Cozy Marketing Tips
  Written By Raven

When building your sites, there are many factors that require your attention. As the seasons change, so do your surfers' tastes. There are fads and fashions, which influence the marketing of your sites. Depending on the demographics of your surfers, there are things you can put on your site with which they can identify and relate to their own experience.

For example, if you are running a pay site, pay attention to where your members live in the world. It's possible to create several fronts that reflect their cultural background. Major advertising companies create commercials for all of the regions of the world. If the target market is the mature market, certainly, the background, colours, actors, etc., will reflect the targeted audience. You can do the same with your sites. A good stats program should be able to tell you from where your hits originate. If, for example, you see most of your surfers coming from the Deep South, your site can be geared to appeal to that particular part of the world. Pay attention to all of your stats. They give you more information than you think.

If the bulk of your hits are coming in at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., there are some assumptions you can make. There is no exact science to this. Look at the times your site gets the most hits. Using the time date can sometimes define the age group, whether or not they are probably married, if they have children, white collar or blue. If you see a dip in sales around college vacation times or Homecoming or finals, it's pretty safe to assume your surfer falls within the range of probably single and under the age of twenty-five.

These are merely examples and should not be carved in stone. The essence of what I'm conveying is to run a good stats program and take notice of trends.

1) Colours: It has been mentioned that the colours red and green are hard to read, for men who are colour blind. I don't know the stats on what the exact percentage is. I do know it is not uncommon, especially in males. Be careful how you use the combinations of reds and greens, reds and blues/blacks, reds and greens, etc. You wouldn't want your marketing text to go unread, because some poor schmuck can't see the important key words.

I surf the Internet often. I realise that pink and blue are geared for teen sites. Have you been to the mall lately? The pinks are no longer shell pinks and the blues are not baby blues anymore. Teens are dressing in hot neon colours, blacks, stripes with plaids. They are getting tattoos all over their bodies. Their combinations are meant to startle, not soothe. Try watching some of the home and garden shows. No. I'm not kidding. These are fantastic shows, which give out colour combinations that I might not put into my house; but, I might try to use on my site. If you know who your target audience is, then research the colours associated with their age. If you have dirty old men looking at your teen site, then stick to the tried and true. As a marketing concept, new colour combinations should be tried to step up to the plate of the modern teen site. Remember. Young guys have credit cards, too. When they go fox hunting, they become used to seeing girls wearing a certain style. Older men also look. If they see teens wearing online what they see when they're on the prowl, they'll be able to identify and relate. Not all gay sites have to be done in purple, silver and black. Or browns. Create more than one front for your site. Use different colours. See what works. Read magazines. See what your particular niche is wearing. Gear your site colours and models toward the fashion of the day for the age group you're marketing.

2) Fonts: Even though most of the newer computers have many fonts, not every computer has that kick-ass font you want to use. Plus, not every font is easy to read. Think about that when creating your marketing text or image text. You only have a certain amount of time to market your product. Keep it simple and easy to read. Make sure your text is of a size that CAN be read. Most folks hate to squint and surfers are lazy. They want it up close and personal, easy to read, simple to understand. There were studies done on fonts. The results were that Arial and Verdana were the most popular. Because of the way the words look, they were considered to be "trustworthy". These are not the only fonts I recommend using; but, they are certainly the most straightforward.

3) Marketing Text: The type of site you create will determine the text you use. As a personal dislike, since I'm the author of this article, I will unequivocally state, I have grown weary of the line:

"For the price of a Happy Meal, you can have instant access to this blah, blah site".

I have a problem with this kind of marketing. Especially for feeder sites and galleries. Most especially, for the newer webmaster that is in the process of learning how to market text design effectively. The last thing I want a guy to think about is food for his belly. Advertising words are meant to be highly suggestible. Point your marketing to his cock, not his stomach.

"Get your orgasm at this awesome site for ONLY $2.95." Many have used this successfully and there is a place for it. I've seen it utilised with great results; but, my concern is similar to the one about the Happy Meal. I want to focus my surfer on the delights of womanly flesh and her blow job mouth. I don't want him thinking about his wallet just yet. It's distracting. You only have a certain amount of time to get your surfer to click. I believe it's the pay site's job to close the deal on the surfer. Your job is to get him to click on your sponsor link and send him where you need him to be. Your words need to be designed in such a way as to pique his interest and give him a hard-on. Your advertising is the means to get your target to the place where you make money. Let the sponsor sell the site.

Match your words to your site. If you're trying to get the attention of the over forty group, you may not want to use today's slangs, like "aite". Conversely, you do want to use the style of language for the younger crowd. UsInG WoRDs LIkE tHiS works for those who are familiar with it in their every day keyboarding. Your marketing text needs to talk to your surfer in the language he/she will understand and must be germane to the flavour of your site. Young urban gays do not use the same buzzwords as an older gay man. City dwellers use different language than people who live elsewhere. Older men understand words differently than younger men. Don't presume that everyone speaks YOUR language. Find the commonality for the age you are targeting, for the type of site you're marketing.

4) Choosing a Sponsor: Always read the fine print, the terms and conditions. Follow the rules. Carve that in stone. I believe in having a mix of sponsors, from partnerships to per sign up to per active member. Dollar programs have lots of merit. Emails. Anything to build your bank account. My focus on this article is not about who is good and who isn't. Nor am I going to talk about how to pick the "better" sponsor. Once you've read the boards and talked to a million people, you'll pretty much be able to figure who pays and who doesn't. When you create your site to market a certain sponsor, go look at the tour. Decide if this design is one you think you can market, one you think the sponsor will be able to 'close' your deal. You are sending the traffic. Targeted, hopefully. Their tour should be able to get your surfer to pull out his wallet. That means your site needs to be designed, both graphically and textually as the first step, the door. Once you've gotten your surfer's attention, which means his little head is swelling; where you send him had best have the means to sign him. This involves some research on your part. Look closely at the tour for the niche you want to market.

Think about what is on this tour. Would you join it? Sometimes, it's worth joining a site to see what's on the inside, especially if you're joining a partnership recurring program. The tour could be the best you've ever seen. If the inside is unworthy or neglected or empty of what's promised on the outside, the trial will not convert to a join and all you get is a percentage of the trial. While no one can predict what surfers want and don't want on any particular day, there are certain trends and stats you can check to get a general idea of targeted age groups, ethnicity, etc. Also. Beware of listening to others rave about a certain sponsor. When Webmaster A creates a site, for example, using two different backgrounds, the results are different, even when nothing else has been changed, including the traffic. The content, the words used, the design, the traffic is exactly the same. One would expect the results to be similar. They are not. Webmasters have been experimenting with this phenomenon for years. Create your sites for your traffic, your environment. What sells for someone else will not necessarily work for you.

5) Banners vs.Text: It has been said that surfers are becoming banner blind. This is true and not true. Surfers are becoming used to banners. There is an entire generation of surfers who have been around the Internet for four or more years. They know all of the tricks and have become immune to horizontal banners. This is not to say that you shouldn't use them; but, use them in such a way as to draw their eye. Make sure the banner you choose is an eye catcher. Even horizontal banners will work, if the banner is made appealing to the surfer. Any marketing text used ON the banner needs to be an attention-grabber.

Whoever is creating your banner needs input from you. There are banners I've seen with flash text that load quickly with great advertising words used. Adding marketing text above and/or below greatly enhances your banner. There are many ways to attract a surfer. Shock value. Outrageous text. Soft, seductive words that entice. Whatever style you use, make sure you use your words effectively. "Click here for hot sex" just won't do it. Think about the words that make you hard. Imagine a woman whispering in your ear. What would you have her say? Would you want her to scream at you about her wet, dripping cunt? Do you want her to whisper how badly she wants to suck your cock? Think about it. Men aren't interested in her pussy or her masturbation habits. They want a woman who will suck his dick. It's all about his penis and what she will do with it. If you're trying to sell sex, then make sure the woman sounds like a woman, not a longshoreman with a pussy. You don't always have to call them fuck sluts. Men don't want flowery words. Besides, you only have a few seconds to get him horny enough to click your ad.

Be provocative. You don't have to shout. Be seductive. "My body is hungry for the feel of your cock sliding into my wet pussy" works as well as "Fuck me, you horny son of a bitch. I'm dripping wet. My pussy's creaming. Ram it home. NOW!"

Someone close to me once said they chose the niche they hated first. I asked him why and he said, "If I can sell what I hate, imagine what I can do with what I love!" -- Golden words!