Back to Basics: TGP Guide Part 1

A first look at the giant of all traffic senders

Written by Tom from Tom's Newbie Booster

You can't be in this business for very long before coming across a certain three letters: T G P... They're the source of endless discussion on the adult webmaster forums, they're a way to generate huge numbers of surfers to your pages, and they've been around on the adult web for a very long time. But what are they all about? What IS a TGP, and how does it affect the new adult webmaster?

What IS TGP?

T.G.P stands for Thumbnail Gallery Post.

A TGP is just an ordinary webpage. There are links from this webpage to other single webpages. The pages it links to are called galleries and each of these galleries has some free pictures on it for the surfers to look at.

There are three important people involved in the TGP system:

The TGP owner.
Who is responsible for adding new galleries to his webpage.

The webmaster.
Who makes the galleries to be listed at the TGP.

The Surfer.
Who is the person who visits the TGP and then visits the galleries that are listed there.

More about the TGP site

A TGP will normally have a large number of links from it to what are called galleries (more on those in a second). That is unless it's a very new TGP and hasn't got enough galleries listed there yet. Each link to a gallery on the TGP is a descriptive text link. That is to say that, on most TGPs, the link that the surfers click to get to the gallery describes briefly what the gallery is all about.

Here are some example gallery links:

Blonde slut with black guy
Amateur webcam girls nude
Hunky gay soldiers on parade

And when you click on any of those links, you'll be taken to a gallery which contains pictures of say 'amateur webcam girls nude'. The TGP owner's job is to maintain a list of galleries that the surfers will be interested in. His job is also to make sure that surfers come in to his site.

More about the GALLERY

The gallery is in most cases what you or I would create. As I mentioned - this is a single webpage which contains pictures for the surfer to look at. The pictures in a gallery usually follow one theme (or 'niche') which could be any one of the subjects you see out there on the web: amateur, voyeur, fetish - you name it. It's up to you what you make your gallery page all about.

Now, the whole reason this system is called a THUMBNAIL gallery post is that the single webpage that you make and list at the TGPs has to be a gallery. A gallery is a series of small preview images which link to the larger images. The surfer looks at these small 'thumbnail' images before deciding whether or not to view the full one.

Here's a good introduction to thumbnail galleries in general:

Back to basics - Thumbnail Galleries...
http://www.tomsnewbiebooster.com/thumbnail_gallery_basics.html

And here's an example of a gallery that I built and got listed on a TGP site:

http://www.bar-fuck.com/tgp/sex-starved-wives/page-g.html

Take a look at this gallery webpage. There are three important parts to it:

1) The thumbnail images
...the small pictures which link to the larger ones.

2) The reciprocal links
... the small graphics at the top of this page.

3) The adverts
... the text and links on this page which lead to my sponsor.

How the whole thing works...

The whole idea behind TGPs is that the webmaster makes a gallery and gets it listed at the TGP website. Some surfers who visit the TGP site will then like the sound of the gallery's description and will choose to visit it. A percentage of surfers will visit the gallery will also like the sound of the gallery's adverts - and go to the Paysite. And a percentage of the people who visit this Paysite will BUY something. That's the theory anyways.

The relationship between the three players in this game works as follows:

The TGP owner:
...gets content for his surfers which gives them a reason to come back. (He will be also trying to sell things from his TGP website). In some cases, reciprocal links are required - and some traffic could come back from the gallery.

The gallery builder:
...has a shot at making a sale from their gallery.

The surfer:
...gets free pictures of whatever it is that floats his boat in the porn world.

Not sure what recip links are:
http://www.adultwebmasterglossary.com/#Recip

Creating the gallery...

This is one of the most important parts of getting any success with your gallery. There are a limited number of elements to work with, but there's a world of possibilities.

There's a lot of variables to play with before you'll know what works when making TGP galleries.

They include:

Which sponsors to use in the adverts.
Which niche this gallery will be all about.
How to position the ads.
What you say in the text ads on the gallery.
Colors used.
How to layout the gallery in general so that you increase clickthroughs.

With a TGP gallery - you're always playing a delicate game between pleasing the TGP, owner so that you get listed, AND making a gallery that will be of benefit to you.

Here's an article which will help you build up a gallery that has a good chance of making some money:

TGP Tips
http://www.tomsnewbiebooster.com/tgp-tips.html

Getting listed on a TGP

Once you've made a gallery, it's time to get it on one of the TGPs and to start the ball rolling. The process for most TGPs out there is the same: Each will have a link from their main page which will either say "Webmasters" or "Submit a gallery here" - or something very similar. It may take a little finding at first. Once you go there - you'll find two things:

1) The rules for that TGP.

Each TGP has it's own set of rules. This is where they specify the minimum number of pictures you must have, what you are and are not allowed to have on the page, and anything else which the TGP owner feels is important. Always read these pages carefully before you list your gallery. Failure to read these rules can mean that your gallery won't get listed. Most TGPs have similar rules - but it's always worth checking each TGPs rules to make sure you know what they're looking for.

2) A place where you can add your TGP page's details.

This will again look similar from TGP to TGP. There will be a form where you can add in the details which are particular to your gallery. There'll normally be a place to add the following information:

- URL to the gallery
- Number of pictures on the gallery
- Description for the gallery
- Your name and email address

Some TGPs do not require a description and the TGP owner prefers to make their own up.

After submitting your gallery

Once you've filled out your galleries details, a computer program at the TGP website will place your gallery in a queue. 99% of the time a TGP will not list you instantly. You'll be placed on hold until the TGP owner has had a chance to review the gallery and decide whether or not to add you to their TGP site. This is a tense time. Not every gallery will get listed on every TGP every time. There's normally more galleries which are submitted to each TGP than can be listed each day.

You can improve your chances of getting listed by:

Checking the rules of the TGP very carefully.
Using fresh content.
Keeping the ads to the minimum required.

When the TGP owner comes to review the gallery - they will press a button which will either "add" or "decline" your gallery. If they press the "add" button - you'll go live on that TGP and can expect to start seeing visitors from it straight away. Getting listed on most TGPs normally takes a few days - but a wait of a couple of weeks or more can occur.

The recip links

In order to get listed at most TGPs, you'll be required to add a link back to their TGP website from your gallery. This is standard practice on TGPs, link lists, and most other places you can get your site listed at.

There's a few more things I want to write about on this - so I'll write up a second part to this for tomorrow. For now - here's some further reading on the TGPs:

Introduction to TGP's
By Mrs Justforfun
http://www.rookieclass.com/archives/6.1.00/page1.html

Succeeding as an adult webmaster
Written by Jayeff
http://www.topniche.com/newbie-booster/tips/tip-76.html

Making the most of TGP traffic
Archived Chat with Snoops
http://tutormatrix.com/traffic/tgp.html

Making Money With TGP's
Archived Chat with Daft and Snoops
http://tutormatrix.com/traffic/moneytgps.html

Part 2 of the TGP back to basics guide can be read HERE.

TOM ^"^

ICQ 12616560
Email tom@tomsnewbiebooster.com