD>

This tag is used to reference your document.

<TITLE> </TITLE>

This tag enables you to give your HTML document a title.

It’s best to insert descriptive text about your page between these tags we will go into this in more detail in the later chapters.

This will also be the name that is displayed in a web browser’s system tray when someone bookmarks or adds your HTML document to their favorites list.

<BODY> </BODY>

The entire coding for your page goes in between these two tags.

Basically, they mark the beginning and end of your web page’s body. They are the essence of your HTML.

All your HTML tags in your document will be resting in between these two HTML tags.

Putting It All Together.

Now that the main tags have been outlined, it’s time to put them all together. Here is an example of what your HTML documents should look like.

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>The Title Of Your Html Document Goes Here</TITLE>
</HEAD>

<BODY>

All your other HTML tags and text goes here.
This Is the main body of your HTML document.
At the end of this text you will also see where the closing Body and HTML tags go.

</BODY>

</HTML>

This is the basic structure for any HTML document. Once these tags are in place, the rest is down to you. These Tags are not case sensitive. In other words, you don’t have to use all capital letters like we have in our Chapters. It won’t make a difference to the overall outcome of your tags. However we would recommend using Caps for your tags. It makes them a lot easier to distinguish from all the other sections of your HTML document coding, as you can see in the example above.

Article written by Lee

Obscenity – Put It To The Test

Date: 2011.02.23 | Category: Writing | Response: 0

Regardless of how long any of us have been an adult webmaster we all need to be
aware of obscenity laws and, in particular how they affect our businesses
whether we think a hardcore photoset is ‘obscene’ or not ultimately, if you get
taken to court on obscenity charges the one thing you should be aware of is how
the courts will decide whether the images you are using will be classified as
obscene or not.

Testing Obscenity – The Miller Test.

The Miller test was developed in the 1973 court case of Miller vs. California
and in comprises of three parts ALL of which MUST be satisfied on order for
something to be deemed obscene by the courts. The Miller test is the ‘official’
method used by the United States Supreme Court for determining whether an
expression or a speech can be determined as obscene and, if deemed obscene, it
is not protected under the First Amendment and is therefore prohibited by law.

The Miller Test – Part One.

Part one of The Miller Test states something may be obscene if ‘the average
person, applying contemporary adult community standards, would find that the
work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest’ In essence, this
means that if the ‘average’ person on a jury or on the bench finds the work to
be deemed obscene then, it is. However for the court to rule something as
obscene it also has to be deemed obscene by the standards set in part two and
part three below.

The Miller Test – Part Two.

Part two of The Miller Test states that something is potentially obscene is
‘the average person, applying contemporary adult community standards, would
find that the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual
conduct’. Basically this is saying that if the images or speech is something
which is not practiced in a manner befitting your local community standards
then again, it may be obscene. However, as with part one of The Miller Test for
a court to find something obscene it needs to fall below the standards in part
three below.

The Miller Test – Part Three.

Part three of The Miller Test states that something is potentially obscene if,
‘a reasonable person would find that the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious
literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.’ This is pretty much where
you could potentially come unstuck after all, everyone has different sexual
tastes and because of this, just because something that may be widespread such
as ‘bare backing’ (to use as an example) could potentially be considered as
obscene if you happen to have a jury who are devout practicers of safe sex.

The Miller Test – Overview.

In essence The Miller Test is a useful guideline for webmasters when it comes
to operating our sites and specifically, when it comes to choosing the types of
content we utilize on them however, for the most part The Miller Test itself is
outdated. Since the early 70’s when this test was devised there have been many
sexual practices that were once deemed obscene that have become more a part of
everyday life and accepted in to society as whole thus, what once would (or
could) have been deemed obscene would no longer be in the same sense as
something that may be deemed obscene today could be found not to be in 5 years
time.

Article written by Lee

Seasons Greetings For The Adult Surfer

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

How do the national and, international holidays affect our sponsors sales? More than you would think especially if you can offer your surfers something ‘seasonal’ when they hit your site. However, that said, when should you start planning for these holidays and, more importantly, how can you ensure that once you have implemented your seasonal marketing campaigns that they actually work?

Seasonal Marketing – The Basics.

Seasonal marketing is, in effect a method of changing your marketing approach around different times of the year to affect both the volume of sales you make and, more importantly, the uniqueness of the product you are offering your surfers. A good example of this is at Christmas time, many of the sponsors will provide their webmasters with banner with a holiday feel to them, perhaps using scantily clad men in Santa outfits or half naked women in elves costumes. By offering a seasonal marketing approach to your site surfers you actually increase the chances of making a sale.

Holiday Porn.

One of the best ways to offer your surfers a fresh marketing angle is to ensure that you plan for all of the major holidays throughout the year in advance so for example, as mentioned above, Christmas is a big holiday as are, New Years, Easter, Thanksgiving (US), Independence Day (US) and, Halloween. By building sites specifically for these holidays you are increasing the chances not only of building your sales but, of gaining additional traffic that you might otherwise lose out on. It has been said certainly over the last four years i have worked in the adult industry that many webmasters experience an increase in search engine traffic searching on keywords such as ‘Christmas Porn’ and, ‘Ghost Porn’ around the various holidays, build now for next year and, when the holiday season arrives, you will be one step ahead of your competition.

Seasonal Marketing Overview.

As already mentioned the holiday season especially Christmas time, can be a great way to gain additional traffic, not only from those surfers specifically looking for Christmas Porn but, also the newbie adult surfers who have perhaps only just got their first computer on Christmas day, by adding to your collection of seasonal porn sites year after year you will not only learn a lot about the way the various holidays and seasons affect your sales but, you will also be able to profit from your surfers in a way that not many other webmasters do.

Article written by Lee

Blogging For Traffic – An Alternate View

Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: Blogging | Response: 0

Just recently the adult industry seems to have gone ‘blog’ crazy in fact, it is almost a daily occurrence that webmasters mention a blog of some description on several message forums however, when it comes down to it, does blogging really matter at all? This is what we will take a look at in this article.

What Is A Weblog Or Blog?

A Weblog, or ‘Blog’ for short, is a kind of website or a part of a website. It is usually, but not always, run by a single person and they publish bits of writing on the Weblog. These bits of writing, called ‘entries’ or ‘posts,’ generally appear on the front page of the weblog in reverse chronological order, that is, with the newest entry at the top of the page, with older entries progressively further down.

So How Can Blogging Help Me?

Quite honestly, I don’t think it can. Think about it for a moment, you spend an hour or so a day writing a page in your online journal only for it to be erased or archived at a later date, doesn’t that seem strange to you? Instead of blogging why don’t you actually do something constructive such as making a .html page out of the text you were going to use for your blog, keyword it up and upload that directly onto your server? After all this in itself will benefit you in the long term much more than a quick page that will eventually disappear from existence. Of course there will always be those people who do successfully use blogs as a part of their marketing strategy and, kudos to them however, looking at the bigger picture, it makes much more sense to have a fresh HTML page which will remain indefinitely on your site that you can keyword and SEO for the search engines rather than something that is going to become relatively short lived.

Blogging – Overview.

To be perfectly honest with you, all of this talk of creating a blog to get additional traffic is, in itself just ‘hype’ unless you have a source of blog owners to link back to your blog or, an hour or so to kill each day wasting your time writing your blog your time really would be much better served coding HTML pages. After all, HTML pages have worked for the last 30 years, why all of a sudden have webmasters stopped using them?

Article written by Lee.