| The Online Porn Dictionary: Part 1 |
Back when I was just a fresh-faced newbie to the world of online adult entertainment, I felt so overwhelmed by what I felt to be a very complex structure. I was hired on to take over the marketing for the company’s adult sites, webmaster program, and content site, and my boss told me for the first week that I should just ease myself in and try to get familiar with the different types of sites out there, terms that are used, etc. Here I am, over two years later and I think that I am just about there, however, it took a little longer than a week. Since I had to dive in alone and figure out what everything was for myself, I thought it might be a little easier for a newbie to have all the information in one place. Hence, I have put together this online porn glossary that should clarify “what is what” in this industry.
AVS – Adult Verification System. An Adult Verification System (AVS) sets up a password protected entry for web sites that do not want their pages to be accessible by people under the age of 18. AVS systems benefit the webmasters by providing them with a free age verification service for their sites. AVS systems benefit the surfer by issuing them an adult ID that allows them to access all the participating sites with one password. An AVS site is a good stepping stone to launching a paysite.
Bandwidth - The amount of data that can be transmitted at a given moment to a server. The greater your bandwidth, the larger amount of traffic your site can handle at one time.
Conversion Ratio - When we talk about conversion ratios, we are talking about simple math. When a surfer visits a site, goes through the tour and then purchases a membership, that surfer has then been converted into a buyer. Let’s say that I send 1000 people to a sponsor. Out of those 1,000 people, 5 people purchase a membership to the site. Therefore, the ratio of people that purchased a membership is 5:1000 which would be written as 1:200. (Divide both sides by 5). Conversion ratios are used in the industry as a means to test how well a sponsor program is working and to test how well traffic is performing.
Exit console – This is a money making tool for Webmasters that at the same time can get on the nerves of the surfers. It is a web page, which pops up when you try to exit an adult site. Its purpose is to try to entice the surfer to buy something else since they are leaving your site without purchasing a membership. If the surfer gets redirected to another site with the popup and ends up purchasing a membership there, the original site owner will get a percentage of that sale.
Link List - A link list is a website which has links to many adult websites, and is usually categorized. Anyone can submit to link lists, and to do so, you just have to follow the rules of the link list that you wish to submit your site to. The most common rule of the link lists is that you must link back to the link list from your site, which is called a reciprocal link. Once you submit your site to the link list, the owner will then review your link and if they approve it, they will then list it on their link list and you will start receiving traffic.
Newbie – A newbie is a Webmaster who is new to the world of online porn and usually requires some guidance from the more experienced webmasters out there.
Niche – Under the main umbrella of “adult entertainment”, then are many branches or subcategories, which are more commonly referred to as ‘niches’. Niches serve to please everyone’s tastes out there, whether it be for lesbians, amateurs, or gay black men with 18” cocks. These are all niches and there is money to be made with every one of them.
Paysite – Like it’s name states, this is an adult website which requires patrons to pay for a membership. Paysites will usually give surfers a peek of what they are offering through their tour. Tours usually consist of a few pages that lead up to the signup page that show surfers what kind of content they will receive if they buy a membership to the site. Most paysites will offer different types of memberships, including a trial membership, which allows people to sign up to the site for a couple of days for a small fee to “try it out”.
Spam – Spam is really any form of unsolicited advertising, whether it is through email, newsgroups or message boards. Spam is simply not tolerated in this industry and can sometimes result in getting you banned from using sponsor programs and/or adult resource boards.
Sponsor – A sponsor is an adult company that has some kind of program where it will allow webmasters to promote their products in exchange for some form of revenue. There are many types of sponsors out there as well as many different types of payouts that sponsors will give. Sponsors will typically have one or more websites for their affiliates to promote, and they will usually provide their affiliates with resources such as free content, stats programs, and promotional material. Sponsors will typically pay their affiliates a percentage of every sale that they direct to them or will pay them per signup that their traffic generates.
TGP – Thumbnail Gallery Post. TGPs are free adult websites that get massive amounts of daily visitors who are seeking free porn. Webmasters submit their thumbnail galleries to the TGP’s in the hopes of getting a piece of this traffic and upselling the surfer to a paysite. Thumbnail galleries are typically pages with around 15 to 20 small pictures or “thumbs” that take the surfers to larger versions of the photo. Any Webmaster can get listed at the various TGPs, so long as they stick to the rules that the TGP owner lays out. TGP’s owners make money from the advertisements they place on their sites.
Third Party Processor – If you have an adult paysite, and do not have your own merchant account, then you would outsource all of your billing to a third party processor. They will handle all of the Visa, MasterCard, and other billing or processing for your customers in return for a processing fee.
Traffic – For simplicity purposes, I will compare traffic to visitors. When someone says that their site receives a lot of traffic, what they mean is that their site gets a lot of visitors. Traffic is what drives the industry and is what can make or break a website. In order to be successful a website must have high amounts of high quality traffic or visitors. Webmasters must figure out how to get traffic, how to keep it, or how to send it somewhere else that will make them money.
These are just a few of the most important terms that one should be familiar with when trying to break into this industry. Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Online Porn Dictionary in which I will describe what the various niches are. |
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| Article Details |
| Author: Muffy |
| Date Posted: April 6th, 2004 |
| Topic: Adult Industry News |
| Reader Rating: 0.0 / 5 |
| Comments Posted: 0 (see below) |
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