How long before your first sale?
 

Hey everyone. I've been lurking around here for a while, now, and you guys have been a ton of help, whether you realize it or not. :P

So I've been building free sites (and the occasional TGP gallery) for just over a month now, and overall they get accepted at the LL's I submit them to. Here's an example.

But here's the thing: I have yet to make a dime doing this. Now, I know perfectly well this isn't a get-rich-quick scheme; I'm not THAT naive. But I admit I had been hoping to make *something* by now - even if it was just enough for a beer. ;) I get traffic (PK and GG have been good to me :)), my sponsors get traffic, but not a single conversion.

So. Anyway: how long were you guys at this before you got your first sale?

i got my first sale within a week of submitting my first free site. but then it was like 2-1/2 weeks until i got another one.
you should work on your sales pitch....check out other sites, be as graphic and descriptive as you can. also use different text sizes and colors.

It was about 30 mins-1day.. in the old days.... :D but that is no help to you... :(

LoveGoblin, you need to look at your sponsors, your traffic etc.. That site is ok... though there are probs that might get it declined at many Linklists..

As a rule I have found that "pretty girl" sites(eg:Zarnia etc) are hard to sell unless you have the right traffic... If you have been mostly promoting that sort of stuff.. try something that is a bit more niche orientated. mature/bbw/etc

Thats site you posted did lack a bit of "sellng" punch! eg: Text

DD

Yeah...I have been doing some more niche stuff - this is the only Zarnia site I've built so far. I guess I'll focus on the niches even more, now. :)

More text == more selling punch, huh? I guess I'll have to keep that in mind for the next site. Thanks.

Feel lucky if you got accepted with such thumblike banners.. anyway.. all surfers are looking for FREE pics and don't want to pay for anything. If they are tricked to hit your sponsor (by those piclike banners) you will see some numbers in your stats but they will leave as fast as possible and look further for free pics - that means no signups for you. As DangerDave said you need to tease them - make them horny and willing to pay - that means they will find your sponsors links even if they are smallest on page and sign up.

It can be the same day or a month, you never know and I had to build about 10 or 12 till I got my first sale it takes a dozen or so sites to get into the hang of it, the best thing is to look at free sites and come up with your own idea how to make magic and get that CC out of there wallets..

Who are you kidding? It took me over a year to get my 1st sale!

(please note that click programs were the only thing I advertised when I started)

Hehehe I learnt on a different playing field... AVS :D

DD

6 months here|waves|

I think we are on the same boat, LoveGoblin. I started to build a freesites about some two weeks ago, but I still have no sales. Form the start of my "freesite tycoon" career I am building and submitting one freesite each and every day. I try to make them nice, SEOed and clean and I am hopeing that linklist owners/reviewers will start to love me and that they will let me to make some money to cover my server bill :) Anyway - it looks like it is a long-term business.

Probably one of the best ways for you to get sales, is to pick a niche that rocks your boat personally. It's much easier to write descriptive text about what turns you on personally about the site.

And if it is something general like teens, maybe look for a sub-niche like teens-with-toys or cheerleaders, etc.

It will take time; you will get discouraged; you will want to throw in the towel. DON'T. It takes time to get the hang of things. It takes even more time to start seeing the results - but once you do, the results are cumulative. Suddenly that first, sucky site starts making sales. I really think there's some voodoo involved. Just keep at it. Every site you build will be a little better.

Good luck!

I got 5 my 1st day, but that was back in early 97...

so not much help...|sad|

It took me several weeks to get my first sale, but i had no method back then when i started heh, as well as shitty sponsors, and stolen content (Sorry! i didnt know back then and mostly did it for fun)

after about 2 weeks i had a sponsor email me and help me out (thanks guys from maxcash! if you guys hadnt helped me who knows how long it would have been before i figured this biz out)

like others said also, niches rock, when i started i did teen sites, didnt make a sale forever (again i had shitty sponsors) i did a foot fetish site and a bbw site, made sales on both of em. my teen ratio was something like 1:1500 and the bbw/foot fetish were under 1:100

now i do teen niche again but thats just because i like to enjoy looking at my work heh, and have figured out how to better promote them.


this is actually very interesting, i tried a font size 6 link to a sponsor with a small font size 2 link below it, and guess which one got clicked more? |waves|

Hey if you don't want him to commit suicide better stop posting these '97 numbers :)

Thanks a lot guys. It's true: I have been starting to get discouraged, but I'm definitely going to keep at it.

Maybe I shouldn't have used the Zarnia site as my example; my others are mostly niche. I guess I'll focus on that more, work on my text links, and see how it all goes. :)