Adult Webmaster Health

Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: General | Response: 0

Sounds to me like you are a webmaster. Most of us realize that working at a computer everyday can and often is, bad for our health in one way, shape or, form. However, how do we alleviate these potential problems with our health?

Well in this article I will detail some of the things that can often affect the webmasters in our industry and how they can be solved.

RSI (Repetitive Stress Injuries) are the results of, as you may have figured out already, the effects of constantly doing the same movements over and over again using specific parts of your body. One of the most common of these that webmasters are aware of is CTS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) which is a result of typing a lot.

So, how do you combat the effects of CTS? First and foremost, if you experience any form of pain at all, your first port of call should be the doctor, the pain you are feeling could be an indicator of a bigger problem. If you think your pain might be caused by use of the computer then an occupational therapist might also be a good person to visit.

CTS is often attributed to use of your digits and poor hand positioning when you type one way to solve this problem is to go to Office Depot and purchase a wrist rest, this will ensure your wrist has ample support whilst you are working throughout the day.

You might also like to try re-positioning your monitor, as a general rule of thumb, having your monitor placed about 20 inches away from your face will usually result in good posture and that in itself can often be a solution to the potential medical problems. One other thing on your posture, get a good chair, one with a high back may be good, these generally offer you more support and, can stop that awkward habit of leaning into your keyboard when you type.

Eyestrain, Eyestrain is another common problem that the webmaster faces, often it leads to things such as excessive headaches, fatigue and, blurry vision, the most acceptable relief from eyestrain is the use of screen filter that will reduce the glare your monitor emits.

There of course, some other things you can do to alleviate this problem such as, Adjusting your monitor so the top of the screen is no higher than eye level, as already mentioned, keeping the monitor a safe working distance from you, usually between 18 and 30 inches is recommended by doctors.

We know computers are machines and tend to forget that our own bodies are complex machines which, should be looked after just as our computers should be, we often forget that sitting at the PC building what was meant to be a 10 minute site can turn into an hours worth of ‘online work’. Take some time every now and again to stand up and walk for 5 minutes, even if it is just to the local store to buy some more smokes, you are actually getting some exercise and, even though the tar in your smokes will end up killing you anyway, you’ll at least be able to work a little longer without getting any problematic computer related medical symptoms.

This article is not meant as an alternative to visiting your physician and, should you think that any of the above are relevant to you then it is recommended that you visit your doctors without delay and follow any advice that they give you.

Article written by Lee.

Converting Italian Adult Traffic – The Niche Paysites That Work

Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: Traffic | Response: 0

Continuing with our article series of country specific traffic and which niches work for the various global markets in this article we will take a look at some of the most complicated traffic to ‘work’ Italian Adult Surfers. The reason I say most complicated is for the simple reason that, to date there are very few Italian paysites this makes it harder for us as webmasters to tap into these markets especially if we ourselves, do not know what the Italian surfer is after. That said, lets get on with the article.

Italian Traffic – Quick Analysis.

As already mentioned surfers from Italy are hard to pre-qualify given that there are very few sites catering to this European market at the present time, this means that there are no sources of background information to look at or, statistical analysis’s available from other paysites.

Italian Adult Surfers – The Niches.

For one of the most affluent international markets going it comes as a surprise to see that there are almost no localized pay sites for the Italian market this made our initial filtering of the Italian traffic much harder opting for translated free sites over paysite tour pages to send the traffic to itself then, once they hit the free sites either choosing to send them back into our central hub or, to the US version pay site of the niche free site they were visiting. That said here are the results from the previous 3 (three) months of traffic that we observed.

Ebony.

The Ebony niche would appear to be the most consistent converting niche on Italian traffic however, given that almost all of the niches we used on the Italian surfers were quite evenly spread for sales (Ebony was only 5 sales in front) this, I am sure is not a good indicator and, likewise with the Japanese and Chinese traffic, this is an area of international adult marketing that should ideally be re-visited at a later day.

For Women.

Even more surprising than the fact there are very few localized paysites for Italy was the fact that the ‘For Women’ niche converted just as well as the other niches we used for our Italian traffic, of course, this at first would seem to indicate that the vast majority of surfers we had on our sites from Italy were female however, as we all know, the Straight male niche is big in gay so, there is a chance the sales we got from our Italian traffic to the For Women niche paysites we used were equally male and female.

Softcore General.

(Softcore Adult Tours) The other strange thing we noticed was that paysites we offered to our Italian surfers that were Hardcore in nature didn’t convert as well as the paysites that had softcore tours, this would lend itself to the fact that Italian porn surfers are not looking for hardcore – quite different to most other country traffic sources.

Tranny.

The transsexual niche paysites that we offered to the Italian surfers also had some good results again, this is strange given that almost every other countries surfer we sent to a tranny site didn’t convert. One other thing that comes up with this and, given the fact that the for women niche paysites we used had good results would be that perhaps the Italian surfers are interested in the more obscure niches available on the adult internet.

Italian Adult Traffic – An Overview.

All in all, as stated at the beginning of this article the Italian surfers would certainly appear at first glance to be more varied and obscure in their sexual preferences than other countries whom appear to have clear cut, well defined ‘types’ of site that interest them.

I think as mentioned above Italian traffic needs to be looked at in more depth in a future article as, to my surprise the traffic didn’t work on the niches that previously converted well for the same amounts and quality of traffic.

Article written by Lee

Converting French Traffic – The Niche Paysites That Work

Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: Traffic | Response: 0

In our last article we took a look at a three (3) month period of international traffic stats and, what niches worked on German adult traffic. In this article we will do the same again except we will be analyzing what niche paysites worked best on French porn surfers.

French Traffic – Quick Analysis.

It would seem that for many of the surfers we managed to grab and filter from France that their primary interest was in Teen and the Amateur niches although, that said, we did get a few conversion on some fetish paysites, specifically fetish sites that had ‘watersports’ and ‘BDSM’ featured on the paysites tour pages.

French Adult Traffic – The Niches.

As with the German traffic we targeted in the previous article we also filtered our French adult traffic to some niche specific hub sites as well as some general hub sites to better judge which niches converted the best on French surfers the results we experienced are as follows.

Teen.

Our conversions on French teen sites were not as good as what they were for German surfers however, that said, they were good non the less. With a ratio of around 1:192 over the three month period we analyzed the French adult surfers we managed to get to our sponsors sites worked well for us.

Amateur.

With our amateur conversions the one thing we noticed was that tours that featured teens as the main focus were the ones which converted consistently, with this in mind, we did change a couple of the Amateur tours we used to see how that would affect sales towards the end of the 3 month period and, sales did drop slightly, this would backup the statements in the Teen niche made above in that, French surfers are looking primarily for Teen orientated paysites.

Asian.

The two Asian niche paysites we used didn’t have many sales overall however, we did notice that the little traffic that we sent to them converted well, as above, Asian niche sites that featured teens were again the better converters on the French traffic we received.

Ebony.

I think it is worth mentioning the ebony niche, especially when you take into account we sent less than 100 hits to French ebony paysites and, managed to get 2 sales from those hits. Unfortunately, we did not anticipate the amount of traffic that wouldn’t choose the ebony niche so we have no solid figures that are worth mentioning here or, any explanation behind how we made the sales.

Fetish.

Our French fetish traffic seemed to like the more niche specific type of tours, making us sales on Watersports, BDSM and even general fetish paysites that said, the figures we achieved with the fetish pay sites we used were disappointing as we had thought this would be the ideal niche for the French markets.

Gay.

The sales we achieved with our gay French traffic were reasonable overall, the surfers chose to signup to gay sites that featured ‘twink’ like models on the tours again, this would lend favor to the fact that overall French surfers seem to be interested in the younger generation to get their kicks.

French Traffic – The Results.

Overall we were happy with the majority of the results we received on our French adult traffic with the exception of a few bad choices on our part trying to concentrate on the Fetish side of the industry. We certainly learnt that it would appear French adult surfers are looking for Teen orientated sites over the other niches.

Article written by Lee

Censored Gay Adult Pornography

Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: General | Response: 0

You’ve heard it said over and over “Make them pay for the pink” or in the case of the gay market “make ’em pay for the MEAT”. But how far can you get without hardcore on a gay site?

Depending on the method you use to get your traffic softcore verses hardcore can make a big difference. If you’re working the SE’s, you set the tone by way of your descriptions and keywords – and you hope that they get you the rankings and the surfers. On the other side of the fence, when you use link lists and categorized directories, their categories will dictate where your site will go. Thus, you are totally out of the loop when it comes to its placement.

For the past six months I have been conducting a test. I built ten free sites, all to derive their traffic from link lists. Five were strictly softcore and the others a mix of softcore images and “selective” hardcore images. Each had 40 pics in order to play to the larger LLs and directories.

Let me give you a little background. The reason I started this test was to track the traffic trends in the gay market as it applied to the notion of “make ’em pay for the meat”. It was something I had done with my straight sites, but something I totally avoided with my gay sites. The reason for that one a statement I made a while back “If I wanted to see softcore I could look in the mirror when I got out of the shower.” While this is a totally narcissistic comment, it does demonstrate my ongoing point about selling to gay men.

Now don’t get me wrong in the scheme of thing I do like softcore images of the right person, but as a surfer who is looking to get off, I want what I can’t normally have. And that idea is going to send me to a site that will has what I want, OR in the case of this test, THINK that I want.

Now back to the test sites. For my softcore sites, I took various images of single men in different phases of undress from stripping to provocative poses. For the hardcore I was much more selective. I used what I call US Cable or Int’l Tele guidelines. What that means is, what do I see if I turn on a cable station or one of the satellite channels from around the world. I found “simulated sex”. Just like an R rated movie, there were scene where two guys are together with no close ups of actual penetration. So, when I went through my web images I looked for similar scenes. The images were sexual but nothing so blatant as up close penetration but suggestive enough to arouse a surfer – the taunt factor I would need to sell my sponsor sites.

With my distinct sets of sites, I began to submit to the Link Lists. 99% of the sites were accepted for each of there categories (the one that didn’t get accepted had a hardcore description and softcore images – oops). But after making the correction it was accepted.

The traffic started to come in. In the first day, the difference I anticipated was right there. I decided I wouldn’t effect anymore change in traffic so I didn’t submit to any other link lists. I wanted to test this out. At the end of the month the trends I expected were in fact there. The total of all the traffic generated 10% came in to Softcore sites. The remaining 90% came in through the hardcore sites. So this tells me that most gay surfers are hitting the hardcore categories on the LLs. It confirmed my previous assumptions.

What’s the sense of doing all of this and not watch all avenues, right? Now having scrutinized where the traffic was coming from and how, I wanted to trace how it was going out.

I used an older cgi program to track the hits out. It’s one of those standard programs that I learned to use years ago and can’t get rid of. Now remember, all of the sites are pretty much the same with wording, sponsors, color schemes, etc. The only real difference was the pics.

Based on the numbers collected from the program I found that approximately 75% of all the traffic coming into the softcore sites left on a link to one of the link lists. I had 20% go out on a sponsor’s link and the remaining 5% did not resolve (which in this program I was using tried to count the click but was unsuccessful).

Now reviewing the information from the hardcore sites, I found a distinct difference. I will not lie to you. I expected a difference. I don’t want you to think I was awestruck LOL. But, I was surprised with what I found. This time the majority went out to my sponsors – 50% went to a sponsor site, 20% went out to the reciprocal links, 19.9% went to a free gay email site (which wasn’t enough to mention on the softcore sites), 5% did not resolved. The remaining 5.1% I have no idea – they probably whacked off and logged off (I hope it was good for them LOL)

While it is not the point of this article, I will add that the traffic produced reasonable well at the sponsor end.

Let me say that my “trends in gay adult traffic” research is by no means complete. However, over the period of six month these ten sites were enough to say there is marked difference between softcore and hardcore sites. So does “make ’em pay” work in the gay market? For now, there is a definite factor depending on where you get your traffic. If links lists are your specialty, then the answer is yes.

My next step in the evolution of this is to submit these sites into the search engines. With all things considered, I’m looking forward in tracking that information. I’m off to submit. I will share the data I collect from that test soon.

Now, I just hope DMOZ doesn’t give me a hardcore time ; )

Article written by Gary-Alan.

The Ins and Outs of European Domain Name Registration

Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: Domain Names | Response: 0

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.

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

Mirroring Adult Sites – Stage Three

Date: 2011.02.23 | Category: Promotion, Tutorials | Response: 0

So we hit stage three of our tutorial in this stage we are going to make some pages for our top 5 AVS systems. However, as we did in the last tutorial with the new TGP galleries we created we are going to use the same content and same pages that we have already built. On with the tutorial…

Anyone who build AVS sites will know that you need to have a standard site layout. This usually consists of an entry page (or a warning page), a navigational page (or in our case our menu.html page) and some gallery pages.

So the first thing we need to do is open up the warning page. Once this page has been opened we now need to do some editing of the page, what I would suggest is moving the warning text to the lower half of the page and at the top making some ‘juicy’ sales text, depending on the niche you are targeting with this site you may also like to add a couple of the original thumbnail images at the VERY top of your page however, these should NOT be linked to the full size image.

Once you have edited your page to a reasonable standard for the AVS you now need to save this page in the /FreeSite/AVS/ folder that you originally created on your HD. I would suggest saving the page as something like avs1.html or the name of the AVS you will be using this page for.

Once you have done this you now need to duplicate this page but save it as a different name in again, in the /FreeSite/AVS/ folder so you will end up with avs1.html, avs2.html, etc.

At the moment these AVS pages have no AVS script on them so, we need to visit the AVS system we are going to be using and fill out the details to have the AVS generate an AVS signup page script for us. Once we have the coding that the AVS provides we now have to place this on our avs1.html page. You should repeat this for each of the AVS’s you wish to use and save each instance of the generated AVS script to a separate AVS*.html page.

be aware, that when you are putting your information into the AVS to generate the script, you should enter the ‘members area url’ as the page we created for our navigation so, the AVS script location will be /FreeSite/AVS/avs1.html and, the members area page will be, /FreeSite/Menu/menu.html.

Once you have placed the script on our avs.html pages you should now have the following sites ready:

1) 50 Pic Free Site With Pics On HTML Pages.
2) 5 TGP Galleries With Pics On HTML Pages.
3) 5 AVS Entry Pages.

Now we are starting to see how using one set of content can amount to a mass of sites all of which can be sending traffic to our sponsors and, to our surfer trap.

This is where stage three of our tutorial ends however, in our next tutorial we will continue to make some more sites and in an effort to get some traffic we start to play with the ones we have currently created.

Article written by Lee

Sex Toy Affiliate Programs

Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Sponsors | Response: 0

For the past year I’ve been playing with sex toys AND I’ve been selling them too!

Over the last couple of articles I have tried to enlighten you on secondary and third level sponsors, to supplement your site income. Another successful addition is sex toys – which are a hit in the gay market. Personally, I sell toys and videos in the secondary spots simply because the payouts are typically lower than most sponsors are – but my motto is money is money!

The basic reaction by most straight webmasters has been, I didn’t realize gay men liked sex toys, too. Well we do.

While there are a number of great toy sponsors out there, not many cater directly to gay men. That’s why I worked a deal on Gay Adult Shopping (http://store.gayadultshopping.com/partners/). I have joined others, but typically, they sell to a straight clientele. When I say market to straight, I’m referring to the packaging of their inventory. This is not a judgment call but a plain fact; I’d rather buy something that has an image of guy on it rather than a woman.

Now mind you, BOTH markets favor many of the products sold. I know if a straight female friend and I went into an adult store, we would look at the same dildo; and, perhaps even buy the same item regardless of the package. But when you’re surfing the net from home, it’s no holds barred. The surfer is no longer locked into the inventory of a shop on the street. He’s going to look for what HE wants. It is all perception. And, knowing that is half the battle.

Ok on to selling! I have taken three approaches in my experimenting – free sites, TGPs and memberships sites. Within a paysite, I typically didn’t SELL the store as much as I told the surfer it is there if he wants it. The real work in selling came with the free sites and galleries.

I’m a text man. I love writing copy and seeing how it works. However with the toys, I used a graphic and embellished it with text. For my free sites, I found direct eye contact shots (Images where the model is “looking out”, presumable at the surfer) were more effective than a pic of a guy playing with toys. Along with the pic, I used text like “My boyfriend and I can not get enough of them…” and “I get off watching him play…” or “The one with the most toys… Gets Off!” Other places on my free sites, I just dropped in the text link. Either worked well. I added both sets of ad links to my basic main pages. The results were good – even though I kept them to a minimum not to out sell my sponsor sites.

My TGP experiment was WORK! After my first try I found out that text alone doesn’t work well. This is definitely an approach that requires imagery. On my first pass, I offered pics and a paragraph that that sold all the things I could think of… dongs, dildos, videos and ejaculating butt plugs -You name I tried to sell it. Out of 2000 hits on that one page, I had 60 clicks into the toy store. Even though I had a sale, it wasn’t going to break the bank. But it SOLD, so I decided to try more. This time I hunted through my content for pics with toys in them and eye contact. I added banners and toned down the text somewhat. Instead of listing an inventory, I stayed in line with the text I mentioned above. I gave an overall feel of what the store had (toys, videos, lube, etc.) Then I ended it with a little tease of what delightful experiences were in store when their package arrived.

This time, it worked! On that first day, out of the 2000 hits it received, 500 clicks went into the store. I have never had that kind of click ratio off of a TGP. I was amazed. Most of the sales were for smaller priced items ($10-$20), but I had two orders that totaled over $200 dollars each. Was this a fluke? I wasn’t sure, so I tried it again. With the next few submissions the click rates were smaller, and I don’t know why. It could be that I used the same ads or something too similar to the first. BUT the click to sales ratio was about the same as my first attempt. Needless to say this has now become part of my weekly regiment.

So what did this prove? Sex toys DO sell well in the gay market even under the hard to convert traffic scenarios. I guess we like our toys just as much as anyone else =)

Selling adult products, whether on a free site, a TGP or a pay site, will bring in a few extra dollars that many webmasters didn’t even know was out there.

Article written by Gary-Alan

Adult Employment Vacancies

Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: Employment | Response: 0

For some the prospect of being able to work for another company online is something that they may ultimately want to pursue however, just how do you go about finding work for one of the many adult companies and, more importantly, how can you ensure that you have a better chance of being hired for the job once you find the position you would like to have at the company?

Online Adult Employment – Job Types.

Working in the adult industry can take many forms however, the most commonly perceived adult industry job is that of a model but, what about other online job vacancies such as graphics designer, marketing manager, sales director, and webmaster support representative, just how do you find out what companies are hiring and more importantly, what adult employment vacancies they have.

Adult Employment Agencies.

For many webmasters the chances of finding employment in the adult industry at a ‘regular’ online employment agency such as monster.com may seem impossible however, that said, many of the larger companies have realized the value of the mainstream employment agencies and, as such are now advertising on these sites for their staff but where else can you look? Well there are actually several adult industry employment sites that adult webmasters can look at to find their ideal job for example Adult Staffing, Sexy Jobs and, Adult Help Wanted in addition to several smaller sites operated by companies such as Cybererotica.

Improving Your Employment Chances.

So now you know where to look for adult employment opportunities what can you do to ensure you have a greater chance of being hired? Well as with the mainstream bricks and mortar job market having a good curriculum vitae (CV) can be a good start, ensure you keep your CV regularly updated and that it contains pertinent information for the type of job vacancy you are looking for in addition, often the first method of contact you will make with these potential employers will be via email or cover letter, make sure that you spend some time to write a letter that is not only noticeable but, interesting and, more importantly, grammatically correct. Demonstrate in this first stage of contact with your potential future adult employer that you take pride in your work and, you might just get bumped to the top of the ‘must see’ applicants.

Adult Jobs – Overview.

Many webmasters forget that there is more to the online adult industry than being able to party with the best of us and, whilst this does form a chunk of the industry overall it is not conducive of you further enhancing your online career, take the time to investigate all of the avenues available to you and, most importantly, make sure you choose a job that you not only want to do but one that you will enjoy, your reputation is the one thing that a potential adult employer will take into consideration, if you have had several previous jobs all lasting for short periods of time, it wont look as good to them as if you have only had a couple of jobs for a lengthier time frame. Most of all remember that whenever you contact a company looking for employers, make sure you are prepared and professional even if it is just sending them a quick email asking for further information.

Article written by Lee.

Quick Loading Pages Plus Saving Bandwidth

Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: WebDesign | Response: 0

Have you noticed how many of the sites out there are trying to make themselves look better than they actually are by using heavy graphics and media files? The fact of the matter is this, most surfers who visit your we pages are viewing them on a screen that is between 15 and 19 inches wide, can only see 216 colors and, are on a connection of 33.6 kb per second (If they are lucky).

What Does All This Mean?

What does this mean to you as a webmaster? Simple, try this test.

Connect to the internet on a 33.6 connection, type in your url and, hold your breath. Does the page load before you need to start gasping for air? If so then you are designing your sites correctly, if not, your pages are far to big in file size.

I’m pretty sure that some of you can hold your breath for a long period of time so, here is a basic rule of web design. Your pages should, be no larger in file size than 50k in fact, I would even go so far as to say try getting your pages under 30k in size.

How Can I Get It Under 50K? 30K?

First, all your graphic images should be as small as possible. Try to get them smaller than 4k. Going up to 6k is reasonable. When designing a graphic for the web site keep in mind the number of colors being used.

I know, from designing banners myself, it was hard for me to go from millions of color to only 216. Yes, 216 is the number of colors you have on a web safe color pallet.

Use solid colors when designing your image. PhotoShop has made the gradient such a popular tool. It looks good to fade things in and out. I always see a background border made up of this gradient. I always right click on that image to see the size. The 8k-12k is not worth the space. The problem with the gradient is it uses many colors and dithering. Both take up big time K. The more color you have in an image the bigger it’s going to be.

Use design more, graphics less. For a web page to be successful it needs to download quickly and look good.

Here is the dilemma download quick or look good? Instead of designing graphics and taking pictures and turning them into jpgs to make your web page look good, try using color schemes. Use cell colors to make borders. Use the negative space on your web site. What is not there is just as important as what is there.

Remember sometimes less is more. When in doubt think of a typical visitor coming to your web page. Would that extra graphic sell them or keep them coming back again and again. If the answer is yes, by all means keep it. If the answer is “well maybe” or “it just looks good there”, yank it.

Your surfers will appreciate not waiting more then they have to. The web is here to make our life easier not to sit in front of a screen waiting for heavy web pages to download.

Article written by Lee

The Gay Opinion – Obscenity Laws and the Gay Market

Date: 2011.02.23 | Category: General | Response: 0

Let me begin by saying this is not a legal dissertation, but a collection of opinions on the recent comments and events inside the industry.

Obscenity Laws have always been the “fly in the ointment” for adult. Not knowing when, if or how the government will act toward webmasters or companies.

So what do I think? Every indicator out there says something or someone is coming. Big Brother is on the prowl. But, how will webmasters in the gay market act to ward off the evil?

While discussing this with a number of webmasters, I found that the gay opinion is spread as wide as a gigolo’s legs on payday. The thoughts that have been shared vary from ultra conservative to down right militant. And once again, I find myself stuck dead in the middle.

Here is a sampling of the opinions at large:

I’ve heard from some webmasters who have a “come and get me attitude”. Their approach is the government has done enough damage to the gay community over time.

Their attempts to sanction the gay adult industry will be simply another shot at taking us down – and that attempt will garner a public/media fight of the government acting as a bully. Now does this have anything to do with adult? No matter how I look at it, the one subject isn’t related to the other. Personally, the government’s reaction/treatment to the gay community has little to do with the government’s action towards adult. Yes, I can totally see how they got there, but it’s not enough for me.

There is the “what else is new” set. This is a group of webmasters who own pay and/or free sites, have been doing this for a long time and they have adapted their companies and their marketing to sell memberships to the surfers. They use softcore and stories already on their feeder sites, have webmaster programs and they are happy with the results and will not change a thing. Their methods work – methods are not blatantly sexual but more sensual and the conversions are a testament to that. By the way, this is where I stand (right in the middle). The general thought is nothing has happened yet. Work smart and don’t panic.

The other side of this is the “oh shit’ers”. These webmasters are re working their entire networks of gay porn to follow a well-established method of softcore only. Make them Pay for the Meat! They are reacting by taking down all hardcore images from their sites in order NOT to stir up any government dirt. Well as far as I’m concerned, they should have been doing this to begin with… sell the hardcore to members don’t give it away on a free site. For this, group the panic is on.

Finally I spoke with the “fuck ’ems”. Now their idea isn’t that the government is suppressing the gay community. They look at this totally as a first amendment issue of freedom speech and expression. They use both hardcore and softcore to resell for webmaster programs and frankly, they feel that they will prevail over any government attack simply by way of Bill of Rights. They’re making money and they don’t care who knows about it.

What does this all mean? Well here’s my take…

First, it’s apparent that the opinions are just as varied as webmasters working the straight market.

There is a general feel of, don’t panic – more than I have seen with straight market webmasters. I honestly, think this comes from our years of battle against the government on many other issues. Until the rumors become fact we will move as we always have – then deal with what is concrete rather than the abstract.

Overall, the most resolute business people I have heard from, all said the same thing. If you use common sense, use methods that work and that do not go overboard there will be no need to panic. The hobbyist who is trying to make a million will leave out of fear, the “over the top” websites will be the target and those businesses run with common sense will continue with no major issues. I think my favorite statement to come out of these conversations is, “The government will bite, if you give them the bone. Don’t feed them and they go hungry.”

I see the same “proceed as usual” attitude out there, as I have always seen in the gay community. Deal with the facts and only and not rumors.

Once again, this is totally based on opinion and by no means a legal stance. If you have any doubts, concerns or questions about obscenity laws in your area or in general, please consult your attorney.

Article written by Gary-Alan