How Do You Do It?
  Written By Raven

If I had to be totally honest, I'd have to tell the surfer, He's a loser and he might as well join my site, because he will never get close enough to a chick and this is the best he's ever going to do. I could even give away a free box of tissues with each membership, because the only place his jizz will go will be into the tissue. Never into a lovely woman. NO woman would have him. THERE'S a sales pitch I've not tried.

Somehow, I don't think my sales will increase, if I were to write a tour, using those words.

Manipulation of the surfer is integral in selling a product. Watch television. There are several advertising campaigns based on fantasy. All it takes is a pair of sneakers and the consumer can then run at the speed of light. Purchase a certain type of car and the buyer is practically assured of meeting a beautiful super model, who will drool in his presence and share his bed at night. Toothpastes promise white teeth and no cavities.

Millions of advertising dollars are spent each year, finding ways to influence the consumer, which is exactly what webmasters need to do when marketing to their audience.

Are we misleading? Misrepresenting?
I prefer to think we are directing.

The words we use must create a fantasy, so the surfer believes he needs what we're selling.

Every pimply-loser-of-a-guy wants to believe he can 'get' a woman. He wants to think there's a chance for him to be considered attractive to a large breasted, curvy shaped women. He needs to be manipulated in such a way as to make his blood boil, so he can rationalise the expense in joining a pay site.

Since we are all in sales, creating the fantasy is only the beginning of getting them to buy our product. When webmasters surf the Internet, they run into all kinds of annoying advertising methods. Many, especially when they are new, promise their surfers they won't pop anything, whether it's over or under the browser. Site owners take the holy pledge of honesty and give up sales. In truth, some of the best advertising campaigns I've ever seen involve some form of deception, whether it's in the words or use of subtle tricks to keep the surfer on track.

One of the most annoying webmaster 'tricks' I've run across is the manipulation of the 'back' button. It's considered deceptive and dishonest and highly manipulative. Many webmasters won't use it. Stealth consoles, also known as timed consoles, which pop well after the surfer leaves, has webmasters in a maddening frenzy of anger. Multiple pops, once the browser is closed, often drives us crazy, especially if there are enough of them to crash the browser.

Before the FCC got involved, dialers would silently download onto a surfer's computer, disconnect the surfer's modem and redial another country, for which the surfer paid on his next telephone bill. While he thought he was masturbating to sexy babes, the minutes would tick away and webmasters rejoiced. All that has changed and I agree there are certain predatory marketing practises, for which there should be regulation and surfer consent. Selling credit card lists is illegal, unethical and poor business practise; yet, many dollars were banked, using these methods.

Are we, as webmasters, willing to give up potential sales in the name of honesty and honour? How far should you to go to make that sale? And, on the flip side, how many sales have you lost because you won't utilise the tricks of the trade?

While I understand we must all draw a line in the sand, there may be some things you need to be willing to do in order to increase your sales potential.

It's important to remember you are no longer a surfer. Making the transition from consumer to business owner is difficult; and, we resist doing things to those who would buy because we have been inundated with the Golden Rule. As webmasters, we detest the little scripts which make it possible for us to influence, manipulate; or otherwise, lead the surfer by the nose. When we are new, we make mighty vows to all surfers. No pop ups or unders. No timed consoles. No manipulations of any kind, except for pure, unadulterated porn, with the presumption that utilisation of advertising space on the site will be sufficient to clock the dollars for profit.

In an ideal world, we would present our product to the masses and the increase in earned stats would hum at a steady pace. We don't live in an ideal world. Our audience is based on people we can't see. It's an educated guess, at best, deciding on what a surfer wants on any given day. The competition is fierce, given there are millions of porn pages on the Internet, as opposed to the few thousand in 1994. In ten years, we've come a long way, baby.

Yet, every newbie insists on advertising with a surfer's mind, instead of a 'for profit' mind set.

Most definitely, manipulate the back button. It's an innocuous tool, which keeps your surfer moving on YOUR pathway. The idea is to influence your audience, put them on a path, where only YOUR ads are seen, the ones which give you the opportunity to earn cash.

I am already taking into consideration there are Link Lists and TGPS whose rules forbid certain practises. The solution is simple. Create clean sites for the places where you submit and you create dirty sites for your own network of sites.

There is nothing wrong with pop ups and pop unders, timed consoles, forcing a browser size, and any number of little scripts available for our use. If you're fortunate, you know somebody who will write these scripts for you. Often times, they are free on the Internet. You just have to find these little gems. They have the potential of increasing your bottom line.

Think about brick and mortar stores, especially ones built for guys, like warehouses filled with tools and building material supplies. The layout seems chaotic. Why are they laid out in a certain way? Grocery stores and department stores also have a certain feel to them. Items which are the most popular are placed at the farthest end, making you walk quite a distance in order to buy the product you need. Just by checking inventory, a store realises its best selling items and then makes sure you have to walk through the entire store to get what you want.

What you can do is experiment, too. If you have a free site, try putting that full page ad between the main and the galleries. Don't make it so easy for the surfer to get where they want to go. Why give them an exit button, unless you're sending them to a site where you make money? Don't let them back out, unless that back button goes to a site where there's money in it for you. Insert the script that pops an ad in a certain amount of time. You'll know soon enough if it works for you.

We're already giving the surfer free porn. Why are we giving them a free ride, too? You're here to make money. Aren't you?