tour updates and their impact on joins

Lee mentioned in a thread that str8 sites didnt update the tours beyound the first 3-4 months...

so my question is does the updates on the tour really matter that much ? As long as you update the members area on a recycle basis of give one, take one.. that way the content will continue to be "fresh" for people joining for the first time during their rebills..

So if you dont update the tour the only joins you lose is the return customers right ? and how big a % are they with all the new sites popping up each and ever week, month and year..

input and debate wanted..

Just to clarify my comment in the other thread..

I didnt say *all* straight programs, i said a 'lot' LOL

I have some interesting views on this too so ill be back in a bit to post.. I need some food though first LOL

Regards,

Lee

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lee

Just to clarify my comment in the other thread..

I didnt say *all* straight programs, i said a 'lot' LOL

I have some interesting views on this too so ill be back in a bit to post.. I need some food though first LOL

Regards,

Lee

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hehe yea thats what i ment you said, sorry about the "misquote"

and look forward to hearing you points on this..

Okay, first and foremost, i think updates serve more than the reasons most webmasters think, they arent just updated to show the surfers that the sites update, they also get updated to show potential new affiliates that the sites update.

Updates themselves, have, imho, very little intrinsic value as to whether or not a surfer is going to join a site, as has already been mentioned, the amount of surfers who will come back to the same tour, week after week, or month after month to see if it is updating is nominal. If the surfer doesnt join the first time they hit the tour, chances of them ever joining are slim.

That being said, tour updates, especially on reality style tours can be a great marketing tool, for the program owner and also the affiliates *if* they are used correctly, more often than not however, tour updates all feature similar looking models, doing the same thing that all the other previous update models have done and that future update models will continue to do, IMHO this is a total waste of time and content.

To me, updating a tour on a regular basis should be done so that site owners can guage how well different looking models, scene scenarios and niches within the main niche work, for example, lets say you have a uniform site you should have a mixture of different uniform sub niches..

Soldiers
Sailors
Firemen
Cops
Shop Workers
Lifeguards
Etc

Then, over the course of the following few updates, you add (or take) a specific sub niche away from that list and wait and see how it effects your join ratio AND retention values.

You might find out that, even though you have a general uniform fetish site, you get more join when your tour features more military style content shoots, or more lifeguard style content shoots, etc, whereas if you just upodate with the same type of content over and over again, you are never going to be able to tweak your tour to maximize the revenue potentials of every surfer that hits your site.

Thats how a program owner can benefit from tour updates on reality style tours, as an affiliate, the benefits are the same as above in that you get to see *WHAT* your surfers interests are, if for example, this uniform site updates with a sailor set and your joins go through the roof, you now know to send your traffic to sites that feature *gasp* sailors on the tour, likewise, if you notice an increase in joins if the update featured a lifeguard, you send it to a site that features lifeguards on the tour, etc.

More than this though, you also have the abilithy to tell your surfers that *THIS SITE* does update its members area regularly with new content and THAT is a great sales tool.

The other advantage to running regular updates, especially if you are operating a site using exclusive content is that the content doesnt just have to be used on the tour, that content you are using for web usage, if it has video accompanying it, can also be put on to DVD and sold from within your members area, or given to a distributor and a product line can be put out in bricks and mortar stores.

Updates on their own, as i mentioned above, have very little to do with whether or not a surfer becomes a member to a specific site, updates with a purpose however, can be a great tool for the program owner and the affiliate, so long as they know how to utilize that tool.

Regards,

Lee

Updating our free area makes a HUGE impact on our sales.

I think it depends on what sort of site model you have. We run seriously boutique sites, and our former members tend to check into the front end often to see what new models we have.

If they like it (our current musclehunks update has been a KILLER for us) they rejoin.

Also, surfers tend to not be very impulsive anymore. I cant remember the study, but a surfer will visit your site X number of times before they pull out thier credit card. So, it boohoves any serious niche / boutique site to update the free area at least as often as they update the members content.