Futuristic advertising ideas for adult webmasters.

I was watching TV last night and, as is the norm these days, there was the usualy heavy bombardment of advertising in between my favourite shows (Jackass for one!) I started to think about how successful TV advertising actually is, and how advertising on the web right now is very different. Obviously, we're talking about totally separate mediums here but I started comparing a banner ad, for example, to a 5 second commercial. I know which one stands out as being the most successful out of the two in my mind!

The great thing about TV is that they HAVE our attention, and then they throw us into commercials at just the right times. Depending on what kind of show is on TV, the presenters might even build up to the commercial and I'm sure we're all familiar with the phrase, "don't touch that dial!!!" They want you to sit there, to not tune out and to watch the rest of the show. They also want you to sit there while they blast a thousand and one products at you, all cleverly targeted to your age group and interests.

With these thoughts in mind, I then went on to think about some ideas of how we could maybe make our free site advertising more effective and adopt an approach which was closer to that of TV advertising. I started asking myself, "how could we get their attention, and then show that surfer something that they'd have to watch before they could see the rest of the site?" Here's some rablings and thoughts that you might enjoy... Loooong post ahead warning!

Full page ads and a new idea...

Full page ads are probably one of the closest things that adult webmasters already have to the commercial on the TV. They appear 'between' the content, in the same what that commercials do - sandwiched in between the 'real' parts of the show. FPA's are an absolutely kickin' way to sell your sponsors or your own sites - we all know that, right? Problem with them is that the surfer can still click PAST them.

Here's an idea that might get you excited - why not have a TIMED full page ad? Give the main page a title that they'd NEVER guess like main3749822.html (so they can't skip your FPA and type main.html into the browser!) and make sure that either the FPA loads fully before they can enter, or that they sit and watch a promo for your sponsor for 10 seconds or something before the 'NEXT' link is displayed.

What about BEFORE the site?

OK, now we're thinking in new ways, let's BACK-TRACK and think about the start of the site. This surfer is getting your bandwidth, your content and your hard work, as well as your time for free - there has to be a price to pay for them! Imagine a site where there's NO advertising on the site, but to get in to your site, the surfer has to sit and watch a short commercial on say Karas before they get in to the pics. Sound like it might not sell? Well, what about if that was a Flash promo that showed them exactly what was in the member's area, and left no doubt in their mind on what they were missing out on? Free sites are basic, paysites are incredible!!! I saw this in practice yesterday and it was awesome... A bit of text at the base of the screen said "This website will load momentarily..."

Timed access

Why not have a site with no advertising, and something that the surfers really enjoy - make it a good free site, and then have a timer running (that the surfer can't see...) Every now and then, they're taken to a page where again, they sit and watch a short presentation, a commercial on what's so great about one of your sponsors. Maybe that promo has been loading in AS they've been looking at the free pics? 5% of it could be loaded in the background for every page they look at? The surfer does not need to know what's going on here folks - it's a free site!

Hitting 'em periodically

Here's something that goes against the grain! We make sure that the surfer GETs to the content. Now, if you're a regular here, you'll know that this is not something the Tomster ever wants to happen. I want to get them to a sponsor from the index or main page at the very latest! But let's suspend disbelief here for a second... What about if we LET them get to the pics. But at set points throughout the site, they have to sit and watch a commercial. Then, maybe we get nasty and they HAVE to click "NO, continue" before they are bounced to your sponsors - maybe they have 5 seconds and counting to NOT go to a sponsor - there's a new concept. The ball's in their court and they have to choose not to go to a sponsor. hehehe. Think about that one for a second.

Fixed areas of the screen...

OK, give them the content for free. Make a nice site that they'll want to look around. BUT have a fixed area of the screen where incredible commercials run in-sync with the pictures they're looking at. (I'll get to how we could make these things happen in a bit...) I'm not talking about the crappy "banner at the top", in a frame, that you see on most mainstream sites out there - surfers are never gonna click those. What I mean is like 40% of the screen - 60%? It's up to you! They're getting this for free - if they want 100% of the screen to be content, and HARDCORE content... THEY CAN BUY A MEMBERSHIP! Having a fixed area of the screen that rotates ads automatically could be very effective.

While galleries load...

Let's think about a wasted opportunity here for a second. the internet is slow, REAL slow! But anyone that's familiar with Flash websites will know that many of them feature loading progress bars which show x% of the movie has loaded. There's also something called a pre-loader movie, where a short animation is shown AS the movie loads. Now, let's let the galleries load in the background but let's USE that time to our advantage. Imagine if it was common place while the galleries (thumbs, pics?) downloaded in the background for us to give the surfer a 15 second commercial on what's so cool about "Lesbian Bordello" and they can go TO that site NOW, rather than continue to wait for the 'softcore' galleries to load.

Why not preload the entire site? The longer they wait and have to watch ads, the better! Ever installed some software where they show you a new feature every 10% of the install process? Windows is one package that does this I can think of. Well a free site could be like that... No ads, other than the 'pre-loader' but baby, it's a darn good one... Wonder what the click throughs there would be? Hehehe

Tools to do it!

One of the wonderful things about the web is the technology behind it, which is largely driven by the demand for adult content. Now, who knows what we'll be dealing with in only a few years - broadband access? A successor to Flash? Something we can't even imagine yet? But for the moment, the things I've written about today could be accomplished with the likes of Flash, graphics, Java Applets, Real player, and JavaScript - it's not TOO far fetched even now. From the little experience that I have of these various areas, something much closer to a TV advertising structure could be implemented into a free site with a little thought, study and practice. Sure, it would involve new skills, and even an investment in new tools, but if the gain is worth the investment, it's something to think about...

OK, with those thought in mind, I'm off to build up my business. Keep an open mind about the future of advertising on the web and think outside the box!

Happy site building.

TOM ^"^

ICQ 12616560
Email tom@tomsnewbiebooster.com

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