Finding affiliates.

[wilto]

So, I just got an affiliate program set up for my site -- I swear this isn't spam -- and I'm looking for, y'know... Affiliates. As new as my site is, I'm sure not a lot of potentials have stumbled upon it, if any... So my question is, what's the best way to get the name out there? Submitting to TGPs and whatnot myself and crossing my fingers, or is there some other way of getting the program into the hands of potential affiliates?

[WarBot]

I think theres alot of different ways you can get new affiliates. Some cost money, some are free. Heres a few suggestions

1.) Put your affiliate program in your tagline (obvious one ).
2.) Post in the products and services section of GG & Jim
http://www.greenguysboard.com/board/...isplay.php?f=6
alot of other boards have a spam section too.
3.) Buy advertising spots on adult webmaster boards.
4.) Submit galleries & free sites promoting your paysite(s)
5.) Alot of link lists (link-o-rama, etc...) pretty much list every paysite known to man on their site. Im not sure if they promote all sponsors or just selected ones but maybe Greenguy will get the ball rolling for you.
6.) Offer unique free content for webmasters to use to promote your paysite (I think alot of free site and tgp submitters gobble up new free content from unknown / little known paysites).
7.) There are alot of paysite review sites out there now. Maybe you could get your site reviewed (I believe you need to provide a temporary pass) and listed by a few of them.

Im sure others will offer other idea's too. But I would definately put it in your tagline from now on and participate on the bulletin boards every once in a while.

Good luck with it
WB

[wilto]

Great advice; that gives me a lot of ideas to go on.

I gotta ask, though... Is a sig. like this too over-the-top? I don't want to come off looking like I'm just spamming every board I frequent.

[Toby]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I think you're jumping the gun a bit pushing an affiliate program at this point. I see this all the time. Put up a web site, and just a short time later launch an affiliate program.

I specialize in promoting single girl amateur sites, and many of the things I look for in affiliate program sites, you don't have because your site simply hasn't been around long enough.

Since your 50% recurring revshare, like most solo amateur sites, I want to know that the site is going to retain members. That means alot of member area content, something that can't be built up in just a few months.

I want to know that my traffic is going to a tour that has been well tested, tweaked and fined tuned, so that it converts well. This is something that takes some time and some trial and error.

My advice is to spend your time and energy fine tuning your tour, building member area, content, and take time to join some other affiliate programs to get an idea of what you should be offering. For example, I don't want to have to contact the webmaster to get access to promo content. Access should be sent as soon as I've signed up, with perhaps a short delay for verification. The more organized the content the better. Make it easy to find hosted galleries (with affiliate codes already inserted), downloadable zips, banners of assorted sizes, etc. The less time I have to spend getting the promo materials, the more time I can spend promoting your site.

An affiliate program can be very lucrative, but there's alot more to it than just putting up a signup page and providing a handful of promo galleries.

[wilto]

Originally Posted by Toby

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I think you're jumping the gun a bit pushing an affiliate program at this point. I see this all the time. Put up a web site, and just a short time later launch an affiliate program.

I specialize in promoting single girl amateur sites, and many of the things I look for in affiliate program sites, you don't have because your site simply hasn't been around long enough.

Since your 50% recurring revshare, like most solo amateur sites, I want to know that the site is going to retain members. That means alot of member area content, something that can't be built up in just a few months.

I want to know that my traffic is going to a tour that has been well tested, tweaked and fined tuned, so that it converts well. This is something that takes some time and some trial and error.

My advice is to spend your time and energy fine tuning your tour, building member area, content, and take time to join some other affiliate programs to get an idea of what you should be offering. For example, I don't want to have to contact the webmaster to get access to promo content. Access should be sent as soon as I've signed up, with perhaps a short delay for verification. The more organized the content the better. Make it easy to find hosted galleries (with affiliate codes already inserted), downloadable zips, banners of assorted sizes, etc. The less time I have to spend getting the promo materials, the more time I can spend promoting your site.

An affiliate program can be very lucrative, but there's alot more to it than just putting up a signup page and providing a handful of promo galleries.

No offense taken at all, man! That's why I'm here -- you certainly know these sorts of things better than I do, and I appreciate your honesty.

See, the email sent out by CCBill contains a link to the page that lists all my hosted galleries, I was going to make .zip files of all the promotional content available upon request... Now I'm thinking that I'll just put all of it on the same page, but instead of going the "security through obscurity" route and hoping the random surfers don't stumble across it, I'll secure it with a .htaccess file and send a username/password in the CCBill email... That way my affiliates can function a bit more autonomously. Does that sound a little more feasable?

And I know I'm too new to really be of interest to any serious affiliate -- I've done a lot of reading, as though I were aiming to be an affiliate myself. I just figure it's better to have the program out there and available, just in case... I've had a little bit of downtime this week, so I figured I'd start setting up and doing a little homework on it. I'm not expecting miracles, and I know I'm really just building up.

[SirMoby]

My recommendation.

1. Go to boards like you've done here and be very open minded with the learning process. (You seem to be well on your way)
2. Put a link on your webmaster page to your sites. Lela is a hottie but I can't find a link from your webmaster page. I instead put in the url manually.
3. Listen to Toby and every friendly webmaster that offers useful advice.
4. Build up the tour. Lele seems like a hottie but most tours include bios, diaries, photo galleries and a few pages of what a surfer will get if they join (web cams. movies, friends, hardcore, lesbian....) While the tour hints at much more there is nothing that actually makes any commitments. The text is also very hard to read.
5. Think about long term goals. It appears that you are open to suggestions and that you have a very hot product, which are keys to success but still that success is going to take time.

[WarBot]

This thread links to an article you may want to read
http://www.greenguysboard.com/board/...ad.php?t=33048
Might be a good idea to promote the site yourself for a while, fine tune the tour, get retention where you want it.
Another thing to consider is that if you start taking on affiliates too soon, and the tour doesnt convert or the member retention isnt good, the affiliate(s) may leave and never give you a second chance.

[Buncha]

Here's a suggestion.

If you do frequent photoshoots with that model, head over to GFY and offer to do fansigns. Those guys seem to love fansigns. That's a quick way to get 100 new affiliates. Whether they actually promote your program is another question.

Also, about once a week, someone over there will post "Spam Me With Solo Girl Sponsors", and everyone plugs their program.

[wilto]

Originally Posted by WarBot

This thread links to an article you may want to read
http://www.greenguysboard.com/board/...ad.php?t=33048
Might be a good idea to promote the site yourself for a while, fine tune the tour, get retention where you want it.
Another thing to consider is that if you start taking on affiliates too soon, and the tour doesnt convert or the member retention isnt good, the affiliate(s) may leave and never give you a second chance.

Yeah, that's a good point. I imagine good affiliates aren't exactly dime-a-dozen... I don't want to sign up the best of the best right away, just to lose them all forever.

[wilto]

Originally Posted by SirMoby

My recommendation.

1. Go to boards like you've done here and be very open minded with the learning process. (You seem to be well on your way)
2. Put a link on your webmaster page to your sites. Lela is a hottie but I can't find a link from your webmaster page. I instead put in the url manually.
3. Listen to Toby and every friendly webmaster that offers useful advice.
4. Build up the tour. Lele seems like a hottie but most tours include bios, diaries, photo galleries and a few pages of what a surfer will get if they join (web cams. movies, friends, hardcore, lesbian....) While the tour hints at much more there is nothing that actually makes any commitments. The text is also very hard to read.
5. Think about long term goals. It appears that you are open to suggestions and that you have a very hot product, which are keys to success but still that success is going to take time.

Actually, I set something up with adultstardiary.com as far as a diary goes... My fear is that it'll divert traffic away from my site, though, so I've been reluctant to put a link on the main page. Do you think it'll have a noticable impact on my traffic? If so, I could always whip up my own blogging solution. The bio I'm definitely going to do -- I didn't even think of something as basic as that, so I guess my noob is showing.

Thanks!

[WarBot]

I think that diary thing is a great idea. I would make it part of the tour and make sure the affiliates get credit for any sales in there. Maybe use it to write some steamy stuff about the newest updates.

[maxelll3752]

Start spaming on GFY and everyone will rag on you.. not a good idea.. GFY sucks anyway!. Bunch of evil hateful people on there. Stay away from that borad.

Originally Posted by wilto

Yeah, that's a good point. I imagine good affiliates aren't exactly dime-a-dozen... I don't want to sign up the best of the best right away, just to lose them all forever.

[wilto]

Originally Posted by maxelll3752

Start spaming on GFY and everyone will rag on you.. not a good idea.. GFY sucks anyway!. Bunch of evil hateful people on there. Stay away from that borad.

No worries, I'm thick-skinned. I'm not gonna go spamming or anything, but sometimes it's the abrasive people who're the most honest about things that need to be improved, y'know? A little advice from them won't kill me.

[supafly]

I guess it's down to offering something new and different than what everyone else offers. Nothing converts better than a rare niche.