Anyone with listings at Best Blog Links should be aware the directory is no longer there.  Instead, the webmaster has put up a self serving page and making use of any traffic your blogs send.

UPDATE

An explanation for all of this is in a thread at GayDemon.biz : http://www.gaydemon.biz/showthread.php?t=11284

UPDATE

The webmaster has informed me that he is in the process of changing the redirects, on the two link lists he shut down, to his new directory, Gay Porn Links, which is a more fair resolution to the situation.

The Cute Dude Gay Porn Links Directory recently passed 5000 listings.  Most links in the directory are to free Gay porn photos and videos.  Cute Dude organizes the listings by popular categories, and also offers a unique collection of links to Gay Porn RSS feeds.

The Cute Dude home page has been replaced by a blog that mostly features the new directory listings and hopes to improve over all SEO for the site.  In addition, Cute Dude has gotten a server upgrade, making it much faster to navigate the thousands of listings housed within the directory.

I think a lot of sponsor programs assume if an affiliate does not perform well for them its the webmaster’s fault and not theirs.  While this is certainly true with some, it’s not the case for all.  Just because a webmaster has signed up with a program doesn’t mean he/she is, or ever was, actively promoting it.  Of the over 200 sponsor programs I’m affiliated with, over half get little or no attention.

Aside from the webmaster doesn’t know what he/she is doing, has no traffic, or your site does not perform well with his/her traffic, I can think of several reasons for poor performance.  They can all be placed under one heading - Why the webmaster is not actively promoting you.

• Leaky site tours
• No promotional materials other than banners, or no new materials after the initial site launch
• Undesirable promotional materials, such as over cropping, poor quality, lack of text descriptions, or nothing to excite the consumer
• Not on the webmaster’s radar - out of sight, out of mind
• Promotional materials that are too difficult to work with when so many others are not
• The sponsor’s payout structure is not competitive
• A perception that the sponsor can not be trusted
• The sponsor’s business practices/ethics are unacceptable
• Poor customer service resulting in the webmaster getting pissed off and dropping the sponsor

As for the webmasters that don’t have a lot of traffic.  What is the difference between 20 webmasters making one sale a month and one making 20, as long as they don’t ask for anything more than can be gotten from your competition?  How can you possibly know which ones will eventually be 20 sales a month webmasters?  Piss them off now and you will never know!

It’s a lot easier to hold onto existing webmasters than recruit new.  Some sponsors need to pay better attention to what their webmasters are saying, both directly and in the forums.  There are way too many other programs out there competing for my and every other webmaster’s traffic.  What are you doing to be one of them?

My Gay Linx is the latest addition to the selection for links directories out there.  The submission process is easy and they generally approve within 24 hours.  So if you’re looking for another place to promote your sites, give this newcomer a try.

Recently I’ve noticed there are a lot of Wordpress blog themes being developed that incorporate banner ad positions.  They often have a 468×60 in the header, and a default set of six 125×125 positions in the sidebar.  All of the themes I’ve seen so far use a right sidebar to position the 125×125 ad cluster.

Based on research done a few years ago, that studied how a surfer scans a newly loaded web page, the 125×125 cluster of ads is in the number two most popular position.  If a left sidebar where used, they would be in the number one spot a surfer first looks when viewing a new page, just before shifting to the same location on the right side of the page.

I doubt seriously these 125×125 ad clusters will generate a lot of clicks from porn surfers, but they make for excellent branding, particularly if the webmaster is also promoting the same site in his/her posts.

I am in the process of developing a new blog that makes use of a theme which incorporates the 125×125 ad cluster.  I started looking for banners and quickly discovered a noteworthy number of sponsors do not supply 125×125 ads.

It is my recommendation sponsors consider developing a selection of 125×125 banners that lean heavy toward branding.

Rude Boxxx is a new gay porn links directory that just announced they are taking submissions. The directory was developed on a a domain that already has traffic, so its not exactly starting from scratch.

The Gay Porn Pig links directory has announced it is no longer taking submissions. Sites in the queue for approval will get processed over the next few weeks, and the listing is slated to remain active for an unspecified period.

Launched in early 2008, Gay Link Search, a product of Boy Dollars, has apparently been going through a redesign. At one point most of the listings had disappeared. It looks like some, or all, have been put back. Many pages on the site are incomplete, and webmaster logins are not working, or at least mine isn’t. An attempt to contact them about this has gone unanswered.

The mostly straight porn links directory Adult Slurp has recently added a little nasty that tries to download some sort of anti virus software. Or at least that’s what it claims to be. No telling what it really is. Attempts to contact them about this have gone unanswered.

Gay Porn Gremlins has removed its links directory and replaced it with a self serving links list. Apparently no effort was made to notify webmasters of the change, so they could pull their reciprocal links. Several attempts to contact the webmaster about this have gone unanswered. The gremlins have been very naughty boys indeed.