Free sites VS Galleries? which one would,,,,,,,,,,,

[Derek]

Free sites VS Submitting Galleries? which one would you recomend to a newbie to begin with?

[Lee]

Well to me, free sites are easier to market but hard to get traffic to whereas on the other hand tgps are harder to markt but easier to get traffic to

Its really a catch .22 situation and i guess it will depend on the webmasters current abilities.

Regards,

Lee

[Dzinerbear]

Excuse me for being so stupid, but what are you all considering a free site?

Is this content you're purchasing and giving away, or you're talking about a hosted gallery from a sponsor like Randy Blue?

Cheers
Dzinerbear

[Jasun]

I make free sites, and yeah, it's purchased content that you give away, for lack of a better word. You make separate pages for galleries, individual pages for the images, and cover them with ads for your products.

I find that TGPs get massive amounts of short lived traffic, and the conversin rate on that is pathetic. I'll get 10,000 visits to a gallery in a couple days, i'll get 300 unique visits to my sponsor's site, and my conversion rate is abysmal. Then the traffic pretty much slows down to a trickle. you can get sales from two year old galleries, but it's so rare, it's the kind of thing you tell your friends about.

With free sites, there's a bit more work involved, but in my experience, you get less traffic to the site, but I higher percentage continues on to your sponsor's site, and the conversion ratio is a LOT better. As are the rebills from free sties vs. galleries. And the traffic lasts for a lot longer.

But to answer the original question, I'd start with TGPs, because they're so much easier, and then i'd go to free sites.

Try making a few and sending us the links... there's a lot of great suggestions I've gotten from the people here.

[basschick]

Jasun - i convert gallery traffic very well, actually.

a lot of people never seem to learn to convert with their galleries, but on the other hand, since a free site is basically several galleries with connecting pages, if your galleries don't convert on tgp traffic, they won't convert THAT much better with free site listings.

i think starting with galleries can help you learn faster. also a person who really listens can start making money from day 1 or 2. but a lot of people have trouble and those people seem to do better with free sites. they certainly spend less on bandwidth.

[Gary-Alan]

Originally posted by basschick
Jasun - i convert gallery traffic very well, actually.

bass I have to say that is an understatement LOL

I know very few who convert those galleries as well as you - if not anyone who can do it as well as you

GA

[Chilihost]

once again, why chose? do this instead:
-make a free site with 4 content pages of 15 pics each + a page to connect all the galleries + a warning/splash page.
-submit the free site warning/splash page to as many linklists as you can (include their recips as required)
-take the 4 content pages and submit those as tgp galleries over the next 4 days
-repeat every 4 days!


cheers,
Luke

[gel]

Originally posted by Dzinerbear
Excuse me for being so stupid, but what are you all considering a free site?

Is this content you're purchasing and giving away, or you're talking about a hosted gallery from a sponsor like Randy Blue?

Cheers
Dzinerbear

Go to http://www.link-o-rama.com and look around.


Like Luke said why choose do them both.

For me they seem to make about the same amount of money. TGPs have more traffic but are less productive, freesites have less traffic but are more productive.

Both should be elements in your submission strategy.

[basschick]

Luke - i don't recommend both to newbs, and i don't recommend just taking off and continuing. the reason? because generally the first few galleries or sites one makes aren't very good - but for some reason, they look really good to someone who's never made one before.

also newbs generally treat their first free site either like a piece of shit or like they're making the most important website that ever existed.

mostly they use massive amounts of time and effort to make their first free site - and the site has no flow, gives away too much content, and isn't a cohesive site. generally these first free sites are VERY graphics-heavy, and the graphics are not good quality.

probably a good idea to make one gallery or one free site, then get some critiques.

[graphicsbytia]

Originally posted by basschick
Luke - i don't recommend both to newbs, and i don't recommend just taking off and continuing. the reason? because generally the first few galleries or sites one makes aren't very good - but for some reason, they look really good to someone who's never made one before.

also newbs generally treat their first free site either like a piece of shit or like they're making the most important website that ever existed.

mostly they use massive amounts of time and effort to make their first free site - and the site has no flow, gives away too much content, and isn't a cohesive site. generally these first free sites are VERY graphics-heavy, and the graphics are not good quality.

probably a good idea to make one gallery or one free site, then get some critiques.

good advice basschick :thumbsup:

[jIgG]

if you do TGPs and you're on paid hosting watch out for your bandwith. make sure you have enough or you can go over your monthly limit real fast

[basschick]

jIgG, very true!

[Chilihost]

basschick, you are a wise one! thanks for pointing that out. Derek, please feel free to post your first sites or galleries here, you will get lots of feedback which will help you.


cheers,
Luke