QUESTION: tall whiteboy wrote:
Thanks for posting a link to my blog on your blog A Father's Pride and Joy. That one link has led
about 200 visitors to my site over the past month. Feel free to repost more as long as you're linking back to me! I could use the traffic.
Do you have any advice on how to get more people to visit my blog? I'm trying everything I can think of to promote my site, but I haven't had much growth lately. Also, Facebook was one of my best marketing tools, but they deleted my account for linking to "obscene" material. Any advice you can give on what has worked for you would be appreciated by this new blogger!
Thanks and keep up the great work,
Andrew
tallwhiteboy.blogspot.com
RESPONSE: My advice from a would-be non-profit porn blogger
The first point of advice is also a telling reminder: You must not have noticed one major difference in my blogs and yours: none of my blogs has any commercial advertising - (except what Blogger (Google) puts there). It is telling because you didn't even mention that fact.
I think that trying to make money on a blog that is created from stuff we've simply found (on the Internet trash heap) is like trying to earn a living by picking up pennies. (It can be done - if you have to have a volunteer crew of 1000s - smile). That is not the only reason that I am never going to go commercial.
The second reason is that once you do, you become the target of your rivals and of your resources (Google takes a wholly different attitude about what a commercial blogger does and what a personal, private individual does). I won't bother to list the other five reasons why I will not be trying to monetize my blogs.
That being said, here is my wisdom about how blogs become popular (or not) or at least just noticed, please take it with a grain of salt and huge dash of pepper. (
I am not saying mine are popular. However, upwards of 5000 hits a day come to my most visited blogs:
Guys Into CMNM http://guys2ncmnm.
About a thousand hits a day are reached on 2 or 3 other ones.
Advice:
0.0 Be a writer: It helps to think like a writer/editor/publisher - instead of simply a porn smurf (purveyor of XX-rated gay material).
Start acting like one and you'll find it will become easier to make your own blog have the kind of qualities that will attract readership.
0.1 Do your homework. You need to be a good blog/site visitor yourself and also do a fair bit of research on what makes a particular blog appealing. Think about how you found it. Experiment with the various non-commercial apps, widgets, gadgets and tools that you have found on other people's blogs. Then you'll have a better understanding of what's working and what does not.
1. THEME: A specific targeted theme works to attract a certain clientele. Too general and the appeal may (or may not) work. That's the reason I maintain 10 different blogs - most of them are themed: cmnm, public sex or dickflashing, bromance/ straight/curious, interracial, daddy/son,
Asian male, gay travel, my own personal experience & commentary, etc.....
I notice that you put a lot of work into making a single post have a theme. That does add a lot of quality, but it only adds value for readers/visitors who have actually found your blog/site.
It also good to have some writing / text even when you're just wanting to show some grouped / themed porn shots. The Google search engine uses these as 'labels' in order to locate and index the photos. When done consistently, your blog's photos will pop up on Google's (and Bing's) image search when guys are trying to find free porn.
2. CONTENT: Intersperse original blogs entries with copied material.
Original means posts that either you write or when you find something worth re-posting and for which you have permission (even if only implied permission). My readers usually can find (not always true because I don't always have or make the time to do this) on a single page - at least one original post - along with the visual porn reposts that I frequently borrow from Queerclick or JustusBoys. Those sites are commercial porn blogs and they are working as viral advertisers for the various porn producers. So that only benefit by having people like me (or you) repost their stuff AS LONG AS it links back to the porn studios original marketing page (or via Queerclick - which is just pimping it for them). So, in effect, I am pimping for the pimp (and taking none of the credit or revenue).
However, since I also post a lot of amateur nude/gay sex photos and do some original writing or take snippets from other sources (especially where I am a contributor), then there is a balance that appeals to me and, hopefully, to the readers.
3. Socialize it: Add various social networks to create layers of linking around people - not just the porn.
A. Because they are themed blogs, I can also create a social networking site around that theme so that readers/visitors get some added valued. It works both ways. Guys who join the themed social networks get to view the blog content as well; that's the usefulness of RSS feeds.
The social networks operate separately but it gives readers/visitors an automatic sense of identity and feeling of community.
B. You can also add social networking apps/widgets directly to the blogs to get the same effect and actually create a loyal fan base. Google's FriendConnect is one of the more popular ones. Oddly enough, most of the people who are 'join' as followers of my blogs using FriendConnect are bloggers themselves - who are also looking to befriend fellow bloggers (kind of a backdoor link up).
4. Tags are important. Blogger tags are not simply so that a visitor can search your blog archive to find a certain item of interest. Those tags are searchable from Google's main search engine. Therefore, you should use
5. Facebook (and several other large portal type social sites, MySpace, Yahoo, Google other sites (Buzz, Profile, etc... ) can be used effectively WITHOUT posting obscene material.
Many of my blogs (themed) ones also have a Facebook Fan page. I just don't post any material from the blog directly to the Facebook Fan page. Instead, I can post a link (without offending visual images) to my blogs.
Particularly, if you have some alternate identities, you can populate your Facebook Fan page and also get 'their' Twitter updates posted to Facebook. One Facebook Fan page I created got to be popular enough, that I gave over the management and administration to one of the enthusiastic members.
Here is the list of my current porn blogs and the main contributors:
LiveJournal See my blogs on LiveJournal at:
http://sunbunz.livejournal.com/
http://nudewithclothed.livejournal.com/
Over-Blog (just started using this one):
http://seefallus.over-blog.com
http://guysn2cmnm.over-blog.com
Nibblebit.com
http://sunbunz.nibblebit.com
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Kelly
