Something eroswebmaster said yesterday just erks me...
 

About FHG's...

I know some of the "tactics" sponsors use to "sell" to the webmaster and not the surfers, and that just bothers me. Mainly because they use techniques like this in other areas of the field as well, some of us don't even know, or just push it off as normal so it becomes ok.

And some of you asses think the affiliates are spoiled.

Haha.

I don't know what he said, but I am sure I know what you're talking about.

I think you might have misunderstood what I was saying.

Hopefully I can break it down for you.

When you build FHG's for a program the first customer you are selling to is not necessarily the surfer.

Now what do I mean by that?

You have to sell the webmaster first on using the FHG.

Gallery A, just your basic gallery but converts really well vs Gallery B very pretty converts ok, but not as well as Gallery A.

Now you have a % of the webmasters who will see Gallery A and know that this is going to convert and they gladly accept that FHG knowing they will make more money.

Then you have another % of the webmasters who are only looking to see how pretty the gallery is and would rather pick Gallery B.

The sad fact is, in a lot of cases a majority of affiliates will want the pretty gallery thinking that's what's going to make them more $.

Now let's not mix up the sponsors here.

I dealt mainly in bulk orders. Sponsor A a small to medium sized sponsor who only wants 5-10 a month is going to focus on quality. They want the best gallery they can get for their money, one that will convert better than avg for an FHG. This sponsor will usually pay not necessarily top dollar but top "bulk rates."

Their goal is to make sure their loyal webmasters who are not whales will continue to make great sales and continue to promote them.

Now Sponsor B. The Whale. The sponsor who wants 100 + galleries a month.
This sponsor mainly wants to flood the market as quickly as possible. Sure they want good galleries, but they'd rather have it quick it's all a numbers game to them.

If they have 2,000+ affiliates and they are cranking out 100 galleries a month they're going to make sales regardless.

Of course their bigger affiliates get either their own galleries with more time spent on them, or they get the FHG's before the smaller affiliates do so they don't have to deal with "saturation."

An gallery maker who makes FHG's job is to sell the webmaster on wanting to use the gallery, sell the surfer, and help with branding.

I hope this clears it up a bit.

I spent all that time giving you a thoughtful reply and you can't dignify it with a response?

:mad:

:winkwink:

Sorry, I am all over tonight.

I get some great insight from your reply, but when you said yesterday that you wasn't going into detail, I had assumed it to be something along the lines of sponsors wanting more "branding" and text to attract more "type-ins". I am sure that shoehorn may have been on the right track, hehe. I have been noticing more and more... and more stuff to avoid as my time as an adult webmaster ages.

I may decide to avoid FHG's altogether. However, your reply helps me believe that not all sponsors are out to screw the affiliate with any slick advertising techniques that some of the newer webmasters may not catch onto right away.

Am I wrong? Should I have kept it on hush too?

In fact I have some other stuff to rant about that is closely related to the subject, just waiting to talk with the sponsor first before bringing it to everyones attention.

I do need to learn more about the marketing side of designing, not even for my clients, but for my own galleries and sites ;)

Thanks.