Snippets Part 2
  Written By Raven

Check your Connection
We were at a conference and a friend of ours whipped out his trusty laptop, so he could check his sites. Suddenly, he realised his sites were loading at a snail's pace. As webmasters, we get used to our Internet traveling speed. For us, it's a necessary tool. When I was still living in Georgia, we were on dial - up. On a good day, 26.4 was woo hoo speed. The advantage, however, was my sites loaded quickly. They had to so I could eventually get some sleep. What's important to remember is most of the world is still traveling at the speed of slug. Broadband is gaining popularity and this may not hold true for much longer. Still, we deal with what is, not what will be or what we prefer. There are many small towns in America and the world, which do not have the infrastructure for DSL and Cable. Nor will they, anytime soon. I know this, having lived in such a community, where, for three years, we were promised DSL or ISDN. It never happened and we don't live there anymore. Whilst I adore DSL and now travel at 640 up and 640 down, we still have a computer set up for dial-up with AOL. Every site we create is loaded on this connection, to make sure we are still within quick load time for our surfers who do not have the benefit of speed. It's an added attraction for the surfers who can fly. For them, our sites are like lightening. In keeping the load light, we have catered to both audiences.

Is Your Sponsor Lacking?
Regardless of how much I love certain sponsors, I find their marketing section sorely lacking. Don't misunderstand. There are fine sponsor programs out there who offer much in the way of marketing tools. Banners take time to load. Text is like lightning. Attention! Sponsors! Do you realise, if you provide a variety of well written, niche specific text links, you'll save your webmasters time? By giving them these tools, you've guaranteed your affiliate will stay well within your terms of service. Not only that, a comprehensive list of marketing text ads allows your webmasters more time for building sites to send traffic to your sponsorship program. When your banners are loading, the text is already there for the surfer to see. Not every webmaster was born knowing how to write marketing text. One of the biggest complaints I hear from webmasters is their frustration when it comes to writing ads. Their layouts are awesome, the content is very cool; but, they fall short of writing that line of text to lure the surfer to your pay site. Give them what they need to sell your sites.

Barter System
This is a Raven rant. It is my opinion and mine alone. Back in the day, it was very cool to trade service for service. You build my site, I'll send you traffic. Nowadays, I'm seeing webmasters offer percentages of their sites. Sites that haven't been built. Sites with no track record. Unwilling or unable to pay real dinero, they offer a piece of the pie to the one whose services they need. What's even more astounding is the amount of people who accept this deal, especially with people new to the industry who have no track record. This is not to say bartering is not a good thing. Under the right circumstances, the barter system works very well. Give me content. I will analyse your site and make suggestions. Or, perhaps I will write your tour for you for some ads. But, promise me half of the revenue from an untried site that is still a cloud in your imagination and the answer is no. Be careful with whom you trade services. I am seeing an awful lot of people getting burned. What happened to cash? We all have rent to pay, food to buy, clothing needs. Even if you heavily discount your services, charge something. My accountant doesn't understand barter, nor does the IRS. Payment plans work. I recently bought a video that I didn't expect to buy. The content provider, from whom I bought it, accepted my offer to pay a few hundred a month for it. I had not intended to buy this video; but, I felt honour bound do so. It wasn't in my budget. When the circumstances surrounding this video were revealed to me by the content provider, buying the video was the right thing to do. At the same time, Visa was bearing down and we were getting ready to move. Still, because we are both class acts, a deal was struck. He will get his money and I get the video and I didn't have to break my bank paying for it all at once. Note that money will still trade hands. Money is a good thing. Don't shy away from asking for it. The Internet is no longer free. As time goes on, it will cost more and more to operate. The barter system might have its place; but, it's only as good as the people who honour it. I am noticing more and more webmasters complaining that they held up their end of the deal and the other party did not. That's not good business. If you agree to perform a service, whether it is for money or some kind of trade, then, do it. Be honourable. Without our reputations, we are nothing.

New Webmasters
When you decide you want to pursue this industry, I have a few words of advice.

1. Surf the web. Surf it for a month. Pick a niche and find every site out there related to that niche. Look at feeders and galleries, pay sites and avs. Read the words. Look at the pictures and the layouts. Pay attention to the colours used. Look carefully at the content. Time the speed at which the site loads. Make sure you surf on dial up. There is no better way to get a feel for a genre than to surf and look. Be ready to hit alt +F4 for those sites that throw you into pop up hell. Have a good virus scanner on for those whose sites are riddled. Click the sponsor for which the site is being marketed. Think about whether the site you visited is a good sales tool for the sponsor being showcased. Learning what doesn't turn you on is very important in learning what does work to entice the surfer. If the sponsor tour doesn't do it for you, then no amount of marketing will make that sale.

2. Choose a reputable host. While free hosts cost nothing, you'll also earn little to nothing. Free hosts are good for practising your site making. Remember, though, they have the prime ad spots. Whilst you're learning, they're making money. Hosting is not all that expensive anymore. Get yourself a virtual account and start small. You can always increase your plan. Make sure the host is adult related and knows how to deal with adult webmasters who don't quit work at 5 p.m.

3. Read the resource boards. Before you register, however, think about your nick. Choose one that is memorable, not sleazy. Your nick says a lot about who you are. Whilst some use an inside joke, others choose their real names. The ones I would suggest avoiding are those that are hard to type, harder to remember. It's all a matter of opinion; but, I've noticed over the years, the ones still here are those who gave very careful thought to how they represented themselves from the start.

4. Time is a factor for success in this industry. If you only have two hours to spare per month, don't expect to get rich overnight. If you are HTML challenged, combined with only two hours a month to spare for the adult industry, expect little to no return. The more time you commit to your sales, the more money potential you have.

Traffic and Sponsors
There comes a time when the webmaster simply has to let go of their traffic. I realise traffic is precious. There is an ongoing discussion about when your traffic ceases to be yours. There are sponsors who track your code well into the second or third pop up. It is my belief that, if you are not making money, take a good look at your sites and make sure you're marketing appropriately. Then, take a good look at the sponsor site you're promoting. If you're sending traffic and you're not converting, find another sponsor. Don't complain that they stop tracking you into the eighth pop up. At some point, the traffic you send no longer belongs to you. If it bothers you that much, build your own pay site and affiliate program. Allow that sponsors need to profit, too.

When conducting your business, always think about what you're doing today. Evaluate your plan often. Change that which is not working. Stay focused on the big picture, play nice and make money.