the growth curve of a new site?

[xenigo]

This is a general question, and the answer applies differently to every site - I'm aware of this. But it's still a question that I need to ask, because I need to understand what kind of growth to expect in the beginning phases of a paysite's existance. I run GhettoThugs.com which is a brand new gay ebony site, and I'm submitting galleries daily in an attempt to give my traffic the bump it needs. I shoot all of my content myself, and I have a unique style unlike anything short of a hip-hop magazine. I know people like my product, judging by the search queries I see in my stats - the query "ghettothugs.com" comes up quite frequently, and I also see Yahoo email referrer links as well which indicates people are emailing eachother with my site URL. I get a decent volume of SE traffic.

In marketing there's a point of 'critical mass' when the market knows about your product, sees it daily, thinks about it... and when their all friends have it, and they don't, they feel a need to buy it - and that's their breaking point - they become your customer. I know the same principal is applied to paysite sales. I know there isn't any site that just busts out the gates and sales run rampant. But there is a point at which people see more consistent sales, and I know savvy paysite owners know of the saturation level you need to have to get to that point. I've worked hard at creating a product that I feel has enough mass appeal to become relatively successful. At what point down the line should I expect to see daily sales?

I want the advice of only those that run successful paysites. I understand that this information is something that may be sensitive to some, so if you don't feel comfortable saying on the boards - perhaps you'd be so kind as to email or ICQ, or call me directly. ICQ: 8231804, noah (at) serialmedia (dot) com, phone: (925)254.5075

[basschick]

actually i have seen sites that just bust out of the gate and start making sales. if you are not seeing daily sales, perhaps you should market your affiliate program. i like your site, although your join page could use a little information on it - which might really help.

also maybe if you spice up your text, it would help. your site is about thugs, but your text is pretty non-thug, if you see what i mean. here's an example:

"Being the sophisticated, sexy latino man Alessandro is naturally, we figured it would only be appropriate to shoot as much of him as we possibly could. This is why we spent nearly an entire day shooting 6 photo sets, and a solo video, for your viewing pleasure. We hope you enjoy."

what makes this guy a ghetto thug? he looks pretty GQ, so only your text can make him seem to be the THUG that your surfers want to see.

you have great content, and a nice site design. now just work your text so it's more GHETTO, and you're there! and if you do make the text changes, please post here - i'll send some hits

[desslock]

Well if he has an affiliate program, I don't see any mention of one on the front page.

Steve

[dalimili]

1. Get more models on your tour (either buy some additional content or shoot your own)

2. Try creating several "thug" AVS sites and upsell yours from there, this way you will have all people that come to your site with a CC and eliminate those that are just surfing for free pics

3. TGP's can be good source of quality traffic for some people, but I wouldn't bother with them too much as they are not the only source, altough it seems this way... 30,000 hits that don't buy anything are useless, while 400 quality hits could get your site going.... it's not all in the quantity of traffic

4. List your forum on some linklists, this will get you some traffic that might at first just chat, but later might become members

.....

[basschick]

go to the main page and at the bottom there is a link that says "webmasters".

dalimili - do you think the text on that tour would sell the average surfer looking for thugs from the ghetto? btw, regarding gallery traffic - i average 1 sale for every 5000 hits to a gallery. you can very easily get 4 - 6 sales per day to a gay site posting galleries if you know your stuff.

Well if he has an affiliate program, I don't see any mention of one on the front page.

Steve

[Lee]

Generally speaking, the calculations we use allow for a 10% growth month on month for a single site with a 50/50 affiliate program.

That is based on regular daily posting on a variety of boards about the program plus, instigating traffic trades on consoles with the programs we know and trust.

Of course, that 10% may differ for you depending on how many affiliates you have currently and, the traffic levels they are sending but, if you base it on a 10% growth factor, certainly for the next 3-6 months you should do okay.

We had a site a while back, nothing special, just a simple 1 page tour with a bunch of 'generic' content inside on a 50-50 basis that cleared 20k profit in its first 8 months but, i will say that took a lot of marketing to get it to that level.

Regards,

Lee

[dalimili]

go to the main page and at the bottom there is a link that says "webmasters".

dalimili - do you think the text on that tour would sell the average surfer looking for thugs from the ghetto? btw, regarding gallery traffic - i average 1 sale for every 5000 hits to a gallery. you can very easily get 4 - 6 sales per day to a gay site posting galleries if you know your stuff.

I have to say I'm never looking (paying attention) to text on site, unless it is extremly visible, so for me text is somewhat useless, unless it screams into my face.. so I really don't know how much text helps.

I only know that I'm missing more models on that tour... that would also help

As to tgp traffic... like I said, if you know how to do it, it can be extremly helpfull and bring lots of sales, but sometimes I'm just amazaed at some people who create "uniform or army" galleries and try to sell you Twink site or Celebrity site...