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

[Sarah_Jayne]

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]

Nice Sarah

[Angie77]

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

[2012]

Nice tutorial. I think I might have to do that sometime.

[Elli]

Kickass tutorial! Thanks for taking the time, Sarah!

[donborno]

Thanks Sarah

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

[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.

[Sarah_Jayne]

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.

[Sarah_Jayne]

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.

[Sarah_Jayne]

Originally Posted by Toreador

Nice Sarah

thank you

[Sarah_Jayne]

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.

[Sarah_Jayne]

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.

[Sarah_Jayne]

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

[Raul_Mallcom]

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

[Sarah_Jayne]

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

[Oracle Porn]

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

[Sarah_Jayne]

Originally Posted by Oracle Porn

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

Why not? It certainly has worked for me and others.

[uno]

I use my own thumbs in the sidebars.

[Sarah_Jayne]

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.

[twan]

This certainly is worth the bump

[Sarah_Jayne]

Thank you Twan

[Darkhorse]

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.

[Oracle Porn]

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.

[Sarah_Jayne]

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 ;)

[Elixir]

Very cool tutorial!

[Oracle Porn]

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.

[Sarah_Jayne]

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.

[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.

[Sarah_Jayne]

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.

[Doctor Feelgood]

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

[VicD]

coolio, bump for you

[Oracle Porn]

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 ;)

[VexXxed]

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.