Some thoughts on TGP traffic from a submitter

[HowlingWulf]

It's like shoppers at the mall. Some of them know exactly what they want and where to buy it (Search Engine traffic). Others are looking for something in a certain class like a new video game to play, book to read, or a new pair of shoes (blog,linklist,directory,etc traffic). But for most of the time, most shoppers are browsing (TGP traffic). Like window shopping or walking into a store just to 'look around'. Some of them might spot something they like, and some of THEM might actually buy it. However, there's lots of people browsing every day...

Now some numbers:
TGP (Thumbnail Gallery Post) traffic is sometimes called 'crap traffic' because the ratios are so bad, and for good reason. The majority of tgp traffic is browsers of free porn. Your hope is some of them spot something they like, and some of THEM actually buy a membership. Don't hold me to this, but we'll use the rough conversion ratio of 1:1000 for a sponsor sale from TGP traffic. This means for every 1000 surfers you send to a sponsor site, one of them buys a membership. Other sources of traffic would have a much smaller ratio (Search Engine traffic) and a few would have a much greater ratio (404 traffic, etc) but we will use 1:1000.

Now, to get those 1000 surfers to the sponsor site via TGP traffic, you'll use a gallery of roughly 15 pics or 6 movies with links to promote the sponsor, and submit it to many TGP sites to get listed. The amount of surfer traffic the gallery will receive in its lifetime depends on which TGPs list it, where they list it, what time of day its listed, how long its listed, if they have niche or archive pages where it gets listed, and of course the amount of surfer traffic that TGP site receives, among other factors. Almost all large TGPs these days require partner passes, and many of those must be purchased. One which still accepts free submissions (once every three days) is thehun.com. Good luck getting accepted there though, you'll have lots of competition.

Ok now we have surfers looking at our tgp gallery. How many of those go on to the sponsor as part of our 1:1000 average selling ratio? It turns out 2-5% of these free porn browsers will click your link to the sponsor. This is called the click-through-ratio (CTR). If you're new to this we'll use a 2% CTR for our calculations. This means out of 100 surfers who visit your gallery, only 2 will check out the sponsor. Using these figures, you can estimate it takes 50,000 surfers on average to visit your gallery before 1 of them buys a membership! Fortunately there's lots of TGP traffic possible and the numbers are volatile. A good gallery/sponsor combo can increase the CTR up to 5% (extremely difficult though) and the sponsor ratio to 1:500, taking an average of only 10,000 surfers for each sale. On the flip side a poor gallery/sponsor combo can have you pulling your hair out.

Extra note on CTR, it can be misleading. Higher might not be better. Consider the blind/misleading sponsor link "Click here for the FREE Paris Hilton Blowjob video!" which would get lots more people to click (higher CTR) but since they won't find the free Paris Hilton Blowjob video at the sponsor, the sales ratio would plummet. A strong sponsor link "Click here to access all our teen videos for only $1!" would filter out freeloaders and decrease the CTR to those who understand the teen videos would cost them $1. Most sites frown on the blind/misleading link so best not to use it, and the strong link might be too much unless you have a special offer. Most webmasters use something in between. I recommend something niche related that sticks out. "Click here for more porn" = ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz..... while "Click here for our video archive of white bitches banging big black cocks!" would be better.

For other sources of traffic, you need only adjust the numbers. For linklist traffic, I've found a CTR in the teens (roughly 15%) and a smaller sale ratio, but the amount of surfer traffic is much less than from TGPs.

[SheepGuy]

Excellent info! And timely for me since I am planning on doing a lot more galleries and buying some PA's.

[Toby]

Very nice HowlingWulf, that gives me a few additional thoughts on the same topic.

Another factor at thumb TGP's that will effect how many gallery views you get is the thumb you upload with your submission. A good looking thumb that stands out among the others that features the key elements of the niche the gallery promotes will gain you far more clicks.

An example from my own TGP's: a number of my regular submitters also work the pornstar/babe TGP's. They constantly submit thumbs that are just the babes face and tits. They'd do far better by cropping wider, making a thumb that better shows off the stockings, heels, lingerie, boots, or whatever category they've submitted the gallery under.

Good thumbs, or well worded descriptions in the case of text TGPs or LL's, means more clicks to your galleries. Well designed galleries with effective sales text then mean a higher CTR from those galleries to the sponsor tour.

Increasing gallery views and CTR means more money in your pocket from the same number of galleries submitted.

[NY Jester]

I have an opinion on TGP traffic myself. I have to say from my experience as of late, the smaller TGPs are far better to submit to than the huge old school big boys. My numbers from established 100K+ TGPs is garbage compared to 10-30K TGPs traffic. I think because many if not most of the surfers at the larger sites are bookmarkers and know they cna get a bevvy of free porn everyday no matter what.

I have also been putting together niche specific TGPs rather than general..as I think the traffic is far better and productive.

[tickler]

Originally Posted by NY Jester

I have an opinion on TGP traffic myself. I have to say from my experience as of late, the smaller TGPs are far better to submit to than the huge old school big boys. My numbers from established 100K+ TGPs is garbage compared to 10-30K TGPs traffic. I think because many if not most of the surfers at the larger sites are bookmarkers and know they cna get a bevvy of free porn everyday no matter what.

I have also been putting together niche specific TGPs rather than general..as I think the traffic is far better and productive.

I have to agree. Most of the high volume TGPs which generally require a PA can send a lot of traffic, but it's pretty lame. Sorta throw shit at the wall and see if any sticks.

I much prefer getting traffic from niche TGPs that although they generally have much less traffic, still give me better signups. And no paid PAs.

[HowlingWulf]

Toby brings up some great points as well. Crop a thumb that will stand out from the others. Don't just make it a standard thumb, try to concentrate on an angle, closeup, or something that begs to be clicked. Here are some I submitted I think are good...

http://www.howling-wulf.com/thumbsamples.htm

I want the surfer's eyes to be drawn in and make him think "woah! what's going on here?" *click*

I especially like the thumb with the guy in the background taking a pic with his cellphone lol that cracks me up.

Please note I don't have photoshop I just use Irfanview (free) to crop and adjust colors, sharpen, etc if needed takes < 10 seconds. Great program.


Descriptions too. Like Toby I receive submissions, and am often given snooze fest descriptions like this one
"Two hot galleries of cute girls having hardcore sex with horny guys"
What a waste. It's a freesite of Hardcore Partying galleries, which is basically a huge orgy party. Put in an iota of effort and go with something like
"Celebration party degenerates into a drunken orgy of loose morals and kinky sex."
Took me about 15 seconds for that one. Same freesite, different descriptions, different keywords, different CTRs, different results.

[Mateusz]

I was staying away from TGP traffic for a couple of years.
In May/Jun/Jul I decided to give it another chance. I spent someting like $1000 on PA's, not to mention couple of hundreds on server upgrades, and I can honestly say.. it was not worth it.
I've heard I need to be patient but hell... maybe I was doing something wrong but I was submitting on a daily basis (or as often as rules allowed) and I didnt even earn my money back. (and I was promotiong various sites and naturally I was trying to avoid categories like teens, lesbians, hardcore etc.)

You can make money with TGP traffic for sure, otherwise noone would be submitting and/or buying these PA but you must know what you're doing. It seems I didn't and I lost some money

[james-st]

"Sorta throw shit at the wall and see if any sticks."
Ha ha Thanks for that laugh.
Sweet