I, Adultwebmaster!

Have you heard of Pay Per Click (PPC) search engine campaigns?

Placing PPC search engines ads allow you to bid on search terms at popular search engines and pay only when a surfer clicks on your ad and visits your site (or your sponsors site with your linkcode).

The popular search engines that accept PPC search engine ads are Google, Yahoo, MSN, FindWhat and many more.

Now some of you may be adverse to paying for clicks. “Why should I pay when I can get search listings for free with search engine optimization of my HTML?”

Well here is why you should:

Its profitable and its automatic. That’s why.

Place ads for your chosen keywords at the price your willing to pay, make sure you are paying a per-click amount that is profitable (monitor your performance in regards to costs vs. sales). Delete or modify the keywords/bids that arent profitable and keep the ones that are. Then just let that baby run!

I’ve found many keywords that I make 10-15 cents profit (or more) per click! And those ads have been running for almost 2 years.

Like I said in many posts before, you should never rely on just one way to make money in this business. But without a doubt I think a PPC ad campaign should be part of every adultwebmaster’s promotional efforts.

Until next time,

Build something everyday!

PornHero

When it comes to this business there are all sorts of tools you can use to make yourself more productive which increases the amount of $$$ in your pocket. There are software tools like statsremote… there are computer hardware tools like an external harddrive to backup your work (which everyone that is serious about this business should have) and then there are the type of tools that i think many people don’t give enough consideration to…

like the the chair your are sitting in…

I spent many years sitting in cheap, lowgrade chairs while I banged away on my computer building my business… the other day I was working and started getting a huge back ache… I realized the chair I was sitting it wasnt cutting it anymore… that day I went out and bought a highend ergonomically designed office chair that I think will help me spend longer times at the keyboard without paying the price in back pain..

I bought a CXO chair:

or how about the screen you are looking at…

I spent many years staring at my 15 inch screen on my laptop - i guess it was just force of habit - I was so used to that screen i didnt even consider anything else… well the other day i invested in a 23″ widescreen, flatscreen LCD monitor and I must say it was worth every penny! After using it for almost 2 weeks I noticed the difference in not having to squint to see what I was programming — that extra 8″ (more than 50% increase in size) really makes a huge difference especially considering the amount of hours a day you spend staring at the monitor. I can already feel I am working more productively and the money I spent on the monitor will more than pay for itself over time.

my new 23″ monitor is a HP f2304:

so think about the tools you are using… are you using an old busted up mouse to build your sites? go to Best Buy and invest some money on a better mouse!! I truly believe any money you spend on upgrading the tools you use everyday will benefit you in the long run as long as the upgrade makes you more efficient in relation to the price.

Build Something Everyday

PornHero

If you are relatively new to the business and have not yet signed up for StatsRemote I suggest you take a look at the product at http://www.statsremote.com.

StatsRemote is a program that saves you time by checking your sponsor accounts for you at designated times (as often as every 15 minutes). If you find that you have more than a handful of sponsor accounts then you should spend the $30/month to get StatsRemote. It is worth every penny.

Here’s a screenshot of StatsRemote (click to enlarge):

StatsRemote checks your stats for you…

Not only does StatsRemote save you valuable time by checking all your sponsor accounts for you (especially for the Stats junkies out there) but it also organizes your sales data in a format that makes comparisons easy.

Are you already using StatsRemote?

Then make sure you are getting the full benefit of this awesome program!

Here are the ways I get more out of my Statsremote program:

1. I add all sponsors accounts (username/password) to my StatsRemote as soon as I join up for them even if I do not yet have time to add their linkcodes to my sites. This serves as a reminder for me (because I see the sponsor listed in my statsremote with big fat ZEROES beside it) and I eventually add that particular sponsors to my network of sites faster than if they werent in my statsremote (you know what they say - outta sight outta mind).

2. On the last day of every month I save that month’s data in a CSV file format (a great feature of statremote) so that I have a history of all my sales for any given month. Some sponsors only keep sales data for a limited time so saving my sales data in the CSV format at the end of each month assures me of more accurate historical data over the years.

3. I use the ‘CUSTOM’ tab at the bottom of statsremote to input my choice of time period to review my sales. This is a great feature where I can choose to see how I am doing for the first 10 days of the month compared to last month’s. Or for example, when I went on vacation for 8 days I was able to select a custom period and see my sales for the 8 days I was away.

These are just a few of the ways I use StatsRemote — if you are not already using it then check it out now - http://www.statsremote.com - and if you already have it spend some time with it to make sure you are taking full advantage of all StatsRemote has to offer. It definitely will help you make more $$$ with your sponsors.

Alot of people in the adult business learn the hard way not to put all their eggs in one basket.

Make sure you don’t do this as you build your business….

Think of the eggs as your sites, domains, servers, traffic sources, etc…

Here’s a quick story, when I first started out fulltime in the biz I had all my sites and webpages on one virtual server account. I had been working hard for a couple months on building my business. I was building pages/sites, submitting like a nut and doing the things it took to increase my income. I was starting to see the results of my hardwork in the size of my checks.

Then one day my host when down. My sites where unavailable for almost 2 full days. For 2 days I had ZERO new sales and lost alot of links from people that where linking to me. The fact I had all my eggs in one basket (All my sites with one host company on one server) cost me big time.

Another example was when AdultCheck cutoff the majority of their affiliates. I thought AdultCheck was solid. Thought they would never screw me. I was making a big percentage of my sales/income with AdultCheck and it was like a kick in the nuts when they stopped sending the checks.

Here’s a picture of AdultCheck kicking PornHero in the nuts:

… this happened when AdultCheck announced they weren’t sending me checks anymore

So my advice for today is if you are at all serious about having this business support you and give you the good life in the shortest amount of time possible then please make sure you diversify your assets in all aspects.

“Making More, While Working Less” is the idea behind not making the mistake of ‘putting all your eggs in one basket…’

It’s alot of work to recover from making that mistake!

For example, use more than one host company, build your sites on multiple domain names, use more than one domain name registrar, spread out your traffic to various sponsors, obtain your traffic from more than one traffic source, etc, etc.

Here’s a biggie: Backup your data! Invest in a backup drive (about $200). The feeling of “Fuck!” when your harddrive dies or your server is wiped out is unbearable when all it took was backing up your data on a regular basis to avoid that loss of income.

“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” is a lesson I learned the hard way and I urge you to consider it as you build your empire - avoid the same drama I went through!

My fellow adultwebmaster JFPDude wrote and interesting article on what he discovered after starting his first blog. Take a read, it might convince you to start one too.

How well do blogs work for you ? by JFPDude

Do you build brandnames or do you simply promote other people’s brandnames? I have found in the long run its best to be promoting your own brandname, you are building longer lasting value and will see the returns for many months and years to come.

Imagine how much this brandname is worth:

Lensman owns a brandname:
“GFY”

I am building the brandname PornHero with this blog:

PornHero

Here’s a simple example, instead of having a direct link to your sponsors in your signature on messageboards, build a goodlooking site with all your sponsor links on it and promote that site whenver you can. For example you could build a site called MyFavoriteSponsors.com and send people there. Over time you’d be surprised how many people will remember your brandname and go there directly - and you’ll have a chance to make more than one referral on that person. Just an example.

I always think in terms of building brandnames. Its part of thinking BIG instead of just doing what everyone else is doing.

Here is a word of warning from a person experienced with networking in this biz… this is in reply to my post below it “Here’s a serious mistake I made”

PornHero
—–
While networking is GREAT, you might want to include a point about OVER networking.

I don’t mean networking on GFY or other boards. Or spending to much time on ICQ. I mean making relationships with people who have no clue and will become dependent on your good information long after their ability to reciprocate with good information of their own has stopped.

Also, don’t get into a partner situation with someone who cannot bring anything to the table over the long haul. From my own perspective, I have noticed that my programming ability overshadows the abilities of any partner that I’ve ever had.

Keep up the good work!

I spent the first 8 years of my adult internet business pretty much a solo, one-man operation.

I could count on one hand how many people I had on icq. I probably had 10 conversations over icq in those 8 years.

Don’t make that same mistake.

Just this morning I got involved in a icq conversation with a webmaster who posted in my thread about blogs.

Turns out this webmaster owns and shoots the content for one of the first sites I ever promoted when I started in this business. I freaked - what a coincidence…

The site?
http://www.amateurupskirts.com

This person gave me some great business advice this morning - and I returned the favour.

Who knows how much quicker I would have reached this level if I made more of an attempt to network and let myself be known in this industry.

Don’t make the same mistake… network, post on threads, ask questions (especially in my threads) and have conversations over icq. Help others… whatever you put out there will come back to you tenfold - you’ll be amazed, I am.

Here is a reply I posted on GFY…

First of all let me make it clear my intention is not to flame or bash anyone. I am just trying to help you all expand your mind. I could have completely ignored this thread… read it and say to myself “look at these suckers, they have no idea”… but I didn’t. I took the time to post a book that I thought was great. I look at it now and maybe it seemed like I was joking. I am sorry. I wasnt’. You all need to read the book “The Magic of Thinking Big”.

It may hurt to hear what I am saying but consider it growing pains, I am trying to expand your mind. And not all of you will get it. I probably think 1 in 100 people that read this thread will actaully heed my advice and get that book. Buts that’s ok.

So you are worried I am giving away “secrets”. I have news for you, nothing I have said cant’ be found on just about any other webmaster resource site. Now dont get me wrong, I am not giving out time-sensitive secrets like how to buy domains right after they expire or anything like that. I am just telling people general things what worked for me. Doesnt mean it’ll work for them. You all need to stop the hatin’ and be glad a more experienced person is taking the time to let you know what worked for him and compare to what is working for you. das it. That’s the extent of it.

But I am really shocked that some of you are so worried about other people. Your competition is not with other adultwebmasters, but with how smart you are in taking advantage of new opportunities. I know most people in this thread are into TGP which is cool but who has started a blog? I know you may be tired about hearing about them but fuck, there is a reason you are hearing so much about them! Wake up and smell the coffee. Blogs are great. Great search engine traffic. And they only take about 20 minutes a day to update. An its fun to update. You just write some funny bullshit, press “Save” then go on about your day. It’s worth the 20 minutes. For real, I aint playin’. And even if you are into TGP you should have one. That is what I am talking about when it comes to learning and trying new things and explanding your mind. Dont force yourself into a cubbyhole then worry other people want to get into the same cubbyhole. Get it? Capiche? I hope so cuz I dont think I could make it any clearer than that. Phew!

Read the replies to my post above HERE…

Do you wish there was an adult industry magazine you could buy at your local bookstore?

So do I, it would be awesome to walk into a Barnes & Noble or Indigo, pickup the latest copy of The AdultWebmaster News, find the nearest Starbucks and start reading about whats going on in our business. Unfortunately the adult business is not there yet.

But I think I found the next best thing.

Revenue - the magazine.

The magazine is called “Revenue” and its all about the affiliate marketing business, ie. sending traffic to sponsors and earning a commission on the sale.

I’ve bought every copy at my bookstore since it came out last year (comes out every 2 months). It’s time I get a subscription cuz I don’t want to miss the next one.

The magazine caters to mainstream (non-adult) products and sites but there are lots and lots of useful articles and writeups that apply to the adult business. It talks alot about search engines, managing your online business and issues/challenges that affiliates are dealing with.

PornKings created quite the stir in their readership when they took out a fullpage ad with an almost naked woman in it, it was pretty funny - the woman wasn’t even baring bush or busting breast.

Take a look at the magazine’s site:
http://www.revenuetoday.com

When this magazine first came out I kinda freaked… I thought all this affiliate money I was making was flying under the radar of the mass media and thought this magazine would threaten my business by telling people about it but I’ve chilled still then… when I go buy my copy I think its the only one the store orders — all the other ‘business’ guys are busy flipping through Fortune and Businessweek while they dream of one day starting their own business - I go straight for Revenue.

I ain’t playin’.

Next time you are in the bookstore see if they have the “Revenue” magazine in their business magazine section. Here is what I do: I take it with me when I can’t be online - flights, commuting, etc — it allows me to still be working on building my business even though I am away from my keyboard.

Thanks for reading this far… for that, I give you this:
a great article to get you thinking about your traffic:
Affiliate Tips: It’s All About The Traffic