I apologize in advance if this is the wrong forum for this, but I really didn’t know where to go.
I’m looking to find advertisers for my site, but my site is too risque for traditional ad networks like Google Adsense, but I don’t think it’s adult enough for hardcore porn advertisers to convert very well.
On my site, I provide photo galleries of gay nightlife and other gay events (street fairs, pride events, bar life). My photos of go-go boys are too much for Google Adsense, to say nothing of the pics from the World Naked Bike Ride, the Folsom Street Fair, or guys having their underwear ripped off in lube wrestling. But I also have photos and videos from drag shows and tamer events as well.
My goal was to sign up for the Adult Gay Blog Ads network (http://web.blogads.com/advertise/gay_blog_ads_adult) once my traffic was high enough, and to use affiliate advertising for backfill. Their FAQ says that more general sites (humor, celebrity gossip) need at least 100,000 pageviews a month to work, while more niche sites can work with at least 30,000 pageviews per month. (I think mine is pretty niche.) I started my site in the beginning of the year and by April I was getting nearly 25,000 pageviews. I was pretty confident I’d hit 30,000 in July; in fact, I ended up doing 42,000 in July and am on target to reach 60,000 in August. All my traffic comes from organic search and free marketing (e.g., Tumblr, Twitter, etc.), none from paid advertising.
I thought the Adult Gay Blog Ad network might be a good fit because they’re okay with more salacious content. Their advertisers are places like clothing optional resorts in Palm Springs, underwear companies, etc. Unfortunately, they rejected my application and said that they now only accept sites with at least 300,000 pageviews a month. It’s going to take me some time to get there.
In the meantime, my affiliate ads aren’t doing anything. I started with Amazon because I already had an account with them from another low-trafficked entertainment site. I haven’t made anything on them in years, even though my new site gets more traffic than any other site I’ve ever had. I’m getting clickthroughs, but I suspect they don’t count sales from anyone who already has ever bought anything from them.
I also put up affiliate ads for Jockstrap Central and GCruise.com (dating/hookup), because I thought their ads were a good balance of titillating but not too much to scare my visitors. I’m getting clickthroughs but apparently no sales. I signed up for an affiliate with KinkMen and have their banners on my pages with more risque content pages (World Naked Bike Ride, Up Your Alley Fair). Again, clickthroughs but no sales yet. I just signed up yesterday for Mr. Man (male celebrity nudes) which could be a good fit.
So…
Are there CPM or CPC ad networks like Google Adsense, etc. that work and are trustworthy that will allow ads to be placed on sites with risque content? I found three through Google searches. Does anyone have any knowledge about:
- GayAdX - http://www.gayadx.com/
- GayAdPros - http://www.gayadpros.com/
- Reporo Gay {mobile} - http://reporo.com/gay/
Are they trustworthy? Are their ads more hardcore, or more like clothing optional resorts? Are they flaky with payments or have other shady business practices?
And if none of these, are there others anyone would recommend? Or good affiliates that tend to work well?
Again, apologies if my site seems too tame or off-topic here, but it was way too adult (and gay) for the other ad network discussion boards I’ve found.
Thank you!