New to this Community

Ok ladies & gents, I have been in the adult industry for a year and have recently been bumped up to sponsor rep which includes ad and marketing services for my sponsors. My dilemma is that I am not familiar enough with the gay market to market those sponsors effectively. I also want to appeal more to this market and gain more Sponsors. So, tell me, what appeals to you? I've read in some threads and articles that gay webmasters and surfers don't want women on any of their sponsor's sites, in the content, in pop ups, etc. Is this the same for lesbian sponsors? Do male images or content put you off? What about services? Are you more likely to use hosting, mailers, and the like that have an obvious gay appeal or does it matter in those instances?

I am truly in the dark and need education in this area.

Thanks in advance. :bow:

Welcome Taboo Gal,

I don't have all the answers as I am a gay female, not a gay male, and preferences always differ. What I do know is that we all go by the idea 'what you do to others WILL be done to you'.

Just don't name-call, bully or anything of that nonsence stuff and I know you'll love it here. Basically just keep doing what you're doing, you've posted great so far. :groovy:

As far as what goes where... I think the gay men here will agree with me that exposed boobies anywhere near a gay site or sufer really turns them off. And yes, it is the same for the lesbian market. (just reversed. :grin:

yours truely,

Thanks, SheDevil! :)

Anyone else have advice?

for starters you have definitely come to the right place since GaryAlan was the foundation that the gay industry was built on. (*thats why I dont tip him ) hehehe - dont want the industry to crash on me.

How can I best describe the gay market (*oh and dont call it a niche please)

It is as a rainbow with a variety of persons - sometimes there is more drama than Jerry - but for as much drama there is love. People I know in the industry such as found here are family - my soul would be incomplete without them.

If your only interested in how to market to the gay webmaster then simply put - be yourself. Read , read , read. Welcome aboard and feel free to contact me if you need anything. I hope you have icq??

Thanks, TheLegacy! :)

I couldn't survive without ICQ, could you? ;) 123646515

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Originally posted by TheLegacy
It is as a rainbow with a variety of persons - sometimes there is more drama than Jerry - but for as much drama there is love. People I know in the industry such as found here are family - my soul would be incomplete without them.

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A rainbow you say? Hmmmm, what a great idea. Someone should make a flage out of that. Something that says, "I am proud of my diversity", yes, that's it. Pride! a... a... Pride Flag!!! Yes! What a great idea! :grin:

would that make this an openly gay Rooster?!

http://www.lonvig.dk/lisboan-rooster-rainbow.jpg

lmao.. that was the laugh I needed today shedevil.. thanx..

kelloges cereal would be proud of you

You all are too funny! :grin:

Welcome taboo-gal!

There is a lot to know about the gay market. As TheLegacy said read read read and when in doubt, ask. You'll always get an honest answer here that is comes from experience, not towing a line ;)

As to your questions, including women in a gay tour or content section can have adverse effects. From experience, I had a bi sexual set (male, male, female) added by mistake once and the nasty emails flowed. Thought I would have lost half of my members LOL I had a client who added a magazine plug in that had some really great articles for men but there were images of women in undies... they lost a lot of members before they took it out on my request - cancellations stopped at that point. Now in the real world I know many gya men who are not phased by a woman in under wear but for some reason... put it in a member site and POW!

Now there has been a lot be said recently about cross selling links on a console (or anywhere). Again, from experience, cross selling gay on a straight site seems to be quite effective. Cross-selling straight on a gay site seems to be a waste. I'll share the statistcs I've accumulated in an upcoming article ;) Gotta save some of it for the site LOL

Hope this helps some. Always remember, when you need to know something ask. We're a geat community here with heaps of experience in various aspects of the industry. There is always someone here who will have an answer for you.

Again, WELCOME!

My best,
Gary-Alan

Thank you, Gary-Alan!

The responses I've gotten so far are packed full of good info. You've all been very willing to lend your advice and that is appreciated.

Thanks again!

:bow:

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Originally posted by taboo_gal
Ok ladies & gents, I have been in the adult industry for a year and have recently been bumped up to sponsor rep which includes ad and marketing services for my sponsors. My dilemma is that I am not familiar enough with the gay market to market those sponsors effectively. I also want to appeal more to this market and gain more Sponsors. So, tell me, what appeals to you? I've read in some threads and articles that gay webmasters and surfers don't want women on any of their sponsor's sites, in the content, in pop ups, etc. Is this the same for lesbian sponsors? Do male images or content put you off? What about services? Are you more likely to use hosting, mailers, and the like that have an obvious gay appeal or does it matter in those instances?

I am truly in the dark and need education in this area.

Thanks in advance. :bow:

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Taboo_gal, first off welcome.

I took a look at your website to try to figure out what you are selling and what your questions are geared towards, from what I can guess you are trying to sell an affiliate program and not actually sell porn. So to answer your question, when selling your type of service you should not concern yourself with the sexual preference of your clients, instead you should focus on what your service will do and how it will improve the life of the webmaster and also how it would make them more money.

Personally, my main concern when looking for business-related services is what they offer and how I will benefit given the additional costs. For instance, I do not specifically go to a billing company that is gay run, just one that is reliable, affordable and offers me value for money. On that thread, notice that ccbill, ibill etc are not trying to be sexual at all, either straight or gay!

Am I on the right track here or not?


cheers,

Luke

Hi, Luke. :) You are on the right track and have answered part of my question concerning service based business. I'll elaborate a bit on what we do. We are a network, like ARS, only we do not produce our own sites. We provide affiliate software and help manage and market the programs that use our software. Within management, we do affiliate acquisition. Therefore, we are trying to sell our Sponsor's programs as well as trying to get more Sponsor's in our network, so I am interested in appealing to the markets my Sponsors and webmasters are a part of. Make sense?

:bow:

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Originally posted by Chilihost
Taboo_gal, first off welcome.

I took a look at your website to try to figure out what you are selling and what your questions are geared towards, from what I can guess you are trying to sell an affiliate program and not actually sell porn. So to answer your question, when selling your type of service you should not concern yourself with the sexual preference of your clients, instead you should focus on what your service will do and how it will improve the life of the webmaster and also how it would make them more money.

Personally, my main concern when looking for business-related services is what they offer and how I will benefit given the additional costs. For instance, I do not specifically go to a billing company that is gay run, just one that is reliable, affordable and offers me value for money. On that thread, notice that ccbill, ibill etc are not trying to be sexual at all, either straight or gay!

Am I on the right track here or not?


cheers,

Luke

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I think I understand, you do not do anything with the design or content of the websites themselves, and you would not produce the marketing materials for the websites either...and affiliate webmasters would go directly to the site owners for assistance and getting their (non-billing) questions sorted?

If that is the case, I really don't think that you should concern yourself with sexuality. I believe yours would be very similar to a billing company where you should be presenting your company as a professional company that is a valuable asset to all types of websites that use affiliates, including but not limited to adult sites. Maybe it would be something like commission junction?

cheers,

Luke

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Chilihost
I think I understand, you do not do anything with the design or content of the websites themselves, and you would not produce the marketing materials for the websites either...and affiliate webmasters would go directly to the site owners for assistance and getting their (non-billing) questions sorted?

You are correct in that we do not do design or content, but we do help market their sites. We also co-manage the affiliate program. Thus, we act as a liason (basically an account manager) between the Sponsor and the affiliate. Any questions are filtered through us and we pass issues we do not deal with (mainly billing matters as we do not do 3rd party billing) directly to the Sponsor. Some of our Sponsors are more involved than others. It really depends upon their level of expertise with the affiliate program and/or the time they have to devote to it. This is the reason for my interest.

If that is the case, I really don't think that you should concern yourself with sexuality. I believe yours would be very similar to a billing company where you should be presenting your company as a professional company that is a valuable asset to all types of websites that use affiliates, including but not limited to adult sites. Maybe it would be something like commission junction?

We are very much like Commission Junction only we offer program management and marketing services in addition to affiliate acquisition and payment. Catering our network to the mainstream is something we do not forsee doing, however. Commission Junction, BeFree (both now ValueClick) and LinkShare have the market cornered in mainstream affiliate networks, and thus, we feel the market is too saturated at this point to compete effectively in that arena. We do sell our affiliate software to mainstream and have been doing so since 1998, only we do not offer the management and marketing we currently provide to our adult clientele.

I understand this is a fairly new concept in adult and I definitely appreciate your questions and taking the time to offer your insight. :bow:

Hey TG, glad to see you here. It was good meeting you in Vegas. Good luck with your new position!

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Originally posted by RainGurl
Hey TG, glad to see you here. It was good meeting you in Vegas. Good luck with your new position!

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Hi, Rainey! :)

Thanks for the welcomes and good wishes. It was a pleasure meeting you as well.

taboo_gal, what you are venturing into is very very interesting indeed...the more you write about it the more interested I am becoming :D

I understand now why you would need expertise in the different market niches...it would add true value to your services.

cheers,

Luke

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Originally posted by Chilihost
taboo_gal, what you are venturing into is very very interesting indeed...the more you write about it the more interested I am becoming :D

I understand now why you would need expertise in the different market niches...it would add true value to your services.

cheers,

Luke

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Thanks again for your questions and insight, hun. I hope you enjoyed the beach. :)