What I've Leared About Blogs And Adult

[ArtWilliams]

I've been blogging -- trying to do a quality site -- for about 5 months now. I thought I would try and write a few tips about my experience. Here they are:

- When writing a blog, it's best not to combine your niches. When I started out, I wanted to cover the MILF, mature, housewife and mature single women niches. They are related niches but are in fact quite different. I found out several things after doing a bit of each. One, I noticed that with 6-8 good MILF sponsors who updated weekly I'd have enough content to write about. Being able to minimize my search for content has saved me time. Though I still write the occasional article on the other niches, most of my entries are now on MILFs. Two, you want to write about something well enough that the surfing public sees you as an authority on it. Pick one niche and become the best at it. Three, you can only spend so much time doing this so covering a whole bunch of niches stretches your resources too thin. Four, if the surfer is looking for MILFs (mature pornstars) and you're presenting cockold housewife porn then you may lose them. Eventually, I will cover some of the other niches I've mentioned but I will do so on separate blogs.

- Stats are your friend. The reason I chose the MILF niche rather than the others mentioned was because of my stats. In reviewing them I saw mature pornstar names coming up often. I figured that if people came to my site for Rhyse Richards or Brenda James to name two, then that is what I would give them. This is how most of my traffic started and remains to this day. In the last month or so I am now seeing more generic search terms (chubby milf, milf butts). Also, your stats can be the source of new ideas for sites. See what people are searching for and ask yourself, "could I make a whole site from that"?

- While most of my entries are about showcasing free hosted galleries, there is tremendous value in writing in depth blog entries and getting pornstar interviews. I wrote interview about a new MILF star Brenda James and the response was overwhelming. From surfers, site links and Google, people have been drawn to my site to read this silly interview. Going the extra mile will really make a difference. The best I can, I try to do one special blog entry a week. Sometimes it is a site review other times it will be a compilation of all the info I can find on a pornstar. (BTW, I do attribute sources despite the fact that will cause a leak of traffic. It is the right thing to do.)

- Google really does like blogs and the quality of traffic is really quite good. I am now getting about 1,500 uniques a day. Much of this is from Google. I will give you my 6 month stats in March but I can tell you that it looks like I am on track to make about $8-10,000 this year from my blog which I do part-time (Monday to Friday in the mornings).

- Try to think out of the box. Here is one way I made a number of sales. "Pornstar X" had appeared on several sites owned by one sponsor. I showcased all her galleries in separate blog entries and I made a sale here and there. When I made another blog entry telling people that membership got them access to the sponsor's 20 sites AND all the scenes from "Pornstar X", I got a number of extra sales. So remember you are in marketing and try to think of new ways to convince your surfers to wipe it out -- their credit card that is!

- Another thing I am trying is I've added a few TGP galleries which roll over every day. No, I am not running a TGP but I figure that if a surfer sees that they get 5 free galleries from a trusted source then they might bookmark the site and come back often. I also have a surfer poll which I change monthly. Give your surfers reasons to come back.

- Make a commitment to do your site for X months and don't quit. This is my second attempt at adult. I almost quite this time around like I did a number of years ago. I am glad I didn't. Your blog's success is a function of your marketing skills, link quality and link volume. You'll have none of these when you start so don't expect to make money right away. It was really frustrating for the first number of months to see traffic with no sales but it did turn around. I said I would blog daily. I have and now I am making a little dough. I can't see myself getting rich from adult but I can see myself making a living from it a few years down the road.

- Why a blog? Well in 25 words or less, I strongly believe that with tube sites and the availability of free porn that the future of the small webmaster will be in providing surfers with advice and insight into a particular niche. There are blogs that people go to to read about celebrities and politics that are successful, I want to be the "go to" source for MILFs -- plan and simple.

Okay, that is all I can think of for the moment. I'll update the thread if anything else comes to mind. Also, if you have questions post them I will try to answer them.

---art

[ArtWilliams]

A couple of other thoughts:

- A fair number of people will use your site syndication (RSS) to keep an eye on your entries. Since they will decide to click on your link based on your entry title make sure you think about the titles you write. Rhyse Richards is a super popular MILF. I'd be a moron if I wrote about her but didn't include her name in my entry title.

- Search cloud! People love the search cloud. If you don't have one then get one.

[ArtWilliams]

Oh yeah for those wondering, my Google PR is a big fat zero and my Alexa ranking as of today is 227,039. That and two bucks -- a toonie for my fellow Canadians -- will get you a grande at Starbucks!

[ArtWilliams]

Okay, I think this is the last one. Pepper keywords in your entries but don't be an idiot about it. I've seen some blog entries so laden with key words that you can't make out what the hell they are trying to write about.

Rhyse Richards is a popular, blonde MILF with big fake tits and a tan that is reaching George Hamilton intensity. So when I write an entry about her I make sure that I use the words "Rhyse Richards", "blonde", "MILF" and "big tits" AND I also make sure that my entry is comprehensible.

Also, my software (Joomla CMS) allows me to tag and use meta tags for specific entries so I can attribute those words to a particular entry. This helps the search engines do their job better. If yours can add specific tags and meta tags for an entry then utilize it!

[Stevie]

Interesting posts.

Do you feel that it makes a big difference talking about the sponsors sites in the post rather that just link there with a image/textlink?

[ArtWilliams]

It is hard to say because my surfers rarely e-mail me, let alone tell me about why they join a site, but here are my thoughts on it.

I try to put myself in the shoes of the surfer. If I was truly interested in joining a pay site a few of my concerns would be 1) will my CC info be protected 2) will I get value for my money 3) other things I can't think of right now. So when I write a little blurb about the sponsor I like to remind people that they get 20 sites for the price of one or that the sponsor is one of the biggest or most respected in the business.

Does it add to my conversion ratios? Who knows. Chances are they are at my site for a particular pornstar but I figure it can't hurt to do it. If I am in a hurry I can always copy the blurb about the sponsor from another earlier post that used the same sponsor.

Originally Posted by Stevie

Interesting posts.

Do you feel that it makes a big difference talking about the sponsors sites in the post rather that just link there with a image/textlink?

[japamor]

Thanks for a very informative article. One thing - how often do you update your blog - a daily post?

[T Pat]

What The Fuck!
A Starbucks Grande is only two bucks in Canada
Great thread Art

[walrus]

Well done Art....very nice

[ArtWilliams]

Yes, but I generally do a weeks worth of postings (pre-dated) on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of each week. Then if I see a new, hot gallery or subject I'll add that one in and re-jig the posting dates.

Originally Posted by japamor

Thanks for a very informative article. One thing - how often do you update your blog - a daily post?

[dunc]

Thanks Art - very informative post... it made me rethink my plans

[ArtWilliams]

Someone on another board asked me how I got my traffic. Over 95% of it comes from search engines (with the remainder being mostly hardlink trades). Of that search engine traffic, 97% comes from Google. Yikes! I think I need to diversify because what Google giveth, Google can take away.

[walrus]

Originally Posted by artwilliams

Someone on another board asked me how I got my traffic. Over 95% of it comes from search engines (with the remainder being mostly hardlink trades). Of that search engine traffic, 97% comes from Google. Yikes! I think I need to diversify because what Google giveth, Google can take away.

Agreed you need to diversify your traffic sources but don't worry too much about the other SE's. They all tend to come around in time as long as you keep building the way you are.

[bobsxxxmovies]

Very interesting info art. I just got rid of the shit blog I had. I didn't put much thought into it, and was basically just filling it with RSS Feeds. Once I move to my new web host I'm going to take some of Your advice and start anew

[ronnie]

Great info, thanks for sharing art..

8-10k is some nice extra cash.

I've been liking blogging myself.

[Beaver Bob]

I get in and out of blogging, depending on the other 100 things I have going on.. but even when I'm out of it, they are still making me money

[rageinthe813]

Thanks for this informative post Art, Keep up the good work with your blogs sounds like your persistence has payed off!

[KCat]

Great thread! I think the most valuable thing here isn't the focus on how much money you can make (like most blogging threads seem to be), but about how much you can learn about your niche from paying attention to your stats.

It wouldn't have occurred to me that MILF and housewife are different niches, but thinking about it more, it makes sense that they would target totally different markets. Young guys who want to see an older woman are going to respond much differently to your ad copy than the husband who's turned on by cuckolding. Interesting stuff!

[webpimp]

Very good advice here, thanks! I have also had some success by keeping to one niche per blog and paying attention to keywords in my entries.

[ArtWilliams]

In some cases they can be combined but you have to really think it through. Most of the MILF sponsors I use (NaughtyAmerica, BangBros, etc) use mature pornstars in the female roles. We think of the MILF niche as older woman and younger man. So there will be surfers coming to the site for certain pornstars (or just mature pornstars in general) and they don't care if a young guy is fucking them. Others just want to see the old / young thing happening. That is a case where two niches work. Add housewives (i.e. cuckold husbands) or mature single woman sites (30+ women who run their own sites) and then it gets messed up.

I think the other thing you need to remember is the sponsor niche. Ask yourself what angle the sponsor is taking and then design your blog around similar sponsors.

I watch a lot of home reno shows and the number one issue with the house flippers is thinking, "what do I want for this house"? Screw that! What you want comes last. Think of what the surfer wants (or the house buyer in the case of the house flippers) and which sponsors will fit that bill. I know that may sound obvious but I know I get trapped all the time. I look at a popular mature pornstar high on my stats and I think, "she's a dog"! It has nothing to do with me because all my job is to connect surfers to sponsors, (enjoy my work and make some money). Understand the type of traffic you have and give 'em what they want.

Originally Posted by KCat

Great thread! I think the most valuable thing here isn't the focus on how much money you can make (like most blogging threads seem to be), but about how much you can learn about your niche from paying attention to your stats.

It wouldn't have occurred to me that MILF and housewife are different niches, but thinking about it more, it makes sense that they would target totally different markets. Young guys who want to see an older woman are going to respond much differently to your ad copy than the husband who's turned on by cuckolding. Interesting stuff!

[Vink]

Thanks for sharing some good advice.

[Maria]

I found this thread very interesting, thanks all ;-)

[papagmp]

Awesome thread Art - I wish you had written this two months ago - but I've come to many of the same conclusions through the same hard work. Not to find more time in a day.

Thanks again for sharing.

[VickyVette]

I never really thought of blogs as a way to generate much traffic to my site. Am I totally wrong about this and what are the top MILF blogs out there? Hopefully that is not a stupid question from a blonde....

[StarkReality]

Originally Posted by VickyVette

I never really thought of blogs as a way to generate much traffic to my site. Am I totally wrong about this and what are the top MILF blogs out there? Hopefully that is not a stupid question from a blonde....

Why not start a diary style blog for your own site ? Fans are always greedy for some background information, teasers, etc. Once installed it's easy to handle via a web interface.