With over 1000 active members the Gay adult webmaster forum TripleXGay.com has expanded their offerings by adding a legal and content forum.

Moderated by industry attorney and exhibitionist, Chad Belville, the new legal forum promises to answer the simple legal questions while having some fun by sprinkling in “a little more spice.” Apparently Chad wants to offset the boring aspects of discussing legal issues by treating everyone to naked self pics, with an open invitation for others to participate. A novel approach!

TopBucks Video-on-Demand manager Darren Austin moderates the content forum. Intended for discussing, posting or reviewing any content or streaming video, Darren will also keep webmasters abreast of any news coming from TopBucks…wink wink.

In all my years in this business I’ve never understood the demand for a prominently positioned graphic banner reciprocal link. In return, what does the poor webmaster get? Oh lucky me! I get a text link buried in the bowels of an ever-growing archive of text links.

I don’t have a problem with giving a site premium promotion while my site is listed on their new list. During that week or two the playing field is level. However, once my link has dropped off the new listing there is no good reason for the links page getting top bill. I should be allowed to push that reciprocal link down and bury it in equal fashion.

There is absolutely no justification for requiring a banner in a reciprocal link. I don’t get a banner, unless I pay for it! So what makes these links and webmaster resource sites think they are justified in demanding that level of advertising?

These sites would argue that the high page rank they get helps the page rank of sites they link to, so it’s a fair trade. BULL! Last time I checked Google doesn’t give a rat’s ass if the link is with a graphic banner. If anything, a text link scores higher. And the only reason these sites have a good page rank is because all the webmasters are linking to them. They would still get that same page rank if all the webmasters used a text link on a page one level down. But without all these reciprocal links they’d be as significant as a pimple on Google’s ass!

I wonder what would happen if every site listed at Cozy Frog suddenly pulled their reciprocal link. Do you think maybe they would revisit their policy requiring a prominently position banner ad?

DO THE MATH

At Cozy Frog I can get a featured listing, in the links category relevant to my service, for the rock bottom price of $275.00 a month. That’s $3,300.00 a year! InGayPorn.com would fall under the Cozy category “Other Services”. WOW…I bet that gets a lot of page views! On the other hand, I can get a basic text listing, in the same category, if I put their 120×60 on my home page. Actually, I think they still get a banner on my home page if I shell out $3,300.00 a year.

Now I could be wrong here, but what do you bet InGayPorn.com averages more uniques to the home page than they ever get on a page one level down titled “Other Services”? Actually, the best category for InGayPorn.com would be “Resources”, but all the ad slots there are taken. And its not lost on me that the “Resources” page gets better exposure.

I’m not trying to pick on Cozy Frog. It’s just convenient that Cozy Frog offers a good example of the value they place on a 120×60, regardless of how much exposure it gets. Yet the amount of exposure you give them is irrelevant. They are still going to want a banner ad, and they are still going to give you the same level of exposure as everyone else in the listing. It’s just one example of how a lot of linking sites operate — a whole lot of take and very little give.

These sites could not exist without the webmasters, but for some reason they have all the webmasters thinking it’s the other way around.

This is one of many articles I’ll post for those of you interested in producing your own content. My focus will be more on working with the models and equipment, than dealing with the legal (2257) stuff.

Resist giving the model copies of your shoot. This can lead to your work being distributed by the model after he no longer works with you. If he wants some portfolio material, select a few good shots, but do not give him the entire work.

The model will usually want the photos the same day they were shot. Tell him you will need a few days to pull them together and burn to a CD. This gives you the opportunity to set up a second shoot when he comes back for the photos.

All too often I see webmasters making incorrect assumptions about the computer and web surfing skills of their customer base. The majority of your spending market has limited skills, so do not assume they know or understand anything. Do not assume they have the latest version of anything. And do not expect them to stop surfing for porn to download and install something so they are compatible with your site. It won’t happen. They will just hit the back button and go someplace else.

Notice I said “your spending market.” This gets back to demographics. The majority of your spending market is between the ages of 35 and 65. This is the group that is most likely to spend money on porn, and most likely to have limited computer/surfing skills. If you want to make sales, and generate repeat business, from these folks, you need to do a good job in the handholding department. Keep things simple, direct, and offer good customer service.

A good text description is an important ingredient in getting traffic to your web site. Unfortunately a lot of webmasters give it little or no priority. I’m convinced that many do a poor job, because English is not their first language. I’m equally convinced that a lot of you either don’t give it any merit, or don’t understand what constitutes a good description.

A good description clearly communicates what you are offering, and makes good use of keyword hot buttons. I’m not saying you should simply dump a bunch of key words without any structure. This is an ineffective practice that might also hurt your chances of getting listed on some links pages.

To write a good description you first need to understand what the consumer is shopping for. Then make sure you let the consumer know which of those items you are offering. First you should communicate what niche you are in; twink, bear, leather, chub, amateur, straight and so on. Then cover the details you offer that people look for. Below are some examples:

• action, group action, 3-way action
• anal action, oral action, jacking, rimming, bareback, cum shots
• extreme close-ups (particularly as it relates to anal action)
• big cock, monster cock, huge cock, rock hard cock, big fat vein popping dick
• outdoors or in nature
• smooth, skinny, hairy, muscular, buff
• blue eyes or green eyes (no other color hits hot buttons)
• blond or redhead (no other color hits hot buttons)
• long hair, skin head, bald
• ethnicity (Black, Asian, Latino)
• tattoos or piercings

Let’s use these in a few descriptions:

Beautiful blue eyed blond haired twink jacking his big fat vein-popping dick. Great cum shot!

Packed with hardcore man action. Includes anal, oral, rim and cum shots.

One hundred percent Black on White interracial anal and oral action. Close-ups and cum shots.

It’s very important that you be honest with your descriptions. Don’t tell people you have something in the site that isn’t there. I’m not saying you should include things that might hurt you, such as uncut. It’s better to say nothing than to run off someone that is not in to uncut dicks.

Good descriptions generate more clicks and improve your search engine traffic, so it’s well worth your time to get them right. Also keep in mind you can use these same descriptions in your sites’ meta tags.

Its one-week into the GWW sponsored JeeBubDub contest, and what have we learned? Touted as a good SEO learning exercise for adult webmasters, the JeeDubDub contest has certainly delivered one important lesson…how to quickly generate a ton of traffic for 15 bucks and an hour of work.

As it turns out the top slots at Google, for the key word JeeDubDub, are held by a dot com and dot org. Both are demonstrating no interest in contest participation. Instead they are grabbing the traffic generated by the JeeDubDub search results and using it for their own benefit.

JeeDubDub.com has created a links page, offering other sites the opportunity to share in the traffic. Given the choice of trying to compete for the $350 prize, or spending ten minutes to get a ton of free traffic, this was a no brainer for me. I jumped on the JeeDubDub.com listing, and the results have been amazing.

When Lee told webmasters to “get there any way you can”, I doubt this is what he had in mind. Oh well, its all in good fun…right Lee?

In today’s market the largest component of our paying consumer base is transient. They believe there is more bang for the buck by moving around. Why? Because, they know even good sites deliver small weekly updates. It’s not practical to hang out month after month for a trickle of new content. Better is to return every few months and enjoy all the updates that have accumulated. This consumer typically maintains a list of favorite sites, and makes the rounds while occasionally trying something new. So what does it take to get on this consumer’s favorite list?

Think about your experience with mainstream movie theaters. Sure, what’s playing is an important consideration, but so is the experience. The newer theaters offer nicer seats, a better view, and stunning audio. Theater owners know this makes a difference in attracting REPEAT business. If you are deciding between two different movies, one showing in an older theater, the other in a modern venue, its entirely likely the newer theater will get your business.

When you know the consumer has a choice, and he/she will exercise that choice, it’s in your best interest to make sure each and every experience is a good one. Using the movie theater as an analogy, I don’t care how good the movie was, the popcorn better be fresh, the theater better be clean and comfortable, and the staff better be friendly and attentive. Otherwise it will be a cold day in hell before I plunk down my $7.50 at your movie house!

Then there are those customers that hang on month after month. Contrary to what many site owners believe, it’s not for the weekly updates. This consumer’s loyalty is most often driven by convenience and safety. It’s a place to hang out at. It offers a lot of content that meets that individual’s interests. There are no games being played, the customer service is good, and loyalty discounts are obtainable. The site is dependable, trouble free, and easy to navigate. Basically it’s the prepaid destination for a twenty-minute jack off.

Model fixation also drives long-term memberships. Single model sites, and sites that offer live, interactive, shows are good examples. You would be amazed at how sticky VS Media is! But these are not your typical pay sites. Granted, many sites offer plug-ins that deliver the live shows. Problem is, many sites offer the same plug-in, so it has less stickiness value.

What does all this tell you? Well, if you step back and look at the big picture, frequency and volume of updates has little to do with consumer loyalty. It’s the membership experience that garners repeat business, be it from long-term members or transient consumers.

From a cost-benefit perspective, spending a lot on updates really doesn’t deliver the returns you might expect. Also, and this is very important, your cost of acquisition can be way off if you don’t factor out the transient consumer. Thus, if you are paying for traffic, you need to subtract the repeat business of the transient consumer. Otherwise your cost of acquisition may look very low.

In my experience, a lot of pay sites do not place enough value on the transient consumer. In fact, they tend to be a bit annoyed by them. There is nothing more frustrating than watching someone sign up and then immediately cancel. And this often translates into poor customer service. BIG mistake!

This is one of many articles I’ll post for those of you interested in producing your own content. My focus will be more on working with the models and equipment, than dealing with the legal (2257) stuff.

Before shooting a model for the first time you should try and get a test shoot. This can be done on the same day as the shoot, but he needs to understand that you may reject him based on it. You need a test shoot to make sure he does not have any undesirable features, such as a nasty ugly looking dick, scars, or birthmarks. Trust me when I tell you there are some repulsive looking cocks out there. One guy I encountered had been shooting up in his dick…not a pretty sight.

In addition, these test shots reveal how the camera captures him. Both you and the model can learn from this, as certain positions and camera angles can be less flattering than others.

You might also want to find out if the model can get hard – on demand. There is no use in trying to shoot him if he’s going to have performance problems. It can turn a two-hour shoot in to a five-hour marathon. I once had a guy that could only get hard if he went into another room. Then he would come running out, pinching it off, so it would stay hard. I put an X on the floor so he knew where to stand, and then snapped off a few before it went limp. Then he’d go back to his private space to work it up again and again and again. PLEASE! I was so over this boy. It ended up being a very popular shoot, but I never asked him back. And that was a shame, because this guy was a little hottie.

I strongly discourage the use of prescription drugs to stimulate an erection. Imagine your liability when trying to explain to EMS why a naked guy, in a room full of camera equipment, has just collapsed.