Sick of all the free content? Giving it all away and hoping for a sale... (lesson inside)

[Evil Chris]

I decided to share this ICQ conversation I had with an affiliate yesterday because I think it applies to probably 95% of affiliates these days. "Giving and Hoping"

I call it Giving and Hoping because that's basically all that webmasters/affiliates seem to be doing. "If I blast enough free movies and pics out there, I'll eventually make sales". Hmm... possibly, but isn't this method hurting more than helping you make money?

Here's my conversation:

Evil Chris 3:15 PM
I think you're giving away too much on your blog
take the latest entry for example

Evil Chris 3:16 PM
8 photos, explicit and also includes cum... a long story too. After all that, you're hoping for a conversion to a paysite.

Evil Chris 3:17 PM
Think about it this way... if you get 1000 hits per day, you're going to be getting 1000 hits per day no matter if you show 8 pics, or 18 pics.... or 2 pics.

Evil Chris 3:18 PM
My philosophy is to convert with less freebies. So you insert a button, or a tab, or whatever saying "want to see the rest?" (if it's photos), or "want to read the whole story?" (if it's a story)..

Evil Chris 3:19 PM
Make them jump a hoop or two to get what they want. Force them to join SexKey (for free) to get the "premium" stuff. Once they join SexKey, they get it, and you get a commission.
Right now you're not leading them anywhere. You're just giving and hoping.

Affiliate 3:26 PM
im just reading back
ok i understand that

Evil Chris 3:37 PM
I'm back
So my advice is to give less, way less... if they want more, make them DO SOMETHING for you.

Evil Chris 3:38 PM
You can still promote the paysite of your choice along the way. In fact, you SHOULD since the content belongs to them. So the hope of making that sale still remains on any page you make.

Affiliate 3:47 PM
yup
i am going to remove some of the images now
and ill see what happens

Evil Chris 3:48 PM
reach out more to the surfer... tell him what to do. They WANT you to tell them what to do in order to get more stuff from you.

Affiliate 3:51 PM
yeah im also thinking about putting the text below the images
as i very much doubt anyone reads it anyway

Evil Chris 3:53 PM
I'm just saying, don't give it all away. A premium tab on blogs (or tubes) works very well. If they want to see what's on there, make them join SexKey, it's a free join anyway and you're also qualifying them if they have a credit card. If they don't have a card, what are you going to make off them anyway?

Next time you you look at your stats and see 1:150,000 ask yourself what you're doing to convince the surfer to join. If you're just hoping they join based on saturating them with a ton of free stuff, you should really re-think your strategy.

[bronco67]

Giving away stuff and hoping for the honor system to take effect only works when you have a unique, special and awesome product.

There's not much porn that is unique, special and awesome. How many times do I really need to see Jayden James give a bj, get fucked in the 3 basic positions and take a load on her face?

[Failed]

Originally Posted by Evil Chris

Next time you you look at your stats and see 1:150,000 ask yourself what you're doing to convince the surfer to join. If you're just hoping they join based on saturating them with a ton of free stuff, you should really re-think your strategy.

I agree with what you said...to an extent. I disagree with the stats statement. If I did my job as an affiliate, using 1 picture or 20, to get that surfer to the sponsor, then it's also the sponsor's job to convert that potential customer to a paying one. I can lead a surfer to your site, but I can't make them join.

[Evil Chris]

Originally Posted by Failed

I agree with what you said...to an extent. I disagree with the stats statement. If I did my job as an affiliate, using 1 picture or 20, to get that surfer to the sponsor, then it's also the sponsor's job to convert that potential customer to a paying one. I can lead a surfer to your site, but I can't make them join.

I'll agree back with you, but I think you're stating the obvious.

What seems to not be obvious is that we can and should be selling without saturating our traffic with so much free content. Everyone bitches about it, but who's doing anything about it?

[MichaelP]

Originally Posted by Evil Chris

I'll agree back with you, but I think you're stating the obvious.

What seems to not be obvious is that we can and should be selling without saturating our traffic with so much free content. Everyone bitches about it, but who's doing anything about it?

Excelent read Chris TXS for sharing

This always been my moto as well. Giving away ALL the good stuff never pay in long term. The key is to give just enough to keep them coming, but not too much so they still want more and join

[NaughtyRob]

Definitely something to think about. Let's all make some money!

[The Heron]

Other side of argument from an affiliate perspective is competing against all the other affilates for bookmarkers and se traffic so giving away more content is the only way to compete against tubes with 100000 free vids.

[porno jew]

pornhub doesn't do that.

[Rothstein]

Originally Posted by Evil Chris

I decided to share this ICQ conversation I had with an affiliate yesterday because I think it applies to probably 95% of affiliates these days. "Giving and Hoping"

I call it Giving and Hoping because that's basically all that webmasters/affiliates seem to be doing. "If I blast enough free movies and pics out there, I'll eventually make sales". Hmm... possibly, but isn't this method hurting more than helping you make money?

Here's my conversation:



Next time you you look at your stats and see 1:150,000 ask yourself what you're doing to convince the surfer to join. If you're just hoping they join based on saturating them with a ton of free stuff, you should really re-think your strategy.

[BareBacked]

Tubes give away 20 min videos and still make sales. This is not 2002

[BareBacked]

Not to mention you are going to kill your sites time on site and bounce rate if you just send them off to a sponsor right away

Kiss your google traffic good bye

[Evil Chris]

Originally Posted by The Heron

Other side of argument from an affiliate perspective is competing against all the other affilates for bookmarkers and se traffic so giving away more content is the only way to compete against tubes with 100000 free vids.

If you get the interest of the traffic you're getting, you're more likely to make sales. nevermind who is on other sites. You only have to deal with who is on yours. Cater to their interests, make them jump a few hoops to get what they want. A spoiled child will always expect to get what they want without doing anything.

Originally Posted by BareBacked

Tubes give away 20 min videos and still make sales. This is not 2002

I realize what freaking year it is thanks. What's the difference? We're still selling adult entertainment, except now you think we should just give away as much as possible for free? Again, you only need to worry about who is on your site and nobody elses. They're on your site for a reason. Initial interest. Capitalize on that.

Originally Posted by BareBacked

Not to mention you are going to kill your sites time on site and bounce rate if you just send them off to a sponsor right away

Kiss your google traffic good bye

For providing relevant, interesting things for your visitors to browse? Believe me, the opposite will occur. Google will fucking fall in love with your shit.



.

[Evil Chris]

By the way, the person I was originally talking to (conversation in this thread) got back to me this morning and told me that after they made the changes I suggested, their CTR went through the roof.

WTF, this is not a difficult concept to grasp.

[DamianJ]

Good Paul Markham impression bro!

April Fool was Sunday though!

[BareBacked]

Originally Posted by Evil Chris

If you get the interest of the traffic you're getting, you're more likely to make sales. nevermind who is on other sites. You only have to deal with who is on yours. Cater to their interests, make them jump a few hoops to get what they want. A spoiled child will always expect to get what they want without doing anything.


I realize what freaking year it is thanks. What's the difference? We're still selling adult entertainment, except now you think we should just give away as much as possible for free? Again, you only need to worry about who is on your site and nobody elses. They're on your site for a reason. Initial interest. Capitalize on that.

For providing relevant, interesting things for your visitors to browse? Believe me, the opposite will occur. Google will fucking fall in love with your shit.



.

Show me a first page ranked major keyword that is a "squeeze' or landing page like you describe and I will show you 20 that are giving away long ass movies.

[BareBacked]

Originally Posted by Evil Chris

By the way, the person I was originally talking to (conversation in this thread) got back to me this morning and told me that after they made the changes I suggested, their CTR went through the roof.

WTF, this is not a difficult concept to grasp.

LOL I cant make all the thumbs link to a paysite too instead of a movie. Yes CTR will go thru the roof. Google will slap you and your bookmarkers will run away to a tube.

All you will get is more clicks to the tour for a few weeks till all your traffic is gone.

[BareBacked]

If you have a type in domain and no google listing then doing what Chris says makes sense for sure.

[Jel]

Evil Chris = Spot on 18 months ago
BareBacked = Spot on today

[BareBacked]

Originally Posted by Jel

Evil Chris = Spot on 18 months ago
BareBacked = Spot on today

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by Evil Chris

If you get the interest of the traffic you're getting, you're more likely to make sales. nevermind who is on other sites. You only have to deal with who is on yours. Cater to their interests, make them jump a few hoops to get what they want.

This is true.

I'll also add, for those that don't know, each paying surfer has a profile. Some profiles pay more often then others. One profile might respond to TGP's, the other by tube vids, another by stories, etc. A tube profile might buy trials and non recurring more then a story profile does.

As Chris says, know your traffic and cater to what they want consistently and you're sure to convert better

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Evil Chris

I'll agree back with you, but I think you're stating the obvious.

What seems to not be obvious is that we can and should be selling without saturating our traffic with so much free content. Everyone bitches about it, but who's doing anything about it?

Giving away content to get traffic is fairly easy. So the game is leap frog where affiliates, sites and sponsors all try to leap frog each other to see who can get the most surfers consuming free content. And ratios drop further.

Except free content isn't free. It costs a lot of money to give away content. In house staff, affiliate payments, server costs, marketing to affiliates and surfers costs, te cost in sales, etc.

Pimproll were the latest to jump up in the league of giving away content, now they seem to want to pay affiliates more to give it away. Their free content just got more expensive.

But I won't tell you of how good it used to be.

[Evil Chris]

Originally Posted by Jel

Evil Chris = Spot on 18 months ago
BareBacked = Spot on today

What happened 18 months ago?

[u-Bob]

There's nothing wrong with giving away content as long as it's part of your strategy to actually sell something.

That's where a lot of people, both affiliates and affiliate programs go wrong.

Most people focus on quantity over quality. You'll see affiliate programs with 5000 FHGs with auto generated descriptions that don't match the content and gallery designs that are made to pass the submission guidelines of a 1998 TGP instead of actually trying to sell the product right there on the FHG.

[Sophie Delancey]

Originally Posted by u-Bob

There's nothing wrong with giving away content as long as it's part of your strategy to actually sell something.

That's where a lot of people, both affiliates and affiliate programs go wrong.

Most people focus on quantity over quality. You'll see affiliate programs with 5000 FHGs with auto generated descriptions that don't match the content and gallery designs that are made to pass the submission guidelines of a 1998 TGP instead of actually trying to sell the product right there on the FHG.

You are spot on with that. There are lots of different strategies, but without real personality in the way you represent yourself, it won't work nearly as well.

[Evil Chris]

Originally Posted by u-Bob

There's nothing wrong with giving away content as long as it's part of your strategy to actually sell something.

I think everyone would agree on that.

A taste/sample is fine. Just stop giving away the whole cow.

[PR_Glen]

why are we comparing blog traffic with tube traffic?

it's most definitely not the same sport...

[Emma]

Free porn is like the pussy without the cattiness.

[Evil Chris]

Originally Posted by PR_Glen

why are we comparing blog traffic with tube traffic?

it's most definitely not the same sport...

I wasn't directly comparing the two.

And although they "aren't the same sport", it's not like they are two completely different animals. More like different breeds of the same animal.

It's all adult traffic when you boil it down. Create and maintain the interest, and you'll get sales.

[Rochard]

You need to tease surfers. Generally speaking I'll use one or two pictures. Every now and then I'll use more, like eight, but not often, and very tease kind of photos.