Quote:
Originally posted by whitey
Following is what seems to work for me:
1. Free Hosted Galleries: Make sure that the thumbs are decent sized, the galleries sell the site, and the pics are of decent resolution (I never get conversions from galleries with shitty pics). Also, do not 404 redirect the galleries to anyhting other than a blank page or figure out a way to carry my affiliate code over to that page. When you do static galleries (much more important than rotating galleries IMO), do not change them. We put them in a db with specific descriptions. If they change all the time, we simply delete them from our db as it is too much work to manage constant changes (in content, urls, codes, etc)
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I agree!
AND: don't use old content on hosted or downloadable galleries - can't sell a site with content found on TGPs for a year or more!
Quote:
Originally posted by whitey
2. Downloadabe Galleries: If you don't offer FHG, downloadable galleries are ok too. If you do offer both, don't use the same content on both and vary the templates a little. Otherwise, the same suggestions apply here that apply to FHGs
3. Free Content: Make the sets decent sized (16 to 20 pics), make certain they are 800x600 at least (larger is better), and make sure that you use at least some different content than is being listed on your FHGs. If you offer FHGs and free content, there is very little to be gained by having the same content in both areas. If I list your FHGs, there is no reason for me to list either submitted galleries with your content or make my own. For niche sites where I am listing everything out there, offering both FHGs and content that are identical does not optimize your exposure. .
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I agree! Most webmasters will re-size and re-compress content as they see fit, and I rather start from a 1024 px pic then a grainy 800 px pic. And for postings at thumb tgps
I need a clear picture to get a decent thumb done.
Personally I prefer larger sets of free content (but am satisfied with -let's say- 40 pictures!) for 2 reasons: if you use it for a free (linklist) site you need at least 24 pictures, and it gives me the opportunity to pick out a personal set which, combined with my own lay-out, might look completely different to what somebody else is making from the same set. I used to be rather sucessful doing this with Sunnydollar's larger sets.
Quote:
Originally posted by whitey
4. Good Artwork: give me logos, selling bullets with logos, and standard sized banners. Logos and basic artwork make gallery/site building a breeze and are easy to create and offer. Standard sized banners are critical for people who use banner serrvers and rotate ads. 468x60 and 468x80 are key. But also standard vertical sizes and blocks are good too..
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I agree!
I repeat this all the time: we need logos! Even information on fonts used in graphics would be helpful! I often waste hours trying to re-create the feel of a particular tour in my galleries. With logos and the correct font it would be done in minutes (and I could make another 2 gallery templates in the same time).
Quote:
Originally posted by whitey
5. Free Hosted Sites: They serve a different traffic market.
6. Give me a good preview prior to signing up with your program. The most egregious I have found will claim to have FHG's and offer one rotating gallery per site. I want to see examples of all of your tools. Otherwise, I will sign up, be disappointed by the tools, and never promote the proggie.
7. Understand your market and where the traffic comes from. Most of us in the biz awhile make more money with less raw traffic than some of the less experienced folk because we know how to target traffic. Make sure you understand the niche you are in and how it is promoted in the biz. For example, I do alot of soft fetish, and people who like babes in stockings are different than people who like milf's panythose. Yet, I see one major sponsor who just rotated all the content on their hosted galleries in this niche without regard to micro-niche. Hey, it caused me to reconsider the sponsor, look closely at conversions on page views rather than clicks, and realize this sponsor really didn't understand their niche although they had a ton of sites in it. Conversions per page view were crap and all their promo tools got deleted from my dbs. Understand your niches, the traffic structure, and build targeted tools.
Whatever you do, emphasize the quality and uniqueness of your sites. High quality tools result in high quality presentations result in better conversions. I would take 10 well done galleries over 200 shit galleries any day, and sell a hell of alot more memberships that way too! .
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I agree!
another thing I like to add:
keep your tools- and stats pages simple! You impress us webmasters more with decent conversions than with flash and terrible navigation on a webmaster page! (Yes - Silvercash comes to mind)
By example: I still like to download/save
all relavant link codes at once, so that I have fast and easy access to them when I'm offline. During summer I might be actually making galleries on a Notebook away from my desk - and still need codes to finish my work...