New Member w/ Dumb Question...

[dane534]

Hi -- My name is Dan. I'm a new member here but not really a newbie since I've been dabbling as a gay webmaster for the past 2+ years.

I never knew this forum existed! Glad I found you guys -- I figure there is no better place to stay connected.

Actually, I ran into this site when searching a particular problem I've had lately...

About 75-90 days ago, my sales plummeted ...drastically! Strange thing is, I have just revamped a stagnant blog and it is now receiving nearly 15x the traffic ... but sales seem to be getting worse the more traffic it gets!!! I can't figure it out! My sales are now far lower than ever before (even this past summer was MUCH better).

I had to actually check my "click stats" to make sure that my links weren't screwed up. Unfortunately (or fortunately) my links are fine ... with some sites getting 1000s of clicks without generating a single sale?!?

Looking back, my biggest sellers from the past have been from Gunzblazing, JockCash, PrideBucks ... and CCBill sites (Sean Cody, Randy Blue, Jake Cruise, UK Naked Men, NY Straight Men, Men at Play, Buk Buddies, Chaos Men, etc.). And I have started marketing several promising new websites during the past couple of months (with lousy results as well).

A moderator from another webmaster forum informed me that paysite sales were probably just down because of the economy ... and told me to switch to free memberships or $1 membership sites until things pick up.

Do you guys agree? Have you been experiencing the same thing?

I just have a hard time believing that the sites mentioned above are dying off. I don't see their Alexa ratings changing (but it may be too early to tell).

Okay -- enough of my ramblings! I'm confused and frustrated ... any ideas???

[basschick]

yes, sales are down for most people to some degree or another, but from your description you may have other issues.

first off, you say you started marketing other websites with poor results. have you clicked from your blog to their tours and made sure that the join page is fair to affiliates? i've seen a lot of smaller sites recently with various issues.

first off, some sites have some of the links in their tour that don't seem to carry the ccbill or epoch cookies through to the join page. sometimes it's a legitimate mistake, but either way affiliates don't get credit. make sure the link from your site carries your affiliate code all the way.

second, check to see if the sponsors have multiple billers on their join page. if the affiliate program is through ccbill but the primary biller on the page is epoch or verotel, you won't be seeing many sales - very, very few.

then there's the join page itself. does it work? don't laugh - i recently reviewed a site for a client that it was impossible to join. there are some sites with terrible join pages that turn away traffic.

it's harder to sell the bigger gay sites because they're so very overexposed. i'm reading on other boards of people with ratios of over 1:2000 for some of them, even though they're very good sites.

and ask yourself this - where is your traffic coming from and what is it looking for. you say you're getting tons more traffic, but is it compatible with your sponsors? you may be getting traffic from blogs and other sites where the surfers are looking for free stuff - and they'll click to your sponsors, but are very unlikely to buy. or your main search engine listings may have changed in order so you're listed just below a similar site that markets the same sponsor sites - i've seen how badly that can affect sales.

i take it you checked to make sure that what you're writing is relevant to what the surfers are finding on the sponsor sites.

honestly there are SO many things it could be! i once had sales go way down on one of my best sponsors and it turned out they had accidentally through a script issue put a pic of a 19 year old girl sucking cock on their gay and older lady sites with some text about teen girls on it. when i emailed them, they fixed the issue, but apparently didn't check themselves even though sales had dropped.

honestly my sales haven't changed much in the last 6 months - i'd consider fresher sponsors and also removing the ones that aren't selling at all. there are hundreds of sponsors out there - there's no reason to send traffic to ones that don't convert your traffic.

[Lee]

Also, dont forget, 3 months ago we were firmly in the period knnown as the summer slowdown, apparently lots of affiliates see a decline in sales during this period of the year, now we're heading in towards the holiday season and sales will start to slow for the next couple of months also then pick up in the New Year.

Of course, the current economic status in the U.S isnt going to help things but there are factors at play other than just that you need to take in to account, including those that Patti mentioned above.

Regards,

Lee

[dane534]

basschick & Lee ... thanks for your help! I'm currently checking my site for all the potential "issues" that could be causing the problem...

One thing I have noticed is how the "bigger gay sites" dominate my blog. It looks like I haven't been marketing the "new" sites nearly enough. Seems like about 95% of my blog highlights the big guys ... with the new sites added here and there. I suppose that is because a lot of the bigger sites offer glossier webmaster content (with all the bells and whistles)! And because they update several times a week...

Also -- I must have been working too long and hard (brain-fart) ... because sales actually dropped off the beginning or middle of August, not 75-90 days ago. More like 45-60 days ago ...

So most of the summer was okay for me ... then sales drastically slowed in August :rain: and have been getting worse ever since.

[Bec]

Just waving hi and saying welcome to the GWW forum.

[HunkyLuke]

maybe its time to get some fresh sponsors on your sites, give your surfers something new to tempt them into joining. And going with smaller sponsors will give you a fresh new set of sites that are not over-exposed. I would love to see you signup to HunkMoney and try out some or all of our 23 sites, currently GayXXXOrgy and HunkExclusives are both doing extremely well, or if you have rougher traffic I would recommend AnalDiscipline or RealBareback.

cheers,
Luke

[RDude_BBMasters]

Welcome to GWW! I'm a newbie to the board too. Webmaster for about the same time as yourself, and now affiliate rep for Bareback Masters.

I've been experiencing the same thing actually as an affiliate with my blogs. This weekend was better for me than the last few prior, but still not great. Hope things pick up for you.

This is some great advice from Basshchick, Lee, and Luke. They know their stuff. Thanks guys!

I think I may have to revamp my sponsors as well. Hmmmm.

[basschick]

although this isn't about blogs so much, i've usually converted much better with lesser known or newer sites. well, except for the ones that REALLY suck.

in all seriousness, your blogs, freesites, galleries and avs sites will be listed in lists of similar sites no matter where they're listed - link lists, other blogs, search engines. and if you use a bigger sponsor, chances are that at least several other sites, blogs or galleries in the same niche or other niches will use the same sponsor. not only that, but chances are the surfer has seen that same sponsor on sites or galleries many sites. not so with a fresh or lesser known site. you could be the only one on the listing to have them. as long as they're relevant to your site or post, and they don't - as mentioned - suck in some ways, you should see a lot more sales than with the big over-exposed sponsor.

btw, sucking can mean anything from a tour that only has a link to the join page on the upper left of the page and nowhere else to a "tour" with only one pic and no explanation on it to pics that have NOTHING to do with the niche to join pages with 2 processors.

[RDude_BBMasters]

More good points. Wow, this place is a wealth of information indeed.

[badboysfilms]

I have been trying to make sales for some time better, I have been a adult webmaster for many years and sad to say I still just don't make enough bucks. Here is my new site can anyone please look it over and tell me what maybe wrong. Well also it is only a couple weeks old. But I working on it but really need to know if this will convert. The site is ManStay.com

[dane534]

I just wanted to say thanks again for all the great advice/info I received. I have been marketing the smaller sites more and sales have indeed increased (both for the new smaller sites and the old established ones).

Sales still aren't close to what they were a few months ago ... but at least things are getting better!

[RDude_BBMasters]

I have been trying to make sales for some time better, I have been a adult webmaster for many years and sad to say I still just don't make enough bucks. Here is my new site can anyone please look it over and tell me what maybe wrong. Well also it is only a couple weeks old. But I working on it but really need to know if this will convert. The site is ManStay.com

Hello there. I like your site and think the vertically scrolling thumbs are pretty cool. However, I also have a fairly fast connection, and so it works well for me. That may not be the case for some people, and perhaps why some don't stick around to enter the site. Just a suggestion.

I haven't signed up for your affiliate program, but do you have a lot of content available for affiliates to promote you? That really helps in the long run.

These are just my suggestions. And I'm not a sponsor, just an affiliate manager. So I have an idea of what affiliates are looking for when it comes to promoting.

Again...it's a cool looking site and the men are gorgeous. Hope things pick up for you.