The ABC's Of TGP's
The landscape of the TGP game has changed dramatically over the last few years. Gone are the days of building a gallery, submitting to the biggest sites and getting listed on them within 24 hours. In today’s TGP world things are a little more complex and traffic is much more difficult to come by. Here are some ideas to get you off and running with a head of steam and to help your foray into the world of TGP submitting be a successful one.
THE GALLERY
This is simply the most important part of the process. Bigger and flashier isn’t always better. I have had the best results from very basic layouts. In the end you are selling the surfer porn, not art. They are not interested in your skills at graphic design or how cool a certain font is. They are interested in porn. Your gallery is your sales pitch. Starting at the top tell them what the gallery is. Give them some pics and make them scroll down for the good stuff. As they scroll start selling them. Tell them why going to the paysite is a good idea and give them a reason to want to click your links. If the paysite tour has free movies, tell them so. If the paysite is 100% exclusive tell them that too and then reassure them that it is okay for them to click. They have earned it. Make them believe you are giving them something special here, not just wanted to sell them something. The best salesmen in the world will tell you it is all about convincing the buyer that buying whatever it is they are interested in will make their lives better and that they are justified for wanting it.
PARTNER ACCOUNTS
This is where things get tricky. Most TGPs now get far more submissions than they could ever post. Many of these come from spammers and cheaters. To combat this many of these sites now only take submits from people with a partner account. Getting one usually entails you submitting some sample galleries to the site showing so they can see what your work looks like and that you are not a cheater/spammer. It is up to you to set yourself apart from the bad guys. When you ask for a partner account be polite, give good samples and don’t use a form email. Show the owner of the TGP you are a real person and a pro. This business, like all business, is all about relationships. Asking for a partner account is where your relationship with that site’s owner starts.
PAID PARTNER ACCOUNTS
Most of the bigger TGPs now charge to get a partner account. This can be a two edged sword. You may do really well and you may never earn your money back. Once you have designed enough galleries that you feel comfortable that you can convert the traffic give a couple of try. I would suggest trying a few out at a time instead of dropping a few thousand dollars only to get little or nothing in return except a big bandwith bill.
SUBMITTING
Once you have made a mind blowing gallery and have some partner accounts it is time to submit. I suggest building a page that has three frames in it. Put all the submit urls for your partner accounts in one frame, a text box to copy and paste info from in another and then third frame will load the submit pages. Some people like to use programs like Roboform to fill in duplicate data like email address and names.
AUTO SUBMITTERS
These can be good and bad. They can submit you to 100’s of TGPs in a very short time. They will duplicate pages and put up recips on pages for you and can drive some nice traffic. But make sure to double check the database and remove any and all sites you hand submit to or have partner accounts with so you don’t accidentally double submit. Also if you are like most people you won’t read the rules on every single site so you may end up blacklisted at a few sites. So use these with caution. Used correctly they are a nice little weapon in the TGP submitter arsenal.
PATIENCE AND COMMUNICATION
Many sites have weeks if not months of backlogs so your gallery may get accepted to a site then take a while to show up. Don’t panic, your gallery isn’t going anywhere. Something I have done that has helped me a lot is to communicate with the TGP owners. Contact them and ask their opinion on your galleries. This lets them know you are human and not a submit bot. Some will not reply, but others will be helpful and their insights can prove to be very valuable. Take time to learn your craft and experiment with what works best for you and the results will follow.
Reader Comments: (2 posts)
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Millie says: Way to go on this essay, hepeld a ton. |
October 30th, 2011 at 11:40pm EST Rating:  |
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Miracle says: Haahahha. I'm not too bright today. Great post! |
October 29th, 2011 at 6:19am EST Rating: |
