Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
When you say they shut it down, what does this actually mean? Because I can still find it and search it. Recent posts on my blogs are appearing top for my chosen keywords in there. Are they just echoing the standard results?
I’m a little baffled.
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
On May 26, 2011, Google announced that Google Blog Search would be deprecated, along with several other APIs.[8] As per the deprecation policy, Google Blog Search will be shut down on May 26, 2014.[9]
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
Has anyone considered that the apparent demotion of blogs in favor of tubes could have another reason? Tube sites are 100% video so they need to be optimized - often heavily so - to serve them. Compression, caching, even stricter compliance with XHTML, faster hosting, all to squeeze the speed out of them. So relatively speaking they will probably have to load faster and have more optimizations than 95% of blogs will. Lots of blogs don’t do any sort of compression or optimization, and don’t even get me started with how non-compliant themes can be for XHTML. I can see that since speed, standards compliance, and optimization are easily detectable how that could be figured into the search ranking algorithm.
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
I’ve thought this too. I picked a WP theme for the specific purpose of it being one of the best for optimization - there are a couple of free ones out there that others suggest are good quality when it comes to optimization - and then I adapted that theme to be highly SEO’d too. I’ve used a lot of unique text content on there, and it seems to do well against the “wall of tubes”.
I don’t think it’s solely about optimization though. I think Google is supporting laziness. They see that people are more interested in just sitting back and watching a video, rather than reading or scrolling through images, so they’re supporting that by promoting tubes and giving surfers action rather than information.
Basically I think Google often says that content is important - unless it suits them. They would like all of us to work hard to create engaging and unique content, unless we’re a tube that they can easily serve up to people who obviously prefer videos to images or text. In which case their own standards are ignored.
[QUOTE=gay porn blogs;119180]On May 26, 2011, Google announced that Google Blog Search would be deprecated, along with several other APIs.[8] As per the deprecation policy, Google Blog Search will be shut down on May 26, 2014.[9]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Blog_Search[/QUOTE]
Ah, well that’s good news 
But it’s still there, so technically this could still be a contributing factor to lower traffic.
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
Demand for internet porn is not growing as fast as the supply.
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
I would hope that some of them are getting lucky and actually gettin’ laid.
Even with sites closing shop, there are still new sites popping up to replace them, even if they are from the owner of 10 other sites.
With all of the free stuff (stolen or not) out there, not to mention plenty of 5+ minute previews, they don’t need to pay for porn.
Skip the first 5+ pages of results from search engines. They’re mostly the same sites regardless of search term and you’ll start finding some different sources.
If you’re into twinks, with sites like the new Staxus site, why bother running around the web wasting time searching or taking the risk of picking up viruses, malware, etc. when you have plenty of content to watch all in one place for one low price? Even if you do need a daily fix of twink porn, there’s no shortage on that site. (and that’s not a plug for the site, just a fact)
There’s only so many actual “porn buyers” to go around. Once a surfer signs up for a monthly membership, he’s not likely to be joining more than 1 or 2 sites. Maybe after that first month, he’ll look for another site, maybe not.
With so many sites following the same trend as the automotive industry, i.e. very little difference between them (it use to be easy to tell a BMW from a Mercedes at a glance going down the road or a Ford from a Chevy) it boils down to creating something a bit more unique than your competitor that appeals to the surfer. A dick is a dick, one a little bigger than the next, one might have a curve, one might be uncut, but all still a dick. With that in mind, you might want to look at how you’re packaging your dicks… try a different wrapping, be a bit more unique, something that separates you from the rest.
However, I agree with Lloyd… The balance of Supply verses Demand is greatly “out of balance.”
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
One last thought on the subject…
For the straight guy that’s married, the fact remains the wife is going to see the credit card statement and question charges she doesn’t recognize. He has to be able to cover his tracks if he’s one of those husbands that don’t want her to know. Where can he go that he doesn’t have to use his credit card to watch porn? Free stuff? 5+ minute previews? Same goes for gay partners but, to a lesser degree.
There was a time we didn’t have free previews on the web, just some tasteful semi nude pictures and people were making good money. Then the next person wanted in on the action and had to come up with ideas of how to attract the consumer. From there, more and more hardcore naked pictures started popping up on the web to eventually the “free previews” all in the name of trying to attract the consumer. In the “here and now” of 2012, the consumer doesn’t need to spend their hard earned cash to satisfy themselves. We are successfully putting ourselves out of business!
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
The one thing that you fail to discuss is that there’s a notion that a lot of surfers have that makes it incomprehensible to pay for porn. “I don’t pay for porn,” how many times have we heard that.
I remember years and year ago when the only place to get porn was on newsgroups. AVS popped up and there was such a backlash from surfers who thought the idea of paying for porn was repugnant.
That notion is still pervasive. Couple that with the fact that young guys working low paying jobs just don’t have the money to pay for porn. And seriously, if I were a younger man, I’d be saving my money for alcohol, drugs, and the baths, I wouldn’t be spending it on porn when I could get it for free.
The Internet has a long history of making people think that everything should be free or is free. Turning them around is hard.
I think the only way this would turn around is if getting free porn became a huge hassle. If you got a virus every time you downloaded a movie, you’d probably start buying from a legit site. If you got served with a summons every time you downloaded illegal porn, you’d probably think twice about it.
I used to look for free software way way back, but it became such a hassle dealing with crap, viruses, cracks, bad links, and the like that I just started buying software.
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
I agree with Michael.
Let’s take it a step further and use the iTunes example. Why is it so popular?
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
The internet is known for 2 things…misinformation and porn. There is really no reason to buy porn if you don’t want to. There are enough tube sites giving away those 5 minute “teaser” clips…cam4 with live performances…and endless blogs with every fetish subject that any pervert could ever be into…all of it for free.
You don’t even need to go to any illegal sources (although we all know those exist as well) with all of the legal sources out there. The simple fact is that there really is NO NEED to buy porn…but there is a choice. There is no need to pay for sex either (for most) but sometimes you want to get exactly what you want and when you want it…and if that is a text message away then sometimes why not.
Time is money (for some) and quite a few who don’t work hourly low wage jobs value their time. Memberships to sites guarantee that you will get what you want when you need it to get off and then move on to more interesting things. Some people will pay for that some people never will pay for that.
I look at it like selling a luxury watch. There really is no need for one. Not everyone will pay for a Rolex, it is after all just a watch. You can ask someone what time it is if you don’t want to buy a watch (free) or you can buy a cheap Casio (AVS) or you can buy a Rolex (membership site).
Not everyone will do it but there will always be a certain number who will…even when you can ask someone what time it is for free.
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
What a great analogy. Pay site owners ask yourself would anyone consider my paysite to be a Rolex? If the answer is ‘no’, then your probably seeing your memberships dry up. If you answered ‘yes’, then your business is probably just fine. Now, what’s a Rolex to one person can be a piece of shit to someone else, but you need enough people who think your site is Rolex quality if you want to stay in business.
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
I like Timex better " It takes a licking and keeps on tickingâ:" :sarcastic:
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
All of these last comments are exactly what I’m talking about. There’s no reason for people to have to pay for it anymore! Take away the free shit, the 5+ minute previews, all of the hardcore pictures. Give people the reason to buy it again!
Back in the 60’s, I had visited an adult theater out of curiosity. They weren’t allowed to be inside the city limits. To find out about them, you had to bump into someone that new they existed. After all, they weren’t exactly advertised in the local newspaper. There was a certain thrill to the whole scenario. The “taboo” attached to the idea of adult theaters was quite stimulating in itself (and I don’t mean erection). Playboy, Playgirl and Hustler were the rave, but not really the hardcore action pictures you find on the web today.
If we’re going to “give away the farm”, then we can’t complain about living on the streets!
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
[QUOTE=gumdrop;119270]I agree with Michael.
Let’s take it a step further and use the iTunes example. Why is it so popular?[/QUOTE]
I’ve been saying this for a while now.
We have a similar situation to the Hollywood studios, but with them it’s much larger obviously.
The problem with Hollywood and piracy is that they refuse to move with technology - but only as it suits them, and not in the way people want when it comes to viewing content. Hollywood still thinks it can justify insane profits, while using digital media to slash production costs, and they refuse to budge an inch. Pirated content is created through duplication, and is digital media. There is no production cost once the original is in circulation, unlike DVD or CD production.
When it comes to porn, things are a little different of course. But adult studios haven’t gone in the right direction with modern viewing habits either. Most sites are still not compatible with Internet TV formats (video), on-demand is limited, many viewers might not want subscriptions to a site.
The very fact that so many people click through to a site and don’t buy is evidence of this. They are obviously clicking through because they like what they see, and they choose not to sign up because it’s not suitable for them. This alone proves that sites are not providing visitors with what they want.
IMO, more adult sites need to embrace the iTunes model of individual media sales. I don’t know how this would work with affiliates, but the only site/studio I have seen doing this is Channel 1 Releasing, and AEBN of course. Look at how successful they have been in leading the way in the past.
I truly think that sales would increase if guys could buy a scene rather than pay for a membership to an archive of content they may have zero interest in. I know we’ve talked about this before, and I believe it was Michael (sorry if it wasn’t, it’s late here and my brain is squishy lol) who said that he didn’t want a % of a low figure. For me, money is money. I don’t care if it’s £100 a month from recurring memberships or £100 a month from 100 guys paying £3 for a half hour video that they actually want to watch.
Something I have noticed with my blog traffic and search terms used is that a lot of guys look for a specific scene. They obviously know where it comes from, but they only want that scene. They don’t want to pay $29 a month to see everything else, they just want to see one specific guy fucking another specific guy. Sites need to start giving guys what they want, and not attaching a more expensive demand on it.
If I went into a shop for a pair of jeans and they told me I had to pay for two ugly 70’s shirts too before I could get those jeans, I would be out of there. That is the crux of the problem here. That is what the majority of sites are expecting buyers to agree to.
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
[QUOTE=conran;119314]Tanks Michael, that’s exactly what I was trying to say. 
Magazines are the same. I have never had a subscription to any magazine, because I know that there might be only one occasional issue I actually want to read. Why would I pay a set fee for a month when there might be nothing to interest me? [/QUOTE]
I am exactly the opposite. I love magazine subscriptions for because they would contain content about what I was into / interested in and would provide it all in one place…plus being the anal person that I am (no pun intended) I actually loved the knowing that they would send me a new one each month and at the same time!
Comparing that to the subscription site model it works exactly the same way. I deliver content that is exactly what the member is into and they know that it is consistent and gives them what they want (reliability).
Yes, I do go to Borders…have a coffee and flip threw a dozen magazines (like cruising some other sites) but even though I could read the same exact magazines that I subscribe to at that same time for free I would rather have them delivered to me…I look forward to it and I actually like paying for them.
One other factor about it is that as humans we give more value to things that we work for /pay for, than things that we get for free.
I am not saying that everyone is like me…god no…BUT there are a significant number who are and those are the ones who pay for porn.
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
I am not an iTunes fan, though I have quite a lot of music from them. But I looked at Why I bought those songs, and it wasn’t because I wanted the Album, but because for the most part, there were simply only one or two songs I actually wanted to listen to again, and again. So it was economics. I didn’t want to pay $15 for a CD when I could get the two or even three songs I wanted for $3 in total.
The other thing is, has anyone thought that perhaps iTunes was/is successful is because People are choosy? They want something they can listen to over and over again, and they find that they simply don’t want to go through endless albums to find one or two songs. We are lazy by nature, we don’t want to keep hitting fast forward, and maybe, a great deal of the problem with our Industry, isn’t that there is too much Free Stuff, or even the Piracy Issue, but that the Consumer simply isn’t thrilled enough to pay $25 to each month to get mediocre stuff with the odd exciting bit?
Maybe the real issue is they’d rather get something for free that does the job, and hold onto their money for sites that actually deliver consistently, stuff they truly dig? And I think there is proof in that, considering the actual rebill ratios sites have. IF they were producing content people truly liked, wanted to have, the rebill percent would be a lot higher than the talked about 30% to 40%.
Updates that are sporadic, or only once or twice a week, with content that is split up, instead of being one update. Or endless photos that sounds good when you say there are 200 photos of hot Model A, but truth is, those 200 photos are actually 25 shots, the rest are simply a head turned a bit different in eight shots.
Most sites are Plug In the Model and that’s the update. I know some have issues with selling Bel Ami, but they update daily, and other than the Pin Up series, the settings are generally different with each shoot. They show variation, which I think grabs surfers who are into their type of models. And that is why they are also very successful.
I have a very good friend, who is a porn buyer. Yet he often will cancel his membership after a month, because the updates are twice a week, and after his initial membership, he’s seen it all. Plus the new stuff, just isn’t always enticing, and its basically a repeat of the same scene. So he signs up two or three times a year, checks out the new stuff, then moves on. Yet he has kept his Bel Ami membership current, for the opposite reason. It is always different and rarely disappoints him in providing what he wants to see.
In short, Quality. Maybe the issue with our industry isn’t that there are tons of free shit, just that what is offered for a price, isn’t any better, or consistently better, and different.
my nickles worth
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
The issues many of you guys raised have always held true about selling adult content. There’s always been a resistance for many to paying for it. There’s always been curious straight men hiding their credit card statements. There’s always been debates over DRM. There’s always been piracy.
What is different now?
It’s how Google displays searches for adult content post-Panda. They just aren’t “showing tubes because they encourage laziness” - they amplified tubes because they want their own product, YouTube, to appear prominently in the results. Amplifying the subsequent porn tubes might be a byproduct of that, so now Google tube metrics completely take over the adult content results. (Remember when this happened with blogs a few years ago?)
What’s different now is how Panda presents adult content, especially their fondness for sites that are steal it because everybody links to free porn. The search metrics for adult are broken; and this is not true for non-adult content.
Just compare how Google presents results for Some Like It Big versus Some Like It Hot.
Unlike for the Hollywood movie, Google shows for the Bel Ami video numerous results for pirate sites AND for the porn they even suggest improved terms like download. Open a browser and in new tabs, compare what people see for this on Yahoo or Bing.
This is what’s different in our internet marketing driven business. This is what’s new.
Steve
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
What’s different now is how Panda presents adult content, especially their fondness for sites that are steal it because everybody links to free porn. The search metrics for adult are broken; and this is not true for non-adult content. Just compare how Google presents results for Some Like It Big versus Some Like It Hot.
Unlike for the Hollywood movie, Google shows for the Bel Ami video numerous results for pirate sites AND for the porn they even suggest improved terms like download. Open a browser and in new tabs, compare what people see for this on Yahoo or Bing.
So why aren’t we all rising up and complaining to Google about it? It’s obviously unfair that pirate, torrent and illegal tube sites are getting higher placement then the legitimate and legal websites, and while I’m not a Lawyer, I’m sure there must be some competition laws they are breaking by giving preference to websites with pirated content. Google has various Webmaster boards and many Webmasters on here probably advertise with Google. Why not start a campaign for adult companies to stop advertising with Google until they fix these search results? I think we should put together a movement to fix this broken system…
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
You know…I’m reading all the posts and I must agree with OldSchool & others…I think WE as industry are just giving to much of our content away for free.
I’m starting to think that many of the sites we see today are like TV sitcoms, after a while it has run its course. Some of the best sitcoms have gone off the air. Look at the history of TV. How long can a sitcom run…a good sitcom lasts for 10 years perhaps 11 years and then they decide to cancel the show and let the show go to into reruns. How many times can you watch the same sitcom over & over again and the writers/creators of the show come up with different scenarios week after week until the show starts getting stale and ratings go downhill. This happens all the time with TV sitcoms.
Perhaps the same is true with websites. How long can the same website continue giving the same updates doing the same scenario over & over again. After a while seeing the same porn models go from studio to studio watching the same guys on one site declaring he’s straight then showing up on another site bottoming like a bitch boy and then off to the next site claiming he’s gay and the back claiming he’s straight again and seeing the same models being promoted over & over again by affiliates marketing different studios using the same models doing the same mechanical boring sexual moves. Oh! and one of my favorite is one model goes on site A does a scene and then the same exact model goes on site B and his name changes…but the worse part is that its the same guy with the same tattoos…WTF???
Perhaps most sites are just plain boring and run its course…and the consumers that want to pay for membership sites don’t feel its worth it as they too find it boring and mechanical and NO longer unique and they are bored seeing the same shit for years on the same site. Perhaps that is why they are not spending there money and they are just watching free porn.
Perhaps, if we reinvent ourselves…go back to basics and we become original once again and create none boring mechanical cookie cutter corporate porn and stop giving way the cow and limit the free crap, then perhaps we can see the industry turning around.
It really concerns me when some of the larger studios and some of the affiliates I’ve known over the years are struggling, when established business owners are trying to sell out to the highest bidder…its concerning when I read these posts and people are complaining about not making money…it worries the hell out of me!
A new TV season with all new shows are starting to air soon this fall…perhaps we should take a lead from the television industry and apply it to our industry…just sayin???
Re: Where is the traffic shifting to?
I’m game. This has to stop. If enough of us protest this I can’t see Google ignoring it. Hopefully I’m not being naive on this, but even so, the effort is WAY worth it. Count me in Any particular links we should look into Danny?