PHOENIX, AZ — Steve Lightspeed knows a few things about solo girl sites. One of the most important things he knows is that there’s nobody more in “the know” about solo girl sites than those running them. That’s why he launched SoloGirlBoard.com – and why he was chosen to moderate the Phoenix Forum roundtable discussion on running a solo girl site from concept to reality.Joined by Buzz of TwistedCash.com, Rico of CrazyCricket.com, and Evil Chris of TripleXCash.com, the overwhelming message was for webmasters and prospective webmasters to “Be careful. Be very careful – and know what you’re doing,” as Evil Chris put it.
Starting with the basics of how to find models; what to pay them; how to help prepare them for possible problems with friends, family, and mainstream employers; and explanations of 2257 and its implications, the two-part seminar covered marketing, affiliate programs, and traffic data after a snack break.
Amidst amusing personal anecdotes, the men dished out considerable expert insider info that ranged from forgettably obvious details such as registering a memorable and informative domain name to more obscure advice concerning model names and what to do when there isn’t one.
Once discussion touched on search engines and their importance, a number of old timer truisms were tossed to the sidelines due to industry changes. “Search engine traffice and obtaining it is a bit of an enigma,” Evil Chris admitted. “It’s not what it used to be.”
Where once meta tags and keywords were vital to the success of a site within a search engine structure, the men agreed that today’s market isn’t as affected by them, at least when dealing with the larger search engines. Further, although everyone agreed that Google is one of the easiest to get listed in, Buzz contended that “the guys are younger and less likely to spend,” meaning that ranking will not necessarily translate into clicks – and clicks will not necessarily turn into conversions and cash. He recommended the old standby Yahoo!, in addition to the welcoming Google and smaller engines.
The fact search engines no longer guarantee income doesn’t mean that they are without merit, however. Rico was especially adamant about the importance of unique and informative image names, pointing out that both Yahoo! and Google now offer image searching capabilities and a distinctive name will draw more eyeballs than a series of meaningless letters and numbers. Even this, of course, was open to debate, with Lightspeed observing that the plethora of available images through these engines makes them, for all practical purposes, among the biggest TGP sites available. Although he wondered if surfers even bother to buy after seeing for free via this means, Evil Chris pointed out that his stats indicate that traffic does convert thanks to image requests.
As with other topics, this discussion led into other, related subjects, including the vital importance of knowing and understanding site statistics in order to evaluate what traffic is worth romancing and what is best left to others. Search engine traffic, for instance, was not seen as a particularly worthwhile investment of time and money in most cases, although Evil Chris conceded that a mere few months ago he would have said otherwise. With the revelation that some search engine statistics are not entirely accurate and, in fact, sometimes inflated in order to make the search engine seem better, the value of such traffic can only be evaluated based on ultimate conversion numbers and dollars earned. On a related note, all agreed that search engine optimization expert claims are to be taken with a grain of salt. “It’s buyer beware,” Lightspeed warned. “If you really want to hire a search engine optimization expert, get references.”
In addition to possible traffic from search engines, all involved agreed that some of the best way to locate and drive traffic is from working with other, likeminded webmasters and sites. “Your biggest competitor should also be your best friend,” Lightspeed advised. Free site networks, top lists, banner farms, and link exchanges were all cited as simple and effective ways to work toward greater visitor numbers. Further, Buzz reported that good profiles in the press can result in increased traffic counts.
The value of emails, trials, pop unders, and exit consoles, however, were not as universally agreed upon. While many webmasters and surfers claim to loath pop ups, pop unders, and exit consoles, Rico insisted that the reality is far different. Regardless of what customers claim, when confronted by an exit console, “They buy,” he observed. The secret, all agreed, was not making the experience so miserable for the user that s/he come away from the site with a bad opinion.
With the CAN-SPAM Act in place and some ISPs being overly vigilant against potential spammers, all agreed that email campaigns no longer have the value they once did. Hiring the services of white list companies claiming to be able to end run spam filters was universally agreed to be a worthless pursuit. The purchase of email lists was rejected straight across the board as useless. Likewise, trials, once the darling of many pay sites, took a hit to their reputation, with some wishing they’d go away entirely, particularly the $4.95 variety, but others feeling that they still have value, particularly if repeat trial users are monitored and controlled in much the same way as repeat chargeback fraudsters.
Perhaps most amusing was Lightspeed’s admission that although eight years ago he would have strongly discouraged webmasters from creating affiliate programs that often pay as much as 65-percent of a sign-up, experience has made him a strong advocate for them, although Evil Chris pointed out that “mom and pop” sized site, likely has owners who can’t bear the loss of the income. Those who can, on the other hand, were advised to make sure content is kept fresh with frequent updates.
Ultimately, Lightspeed summed up what he felt was the most appealing aspect of the solo girl site: that while some aspects of the adult industry have earned a reputation for shaving payments, the solo girl niche is still populated by honest webmasters.
