1st month since I made my 1st sale update...

[Alphawolf]

Since I posted my Made my 1st Free Site sale! post I figured exactly 1 month to the day I'd post a little update for folks new to the scene.

I won't be doing this again...just figured I'd share the results or lack thereof from basically all I learned from the people here.

Well, I made my 1st sale Aug 26th.

$35 for me. I was on a $25/mo hosting plan so that 1 sale made me a profit.

I have 14 free sites out there.

Of the 14 sites 9 have made 1 or more sales.

I'd say 3 of the sites simply don't have enough uniques to judge.

For sure, one of the sites is just a stinker. It has the 2nd highest # of uniques, but the lowest Join hits of any site and no sales.

The biggest mistake I was making is that I was focused too much on getting clickthrough's to the sites Tour, and wasn't actually pre selling the pay site.

Still, I made 12 sales since Aug 26th and unless I get more sales later tonight I'll end my 1st month with $400 from free sites.

Am I happy? I suppose. It's better than I thought- to be honest.

Am I satisfied?

Hell No!

My overall conversion ratio has been 1:656 which is nothing to write home about!

Not the sponsors fault though...

I looked back on my sites and they do a darn good job selling the tour, but NOT the site!!!



Well, at least I know now.

Don't make that mistake if you are just starting out!

Sell the backend as much as you can, not the free stuff on the tour!

The other mistake I made what that I thought I had a really good free site for a new paysite. I guess it was ok as PenisBot gave it a 3 and wetplace a 4.

I was truly thinking I was gonna get several signups off that free site!

I personally thought the paysite site was an excellent find and had exclusive content.

I ended up having so many unique selling points for that paysite I fell into robotic brochure type ad copy.

I listed all the great stuff about the paysite.

Too bad I totally forgot to tease the surfer!!!!!!!!!

943 uniques and just 133 join hits. WORST unique:join ratio of any site to date!

I had 2 or more days as top spot under Latina at PenisBot and wasted that traffic.

So, to recap:

1) Don't sell the tour- sell the site.
2) NEVER forget to keep you ad copy geared to turning on the surfer. If your ad copy reads like a brochure sufer goes


The final mistake I made was that I had over a 1 week period with ZERO sales and I let that get to me.

The $0.00 stats got the best of me. I slacked off. Maybe it was just beginner's luck..maybe I was dreaming this could work out...etc...

Discouraged, I made no new sites.

I got 1 check sale which is just $15 and thought "big deal".

This past week looked to be a stinker as well. Saturday AM I login and BAM! $35 sale! Better still, was that it was for a site that hadn't made a sale yet.

OK! Back on track.

So, I go about building another site. I log in again to get promo ads, and BAM! another $35 sale for yet another different site!

This AM I got another sale.

Basically $115 just sorta appeared.

I realized since I got sales of different sites...had I not built those other sites I'd have NO sales.

So, last mistake (that I know of for now <g>):

3) NEVER LET a SLUMP GET YOU DOWN to the point you do not have the desire to build more sites!!! ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS build more sites!

I've read this advice before, but it really is hard to take to heart until you go through the slump and recovery yourself.

Fuck the slump.

Fuck the stats for a while.

JUST BUILD new sites and don't look back!

There is a time to really go over your stats and the sponsors stats and get a grasp on what you may be doing good and bad.

But viewing your stats won't get you more sales...or more importantly, won't give you more chances at more sales!

The only thing that improves your chances at more sales is more sites.

I hope in some way this hopes someone out now or in the future...

Mistakes are OK as long as ya learn from them and don' repeat them.

I still haven't made any mirror sites or made galleries for TGP's yet, but will in the near future.

Now on a 41GB/mo plan so I don't eyeball my BW usage like I did a couple weeks ago.

OK. I must go make some submissions...

[Boogie]

This is great stuff. I love your posts and I think they have a real value.

keep em coming, hope to read another in 30 days

[kristian]

Yes, excellent post. I know this will help and encourage a lot of folks just starting out.

I hope you'll do another one next month too. Keep up the good work!

[Alphawolf]

Thanks a bunch guys. I'm quite happy I can give back to the place that has given me so much!

Perhaps I'll do another update next month, but without the money details.

I'll talk in terms of percentages instead of disclosing what I make. |afro|

[T Pat]

Awsome post Alpha Wolf

[DarkEmber]

I appreciate the info, being in the first real month myself. I'm not going to conclude any theories I have until 10/1 since there are a few days left in my test cycle and more sales or bad days could skew things good or bad. I did most of the things suggested on all the tutorials and in the threads on a smaller scale to get a handle on things and to not jump in with both feet only to rework later. I too am not dissappointed having a few sales under my belt covering costs plus some beer I guess hehe, and proving to myself what links were clicked vs the ones that were duds. My plan is to be a tornado starting Oct 1 with the knowledge from the great advice given here and elsewhere, along with the bit of confidence gained by patiently evaluating. I know that a lot of people disagree with intense stat evaluation but it makes me feel better and motivated so it can only help and I'll continue to watch particularly what gets clicked and what doesn't and where traffic is comming from.

Good Luck Alphawolf and the rest of the starters.

[Opti]

Originally posted by Alphawolf
The biggest mistake I was making is that I was focused too much on getting clickthrough's to the sites Tour, and wasn't actually pre selling the pay site.

If you can work out that balance this fast, it's no wonder you are managing $100/wk already.. (that's kicking ass after just 4 weeks these days imho) All your analysis sounds pretty good to me too. Wouldn't be surprised to see you pass 1000/wk before xmas by the sounds of how your going so far!

[Alphawolf]

DarkEmber:

I think like any business it's what you feel comfortable doing. There is no 1 right way or best way.

Opti:

Thanks for the kind words.

Oh, I made another sale last night with my latest site submitted Friday.

So, 10 of the 14 have sales and it's $435 since I made my 1st sale.

$1k/mo by December would be sweet. I know it's doable as I have untapped traffic sources like TGP and more niche specific LL's I've yet to take advatage of.

BTW, all my sites use free sponsor content thus far...



I plan to change that in the near future to take advantage of the flexibility of using my own content would allow.

[Sean416]

Awesome post dude, please do keep us updated as to how things improve over the following months, even if it is less the money.

Your attitude on alot of the issues you brushed on, were bang on IMO. The one thing I wanted to bring to light is that this is just what you've made in the first month.. not neccessarily what you'll have made off of these sites in total. All of those sites will be in an archive or two and those sites can still make you money.

Last but not least, the only other advice I can offer you is to make sure you have a link hub somewhere (preferably at the root of all the domain(s) you submit under) so that you can have a little page with links to all your free sites and place a link on all your free sites to that hub page. Helps both SE's and surfers who might not like what you're giving em on that site.

Cheers!

[Alphawolf]

Originally posted by Sean416
Last but not least, the only other advice I can offer you is to make sure you have a link hub somewhere (preferably at the root of all the domain(s) you submit under) so that you can have a little page with links to all your free sites and place a link on all your free sites to that hub page. Helps both SE's and surfers who might not like what you're giving em on that site.

Cheers!

Yeppers. I'll be developing the hub in the coming weeks.

To explain to friends I use the 'garden' analogy.

[Stouch]

I would say that $400 in your first month is a marvellous effort on your part. Dont forget that those sites will be around forever and still pick up sales many moons from now. As for slumps, we all get them & dont forget that traffic and sales should start to pick up around now (thats certainly been my experience).

[KCat]

Excellent advice! The part about getting into a slump & spending more time analyzing stats than building something that could bring you sales is one of the biggest mistakes webmasters (myself included) make.

It's so easy to get discouraged when you don't see an immediate payoff, but most of the successful people in this business worked long & hard to get where they are now.

Keep up the good work!

[grzepa]

Good post ! Those sites that didnt make you sign-ups ... its temporary, they will make sales in time, it could be even months, so like you said, keep building and dont turn back.

[Pendo]

Originally posted by Alphawolf
1) Don't sell the tour- sell the site.
2) NEVER forget to keep you ad copy geared to turning on the surfer. If your ad copy reads like a brochure sufer goes

I don't understand this..could you explain it a bit?

[Alphawolf]

Pendo, which part?

Don't sell the tour- sell the site means instead of using up your ads to say "20 Free Videos avalaible @ fuckalot . com" it should be 'GIGS and GIGS of Videos 24/7 at fuckalot .com'

You want to sell a full membership.

The other part which is probably what you were asking about...

By brochure I meant like a list of features the site has.

100% Exclusive content
Daily Updates
Live Chat
Acess to bonus sites

Etc....

Is ok in spots, but just not as good as something like:

Monster hard black cock ravishes dripping wet tight teen cunt with NO MERCY >HERE< !

It's better to appeal more to the primal brain than the 'smart brain'.

A smart mixture is good, IMO but the bulk of text ads must lean towards the primal fantasy, not the nit picky details on why it's good to join this site over another site.

One of my worst performing free sites was basically a list of features on the pay site as it was new and exclusive.

It got great traffic, SHIT click through rates and even worse Join hits. No sales.

I was also hammering home how much FREE stuff they could get on the paysite tour. Well, that's *exactly* what they did if they visited the paysite at all...view the free stuff and leave.

So, I hope this answers your question.

[Pendo]

Originally posted by Alphawolf
Pendo, which part?

Don't sell the tour- sell the site means instead of using up your ads to say "20 Free Videos avalaible @ fuckalot . com" it should be 'GIGS and GIGS of Videos 24/7 at fuckalot .com'

You want to sell a full membership.

The other part which is probably what you were asking about...

By brochure I meant like a list of features the site has.

100% Exclusive content
Daily Updates
Live Chat
Acess to bonus sites

Etc....

Is ok in spots, but just not as good as something like:

Monster hard black cock ravishes dripping wet tight teen cunt with NO MERCY >HERE< !

It's better to appeal more to the primal brain than the 'smart brain'.

A smart mixture is good, IMO but the bulk of text ads must lean towards the primal fantasy, not the nit picky details on why it's good to join this site over another site.

One of my worst performing free sites was basically a list of features on the pay site as it was new and exclusive.

It got great traffic, SHIT click through rates and even worse Join hits. No sales.

I was also hammering home how much FREE stuff they could get on the paysite tour. Well, that's *exactly* what they did if they visited the paysite at all...view the free stuff and leave.

So, I hope this answers your question.

I was asking what I quoted..
Thanks man! this helped me a lot!

[msanchez]

By brochure I meant like a list of features the site has.

100% Exclusive content
Daily Updates
Live Chat
Acess to bonus sites

Etc....

Is ok in spots, but just not as good as something like:

Monster hard black cock ravishes dripping wet tight teen cunt with NO MERCY >HERE< !

It's better to appeal more to the primal brain than the 'smart brain'.

A smart mixture is good, IMO but the bulk of text ads must lean towards the primal fantasy, not the nit picky details on why it's good to join this site over another site.

I was just thinking about this very thing, and here I find the answer.

Ive spent far too long trying to deal with the rational brain.

[Klove]

Good to hear that Alphawolf,

Im upto week #6, about 15 freesites, and 0 signups ;0

I dont know what im doing wrong. =)

I'm starting to get better clickthroughs on my newer sites, but alas still no signups.

[Alphawolf]

Klove,

You may want to reconsider who you are promoting.

[Klove]

I do about 3-4 free sites per sponsor,

I did a few with

Skintraffic
Trafficcash
eroticacash

Its tough, Im even using bought content not even sponsor content.

Next one im trying is sunnydollars

[Alphawolf]

Are you picking among the best selling/converting sites?

Are you getting enough traffic to the sponsor to judge? You mentioned your click through's were getting better.

If you don't get enough traffic to even the best sponsor then you won't do well no matter what.

Does tommy and penisbot list you?

[Klove]

I just started getting listed at tommy's two days ago, and yes penis bot has always listed me.

Here let me grab some stats for the month.
Skin Traffic
Totals: Raw 938 Unique 787 Ratio 0:787
Traffic Cash
Total First Page:471 2nd Page: 51 JoinPage: 74

Thats from October 1st to today. For those two sponsors, who were the main two I started using this month.

Of course my latest site, hasnt been listed at tommy's

Which Is here:

http://www.smutdaily.net/AsianSchoolGirl2/ Has gotten 358 Hits and the sponsor hits were 18, 4 on the index, 9 on the main, 4 on gallery 1, 1 on galler 2.
http://www.smutdaily.net/AsianSchoolGirl4/
Has gotten 56 hits and the sponsor hits were 2 on the index, 3 on the main, 2 on gallery 1, 0 on gallery 2
Duplicates with different Recips.

This Site was made 2 days ago.
To much information +)

Hope it all makes sense.

[ponygirl]

Klove...

I'm just about where you are & figure that I don't really have enough stats to get a good figure, seems like 1:300 - 1:500 is avg signup ratio from what I see, once there's been enough traffic to each sponsor I think stats will mean a bit more...I say this cuz it's easy to get down when you invest so much time & effort and are not getting returns yet

I also found that stats aside, you can get a couple of signups with a low ratio then nothing for a while...guess I have to stop being a compulsive stat checker !!

I have promoted SunnyDollars from the start & it has been my best sponsor, so definitely give them a try!

I'm just gonna keep pumpin 'em out & see what happens!

Ponygirl

[Alphawolf]

What ponygirl states is true for sure.

I think ya need closer to 1000 uniques to judge if something is truly converting well for you or not.

Regarding those two sites...

Text blocks have too much information and text size is too small- therefore will be ignored.

Take just the best part like:

"Naomi's wet slit got pounded from all directions until she asked for the Asian cum surprise all over her mouth." and delete the rest. Double the text size.

Same with all your blocks of text. It's just far too much for a porn surfer to read.

Regarding the banners....*always* attach a text link to the banner.

It should be part of the banner link, not a seperate link.

Pretend nobody can see you banners. Go under that mindset.

If you remove the banners and just have text there will the site still sell?

The layout. You just have a banner next to all the thumbs. The text is too small.

Make "Petite Asian Girls Take BIG COCKS in Their Tiny Holes!!!" the link instead of the get instand access. Or...just make it all one link but double the text size and make the text brighter and stand out!

Once people scroll down the that BLOCK of content they will not see your add below or above in the gallery.

Make some simple CSS text rollovers so that if a surfer mouses over a text add it may grab his attention.

Again- on the gallery pages really you are giving 100% of the sales effort on that little banner.

My fav layout is 3 blocks of 4 pics. In between I am able to put ads. As they go through the content they will see an add every single page.

There's never a time where I do not attach a Text Link to a banner.

You are wasting opportunities.

Some text like "Asian SLUTS >>HERE<<!!!" on top of a banner is better than nothing.

Of course, opinions are like assholes and everyone has them.

But my opinion is you need to be more terse (shorter) with your text.

If you do have a block of text break it up and use symbols like ">> <<" "--> <--" and calls to action like 'CLICK HERE!!!'

Double the text size.

Add space before and after your text add to give it some breathing room.

A MUCH brighter color text add would help.

Use a basic color change on mouseover to draw attention to the text adds.

Don't rely on a stand alone banner to get you clicks. Many programs will REMOVE that banner and the surfer will never see it!

No need to use censored banners inside the galleries! Use the hottest banners there are, but always attach a text link to them!

I'd change the layout so that there was an ad as people scrolled down my thumbs and they had to see it.

BE AGRESSIVE with your text ads.

The surfer is getting free content. As long as you follow the rules of LL's fucking SLAM the surfer over the head with quick, dirty, BIG ad text.

----------> NEVER ALLOW a banner to be without a text link attached! <---------

[Klove]

Thanks for the ideas, Ill use most of them and see what happens, Ill post a link to the site before I start submitting the sites.

Here was my new site without your modifications.

http://www.smutdaily.net/SchoolgirlAsian/

Ill post later tonight when I can get back to the computer and post the changes.

to a different directory.

Thank you Once Again.