Lets Light This Place Up

[walrus]

The blogging forum has gotten a little slow lately and I'd like to light a candle under it.

If you all have a topic you've been avoiding, or want to know anything, or want to know why I hate all the bullshit SEO plugins, or anything else, lets talk about it.

Personally I'm finding the techniques I used a year ago are ineffective as far as generating traffic and I want to know, does a true porn blogger have a chance today or has the saturation of pure crap made it near impossible for someone wanting to do something above the fold.

[hashbury]

I would like to know why you dont use seo plugins. And what do you do to optimize your blogs?

[Useless]

Originally Posted by walrus

does a true porn blogger have a chance today or has the saturation of pure crap made it near impossible for someone wanting to do something above the fold.

A true blogger, without knowing much at all about SEO, will probably always be ahead of the crap, as long as they are willing to update their blog now and then with some text-rich posts.

I love reading 'blog for sale' topics on the zoo's spam forum. Almost any blog being sold is a month-old install of WP which has been fed hosted gallery feeds so all of it's posts are a large thumb and a one line nonsense, generic description. The seller "doesn't have time to maintain it." Maintain what? You've put no effort at all into it and now you want $300!

[T Pat]

As a producer of pure crap I've got to say I'm in a boarder line panic
I've been slowly sliding into a black pit since mid June, it's looking like my page views will be down a million plus this month.
My ratios are going to hell too, I made a lousy fifty cents yesterday
I've been pluging traffic leaks, redid my internal linking and doing SEO on my splogs since getting back from Vegas and don't see a lick of improvement

[Useless]

Originally Posted by T Pat

As a producer of pure crap

That doesn't mean that we don't love you, Pat.

[walrus]

Originally Posted by hashbury

I would like to know why you dont use seo plugins. And what do you do to optimize your blogs?

I'll start a new post on this one. When I first started this it never occurred to me that I was really combining two issues into one post.

Originally Posted by Useless Warrior

A true blogger, without knowing much at all about SEO, will probably always be ahead of the crap, as long as they are willing to update their blog now and then with some text-rich posts.

I agree but it is becoming harder to get traffic to a real blog than it was just a year ago. I blame the shear quantity of crap that's out there and there is really very few places for a quality adult blog to be seen.

Of course I'm comparing my real blog and my at least hand written blog when saying that and I haven't taken care of them the way I know I should. I'm going to start showing them more love so I'll revisit that statement in another month

Originally Posted by Useless Warrior

I love reading 'blog for sale' topics on the zoo's spam forum. Almost any blog being sold is a month-old install of WP which has been fed hosted gallery feeds so all of it's posts are a large thumb and a one line nonsense, generic description. The seller "doesn't have time to maintain it." Maintain what? You've put no effort at all into it and now you want $300!

I actually saw someone trying to sell free hosted blogs...and people were actually interested

Originally Posted by T Pat

As a producer of pure crap I've got to say I'm in a boarder line panic
I've been slowly sliding into a black pit since mid June, it's looking like my page views will be down a million plus this month.
My ratios are going to hell too, I made a lousy fifty cents yesterday
I've been pluging traffic leaks, redid my internal linking and doing SEO on my splogs since getting back from Vegas and don't see a lick of improvement

I haven't fallen back any on my two massive splogs yet. In fact, Google traffic has actually increased. But my rate of growth has slowed considerably and I have also spent the last 4-6 weeks concentrating on "finishing them up" and I'm not finished.

I'm going back to prioritizing some of the newer, potentially more productive projects first and working on finishing the splogs as time permits and not the other way around. It's hard because the bulk of my adult income comes from them but I just have sinking feeling that I'm investing time in a losing proposition.

Kick kaktusan in the ass and get him to finish tagging for BO. I think that will give your splogs a much needed push.

[Lucifuge]

Originally Posted by hashbury

I would like to know why you dont use seo plugins. And what do you do to optimize your blogs?

Same here. I use the 'All In One SEO Pack'. Looking forward to your post about the subject.

[ArtWilliams]

What always seems to escape me is how delayed are the traffic impacts when I make a strategic change to my blog? My traffic and conversion has been shit since spring. I've made some changes and traffic is up a bit (with conversions still poor). So is the traffic increase due to my changes? If so, which ones and why didn't conversions change at all? Man, I don't get this traffic thing.

[papagmp]

Three of my blogs are doing very well - and 4 of my splogs are up in traffic - others are way down.

As I look at them, it looks like the less "spamy" the blog/splog, the better it's doing.

I can't really tie traffic to any one thing such as trades, submissions, seo tuning, template design etc... Just seems the blogs with less banner adds are doing better.

And I still get sales from my blogs! I'd guess 25-30% of my overall sales are from my blogs. That reflects about the same % of effort that I put into them.

[walrus]

Originally Posted by artwilliams

What always seems to escape me is how delayed are the traffic impacts when I make a strategic change to my blog? My traffic and conversion has been shit since spring. I've made some changes and traffic is up a bit (with conversions still poor). So is the traffic increase due to my changes? If so, which ones and why didn't conversions change at all? Man, I don't get this traffic thing.

Over the three years I've been blogging I've found peaks and valleys that seem to have no logical explanation.

If I'm in a valley and I make changes, I usually give it three months to evaluate my results and then watch for a few more to see if the trend continues.

[ronnie]

I've been hinting at this for some time. It's not a I told you thing. And maybe I'm way of base.

There is a ton of crap out there, no question, the problem is, in my opinion, is all the directories and traffic sources supporting this crap. I posted on my blog a while back that "free hosted" has made a turn around and came back to bite. It's funny how just every LL or directory will not accept or list free hosted free sites, but they are happy to list and trade with free hosted blogs.

Would all the free hosted crap be where it is in the ranks, if it wasn't supported? Nope.

I've also been on my soapbox too many times talking about unique content, probably too many times for most people. From what I've seen over the years, the higher traffic sites/blogs are the ones that post a ton of unique/interesting content. No big secret.

Course on the other hand I know what it's like to try and create unique content for many blogs on a on-going basis, it can wear you down quick. So I don't blame any one for wanting to automate. Not one bit. A big part of the reason I sold pretty much all my adult properties, it's a ton of work. More than I wanted to keep doing.

Many people also talk or argue about duplicate content. While there may not be a penalty, I think we have to agree, the Search engines are not going to list the same content too many times. Right? They would not be providing good results if every result was the same. So many people are going to lose out.

In my opinion, if some one wanted to try a experiment that has a good chance of being successful, it would be to concentrate on one blog. Posting interesting and totally unique content and a lot of it. I think every one would agree that automation with RSS feeds, for example, was taking a chance, it should be no surprise if it stopped working. Like I said, I don't blame any one for wanting to automate, I've been slinging porn for almost 10 years, so I know exactly what it's like to get tired of working so much. Been there done that.

Still, I believe, one blog done well could do much better than a number of automated ones. Plus it's providing unique content, which we know is what the se's want, so there really is no risk of a "tactic" not working any more. Least in my opinion.

Then again, what do I know, I all but quit..

[ronnie]

Originally Posted by artwilliams

What always seems to escape me is how delayed are the traffic impacts when I make a strategic change to my blog? My traffic and conversion has been shit since spring. I've made some changes and traffic is up a bit (with conversions still poor). So is the traffic increase due to my changes? If so, which ones and why didn't conversions change at all? Man, I don't get this traffic thing.

I remember you posted some time back about how your blog was doing good, it was a great post. So the question is, have you still been doing the same as you were back then? Has your blog changed alot?

Not giving you a hard time, just thinking maybe it's something you've changed, stopped doing or are doing differently?

[walrus]

Originally Posted by ronnie

Still, I believe, one blog done well could do much better than a number of automated ones. Plus it's providing unique content, which we know is what the se's want, so there really is no risk of a "tactic" not working any more. Least in my opinion.

Then again, what do I know, I all but quit..

I guess I'm about to find out. I've been streamlining my site portfolio over the last month or so and am now down to only 6. Two massive splogs with tons or RSS content, 2 social bookmark type sites with a combination of feeds and original content and 2 blogs. One blog is really a splog in that it's mostly sales based text, small paragraphs and a pic or video.

The blog, well it's me. Hanging myself out there for the world to see. Oh and posting a few babes along the way cause well, I like naked babes.

Is that a new link list I see in your sig?

[T Pat]

Originally Posted by ronnie

I've been hinting at this for some time. It's not a I told you thing. And maybe I'm way of base.

There is a ton of crap out there, no question, the problem is, in my opinion, is all the directories and traffic sources supporting this crap. I posted on my blog a while back that "free hosted" has made a turn around and came back to bite. It's funny how just every LL or directory will not accept or list free hosted free sites, but they are happy to list and trade with free hosted blogs.

Would all the free hosted crap be where it is in the ranks, if it wasn't supported? Nope.

I've also been on my soapbox too many times talking about unique content, probably too many times for most people. From what I've seen over the years, the higher traffic sites/blogs are the ones that post a ton of unique/interesting content. No big secret.

Course on the other hand I know what it's like to try and create unique content for many blogs on a on-going basis, it can wear you down quick. So I don't blame any one for wanting to automate. Not one bit. A big part of the reason I sold pretty much all my adult properties, it's a ton of work. More than I wanted to keep doing.

Many people also talk or argue about duplicate content. While there may not be a penalty, I think we have to agree, the Search engines are not going to list the same content too many times. Right? They would not be providing good results if every result was the same. So many people are going to lose out.

In my opinion, if some one wanted to try a experiment that has a good chance of being successful, it would be to concentrate on one blog. Posting interesting and totally unique content and a lot of it. I think every one would agree that automation with RSS feeds, for example, was taking a chance, it should be no surprise if it stopped working. Like I said, I don't blame any one for wanting to automate, I've been slinging porn for almost 10 years, so I know exactly what it's like to get tired of working so much. Been there done that.

Still, I believe, one blog done well could do much better than a number of automated ones. Plus it's providing unique content, which we know is what the se's want, so there really is no risk of a "tactic" not working any more. Least in my opinion.

Then again, what do I know, I all but quit..

I'm not giving up on the splog business model, 50,000 Russians can't be wrong

[walrus]

Originally Posted by T Pat

I'm not giving up on the splog business model, 50,000 Russians can't be wrong

Perhaps but remember they all live in one bathroom

[papagmp]

Originally Posted by walrus

Perhaps but remember they all live in one bathroom

TPat and I are moving into the same bathroom together - at least it's a start - and I have someone to hold my dick when I pee.....

[T Pat]

Originally Posted by papagmp

TPat and I are moving into the same bathroom together - at least it's a start - and I have someone to hold my dick when I pee.....

[Useless]

Originally Posted by T Pat

50,000 Russians can't be wrong

Tell that to the people of Georgia. (I love current event jokes, even when they aren't funny.)

Originally Posted by ronnie

It's funny how just every LL or directory will not accept or list free hosted free sites, but they are happy to list and trade with free hosted blogs.

Yeah, I've never quite understood why free hosted blogs are considered legitimate while other free hosted properties are heavily frowned upon.

Originally Posted by Walrus

I agree but it is becoming harder to get traffic to a real blog than it was just a year ago. I blame the shear quantity of crap that's out there and there is really very few places for a quality adult blog to be seen.

One of the issues is what ronnie is saying. Blog directories and link lists are supporting shit. New blog directories, just like new link lists, accept everything submitted to them in order to fill themselves with content and appear established. It's a huge mistake. You are what you eat, after all.

Also, blogs shouldn't compare their traffic to only that of other blogs, because that's not how Google is doing it. Traffic should be compared to the entire porn landscape, per search phrase. I have no idea how many surfers actually search for adult blogs. I assume most of them find blogs by luck of the draw while searching for tits and ass, which is the same way link lists get much of their traffic. (why would anyone WANT to find a link list?)

I built a niche blog exactly 23 days ago. All hand written posts with one thumb linked to a gallery which the post discussed/described. A couple of posts were based on text found on the gallery themselves, but heavily edited to not appear the same. I linked to the blog from a couple of my sites and Alexa, Googlebot and Yahoo Slurp showed up that same day. I've done no pinging. The next day I had 8 uniques and within 6 days I had 58 uniques. For the last two weeks, without any further promotion or updates to the blog itself, it has received an average of 140 uniques per day with about 2.5 pageviews per visitor. About 80% is from Mother Google and is based on 2-6 word search phrases. Now, 140 uniques per day isn't exactly exciting, but it's enough to make me think that it's probably worthwhile to build more niche-specific blogs and watch their growth. The problem is - and this going to be a big surprise to you - blogs are a lot of fucking work.

[ArtWilliams]

Quite simple I think. I took my eye off the blog and I started working on other adult projects. My entries began to get sploggy and people disappeared. I agree with what UW said. Blogs are a lot of work. I intend on refocusing on the site and I hope to see the site visits climb. We'll see.

Originally Posted by ronnie

I remember you posted some time back about how your blog was doing good, it was a great post. So the question is, have you still been doing the same as you were back then? Has your blog changed alot?

Not giving you a hard time, just thinking maybe it's something you've changed, stopped doing or are doing differently?

[Useless]

Originally Posted by artwilliams

I took my eye off the blog and I started working on other adult projects. My entries began to get sploggy and people disappeared.

You probably suffer from the same type of blogging personality that I have. I get an idea, I get excited, I blow my creative load on it for a short period, and then find it difficult to get those same juices flowing when it's time to maintain it properly. I work in spurts in sputters.

[ArtWilliams]

I am a bit like that. I want to do what catches my eye and not necessarily what makes money. Thank God my wife is better at doing the latter or we'd be fucked!

I also thought, if I can make $x with a blog then I can make $x times 5 with another blog, a link list, a directory and some mobile porn. What I found was that you can only work on so many things well. Turns out important things get neglected. What makes me feel stupid is I consciously decided to "put all my eggs in one basket" and then went and did the opposite. Now I need to see if I can fix it.

Originally Posted by Useless Warrior

You probably suffer from the same type of blogging personality that I have. I get an idea, I get excited, I blow my creative load on it for a short period, and then find it difficult to get those same juices flowing when it's time to maintain it properly. I work in spurts in sputters.

[walrus]

Originally Posted by Useless Warrior

Yeah, I've never quite understood why free hosted blogs are considered legitimate while other free hosted properties are heavily frowned upon.

While I can't say for sure I would assume that it has a lot to do with how the blogging craze took off in the first place. To have your own blog on your own domain required you be a real nerdie / techie type. It was all cgi/perl, flat files and quite a challenge to get one up and running. You know pre-wordpress days.

Your choice was become a nerd or go with a free host. Once the free hosts started kicking porn off, it opened up a whole new area for someone like twan to take advantage of and he did.

I guess my point is porn blogging roots are in free hosts.

Originally Posted by artwilliams

Quite simple I think. I took my eye off the blog and I started working on other adult projects. My entries began to get sploggy and people disappeared. I agree with what UW said. Blogs are a lot of work. I intend on refocusing on the site and I hope to see the site visits climb. We'll see.

Very easy to do and I know I've been guilty of the same thing more than once and yes blogging is a lot of work.

[webpimp]

Originally Posted by Useless Warrior

I have no idea how many surfers actually search for adult blogs. I assume most of them find blogs by luck of the draw while searching for tits and ass, which is the same way link lists get much of their traffic.

Almost none of my blog traffic comes from people putting 'blog' in their search queries. But blogs get the added bonus of appearing in blog search engines like Technorati and Google Blog Search.

Originally Posted by Useless Warrior

Now, 140 uniques per day isn't exactly exciting, but it's enough to make me think that it's probably worthwhile to build more niche-specific blogs and watch their growth. The problem is - and this going to be a big surprise to you - blogs are a lot of fucking work.

I think this is what makes blogs superior for getting SE traffic, blogs are intended to have lots of text. When I put in work and feed the spiders lots of keywordy text, I usually notice a jump in my SE traffic. TGPs and linklists don't have nearly as much unique text as a regularly updated blog with at least a paragraph of text per post.

I also believe that an incoming link from a good blog is a very valuable thing because (when done right) your link is surrounded by massive amounts of highly relevant text.

Originally Posted by artwilliams

What I found was that you can only work on so many things well. Turns out important things get neglected. What makes me feel stupid is I consciously decided to "put all my eggs in one basket" and then went and did the opposite.

Smart people don't succeed in business because they are constantly learning something new. When they master it, they get bored and move on to something more challenging. Dumb people are way more successful because they just learn one fucking thing, and they do it over and over again without ever getting bored.

Originally Posted by walrus

Your choice was become a nerd or go with a free host. Once the free hosts started kicking porn off, it opened up a whole new area for someone like twan to take advantage of and he did.

With free hosted blogs it's so easy to mass-produce blog of low quality. But at the same time, free hosted also opens up an opportunity to real bloggers who don't have any tech knowledge but are good writers.

I don't trade with splogs, but I have built a few. They can come in handy for filtering your traffic into related niches and subniches. Say you have an asian blog that you put a lot of time into and gets decent traffic, you could create a bunch of splogs like asian babes, asian anal, asian bjs, asian teens, etc. The splogs aren't really meant to pull SE traffic (although they sometimes do), you're just providing every possible type of content the visitor is likely to enjoy. You may not get a whole lot of traffic to the splogs, but it will be high-quality traffic that is likely to buy if he sees just the right thing that does it for him. I don't have the time to build a real blog for each and every one of those subniches, but having a splog is better than leaving a gap.

[webpimp]

Originally Posted by walrus

Over the three years I've been blogging I've found peaks and valleys that seem to have no logical explanation.

If I'm in a valley and I make changes, I usually give it three months to evaluate my results and then watch for a few more to see if the trend continues.

I'm up to about 50 blogs now, 90% handwritten with probably around 20% overlapping content. Some have become SE sensations while others get no love. I can't really figure out why some rank so well and some are poop.

Now, I just follow the traffic trends rather than trying to control them. If I'm getting a big traffic increase in a certain blog, I'll put in more time and update it more often. If I see traffic take a big dive, I no longer try to "revive" it. For me, this has just wasted my time. I'll still leave the blog online and update it maybe once a week or every two weeks. But I'm putting the bulk of my time into the ones that are getting traffic now. And you know sure enough, some of those neglected blogs will fall back into favor and start racking up the SE hits again. Can't explain it, like I said I just ride it instead of trying to control it.

The way I see it, if 10% of the blogs I make become money then I'll have more winners if I keep building. But like many of us have said in this thread - it's a lot of work. Having one mega blog sounds so nice, but I'm too wimpy to try a general adult blog yet.

[walrus]

Originally Posted by webpimp

I don't trade with splogs, but I have built a few. They can come in handy for filtering your traffic into related niches and subniches. Say you have an asian blog that you put a lot of time into and gets decent traffic, you could create a bunch of splogs like asian babes, asian anal, asian bjs, asian teens, etc. The splogs aren't really meant to pull SE traffic (although they sometimes do), you're just providing every possible type of content the visitor is likely to enjoy.

I hear a lot of talk about this but I just don't get it. I can create a general asian blog and I can create categories like Asian Babes, Asian Anal, Asian BJ's, Asian Teens, etc. With a little sidebar coding I can promote the categories as seperate blogs, with seperate feeds, seperate links. Hell if you want you can have seperate themes (I don't recommend it only because it becomes a whole lot of extra work). So out of one general asain blog, I can generate 10 or so micro niche blogs. All with quality posts.

Now some, like me, will say that a blog built for traffic will not sell as well as one built for sales and one built for sales doesn't get as much traffic. The truth of the matter is that there are a number of effective ways to sell. Instead of building a splog, build a freesite, or just an effective sales page and link to that from your blog posts.

So if you have 10 categories, you only need to build 10 effective sales pages, SEO the hell out of them and I'd bet you'd be much better off than with the splogs.

Originally Posted by webpimp

I'm too wimpy to try a general adult blog yet.

Same concept as above, just a lot more work. General blog, Categories for niche's, sub-categories for micro-niches.