Lesson #18 The Money Bar
Written By Titmowse

A money bar is basically a four-celled, one-row table containing text and links. Because it’s such a standard form of ad design for so many adult pages, it would be good to learn how to put one on your free adult site.

A TABLE is an HTML tag, which will show up on a web page as a square or series of squares. As an example, a tic-tac-toe board -with it’s nine squares stacked upon each other- is what a basic table would look like. If you were to display a tic-tac-toe board on a web page, you would make a three-column, three-rowed table tag. Each little square of the table would be called a cell. The site builder can place practically anything within the cell of a table, from images, to video clips to text links. Webmasters use tables to align elements evenly on a page. The money bar is a table where you place sales copy and links to the sites advertised.

Some webmasters make money bars that contain numerous links or are composed of graphic banners. This is okay up to a point but after they add the second row, it really ceases to be a money bar. A money bar is a bar. The classic format for a money bar is a one-row table with four cells placed horizontally across a webpage. The classic content for each cell is a one-line sales blurb above and an according hypertext link below.

For instance, say you want to make a money bar where each cell promotes and links to one of your different adult sponsors. In the first cell, you would add the text: Grade A Prime! Then you would add a line break and insert text (Mashed Potatoes!) linking to www.potatoes.com@yourreferrerid. In the next cell you would do the same with new sales text and another sponsor. As well you would do so with the third and fourth cells. When you are finished your site displays a clean table with four ads, spread horizontally across the width of the page.

The classic money bar is a great way to advertise without clutter or overkill. A money bar is made of text so it’s easy on bandwidth. Text ads are historically more effective than banner adds. A money bar occupies the same amount of page space as one 468x60-image banner yet it yields four times as many sales possibilities. A money bar is neat, clean and highly effective when applied properly to a free adult website.

Before you learn the best place on a page to put a money bar, it’s a good idea to know where it doesn’t belong. A money bar doesn’t belong on a thumbnail gallery. TGP reviewers aren’t very fond of ad links on gallery submissions. The most they will tolerate is three but the majority will demand that no less than two ad links appear on approved pages. Other than on free sites, or specific gallery pages, there’s really no site where a money bar wouldn’t fit.

As far as to where a money bar belongs on a page, the classic position for one is near the bottom. That doesn’t mean a money bar can only work if it’s located at the base of a webpage. Some webmasters will break a page in half with a money bar. Some will even post more than one on the same HTML page. It’s even possible to post a money bar towards the top of a page. The table headers used by adult free hosts are really just glorified money bars for the provider. The important thing to remember is to place your money bar where it will do you the most good.

To illustrate, your adult warning page is a good spot for a money bar. On it, you can post the usual enter and exit links, but you can also paste a money bar under those selections. The four links could take the user to similar sites you make money from. Or they could take the surfer to non-adult sites/sponsors of yours. You could put a money bar at the bottom of your main page. You could make the money bar be part of your overall site template by sticking it on each an every page of your site. However you choose to display the little table is entirely up to you. You will find out through trial an error the exact magic formula for your particular needs.

The next time you're designing a new adult site or upgrading an old one, consider the money bar. It’s small. It’s easy to do. It’s effective.