directly from advertisingThis was originally going to be an article on what you can learn from free hosts – and in a way it still is, but with a twist inspired by recent events that prevented me from doing this as I first intended. Let me explain…
Love them or hate them, free hosts have been a major part of the adult Internet landscape since the beginning. Popular with newbies and experienced webmasters alike, they provide a risk free venue for experimentation. Newbies can use them to take their first tentative steps in the business, while more experienced webmasters use them for TGP galleries and the like.
As one of my major focuses for the New Year will be the generation of insane amounts of traffic for my AVS sites, I had planned to rely on mass TGP submissions of free-hosted galleries as an easy method of generating traffic.
Because I haven’t done any TGP work for a few years, I decided to take a look at the current “State of the Art,” and so I setup a few new free host accounts. I was shocked at what I found.
My favorite adult free host from days gone by (the one that only put a small “nav bar” style header and footer on your page) now commanded the first full screen at 800×600 – as well as an equally immense footer! I studied this page and quickly became convinced that it would be virtually impossible to make any real money directly from advertising using this popular free host.
“…I setup a few new free host accounts. I was shocked at what I found.”
Then it occurred to me: I could use my paid hosting for TGP work. I know this is usually unadvisable, but I currently pay only $1.6\’ a Gig for bandwidth, and my host is faster and more reliable (\’\’.\’% uptime guaranteed!) than any free host. I also enjoy the benefit of selecting a pre-determined bandwidth cut-off point. While I will still receive email to that account, once my limit is reached, no further transfer will take place. This feature prevents unwelcome surprises like unexpected bills for several hundred Gigs of transfer!
I am also able to select (through my online control panel) predetermined intervals at which I am emailed regarding my current rate of transfer. I have it set to notify me after every 3 Gigs. This is a great way to stay on top of my monthly bandwidth use. Without these features (and my low bandwidth cost), I would never consider hosting my own TGP galleries, due to the risk of an eye-popping bandwidth bill.
Of course, it takes more than cheap bandwidth to successfully (read: profitably) host your own TGP galleries…
