How many gay webmasters/affiliates left ?

[Huskyhunks]

I was wondering how many gay webmasters and potential affilates are still left out there. It occurs to me that even the larger aen's have just a handful of active webmasters making sites, judging from the linklists.

If the pool is shrinking, is anyone turning to unconventional forms of marketing or even trying to recruit from the non adult side ?

[desslock]

I was wondering how many gay webmasters and potential affilates are still left out there. It occurs to me that even the larger aen's have just a handful of active webmasters making sites, judging from the linklists.

If the pool is shrinking, is anyone turning to unconventional forms of marketing or even trying to recruit from the non adult side ?

I am very surprised at the comparatively small number of webmasters using affiliate programs.... compared to the non adult side. Over there webmasters are a dime a dozen. It is even more strange in that the adult side is so much more lucrative and less competitive.

Or maybe there are a lot more then it seems. I do not know, because I've never been on the operations side of an affiliate program... Or maybe there's tons doing straight adult, but not gay.

Of course, maybe I shouldn't complain too much....

Steve

[Chilihost]

don't worry, Charles, there is a new webmaster starting up every day :wtf:

cheers,
Luke

[Huskyhunks]

Hi Desslock and Chilihost. thanks for responding.

Chilihost, I'm sure there's newbies every day, but not sure that helps out many webmasters, there's so much to learn at first, they're productivity would probably be alot less than an established webmaster.

Desslock, maybe webmasters don't have affiliate programs because there's just not enough affiliates out there to make an impact on sales. With the big affiliate programs, the sites are secondary to the program. They work more like pyramid schemes than adult sites but hey, wave enough money and the webmasters will come.

[basschick]

most gay programs don't even try to get affiliates from the str8 side. and there are plenty of str8 webmasters out there, many with gay traffic.

there are also new review sites popping up every day, plus established review sites that may not have your site. and review traffic is beautiful. and don't forget blog webmasters! they have plenty of search engine traffic, so if a program makes a good connection with a gay porn blog, there is traffic to be had!

i don't like working with mainstream webmasters. almost all the really creepy problems we had were with non adult affiliates. they break more laws, break more rules, and just plain don't get marketing adult. but that may be just me.

I was wondering how many gay webmasters and potential affilates are still left out there. It occurs to me that even the larger aen's have just a handful of active webmasters making sites, judging from the linklists.

If the pool is shrinking, is anyone turning to unconventional forms of marketing or even trying to recruit from the non adult side ?

[HotMaleVideos]

As a potential affiliate, it'd be nice to have some more central places to find new program announcements rather than sifting through directories and overactive forums.

Either I'm too lazy to find them, or they're not advertising enough. I'm not sure which. I'm not very involved in networking, though. Most new folks aren't. ARE there good places to find new gay program announcements? I'm always on the market for more.

[Huskyhunks]

Hi Basschick and HotMaleVideos,

Basschick, I always wondered why gay webmasters don't go after straight webmasters as affiliates. The lines are so blurred in sexuality, there's got to be alot of curious people on both sides. I've always kept my adult business seperate from my non adult life. It seems to work better for me like that. Review sites are great sources of long term traffic. They are very consistent traffic wise.

HotMaleVideos,

I know what you mean about sifting through multiple sources to find good solid information on adult. There are great resources sites and forums like GWW and a couple of other magazine type sites, but by and large, there still isn't an xbiz or avn type site for the gay side. I tried one last year, then the 2257 bombed dropped and I didn't have a clue as how to proceed with such uncertainty in the business. I'd like to bring it together again, news, press releases, announcements, webmaster and business profiles, stuff like that on the gay side without a forum. Sometimes subjective opinions aren't needed, just good business information and that's it.

[Huskyhunks]

I would like to add that the new Gayvn.com looks very promising.

[tigermom]

I have only done adult for 3-4 months now, and gay adult for under a month, and here's my take on things so far, for what it's worth.

It does look like there are a lot more smaller scale paysites in the gay adult market. What I'm seeing is fewer large networks and more smaller networks with 1-5 sites on their portfolio. The good thing is that most of them us CCBill so signing up isn't much of a hassle, but I do feel they will be harder to promote in terms of their money worth to the end client. Let me try and explain.

When I sell a subscription to MILF Hunter of the College Fuck Tour, I am telling my visitor that for $30-$40 a month (usually with cheap trials too), he'll be getting access to about 20 quality sites with original content and lots of it. Pushing a smaller site or network means I'll be selling them a subscription that costs $15-$20 a month for 1-3 sites. They pay half, but get about one fifth, at best. Also, for me as a revshare affiliate, the money per sale is less than it is with the big program (say, 50% of $20 as opposed to 50%-65% of $40). This is why I prefer to sign up with larger programs, altough I do make exceptions for niches.

Bottom line is, it feels to me like the gay paysites are more dispersed, and hence less webmasters would rush out to promote them. When I ask for references to good sponsors for my sites, I get a long list of small sponsors that sell relatively cheap subscriptions. My effort at bringing visitors to the page is the same, and my traffic is top quality SE traffic, so I would rather work with larger sponsors, more expensive subscriptions that also provide more worth for the user's money.

The end result is that if webmasters start a new program for a niche, I won't hurry to sign up. If others do the same maths, it might be one reason why the smaller programs don't get that many affiliates promoting them.

On another note, it's possible that str8 male webmasters (and I assume about 80% of adult webmasters, and webmasters in general, are male), may be too homophobic (openly or subconsciously to promote gay sites). I think some of them might have an issue with coming up with erotic/sexy text for a gay site. I know my husband would have that problem, as would other guys I talked to, so I assume others share a similar problem.

[basschick]

tigermom - there are plenty of small, hard to find str8 programs. and sometimes that's where i find the best sites to promote within a niche, just like with gay sites.

a webmaster who has devoted his life to a single niche will know MUCH more about that niche and his site will often offer more than just pics or vids of an activity or lifestyle. i've seen spanking sites that tell the history of corporal punishment in the military, in school, they include newspaper clippings and other stuff. when you join a site like that, it has a wonderfully personal feel to it to help keep enthusiasts involved.

but a webmaster like that - having devoted his time to finding models, shooting the content, editing the video, correcting the pics, making and updating his site probably doesn't have the time to really get to know the webmaster side of things nor will he have the best ideas for promotion of his site. he has no idea what kinds of tours sell, nor what to include in the tours. even so, these sites usually sell pretty well.

i spend hours every week looking for sites like that to review and to promote myself. i check with google, i check with link lists, i check at the bottom of other obscure websites in the same niche.

the catch with these smaller programs is that they have a tendancy to have a lot more traffic leaks or to pay a percentage that's too small for me to bother with. on the other hand, if they see you make them some sales, they are often ready to listen when you suggest a higher percentage and a leak-free tour for affiliates.

[tigermom]

a webmaster who has devoted his life to a single niche will know MUCH more about that niche and his site will often offer more than just pics or vids of an activity or lifestyle. i've seen spanking sites that tell the history of corporal punishment in the military, in school, they include newspaper clippings and other stuff. when you join a site like that, it has a wonderfully personal feel to it to help keep enthusiasts involved.

That's true of course. Though, such one-site sponsors may lack the expertise of the bigger players in getting good converting tours. Also, as I said, it's a matter of how much they can charge for the program.

Point in case, I am about to start a black gay site and still thinking about which sites to promote. I have signed up with with several smaller niche sites, but when I see they charge $10 a month, I'm thinking, maybe I should go with some major sponsor like Platinum Bucks or Top Bucks. Sure, their sites may not be the product of real niche fans, but they are professional, they sell a package of gay sites to the end user and charge accordingly. Hence, I will be making $20 per sale, instead of $5 per sale... That counts...

[nomad0023]

I have just opened an affiliate program for my new site twinkguy.com, its a 50% deal I use verotel right now. Its only been open a few days, but I think a few major gay directories are going to pick it up. But its really allot harder now days, most gay directories have gone to listing 50-80% of their own sites

[basschick]

yeah, but guess what - if the site from the big program converts 1/3 as well or worse, and then doesn't pay you for joins from most countries (many bigger programs don't) AND if the smaller site has good content and lots of updates, you could make more even if they charge only $14.95.

even if you only make $5 per month on that site, if it rebills an average of 2 times (for a total of $15 per member to you) and it sells twice as well, you break even with platinumbucks. if it sells a little better, or retains better, you will actually make more.

and you can ask them to make a second tour and charge more.

or you could ask for recommendations to other black sites where the prices are higher so you can share more money on the revshare. http://diesellive.com comes to mind...

nomad0023, what makes you think gay directories will "pick it up"? you don't have recips up - have you been asking them to promote your revshare program?

That's true of course. Though, such one-site sponsors may lack the expertise of the bigger players in getting good converting tours. Also, as I said, it's a matter of how much they can charge for the program.

Point in case, I am about to start a black gay site and still thinking about which sites to promote. I have signed up with with several smaller niche sites, but when I see they charge $10 a month, I'm thinking, maybe I should go with some major sponsor like Platinum Bucks or Top Bucks. Sure, their sites may not be the product of real niche fans, but they are professional, they sell a package of gay sites to the end user and charge accordingly. Hence, I will be making $20 per sale, instead of $5 per sale... That counts...

[nomad0023]

Well really just for them to join my affiliate program and promote the site. I have been working with most of them for over 5 years now you know. My program is really brand new less than 5 days old now, so I am sure I will get better at presenting it as I go along. I really did work along time to create my site and have most of the top content now, I only have around 5 more content service on my list I wanted to add. Did you not like the site, really to tell the truth I don’t get to take to other webmasters very much

[basschick]

i don't like the site, but that doesn't matter. what does matter is all i see in the tour seems to be plugins - if you DO have content, the tour certainly doesn't make that clear.

do you have movies and pics on your own server?

Well really just for them to join my affiliate program and promote the site. I have been working with most of them for over 5 years now you know. My program is really brand new less than 5 days old now, so I am sure I will get better at presenting it as I go along. I really did work along time to create my site and have most of the top content now, I only have around 5 more content service on my list I wanted to add. Did you not like the site, really to tell the truth I don’t get to take to other webmasters very much