Hello, I need promotion and improvements (SEO and more) for my site youngstraightboys.com.
I went to freelancer.com and a freelancer (or company) proposes to do SEO for 50 $ / month, I don’t know if it’s worth or not, they say they will build quality backlinks but they are not specialized into adult things and even less into “gay”, hence I have doubts… Any advice please ?
Or maybe someone knows someone who can do that and who is used to the kind of stuff that we do here (gay or boy/men adult content) ?
My earnings are quite low and I cannot spend too much. And about promotion, I already have an affiiliate program with Verotel, some affiliates use it and I think they are happy with the ratio, but probably it’s too much basic. But I can hardly improve it, otherwise it would be done already. I know that my content has a potential, and the customers who love natural str8 boys really love my site and some are loyal since 10-15 years, but few people find it, it’s like if I opened a shop somewhere in a remote village, and few people find it by chance, it’s a pity. I need someone skilled to do what has to be done. I cannot do it myself, I’m specialized in finding the str8 boys and convincing them and recording them, which is already very difficult.
I won’t go into details, but trust me, there is no point in paying for it. I made this mistake several times before I convinced myself that the so-called SEO companies do not know anything about this business. Their techniques just don’t work in this case.
In my experience, google treats adult sites completely different to other sites. If you want to rank higher in google, you need backlinks and quality ones. People will say don’t buy backlinks, but there is no way to get dofollow links on quality sites without paying them. You could have a killer website and submit to directories, that may get you a few links
I would not say it’s pointless to pay but you have to find the right company and your budget $50 is nowhere near what it costs. Maybe $1000+ per month and you can get something out of it. I use a SEO company successfully and it has helped me to grow and survive major google updates.
However don’t expect a SEO company to do everything for you. They will only advice you what to do in terms of on-site optimization which you have to carry out yourself, some also do link building and social media.
If you want to do it yourself there’s a few simple rules:
Build links (can be other sites, social media, forums etc)
Optimize your site according to SEO rules (check google guidelines)
Use good SEO optimized text on your pages, this includes H1, H2 tags but also lots of text.
This may be controversial, but in my opinion SEO is just what you should be doing on your own site to make it as user friendly, entertaining and informative as possible.
SEO has changed massively over the last ten years. Things like link building are generally worthless in comparison to social media engagement and content.
I’m not saying there’s no value in such a service, but a lot of them are still making dubious claims based on outdated models, and a lot of that is going to cause you more harm than good. I think it’s reasonable to use an SEO company to help with the technical aspects of making your site as accessible and user friendly as possible, or helping you to identify what areas of the site you could really focus on to gain organic traffic, but anyone claiming you can get on the first page of Google by link building is not being honest.
I’ve advised people on this before, and recently helped a client to increase their organic traffic quite impressively by making a few changes just to their site. Much of it comes down to content and internal linking.
This may be controversial, but in my opinion SEO is just what you should be doing on your own site to make it as user friendly, entertaining and informative as possible.
That’s true, it’s a big part of it and for most that’s what one should focus on. However search engine traffic won’t just appear because you have a user friendly site. You need links and that can be anything from normal site links to mentions on social media (which is highly restricted for porn). But yes, if you don’t have user engagement and make people come back (because they like your content) then you can forget it.
SEO has changed massively over the last ten years. Things like link building are generally worthless in comparison to social media engagement and content.
I’m afraid that’s a huge misconception. Yes it’s changed a lot however link building is extremely important. You might also be surprised how little has changed, the only way you will get decent listings is providing the search engines with optimized texts targeting keywords and of course using correct technicals.
I’m not saying there’s no value in such a service, but a lot of them are still making dubious claims…
That’s true, this is why I’m saying the only ones that will make a difference is larger SEO agencies and their fee’s reflect it. No reputable and good SEO company will do work for small amounts…
I think I probably should have been more reasonable in my words about link building, because there is a difference between link building in the familiar SEO sense (shoving links in sidebars and publishing them in garbage copy/paste articles) and organic link building by those who like your site and content, or have reason to link back to it for reference or as an authority on a topic.
I do think placement of any links needs to be carefully considered, if you can find a company able to build that without it looking obviously spammy then it will potentially have the same value as organic linking, but I don’t think that’s an affordable solution for most people, and it comes with significant risk.
If you’re creating content that encourages people to share it, or offering content that promotes people linking back to you in a truly organic way, that will always be safer and more beneficial than artificial and expensive link building services.
Hello friends, thanks a lot for all these thoughts and advice.
So the first thing to do is to improve “on-page SEO” as much as possible.
(I have Yoast plugin for WordPress, which gives lot of advice. Maybe not so good, but much better than nothing for someone like me who does not know.)
And about linking… In the past, 15-20 years ago, I had many “hard links” (links exchanges, banners) with other “teen boys” sites.
But almost all of these sites are dead now. Since long.
Or they don’t reply (like AlexBoys, EastBoys…).
Or the probably think that they are too much serious, or that my site YSB is not serious enough for a links exchange. (Even when they are friends, like DoggyBoys.)
I see that even the very serious 19nitten .com says that they are “passing the torch” and won’t make new content (from what I understood).
Or just don’t have any links or banners section (like CzechHunter).
Maybe I can try to contact some other sites…
It’s a bit difficult because I have the feeling that almost all the sites are with older guys with muscles and beards, and each time I see that it’s like being on another planet But if they accept links exchange and if it works, why not. But it’s certain that my usual viewers do not like that type of content, and reciprocally the people who like “muscle gay men” don’t like the “skinny smooth str8 boys” of my site.
(Can’t understand why, but that’s life.)
Social networks… I created a Twitter account… But not sure it’s a good idea… Maybe people will just want to share the content together… There are also many sites stealing my content…
And also I fear that some people may display some of “my” boys on Twitter or such things, which can harm their private life…
What do you mean with “if you don’t have user engagement and make people come back (because they like your content)” ?
I mean, how can google know it ?
I have no comments forms (except a guestbook that I control), because I feel that once people start to comment, the problems start. Or maybe Im’ wrong and I should allow WP comments ? (but control them)
Thanks!
Oh and about the 1000$/month cost… I understand… but with a site making only about 600-900$ gross per month, well…
Google tracks engagement. Although I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to Google Analytics these days there are segments which show whether readers are coming back again.
They also have the massive amount of data from Google search feeding into this data, so they can see if your site or your topics are being searched for by the same users, whether they’re going back accidentally after clicking weeks or months later, or if they’re arriving there on their own from a bookmark or manually typing the site in.
Time on site, number of pages viewed, and when and how people click out also play into assessing how useful your site was to the viewer.
If they’re on a page for 5 seconds and then click away it’s indicative that they didn’t find what they were looking for. It depends on the content of that page too, though. If it’s long text or a video, expected to take a minute or twenty, them navigating away can be an indicator of lack of interest in the topic.
Then you have things like newsletter clicks. If people are arriving on your site from an email Google likely knows it (especially if it’s a gmail account, but the same can be applied to other email services with any integration into Google analytics), and that shows the reader has subscribed, which is a considerable indicator of ongoing interest in your site.
In my opinion, nothing much has changed when it comes to organic interest and reach. Google is always measuring everything it can to see if there is genuine interest and engagement by your visitors, so maximizing that interest in natural ways will always be a primary objective.
But if they accept links exchange and if it works, why not. But it’s certain that my usual viewers do not like that type of content, and reciprocally the people who like “muscle gay men” don’t like the “skinny smooth str8 boys” of my site.