Input needed on fetish site relaunch

[gaybucks_chip]

Hey, all...

We've run a foot fetish website (boysfeetclub.com) for the past 18 months and are finishing up a redesign of the site.

We've been waiting for the new site design, as the old one was, frankly, pretty crappy, before starting to aggressively develop affiliates.

We know that the site converts well because even with a poor design and few affiliates, it's done quite well for us. I'm curious about a couple of things:

Pricing: Right now, it's at $15/month with various discounts for longer terms. It seems that most of the other sites in the same market are around the same price, but I don't think they focus much on affiliates either. Does it make sense to price higher to make a more attractive affiliate payout, or stay at a price point similar to competitive sites?

Traffic: We know that a surprising number of gay men have foot fetishes, yet it's not easy to get fetish-specific traffic. Any thoughts on particular traffic sources we should consider?

Affiliate development: Any particular suggestions or strategies on finding affiliates who will have traffic appropriate to this sort of site?

[BDBionic]

Chip,
I think the foot fetish is common enough to be able to convert fairly well even when the traffic source isn't particularly related to feet.

I know I'm totally raping the numbers here but for arguments sake alone...

say you have 1000 surfers. A twink sponsor promoted from a twink affiliate would still be doing quite well for themselves to convert 10 of those 1000 surfers. 1:100 assuming all 1000 were potentially interested.

Now... say 200 of those 1000 surfers have a thing for feet. Does that mean you'd stay around 1:100 and thus only convert 2 sales? Naw. I'd venture to guess that out of those 200 interested in feet among the original 1000, you'd see considerably better conversion. 1:50. 1:25. 1:20.

While the fetish on the one hand doesn't the least bit appeal to those not at all interested, it appeals that much more to those who are interested. Appeals somewhat even to those who are curious. Of those that do clickthru, conversion will be good enough to make up for those that never wanted to click in the first place.

That your particular foot site has such hot boys that have proven themselves to have great appeal and be extremely popular on your twink site? Keeps things looking that much better and opportunity for conversion that much greater.


I, for instance, promote two watersports sites on my site. My traffic is not watersports traffic. The absolute only thing on my entire damn site that has anything at all to do with watersports are the banners and galleries that go through to the watersports sites. There's no watersports search engine traffic. None of my link exchange partners are watersports sites. Beyond those 2 sponsors, there's not a speck of pee anywhere else on the site.

But those 2 watersports sites convert great. They get 1/10th of the clickthrus of other sponsors but convert 10 times better than most other sponsors. At the end of the day they are two of my highest revenue generating sponsors.

Why? Because although 6 out of 10 of my surfers go "EW!" and get the hell away fast as they can, 3 outta 10 are curious enough to go "Hrmmm" and 1 outta 10 are like "Fuck yeah!" and can't get enough of it.

Get your existing BoyFunk and BoySecrets affiliates - who have experienced first hand just how well your sites convert - to give BoysFeetClub a try. I think your conversion, regardless of traffic source, will be quite good.

As for the pricepoint... I always say... $15 might as well be $20

What's 5 bucks to a dedicated fetishist? If your content and update schedule can justify that, go for it. If the idea of charging 5 bucks more than anyone else spooks ya and you can swallow doing so, consider kicking up your payout percentage to a number that still nets you an amount you like and make it that much more worth promoting to affiliates.

My 2 cents

[Dzinerbear]

Hey brian, good analysis. I enjoyed that. Seriously, being a niche-specific guy here, I found it useful to follow along. I love these kinds of threads. Good learning. And BTW, it was great to finally meet you in Vegas. I always thought you were skinny (hard to tell in avatars) but you've got some girth.

anyway, let's get back to pee.
dzinerbear

[BDBionic]

I haven't been skinny since... I've never been skinny. My momma fed me 8) Don't forget I've played rugby for 16 years. Skinny people get broken out there.

[BDBionic]

Originally posted by Dzinerbear


anyway, let's get back to pee.
dzinerbear

I should throw a disclaimer in to my pee comparison.
The watersports sites I mentioned above are twink and college boy watersports sites. The site I promote them from is a twink and college boy-oriented site. So since the guys on the watersports site fall in to the same age demographic as what my surfers like, they do well.

I couldn't, for example, promote HotDesertKnights.com's watersports content on it because those guys just aren't the same age and look that my surfers like.

I couldn't promote a bear foot site on it because the surfers don't want bears. They want twinks and college boys.

So as long as it has guys the surfers like, it'll convert well regardless of what they're doing.

So Chip, don't worry about having to find foot sites to promote your foot site. Since it's twink feet... I'm sure you'd do extremely well with BoysFeetClub.com off of any twink traffic source.