In response to "We need healthcare package as well as anti-fraud insurance" from www.cozycampus.com

"Unions may work for some professions but I don't really see how they would apply to webmastering."

Unions may work for some professions but I don't really see how they would apply to webmastering. Most of us are not employees (ok well some folks are that work for sponsors, content providers, etc), we are business owners, and unions primary purpose are keeping job pay, benefits and working conditions fair for their dues-paying members.

However, I do recognize the importance of supporting an organization that is fighting the right wing, ultra conservative beliefs and political agendas and two good organizations would be the Free Speech Coalition and the ACLU.

quote:
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We need healthcare package as well as anti-fraud insurance policy.
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Healthcare is available, though arguably not affordable as it could be, but anti-fraud insurance?

I can pretty much guarantee you that the premiums for this type of coverage would not be affordable for the average webmaster especially given the current climate on the net. Insurance Companies would want to reinsure for a risky market like the adult web, and you are talking big, big money for reinsurance.

Response to quote: "In all fairness to GG I might have read the wrong meaning into his replies. I don't know" from www.pornisbad.com

"Some people flame first and clarify second or never clarify at all, and that's problematic in a rational discussion and fostering an ongoing or potential new business relationship."

This happens a lot online with all the messageboards I think. Last year, we tried to get a voice posting tool going at ANS which we felt really helped to clarify things in people's post because people's tones in their voice can make all the difference in certain discussions, but unfortunately webmasters haven't really gotten into the concept of posting in their voices yet ... or at least haven't so far where and when we've tried to get the concept off the ground.

Maybe when online voice communications are getting more widespread use (XBox has tried with their XBox Live) this will catch on better and then it will be like folks having real conversations instead of these posted 1/4th and 1/8th conversations where confusion can abound by the words of the moment being used (or misused)

With all the low-cost cameras and netmeeting/conferencing-type software available this should really be facillitating more professional business conversations and (hopefully) less of the virtual mud-slinging that at one time in web history could be parlayed into business and these days I think is more long term negative than positive.

I've done biz with Greenguy and known him several years, and he is one of the good guys. So IMHO, just because he -- or other people for that matter -- posts or writes something (maybe on an off day, we all have those lol) people might not like or agree with, doesn't have much to do with how he -- or they -- conduct business.

Therefore I would really try and clarify first, flame second, anybody that posts something with which you aren't sure about or leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Some people flame first and clarify second or never clarify at all, and that's problematic in a rational discussion and fostering an ongoing or potential new business relationship

I try to remember for myself anyway that there is a clear distinction between personal opinions, professional behavior and conducting day-to-day business. I try my hardest not to judge anybody by what they post on a board, only by what business we do together.

Happy coding to you!

Using different nicknames at different messageboards from www.cozycampus.com

"I think that sometimes these days that there is way too much emphasis put on being a board celebrity with a gadzillion posts beneath your nick instead of someone who does good, solid business with a legitimate business URL beneath your nick"

I think part of the allure of what you are seeing is the notion of being somebody else at some of these boards, escaping their actions made at another board.

I don't get it either, because webmasters should be also trying to brand their names with their websites. By changing one's name, he/she is only muddying up their branding.

Then again, some webmasters out there prolly should change their names because they aren't worth getting to know, much less do any business with. I would give this to those keyboard warrior types who post that they are going to kick everybody's ass until you see them face to face and they are sticking their nose up asses instead.

I think that sometimes these days that there is way too much emphasis put on being a board celebrity with a gadzillion posts beneath your nick instead of someone who does good, solid business with a legitimate business URL beneath your nick.

Screw the popularity contests, bring on the $$$. I'm not here for my health :)

Should I start a webmaster messageboard? from www.thewebmasters.com

"Messageboards have become like guestbooks were in the 90's: it's the "IN" thing to do. But guestbooks didn't make much $$$ in the 90's either."

If you have something truly fresh and new to bring to the table, sure, go for it ... but if it's just a slick new design and another primarily water cooler webmaster chat board (in VBulletin) then you will prolly be spinning your wheels from a financial perspective.

The vast majority of webmasters don't visit messageboards and of the percentage who do an even smaller number actually post regularly. I'd put the number at somewhere between 5-10% of the total member base.

When a board is new it will draw more people to post and the percentages are skewed, but over the course of the first 6-12 months the number of people joining versus the people who have any real involvement in the board will be somewhere between 5-10% with of course the moderators having some of the highest posting activity.

And these days at some boards one will get called for spamming for trying to use them like they are supposed to be used: for networking, helping others and doing business. It's not the end of the world to be in SALES ... but I think some people have forgotten that LOL

If you think I'm wrong then look at the boards and make your own list of names of people posting (if the board doesn't have the memberlist function blocked, that is) and you'll find it's a relatively small list of webmasters who post -- and those who post regularly usually do so at many different boards (and then will go on to start their own or partner up with somebody else and do it).

And boards will -- sooner or later -- die without an infusion of posts or some underlying purpose to keep people using them.

I think this is like Porndaddy's 3rd or 4th board (no offense meant PD), but since he has the porndaddy cash he has a good underlying reason to have one. Plus he's adding some cool VB hacks that other adult webmater messageboard owners running vb-style boards haven't gotten around to (*yet*). So this board has a chance that maybe other start-ups don't realistically have.

Messageboards have become like guestbooks were in the 90's: it's the "IN" thing to do. But guestbooks didn't make much $$$ in the 90's either.

The webmaster messageboard saturation point has already passed though, IMO, and the demand (from posting webmasters) is much less than the supply.

Not trying to rain on anybody's parade though, because if you have a good original slant or idea that would benefit and/or be of interest and use to webmasters then get to it

Should adult webmasters promote pop-up killing programs? from www.xnations.com

"Just a matter of time until IE and Netscape both have these pop-up killers as built-in features (probably with defaults to disable popups like they have already done to cookies)."

Just a matter of time until IE and Netscape both have these pop-up killers as built-in features (probably with defaults to disable popups like they have already done to cookies). AOL is taking steps to disable (3rd party only, what do you know) popups in their quasi-IE incarnation.

So it's well past time that folks start thinking outside the box.

In the meantime, however, why further along the process by advertising popup killer programs on adult sites?

Apologizing for long posts? Yes or no? from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"As a webmaster and salesperson the ability to communicate what you are selling is so important, and perhaps an unsung arrow in a webmaster's quiver"

I'm guilty of this one myself, but I wonder if one should really be apologizing for making/writing a long post?

You see it all the time on all the boards, and from many different folks. It's like many of us have learned somewhere along the way that it is a bad thing to intimate longer thoughts.

Is it?

I can see apologizing for spam -- or perhaps a one time announcement in a place you don't normally post at, but apologizing for taking time to communicate how you feel about something to others?

I mean, really, if someone takes the time to craft something to say, should he/she have to apologize for/after doing so?

I will run with some people (certainly myself at times) being a bit wordy. However, I see board posting also as a sort of mental exercise to work at my writing and communication skills and that is partly why I do a lot of it. It helps me sharpen the blade. Call it the writer's version of the wetstone.

From my past as (admittedly attempting with limited success) as a professional writer, that I learned that you have to keep honing your skills or they will diminish. What I thought was good when I was close to it, was not very good when I became removed from it for awhile. And some of it was just, well, godawful as age really set in.

As a webmaster and salesperson the ability to communicate what you are selling is so important, and perhaps an unsung arrow in a webmaster's quiver.

What do you think?

Sometimes a longer paragraph can be just as effective as a short one, but not too long. I learned to break up paragraphs with thoughts, because huge paragraphs can be hard on the attention span and scary to the reader lol. Er, well, like this one.

Darn now I need a good ending for this post. How about:

Happy writing and selling to you!

What are webmasters looking for in an affiliate program? from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"You can lose money, friends, even your family, but you never lose your reputation"

I know what I look for, Rupey.

Honesty, Integrity and great sites to promote!

All the bells and whistles mean nothing to me if the site tours and the members areas suck and are not updated frequently enough (most applicable to recurring).

Still, if a site really blows and the surfer remembers that I recommended it, there is a good chance they will not be so keen on another program recommendation from me. Not so good for residual income.

I wonder why more tours don't dynamically display generally (or specifically) what they updated inside the member's area each day/week/etc. That's a great way to turn a tire kicker that comes back and checks for activity to realize that new things are happening all the time inside.

I think sometimes more emphasis is put on volume (the more people to a site, the number of joins will play out) instead of producing the best product/service possible. If a guy/gal is going to throw down $25-50 per month, it shouldn't be too much to ask for a site worth this coin.

As for the honest and integrity part, well that is not only making sure us webmasters get paid on time, every time, and for the amount expected. Yesterday we heard about a billing company who tried to weasle their way into AWE who seems to display little in the reputation department.

Won't get my business. I'm sure others who read about that felt the same way.

No offense, Rupey, but I don't know who you are and that's a big deal from my perspective when there are a sea of programs and sites out there to promote from people who I do know. I like the fact that you came back and responded to comments left on the board.

Too many folks will go drive by and then never follow up on it. Nice work there ;)

Another recommendation would be to get involved (like you are doing by asking a question like this) at boards like this one, visit radio shows, irc chats and workshops, parties and conventions, contribute articles to industry publications like Klixxx, AVN and to ezines like Adult Buzz, Rookie Class, YNOTNews, etc.

A reputation is the only thing you truly own and it is far easier to destroy than to build.

You can lose money, friends, even your family, but you never lose your reputation. It might get misplaced for a bit, but it finds its way back to you ... eventually.

The dangers of crossposting from pornresource.com

"If someone says something too outlandish, just call them on it and you'll find out what kind of person he/she really is."

Er, Vittorio, I don't think everybody agrees with you, and the last thing you ought to be doing is be boasting about crossposting. It shows poor netiquette at best.

Pick a board: PR, YNOT, AN, whatever, and make your argument there. Then at least have the common sense to change a few words in your rant when you make it at another place. Cut, pasting and running the same post, especially without any follow up, is the sure sign of a spammer.

In fact, at least one person clearly thinks (and says) you are talking out of your ass. So maybe you should venture back to some of these places where webmasters disagree with you and back up your diatribe ;)

Some people, I think, just post to get a charge out of people. Sometimes I don't even think they believe what they are posting. If someone says something too outlandish, just call them on it and you'll find out what kind of person he/she really is.

You find more out about someone when you disagree with them then when you agree with them.

In response to comment: "Seems like autosubmitters are getting a bad rap these days" from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"And then many of these auto submit programs boast/market/push/flaunt the fact that they are using stealth means to emulate human posting to dupe these programs (spoofing URLs, IPs, using proxy servers, etc) and specifically use this as a key marketin"

>> Seems like autosubmitters are getting a bad rap these days. >>

Is it deserved?

Problem isn't completely with the auto submitters themselves, Jimmer. They are, after all, just tools. Just like a hammer can be used to pound nails, or pound skulls. I'm sure we'll both agree that some uses are acceptable and that others quite clearly are not.

I also think most reasonable people will agree that if one is looking for submissions to start out their site, auto submissions are a good avenue to consider utilyzing. I also believe if you are a big site and have the staff and resources to sift through a thousand or more submissions to separate the wheat from the chaff, than that's one's business perogative. PK, Richard's, The Hun, etc, those guys can be as picky as they want because they've been in the trenches and have built up stable of traffic. But what about all the small to medium sized TGPs?

It's been pointed out in many forums that the vast majority of auto submissions are crap quality compared to hand submits, which is another issue here altogether. I don't run a TGP anymore, so I don't have the real answer to whether this is true or not, but from what I've heard personally and read, it's very true.

This doesn't -- and shouldn't -- condemn EVERY auto submitter, but it sure makes it more difficult on the webmasters who build GOOD galleries and choose to submit through an auto-submission program to save time.

I have said on record in articles and in posts before that I have no problem with responsible use of these auto submission tools. I think, in fact, that it is a good idea (it's smart business) to use these tools with sites that *allow and/or desire* auto submissions.

However, one of many problems comes in when the webmasters use ABC script which has built-in form security and that security is being breached by these auto submit programs *intentionally*. And then many of these auto submit programs boast/market/push/flaunt the fact that they are using stealth means to emulate human posting to dupe these programs (spoofing URLs, IPs, using proxy servers, etc) and specifically use this as a key marketing point to sell their program!

That's where I have a specific problem with these tools. I think this type of advertising and marketing is irresponsible and wrong. One can sell plenty of auto submission programs withOUT needing or trying to impress the customer with how many scripts out there can be "tricked" by the program's use. And that shouldn't be the goal of the auto-submission program anyway: to be used for intrusive/stealth submitting.

The central goal should be to save webmasters time submitting to sites that *want* these auto submissions. Not to sites that just use scripts which can't/don't/won't detect the auto submission proggy.

And besides, this leaves those webmasters who do webmaster link trades on submit and/or thank you pages being kind of screwed over too. If a webmaster has a lot of auto submits going on then there is rarely anyone seeing these link trades on the submit/thank you pages which render the pages mostly ineffective and useless for webmaster traffic trading.

If the goal is to accept auto submissions, then a non web entry system could be used to accept these -- and IMHO I believe that is the way it should be done. It is more efficient too

In closing, I think most reasonable people will agree that if you hire a security guard and put him at the front door that just because some (or many) people can sneak around and crawl up a tree past the guard's watchful eye, it doesn't make the sneaking around right. Therefore I end with the same question I started with:

Is it deserved?

In response to why are some boards slow and why don't more people post? from boards.theadultwebmaster.com

"A lot of the same questions come up again and again on these boards, and you can answer a question one time and hopefully refer to a prior thread for future instances to save time"

Messageboards serve several valuable purposes:

- They allow you to broadcast to the community something as opposed to one-to-one via ICQ/AIM/MSN, etc.
- This broadcast can be offering up information about goods or services that others might not know about (I'm not talking about drive by spam which very few people want to read), and this allows others to offer feedback on those goods or services.
- Helping multiple people at one time, instead of possibly only one or two people privately via email or ICQ. A lot of the same questions come up again and again on these boards, and you can answer a question one time and hopefully refer to a prior thread for future instances to save time
- Become more familiar and interact with others posting and networking so that when you go to say an Albumside party (you'll notice many people who post, also attend the radio parties) or tradeshows it can help break the ice better for that initial personal meeting
- Allows for general or specific feedback about articles, site features, etc. Knowing the pulse of a site is of course valuable information

There are many other good reasons to post, but to answer your initial question, Johnny, and it's just my opinion of course, but the reason I think that this forum is slower is because it isn't really being "worked" by a moderator. I wrote an article recently about becoming and being a moderator which talks in more depth about this: http://www.adultbuzz.com/031302/page10.phtml

In order for a board to be active it must be worked by at least one person, and it helps if there are more. This person (or people) must put up topics, information, work to engage the posters, frequently and repetitively spark conversation, debate, whatever.

If you go to any busy board you'll notice that there are one or more people who make up the busy posting, and the rest are occasional posters, and then there is the infrequent new poster and lurker poster.

Again, no offense, but this forum is kind of just here. It's a slick design and the information surrounding it is very well put together, but well, it's just here.

One does not usually directly make money posting to boards, but one can make money networking with people when posting on the boards and save money/time finding products and services to run one's business.

And it is a promotional responsibility of sorts for a business which markets to webmasters especially to stay "visible" -- so if you can't post yourself (too busy) then it pays to have a webmaster on your behalf to help get involved with the community.

Just my 2 1/2 rusted pennies.

The essence of marketing: Sales comparisons between two different industries from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"So, always ask yourself with your website: who is my prospective buyer and am I offering him something he specifically wants to buy?"

>> 9) Do I know Marketing? No. But willing to learn if someone can explain it to me. >>

I will tell you a story here, please excuse the length in advance, but there is relevance.

I left a job (and the entire industry too) that paid me 60k+ a year, full benefits, and stock options in 1994 to enter a business and industry I really knew nothing about: insurance. With three small children, a mortgage and no guarantees that I would ever have any financial success this did not seem like a very wise move to either my wife or those in my immediate circle of influence.

I had to go through a six month period where I was paid nothing but commissions and then they'd give me a loan of approximately $1500 per month for 2 years and *then* if I proved I could sell they'd "grant me" a full time agent.

But first, I had to get licensed.

Test taking for me has never been a strong point. I went to school for 2 weeks and crash coursed it doing insurance for like 12 class hours a day. It took me a couple times to pass the state tests, but I finally passed, and got the necessary licenses.

Adult webmasters: well, look around, there is all this *free* education around like Adult NetSurprise learning center, newbieboard, business zone and there's other sites like Script School for programming, etc. I had to pay for my classes, my licenses, my training. I still do. And some of this training is really expensive too.

Next the selling - the marketing.

I was never really that worried about the selling part, because I equated this to simply helping people get what they needed. And they told me in the training (and I believed them because they had been through more agents in history and knew the numbers) that ...

if I contacted X number of people and made X number of appointments and made X number of sales I'd grow my business by X number of dollars.

One could argue that porn isn't something people *need* so it is a different type of sale to make, but the retort would be that all types of sales are fundamentally the same. And believe me I *very* frequently hear, "but I don't *need* life insurance".

I can tell you that I've yet to meet someone after 8 years of selling insurance who doesn't need life insurance (they might not need more life insurance, but they need at least some amount), just those who don't want, or cannot afford, to buy it. Lest we forget an auction recently for someone who died tragically in the adult industry who seemed not to have had adequate life insurance There are stories like this every day in both our back and front yards.

Something I learned early on about selling was to try not to go in with a preconceived notion about the prospective buyer. Either underestimating the amount they could or would pay, or overestimating it, or assuming that I had the target product for them based upon a couple of filtering techniques I'd used in the telephone interview.

Simply figure out what the passion is, and present the product which fits that passion and need.

The details, I discovered, are irrelevant.

In other words, if I like the premise of the site, whether it has 100,000 videos or 1000 videos is going to play a very small part in my decision to buy a membership to it because I can't really watch the other 99,000 videos in a year even if I wanted to! 1000 videos of 2-3 minutes length even at 10 per day would take 100 days to watch!

With life insurance there is a requirement of love. If a guy or gal doesn't love anyone or anything there isn't going to be a sale. Single people are difficult sales, but not impossible, because who do they think is going to bury them?

With porn, well, it's a requirement of what turns him/her on? What's going to get the spice going in his/her lovelife? That would be what would make *me* buy a membership. If you can't show me something interesting very quickly, I'll be off to another site ... and another ... and another ... until I find what I'm looking for -- or give up looking.

I saw a really, really simple site the other day doing some work for a client which was on amateur boobs. Nothing dirty or nasty, just amateur boobs. I found that site very compelling. No fancy or slick design, no fancy sales pitch, very plain, yet erotic and stimulating.

The next guy, well, he might have preferred something more upscale and/or polished and nasty.

How many different types of "boobs guys" can there be?

1. small boobs
2. big boobs
3. huge boobs
4. odd/unnatural/fake boobs

So if you have a gallery for tits are you offering the choice to the surfer to go to one of these 4 generalized locations? Or is there perhaps a 5th that I'm missing (all of the above?)?

I'd be more apt to join a specialized site which catered specifically to the niche of boobs I liked rather than an all-you-can see type buffet of boobs.

I've learned (and continue to learn) that marketing is all about understanding your prospective buyers. Finding out what they want. Once you do find this then there is no selling needed, it is natural for him/her to buy.

So, always ask yourself with your website: who is my prospective buyer and am I offering him something he specifically wants to buy?

Are webmaster resource sites biased? from www.topniche.com

"No matter what they post or tell you to the opposite, they are going to promote those that promote/support them and/or programs that they run themselves"

Honestly, this merger announcement (MaxCash and WO) wasn't really that surprising to me. I'm surprised that you are surprised if you've been around awhile.

Snoops has been active at MaxCash now for some time and not a whole lot has changed here except there has been an increase in advertising/navigation to content.

Sorry gang, but IMO, the navigation links after each posted message are a detriment to this board, and the posting box here has become a bit ad saturated.

I can scroll to the top or bottom and follow a navigation bar, I don't need a navbar after every message. I can also choose from the advertisers here at the top, bottom (or via the system forced chicklet), I don't need to have the posting/viewing area obscured by them. Again, my criticism only (and meant constructively, btw), and maybe others find these items helpful in their surfing experience here ;)

As for resources in general remaining objective? Well, I think to a certain degree every one of these webmaster resource centers is at least a little biased by their owners and/or advertisers. No matter what they post or tell you to the opposite, they are going to promote those that promote/support them and/or programs that they run themselves.

And why shouldn't they?

That's the whole *business* point of running these sites, and the allure for people to start and continue running their own resource sites (the advertising $$ and promotional opportunity to webmasters).

While some might start out thinking or saying that they are going to build this awesome webmaster resource site that is great for webmasters and not even a little bit biased, the reality is that eventually they are reminded that this is a business and have to pay for it somehow ... just like all those free sites we've built not really being "free."

It takes man/womanpower and $$ to run one of these webmaster resource areas, and I have a lot of respect for any organization who sets out to do so (especially those in the trenches as long as WO), not to mention it takes an active stable of webmasters to frequent the resources themselves and post on the boards.

I'm not bagging on WO, YNOT, AN, Netpond or any of the other great resource sites -- so please put away the ginsu knives and flamethrowers, if you were about to pick up one hehe ;)

I mean, these sites *do* have to pay for their bandwith too, and why shouldn't they promote the people/businesses that are contributing to their financial well being?

So if ARS bought heavy stock in Netpond, I'd expect to see more ARS advertising. I'd expect to hear more about ARS programs. Heck, if they didn't at least have prominent links to ARS on the site, I'd wonder why they were missing such a great marketing opportunity.

No matter what happens, though, we should remember that these resources are not costing webmasters anything, so if they become too biased, poorly designed/too difficult or unwieldy to navigate around, or too advertising or spam saturated then we can always vote with our feet ;)

Eventually the webmasters do make the rules in the direction of these resource sites, though it might not be or seem so readily apparent. Just like if a sponsor starts losing webmasters that promote their sites, it will eventually affect them and force them to analyze what they are doing in their business.

In the meantime, however, if you enjoy or find useful the information that is provided here or any webmaster resource, then you should do business with the advertisers and webmasters who support the site, so the site won't be forced into obscurity or into making more dramatic changes with the content that you continue to enjoy.

Questions that new adult webmasters ask from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"Do I have to buy content? Is a duck's ass watertight?"

I thought about some questions newer webmasters ask and here was the list I came up with, along with some (of numerous) possible answers.

1. What sponsors convert the best and pay on time?
Try using the statisician http://www.thestatistician.com/ for a general answer, but you can't go wrong with the programs at http://www.fantasymanmoney.com/

2. Do I need to get paid hosting, and if so where is a good hosting place for adult webmasters?
If you are serious you need paid hosting and a great hosting place is http://www.cyberwurx.com/

3. What are good free hosts to use?
Haven't used any for a long time, so dunno

4. Should I use a UNIX or Windows host or does it matter?
For audio/video Windows is probably the way to go, but for adult sites, *nix servers seem to have preference

5. Do I have to buy content?
Is a duck's ass watertight?

6. Where do I buy content?
For a great selection of content that you can preview and buy start here:
http://www.adultnetsurprise.com/sharepix/

7. How do I protect myself legally (2257)?
consult with an attorney and read the legal articles in:
http://www.adultnetsurprise.com/businesszone/

8. How do I make (more) money building galleries and submitting to TGP?
Visit Kre8tor at http://www.adultnetsurprise.com/multiforum/tgp/
For link lists info go see the link masters at the link board:
http://www.adultnetsurprise.com/multiforum/linkmsgboard/

9. What are Perl/PHP/ASP/etc scripts and how do I use them?
enroll at http://www.scriptschool.com/ and learn about the technical side of webmastering

10. How do I get feedback from visitors on my sites via forms?
Use a form mail program, try the free one at http://www.tdscripts.com/

11. What is htaccess and how/when do I use it?
Let Google be your friend:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=what+is+htaccess

12. What is a good graphics program to make thumbnails?
13. What type of editor should I use to write HTML code?
14. How do I generate more traffic to my website(s)?
15. How do I get (better) listing in search engines?
16. Where can I network with other webmasters?
here! http://www.adultnetsurprise.com/
or here:
http://www.adult-webmaster-events.com/
17. How do I add a counter (track traffic) on my website(s)?
Get the counter that pays:
http://www.fantasymanmoney.com/program_cashcount.html

I'm sure there are many more, but those were right off the top of my head.

Tracking traffic that leaves your website from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"Surfers aren't paying for good tours of the White House lawn, they are paying for what's inside the Oval Office"

You can be your own statistician and track the clicks that leave your page. Be sure to very carefully read the sponsor TOS to make sure it is ok to use a script to do this (some sponsors will not allow these type of scripts) and then, if ok, hop over to http://www.scriptschool.com/ and take the new clicks out course. This will get you well on the way to tracking the clicks leaving your gallery and/or other pages. Then periodically you would match your sponsor sales against the clicks recorded and you'll develop your own click to conversion ratio specific to your gallery. You can use a different link for each gallery so you can even figure out which specific gallery (or even link placement within the gallery) converts the best.

Then you could compare these numbers to other sources like the statistician and see if your site is really performing as well as say the greenguy.

One big thing greenguy has going for him that you don't (yet) is that his list is known for a certain level of quality by his bookmarkers and regular surfer traffic. He's been around a long time and many of his surfers trust that even if the tour for one of the sites he lists blows, that what's on the inside is what really matters. And he or one of his very capable reviewers have seen the inside.

Surfers aren't paying for good tours of the White House lawn, they are paying for what's inside the Oval Office.

I've seen many paysite insides that kicked ass and their tours IMO sucked. As a free site or gallery builder the confidence level with the surfer is usually a very different thing (less tolerant) which is yet another of a myriad of factors going into what converts.

So doing your own independent testing and measuring against other stats you see published is the one of the optimal ways of measuring which sponsor works best for *you* and it can and likely will differ from page to page, gallery to gallery, and site to site.

Organizing sponsor info: stats, TOS page, etc from boards.theadultwebmaster.com

"No matter how good a particular sponsor does for you, make sure you develop relationships with multiple ones that you can send similar traffic to"

I'd recommend getting yourself a good organizational system (either online or using a palm pilot) for managing your sponsors right away. You can make notes of the terms of service pages, stats pages, and any other information relevant to the sponsor that you might forget or become confused about (it happens) when you acquire multiple sponsors.

When you only have 1 or 2 sponsors, it is pretty easy using bookmarks and remembering the logins, but when you get many more in many different niches, you'll want to have a system to organize yourself.

Also, it's a good idea *not* to put your eggs all in one basket. No matter how good a particular sponsor does for you, make sure you develop relationships with multiple ones that you can send similar traffic to in case the sponsor either drops out of the biz and/or fails to provide a mutual beneficial relationship any longer.

Should new webmaster get into business and recommend 3 hosts? from www.tdavids.com

"No business is too saturated for the savvy marketer."

Listened to your radio show from last week today. My first time. I liked your candor.

I'm thinking about becoming a webmaster, but a little
concerned about the market being too saturated with
few signing up. Do you think that's true?

I was also wondering if you could give me three names
of web hosting companies you suggest?

Thanks,
Paul