To link to galleries or not to link to galleries..that is the question

[RDude]

What do you all think? After showing off some pics and/or a video or two and writing a desription in your blog entry of a sponsor's content, should you link right to the signup page or a hosted gallery of some kind? Or both?

I've seen it done both ways and I'm curious to hear what you all have to say.

Thanks:D

[basschick]

galleries tend to lower the quality of traffic because it teaches your surfers to expect more for free. on the other hand, giving surfers more free could increase your bookmarkers...

[abostonboy]

Link the pics to the tour as well as any text inside the blog post that is linked somewhere. No question about it in my opinion.

[Gaystoryman]

Link the pics to the tour as well as any text inside the blog post that is linked somewhere. No question about it in my opinion.

I'd agree with that myself. I think several, well a few anyhow, within the text content link to the site, and if you use good crisp photos, I'd link them too. :cool:

[MrJD]

if you're looking to get any book markers... you need to link to fhgs or your own galleries. linking the to the tour from the pics imo is just as bad as skimming. Surfer is expecting a picture/gallery and you're dicking them around. Sending to galleries first, qualifies the hit better imo so the guy that actually DOES click through to tour is legitimately interested in what the site has to offer.

[gaydemon]

I do agree. If you link up a picture on a blog, you should either link it to more pictures or not link at all.

I used to link up all blog pictures to the tour but if you think about it, its not what they expect to get when the click a picture. So instead I stopped and link to the site from the text and a special site link instead.

But if you do link to a FHG like Basschick mentioned, it might lower the quality and teach them to go for more free stuff rathar than buying.

It is a very difficult thing to decide about, a lot of sites have gone down the route of giving away even more and more stuff for free. You end up with Free sites having more content than some paysites. Which is not a good thing in my eyes. But then do you want to loose bookmarkers to sites that do have more free stuff?



if you're looking to get any book markers... you need to link to fhgs or your own galleries. linking the to the tour from the pics imo is just as bad as skimming. Surfer is expecting a picture/gallery and you're dicking them around. Sending to galleries first, qualifies the hit better imo so the guy that actually DOES click through to tour is legitimately interested in what the site has to offer.

[marcjacob]

Why not create you own mini gallery, that way you control what content is used and can have the best of both worlds. You can get gallery scripts that work with word press.

[gaydemon]

Thats probably the best idea really.


Why not create you own mini gallery, that way you control what content is used and can have the best of both worlds. You can get gallery scripts that work with word press.

[Sultry_Selenia]

I've tried both, and end up using either FHGs or my own galleries on sites that form the keystone of my networks. I prefer those to have the bulk of the bookmarkers, then on other supplementary blogs (such as micro niche that are getting fed from keystones) I might just use a nice big picture and link to tour. It really just depends on my mood. :P

[RDude]

Well there certainly is a lot options. Thanks for your feedback everyone.

I like the idea of using both methods. I do agree that having at least a small gallery is essential to gaining the visitor's interest. And also that too much free content is just not logical. Give them a small eyeful but let them know that they have to sign up to see the good stuff. Which is the way it should be! LOL. It is why we do this after all.

How about having a gallery between 4 and 6 pics and linking some to a larger image and some right to either a tour and/or the signup page? Would that work?

I always include a text link or two in the description leading to the signup page. I feel that is something you really can't leave out.

Thanks so much

[tombarr]

You could just as well link to the gallery but also provide a link to the tour as well... with a call to action phrase such as ..."to see hundreds more hot guys like XXXXXX click here." or something to that effect.

[RDude]

You could just as well link to the gallery but also provide a link to the tour as well... with a call to action phrase such as ..."to see hundreds more hot guys like XXXXXX click here." or something to that effect.

Yeah, that's what I do when blogging for Bjorn when there is a hosted gallery available. After much contemplation I really feel that is the way to go.

And yes, I always end my entries with....."to see hundreds more hot guys like XXXXXX click here." or something to that effect."

Thanks;)

[marcjacob]

How about having a gallery between 4 and 6 pics and linking some to a larger image and some right to either a tour and/or the signup page? Would that work?

If Im getting you right, you mean surfer clicks some thumbs and gets the big photo (as expected) and then clicks other thumbs and gets a paysite. If so, youve turned that click into a blind click. Surfers get pissed off at seeing a paysite when they wanted to see a larger photo, and will probably hit the back button or shut the browser down without even looking at the paysite. You will get next to no sales that way imo.

Sorry If Ive misunderstood what you meant.

[RDude]

If Im getting you right, you mean surfer clicks some thumbs and gets the big photo (as expected) and then clicks other thumbs and gets a paysite. If so, youve turned that click into a blind click. Surfers get pissed off at seeing a paysite when they wanted to see a larger photo, and will probably hit the back button or shut the browser down without even looking at the paysite. You will get next to no sales that way imo.

Sorry If Ive misunderstood what you meant.

Yes that is what I meant actually but I was having a blonde moment then.lol It is not a good idea I know. But thanks for your advice on it nevertheless.

The thing is you see that all the time. Lots of blind links all over the place. Especially with straight porn. What's up with that? Do people just not know any better? And yes, it is very annoying.

[abostonboy]

I could NEVER sell anything that was linked to a FHG. Direct to the tour. Plain and simple.

Surfers bookmark because of your blog's personality. Just look at Queerclick. No FHG. Tons of bookmarkers. Why? When a paysite updates, so do they.

I guess my main beef is - in the blogs that I have done, i give 10 pics away already. What more can I really give? ANOTHER 10?

From my own personal experience, blogs that have a good selection of pics that lead to a tour with minimal text and no "continue reading" outsell other types of blogs.

Bookmarkers are only good if they actually buy something. A blog can EASILY get bookmarkers with a good selection of pics that are regularly updated.

None of the top bloggers in our affiliate program use FHG. Just checked the refer urls for the past month and zero link to FHG. Most have at a min 5 pics and some text. All pics lead to the tour. If there are bloggers linking to galleries, they are not making sales that I can see a refer url for.

[Fister]

I use on 1 to 3 pics in my blog entries, and try to have links to the FHG and/or hosted video for the same content and another link to the paysite tour. If the surfer likes the blog pics, seeing more pics and/or a video will help entice the surfer to join the paysite.