Humans want contact. The world is full of lonely souls. Some are alone by choice. Some are alone because of circumstance. It's easy to feel alone even when surrounded by others. The unattractive. The invisible. The ignored. These are folks that spend each and every day silently aching for a kind word or simple recognition. As an adult webmaster, you should remember these people because they make up a good portion of your potential customer base.
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"Adding fresh content on a regular basis is an obvious way to run a site worth re-visiting but, it is not the only way. When you add interactivity to your adult domain, you encourage returning surfers on a whole other level - a personal level." |
I know it's kind of lame to keep harping on the awesomeness of the Internet. This medium has been around long enough that the gee-whiz should be worn off. Still, one of the things that endears me to the web is its use as a communication tool. I still use the telephone. I still write the occasional letter or send the occasional post card. These forms of community are satisfying but chatting with someone on the Internet, on the other side of the world, behind the safety of my monitor, from the comfort of my home it's damned thrilling, even ten years later.
There's something both comforting and freeing in the anonymity of the net. We find ourselves bravely reaching out to others in ways we never would in real life. We discuss. We argue. We flame. We jerk off. Whether it's emailing, instant messaging, social networking, message board posting or blog commenting, we web surfers have discovered that we like communicational with each other. We want sites where we can leave feedback. We want bulletin boards where we can rant. We want to chat with sexy partners. We want to watch each other on webcams. We want to Interact.
You run an adult site. Of course you want as many unique visitors as you can get. However, if you operate a permanent location on the porn web, you also want to encourage repeat traffic. You want bookmarkers. You want return visitors. You need your site to be sticky. Sometimes it takes a few visits to get surfers to shell out the cash. The longer people remain on your page, the more chance you have to promote your sponsors. Adding fresh content on a regular basis is an obvious way to run a site worth re-visiting but, it is not the only way. When you add interactivity to your adult domain, you encourage returning surfers on a whole other level - a personal level.
A message board. A chat box. A blog. A social network. Even a feedback form. These are interactive website features that you should consider. You don't have to implement all of them. You just need to find the features that work best for your audience. The trick is to give your site visitors a platform where they feel free to express themselves. That means adding some sort of interactive application. For example:
You run a free site that stars goth-looking models. Perhaps your content is centered around three or four specific goth models. Why not include a message board with forums dedicated to those models? That way fans can discuss them. That way, you can embed ads for your sponsors within those forums. When your surfers start to post, they are literally creating content for you. If those message board posters begin to bond, you're going to have some very long-term customers. When people feel comfortable enough to shoot the shit on your domain, they begin to feel comfortable enough to open their wallets to you.
The same goes with a chat program. Open a group chat on your site. Enable private messaging and give your users little treats like the ability to post nicknames in colored fonts. If you have models, pay them to come into your chats. If you can't afford models, then you pretend to be the model until you can afford to pay. You don't have to hang out in your own chatrooms all day but you should absolutely check in regularly to make sure everyone is getting along and that your chatters know you're there for them.
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When you operate a blog, you have to choice to enable or disable commenting. With software like Word Press you can set it up so that only registered users are allowed to comment. You can also set it up so that anyone can comment. As well, you can install anti-spam plugins that will keep the comments from turning into chaos. Reader comments are one of the reasons that blogs are so popular today. Sometimes you can acquire commentors that are as entertaining as your posts and you'll find your commentors bonding the same way that members do on message boards. Those blog comments make it into the search engines too, thus bringing more traffic.
Why not go all out and create a social network for your surfers? A perfect case - a swinger site. Swingers are all about hooking up. Social Networking software is a glove fit for hookups. Users can create profiles, contact other users, add friends to buddy lists. Depending on the sophistication of the server-side apps, they can even create their own blogs, and send private messages to each other. Social Networking would work great for an adult magazine-type site or a site concentrating on celebrity porn. If you want to build a straight-up adult social network, go for it.
Don't forget the feedback. When I say that people want contact, a lot of the time, when it's your site, you're the one they want to contact. It could be about a technical issue. It could be a content request. It could be they just want to thank you for bringing them all that porn and all those hardons. Feedback forms are ridiculously easy to code. The point is that your visitors won't make the effort to contact you if you deny them the means. Give them some way to get a hold of you. You can always block the crazies and the spammers when they hit you.
Surfers want contact. They want Interactivity from their web sites. They want to be part of things. The Internet allows them the ability to interact without putting themselves at physical risk. They can drool. They can goggle. They can masturbate. They can talk about it with other people. They can be social in a uniquely protected setting. Give your visitors interactivity. Give and they will give back.