Adult Webmastering 101: Using Hosted Thumbs In The Sidebar Of Blogs

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  • Sarah_Jayne
    Now with more Jayne
    • Dec 2002
    • 40077

    #1

    Adult Webmastering 101: Using Hosted Thumbs In The Sidebar Of Blogs

    For the past year or so, I have ditched a lot of the banners on my blogs and replaced them in the sidebars with hosted thumbnails from sponsors.

    There are a number of reasons for this but the main one is that I have found that that my blog surfers simply don't click banners all that much. They are far more likely to click on text links or pictures. I suppose that makes sense because that is the general make up of a blog post - pictures and text links.

    I took out most of the banners and started sticking in thumbs and hosted thumbs in the sidebar and I found that my surfers started clicking.

    It really is amazingly easy to start using hosted sponsor thumbs in the sidebars of your blogs.

    The first thing I need to do when I decide to put hosted thumbs in my blog sidebar is to decide which site I am going to promote with these thumbs. In this example I will be working as if I am using these hosted thumbs on a ebony themed blog.

    So, I log into my Max Cash account and go to the hosted gallery section. Once I am there I use the pull down menu to decide which of the ebony themed sites I want to promote. I have decided to promote Ebony Porno on this blog.



    Once I am on the page that lists free hosted galleries for Ebony Porno I can see that each gallery has a matching hosted 88x88 thumb. This is the size of hosted thumb I am going to use in the sidebar. I simply take a look at a few of those thumbs until I find three (or whatever number you are going to use) I like the best.



    Then I just leave it open in another tab so I can have easy access to the url of the hosted thumb for Ebony Porno.



    Then I fire up Wordpress (that is the program I use and the most common) and go to the 'add link' area. For this example, please forgive the name of my category as I using an existing blog just to demonstrate.

    I then go grab my linking code for Ebony Porno and put it in the URL field on the "Add A Link" section of the page.



    Then I scroll down the "add a link" page to the advanced section. Once I am there I go back to the tab where I have the thumb open and copy and paste the url of the hosted thumb into the image url field. Then I click the 'Add Link' button.

    I then repeat this two more times until I have put all three of my hosted thumbs up on my blog.



    When I then load the main page of my blog the three thumbs look like this on the sidebar:



    You do have to play around with how these look in different wordpress themes because it looks better on some themes than they do on others. I also tend to maybe break them up a bit so rather than having all three in a cluster I might have two clusters of three in different link categories so that it doesn't just look like a wall of thumbs.

    You could link the hosted thumbs to the matching galleries but I bypass that and link directly to the paysite. Max Cash is fine with the hosted thumbs being used on their own like that and as blogs are my sites and I don't have to follow any outside rules. So, I don't feel bad about putting up a few blind thumbs like that and getting them to my sponsor.
  • Toreador
    Confirmed User
    • Apr 2005
    • 115

    #2
    Nice Sarah

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    Comment

    • Angie77
      Confirmed User
      • Aug 2007
      • 1356

      #3
      What a nice tutorial. That's sure to help someone out!
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      Comment

      • 2012
        So Fucking What
        • Jul 2006
        • 17189

        #4
        Nice tutorial. I think I might have to do that sometime.
        best host: Webair | best sponsor: Kink | best coder: 688218966 | Go Fuck Yourself

        Comment

        • Elli
          Reach for those stars!
          • Apr 2003
          • 17991

          #5
          Kickass tutorial! Thanks for taking the time, Sarah!
          email: [email protected]

          Comment

          • donborno
            Confirmed User
            • Jan 2007
            • 374

            #6
            Thanks Sarah

            Note: You should set up a campaign for the traffic you send to the sponsor this way

            Comment

            • Forkbeard
              Confirmed User
              • Feb 2002
              • 2236

              #7
              I've been using thumbs as banners for quite a while, and I concur that it's a winning strategy. In my head I think of them as "textless banners".

              However, with all due props to Sarah for her handy tutorial on using sponsor hosted thumbs, I think you might have better luck making and hosting the thumbs yourself (assuming you've got a sponsor who will let you -- and if you don't, you need a new one.)

              I find that making an eye-catching thumb is an art. Most sponsor thumbs range from "OK" down to "yuck" with very few "WOW" thumbs in the bunch. It's not so much the individual thumb that's a problem, it's the mass production angle. Whoever made your sponsor thumbs was probably making dozens or hundreds or thousands. They could settle for "pretty good", and had to, and did. You need 1-3 *SPECTACULAR* thumbs that are a good match for your site and your traffic. For that, you can afford to look through a hundred or a thousand pics and choose the best possible source material.

              Plus, even the best sponsor thumbs tend to be standard sizes. The textless banner thumb works best in a non-standard size. In a blog sidebar, that tends to mean taller than it is wide -- something that's rare in a sponsor thumb.

              I tend to use sizes like 150x250 and 100x200 -- tall and generous.
              Offering sponsored blog posts and custom writing services.

              Comment

              • Sarah_Jayne
                Now with more Jayne
                • Dec 2002
                • 40077

                #8
                Originally posted by donborno
                Thanks Sarah

                Note: You should set up a campaign for the traffic you send to the sponsor this way

                Yup, whenever you can track something new you are trying the better. With us, you can put sub-ids on the links and track that way.

                Comment

                • Sarah_Jayne
                  Now with more Jayne
                  • Dec 2002
                  • 40077

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Forkbeard
                  I've been using thumbs as banners for quite a while, and I concur that it's a winning strategy. In my head I think of them as "textless banners".

                  However, with all due props to Sarah for her handy tutorial on using sponsor hosted thumbs, I think you might have better luck making and hosting the thumbs yourself (assuming you've got a sponsor who will let you -- and if you don't, you need a new one.)

                  I find that making an eye-catching thumb is an art. Most sponsor thumbs range from "OK" down to "yuck" with very few "WOW" thumbs in the bunch. It's not so much the individual thumb that's a problem, it's the mass production angle. Whoever made your sponsor thumbs was probably making dozens or hundreds or thousands. They could settle for "pretty good", and had to, and did. You need 1-3 *SPECTACULAR* thumbs that are a good match for your site and your traffic. For that, you can afford to look through a hundred or a thousand pics and choose the best possible source material.

                  Plus, even the best sponsor thumbs tend to be standard sizes. The textless banner thumb works best in a non-standard size. In a blog sidebar, that tends to mean taller than it is wide -- something that's rare in a sponsor thumb.

                  I tend to use sizes like 150x250 and 100x200 -- tall and generous.
                  As with everything it comes down to what works for the individual. I have done it both ways but I like using hosted thumbs - which I have done in this way with other sponsors even before I worked with Max Cash - because it saves me time and I haven't noticed much difference in clicks.

                  I do notice that if I mix them up around the sidebar rather than clumping them too much together in blocks that tends to work better but I was just using them in a clump in my example to show what they turn out looking like.

                  Comment

                  • Sarah_Jayne
                    Now with more Jayne
                    • Dec 2002
                    • 40077

                    #10
                    Originally posted by Toreador
                    Nice Sarah
                    thank you

                    Comment

                    • Sarah_Jayne
                      Now with more Jayne
                      • Dec 2002
                      • 40077

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Angie77
                      What a nice tutorial. That's sure to help someone out!
                      I sure hope so..it is nice to give a bit of help and see it work for somebody.

                      Comment

                      • Sarah_Jayne
                        Now with more Jayne
                        • Dec 2002
                        • 40077

                        #12
                        Originally posted by fartfly
                        Nice tutorial. I think I might have to do that sometime.
                        Thanks. Give it a chance..if it doesn't work for you then you can always go back to more banners but sometimes it is when you mix things up you find something that works for you.

                        Comment

                        • Sarah_Jayne
                          Now with more Jayne
                          • Dec 2002
                          • 40077

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Elli
                          Kickass tutorial! Thanks for taking the time, Sarah!
                          Not a problem at all. I spend a good portion of my day talking about this stuff with affiliates anyway so I mineaswell put a bit of it down in a thread now and then

                          Comment

                          • Raul_Mallcom
                            Confirmed User
                            • Aug 2007
                            • 179

                            #14
                            Very good tutorial Sarah I will try that out in my blogs!!
                            Mallcom


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                            Comment

                            • Sarah_Jayne
                              Now with more Jayne
                              • Dec 2002
                              • 40077

                              #15
                              Originally posted by Raul_Mallcom
                              Very good tutorial Sarah I will try that out in my blogs!!
                              Thank you and that is great to hear. I hope it works for you

                              Comment

                              • Oracle Porn
                                Affiliate
                                • Oct 2002
                                • 24433

                                #16
                                nice tutorial but I wouldn't recommend doing that....


                                Comment

                                • Sarah_Jayne
                                  Now with more Jayne
                                  • Dec 2002
                                  • 40077

                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by Oracle Porn
                                  nice tutorial but I wouldn't recommend doing that....
                                  Why not? It certainly has worked for me and others.

                                  Comment

                                  • uno
                                    RIP Dodger. BEST.CAT.EVER
                                    • Dec 2002
                                    • 18450

                                    #18
                                    I use my own thumbs in the sidebars.
                                    -uno
                                    icq: 111-914
                                    CrazyBabe.com - porn art
                                    MojoHost - For all your hosting needs, present and future. Tell them I sent ya!

                                    Comment

                                    • Sarah_Jayne
                                      Now with more Jayne
                                      • Dec 2002
                                      • 40077

                                      #19
                                      yup, I do that sometimes too..particularly if I want to push some traffic to an avs or something. The hosted thumbs are just another way of using thumbs that way.

                                      Comment

                                      • twan
                                        Confirmed User
                                        • Aug 2003
                                        • 798

                                        #20
                                        This certainly is worth the bump

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                                        Comment

                                        • Sarah_Jayne
                                          Now with more Jayne
                                          • Dec 2002
                                          • 40077

                                          #21
                                          Thank you Twan

                                          Comment

                                          • Darkhorse
                                            Horsing Around
                                            • Sep 2002
                                            • 5879

                                            #22
                                            Originally posted by Forkbeard
                                            I've been using thumbs as banners for quite a while, and I concur that it's a winning strategy. In my head I think of them as "textless banners".

                                            However, with all due props to Sarah for her handy tutorial on using sponsor hosted thumbs, I think you might have better luck making and hosting the thumbs yourself (assuming you've got a sponsor who will let you -- and if you don't, you need a new one.)

                                            I find that making an eye-catching thumb is an art. Most sponsor thumbs range from "OK" down to "yuck" with very few "WOW" thumbs in the bunch. It's not so much the individual thumb that's a problem, it's the mass production angle. Whoever made your sponsor thumbs was probably making dozens or hundreds or thousands. They could settle for "pretty good", and had to, and did. You need 1-3 *SPECTACULAR* thumbs that are a good match for your site and your traffic. For that, you can afford to look through a hundred or a thousand pics and choose the best possible source material.

                                            Plus, even the best sponsor thumbs tend to be standard sizes. The textless banner thumb works best in a non-standard size. In a blog sidebar, that tends to mean taller than it is wide -- something that's rare in a sponsor thumb.

                                            I tend to use sizes like 150x250 and 100x200 -- tall and generous.

                                            150X250 is mostly what I also use, and I agree making the thumbs yourself is the way to go. I am still using a few banners at some of my sites, however I custom make them so there not going to be seen to often.

                                            Comment

                                            • Oracle Porn
                                              Affiliate
                                              • Oct 2002
                                              • 24433

                                              #23
                                              Originally posted by Sarah_MaxCash
                                              Why not? It certainly has worked for me and others.
                                              working as in showing up on your page properly? if so yes it does work.
                                              but it's all about the search engines.....because what you explain won't help...and what doesn't help isn't good imho.


                                              Comment

                                              • Sarah_Jayne
                                                Now with more Jayne
                                                • Dec 2002
                                                • 40077

                                                #24
                                                Originally posted by Oracle Porn
                                                working as in showing up on your page properly? if so yes it does work.
                                                but it's all about the search engines.....because what you explain won't help...and what doesn't help isn't good imho.
                                                The text on your blog gets the SEs are much as anything. The thumbs on the side get clicks and result in sales. SE's are great but even courting the SE traffic is all about getting sales. My blogs still perform well on SEs because I give good text ;)

                                                Comment

                                                • Elixir
                                                  CHECK MY SIG-AMAZING SITE
                                                  • May 2006
                                                  • 12870

                                                  #25
                                                  Very cool tutorial!
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                                                  ICQ 210874419

                                                  Comment

                                                  • Oracle Porn
                                                    Affiliate
                                                    • Oct 2002
                                                    • 24433

                                                    #26
                                                    Originally posted by Sarah_MaxCash
                                                    The text on your blog gets the SEs are much as anything. The thumbs on the side get clicks and result in sales. SE's are great but even courting the SE traffic is all about getting sales. My blogs still perform well on SEs because I give good text ;)
                                                    I didn't say you can't preform well on SEs if you use those thumbs...BUT...its not about don't well, its about doing better then your competitors.


                                                    Comment

                                                    • Sarah_Jayne
                                                      Now with more Jayne
                                                      • Dec 2002
                                                      • 40077

                                                      #27
                                                      Well if you don't that is fine but it does work and does make for sales. I could care less if somebody is higher than me in SE listings if my site isn't making sales.

                                                      Comment

                                                      • Darkhorse
                                                        Horsing Around
                                                        • Sep 2002
                                                        • 5879

                                                        #28
                                                        I am higher in a few SE terms mosty teen related I would say, am I making more then the next guy below me??? atm I would say no as I don't think I have done as much as them am I working on it?? yes.... thanks.

                                                        Comment

                                                        • Sarah_Jayne
                                                          Now with more Jayne
                                                          • Dec 2002
                                                          • 40077

                                                          #29
                                                          Originally posted by Darkhorse
                                                          I am higher in a few SE terms mosty teen related I would say, am I making more then the next guy below me??? atm I would say no as I don't think I have done as much as them am I working on it?? yes.... thanks.
                                                          Which is great. My point above was that at the end of it all what matters to me is sales.

                                                          Comment

                                                          • Doctor Feelgood
                                                            Confirmed User
                                                            • Nov 2005
                                                            • 2112

                                                            #30
                                                            and then you can add rotating thumbs too and a way to track them
                                                            ADD YOUR BLOGS TO MY DIRECTORY

                                                            Comment

                                                            • VicD
                                                              ICQ: 304-611-162
                                                              • Feb 2005
                                                              • 13245

                                                              #31
                                                              coolio, bump for you

                                                              Comment

                                                              • Oracle Porn
                                                                Affiliate
                                                                • Oct 2002
                                                                • 24433

                                                                #32
                                                                Originally posted by Sarah_MaxCash
                                                                Well if you don't that is fine but it does work and does make for sales. I could care less if somebody is higher than me in SE listings if my site isn't making sales.
                                                                you are right it's all about the paycheck in the end ;)


                                                                Comment

                                                                • VexXxed
                                                                  Confirmed User
                                                                  • Sep 2006
                                                                  • 544

                                                                  #33
                                                                  Nice tutorial.

                                                                  If you are interested and can format the image sizes accordingly (nothing wider than 375), you can post this on my site (seesig) with any accompanying webmaster links you wish.

                                                                  Hit me up for a posting account.

                                                                  Comment

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