You can’t accuse me of pretending to be be an expert in areas I don’t know. Hand to hand combat and the orgasmic techniques of the ancient Mayans, yes. Thumbnail Gallery Posts… not so much.
This wouldn’t be a problem if I didn’t own TGP.com. It’s a serious URL and a possession which puts me in a position where each week I have to email someone and say no, $25,000 isn’t an offer I’m interested in, even though it should be when the URL isn’t making me that much a year and should be making more each week. Despite never becoming expert in the field of ‘giving shit away’ I’ve had enough experience on most sides of the adult business to feel confident I could make the site a success. The problem’s the model.
At TGP’s people upload links to free photos which are shared with visitors after a little filtering. The money comes from ads and for a TGP owner the more creatively they can be rammed down a surfers gaping maw the better. Lucre which has lead to the proliferation of pop-overs, pop-unders, flash-floaters and the other annoying IN YOUR FACE techniques the jizz-bizz is famous for. It’s a very dirty, and highly profitable, business.
I’ve always been reluctant to fall into this trap, determined to run TGP without resorting to scumbag webmaster techniques. There are good guys in every part of the adult business, I’ve met them. I’ve made it my mission to be that guy in TGP because like female baldness, it can work beautifully even if it’s a little unusual.
So I’ve tried to run a traditional TGP with no scummy ads (result - tons of crappy traffic and no real profit), as a blog with few TGP elements (result - high quality traffic and absolutely no profit) and most recently as a web 2.0 style TGP/Digg hybrid (result - total confusion and almost no profit).
It’s frustrating because the site as it exists today should be a blockbuster. Content is uploaded directly by users and voted on by anyone who comes to the site. The best stuff makes the homepage and the spam gets deleted. It’s Digg meets fapp(ing), a genius and much copied idea (I copied it too so that’s okay), and about as popular among webmasters as leaving a World of Warcraft all-nighter to take a Pilates classs.
As a marketing guru it’s my job to know why things work and more importantly, why they don’t. In this case I’m lost. Sure the TGP design might be crappy and the technology imperfect but have you seen this? It’s ugly as sin and makes seven figures a month. Ugly is not a problem (or this? It’s ugly as sin and makes seven figures a month.)
So I’d like to hear from people who know about this TGP niche and want in on TGP.com. I’m going back to school (start your mental training montage). I wanna be a contender. Sure I’m older than normal but I still got some stuff in the basement. I’ve got too much on my plate to start from scratch so we’re going to have to make a splash, rely on some blunt force trauma. I wanna build some hurtin’ bombs.
Teach me, take my money, tell me what to do. Make me your bitch. It’ll give me something to blog about, and give you a share in TGP.com (a version of which is making the silly money it should be, not the beer money it is). Hell I’ll even through in marketing/PR advice and handjobs if it’ll help (to clarify that’s handjobs for women - women with… er… cocks. Guys, you just get oral).
Otherwise I’m going to shave off my hair and check into reTGPhab (that was bad, but the comedy union said I had to or they’d kick me out). Talk to me.
Okay, here’s my crackpot theory: the ugliness works. Sites like that, people want to leave as soon as possible. Your goal is to get them off your page and on to the affiliate tours, where they will wander not-so-aimlessly until they give in and open their wallets.
If your page is pleasant you’ll have lots of savvy repeat visitors who love porn. Free porn. And aren’t going anywhere less visually appealing where they might have to, um, pay.
Besides you know the reason the Hun makes the money it does is because it’s been around as long as I’ve been looking at porn (please don’t do the math, it’s incriminating). The design hasn’t changed since… uh… the day I turned 18, and that’s exactly what the surfers are looking for. Something boring with a familiar interface (meaning 1998, meaning tables and times new roman = good, sexy 2.0 style = bad) that will point them to porn, porn they will have to pay for, and not invite them to linger. If you’re designing for the savviest, trendiest users you’re not designing for the people who don’t think they’re too good to pay for non-avant-garde porn.
A TGP page is like a fast food restaurant. You want them in and out of there. You don’t design for comfort but efficiency. (We’d be rich if we had no taste eh?)
Sabrina - I think you’re 100% right. I’ve been working on a redesign (see - I AM a beta) and it’s a lot leaner and more ‘in ‘n’ out’). Very well observed you.
As for 18 year olds and porn, I think you comment on the next post is a lot more incriminating…
Seconding what Sabrina said.
And read this AskMe post, an interesting read on the subject.