Have you been paying attention? We are coming up fast on the cha-ching season for all of us professional purveyors of porn. Up north, morning frost is on the windshields, the air-conditioners are silent and the heat pumps are humming the alarm for our most profitable season of the year.
Yes, it's that time again - the porn industry’s favorite time of the year. This is when our adoring public spends more hours at home hiding from the cold - and visiting family members - by snuggling up with their computers and the Internet. With billing solutions becoming more and more complex it is time for all of us to tighten our belts and squeeze the surfers we have for every dime they are worth. Are you prepared?
RIGHT NOW it’s Prime Time to optimize what you have got to work with! That is what we have been doing lately here at AEBN. Of course we do minor updates and look at our stats on a regular basis, but even a company like ours knows that its time to look far more carefully. We always monitor our trends but those numbers are getting stout and the number crunching we need to be doing is really growing. So we have thrown our stat management into high gear and you should be doing the same. It’s time all of us smut-peddlers in the Industry, large and small did.
Whatever You’re Making - You Could Be Making More
We all tend to become complacent when it comes to this stuff once we start making the money we expect to make; we tend to forget what it was like when we first started. When you have been doing it for a while you tend to think you have covered all your bases. Oh so not true!
When you’re a new Webmaster filling in the cracks is a daily task. The feeling of success when you made that little change that increased your revenue 5% or 10%… Remember those days?
No matter how optimized your sites, your traffic, your advertising, your life is, you can do better. You know the game ladies and gentlemen you are making money right this moment and you know you could be making more. So get off your ass and find that hole in the bucket that is costing you money.
Your Stats Are Your Own Private Financial Consultant
What kind of stats have you been keeping? Have you been keeping any at all? Number crunching is dull? Hell No! That’s MONEY you’re looking at! Stats rule! Stats are a powerful tool for determining how hard to squeeze.
When was the last time you took a few days to analyze the stats and see what the hell they are telling you? They sit very quietly on your server filling up your logs with wonderful gems on information that will make you more money and you’re probably not giving them the attention they deserve.
Your stats will open doors to revenues that you had never considered. Your stats will give you growth forecast on what you are already doing. They can help you predict the next big thing, the pot at the end of the rainbow, the taste of the masses. Your stats are your own private Neilson rating system. I know you’re nodding your head up and down going “I know; what's your point?”
If I told you that you could make 5% more next month with two days work would you consider doing it? What if I told you 10%? I can remember days when I tweaked one little thing and increased my income by 50%. That was the day I realized my stats programs were worth a fortune. Here is your task: Get into your stats and find how much traffic you have.
Take What You Know and Make It Work for You
So – what kind of numbers do you have? Going up or going down? Where is it coming from?
Look at the places your traffic is spending money: How well are they converting? Change the traffic around to different sponsors, try the big companies, and try the little companies. Talk to your associates and find out how their traffic is doing from similar sources. Are they filtering their surfers in a different way? Are they doing better? Check with your friends and compare your trends. Get a second opinion from someone you respect.
Foreign traffic on the rise? Do you have a good billing solution for International traffic? Do your sponsors have good billing solution? On second thought: Are your sponsors taking your foreign traffic and neglecting to mention that to you?
Are you offering the surfers what they want to see? Don’t forget to ‘freshen-up’ your site! If you are making $100 per day online then maybe you could squeeze and extra $20 or $30 out of it with just a minor design change.
Change the colors you use, make your fonts bigger, swap out all your banners, whatever! Swap out the worn-out free stuff with bigger, Better, BOLDER… Ahem. Newer free stuff. What language are your sites in? Have you checked to see what your productivity would be if you filtered your non-English speaking traffic to a site that speaks their language?
Consider Buying Traffic
If you can buy it for a nickel then make a dime on it then you have something to consider. A great way to fill in the cracks of your current advertising is to listen to the logs.
Do all the above with the appropriate tweaks and modifications. Once you’re done feel free to shuffle back off to the big screen TV and camp out on the big couch for a few more months.
Seriously - review the statistics for your personal kingdom thoroughly every three months, at the very least. Pay special attention to those high traffic months, if you don’t you’re screwing yourself out of cash. If you don’t take my advice you will eventually get around to checking all your options only to find you have been ignoring what could have been an income source.
Do you really want to give me the opportunity to say: “I told you so!” Do you?
Note: If as a result of this article you find you are making more money please send 10% of your newfound cash to me at: hawke@aebn.net… Oh, as if! Never mind… Have a drink on me instead and maybe remember me in your will.
