A layout that sells.

An adult webmaster resource...

Written by Tom from Tom's Newbie Booster

What's a trial?

You might have heard the term 'trial' mentioned on this board or others. What we mean is really the 'cost of a trial membership' on adult sites. Whereas a month's membership may cost around $30 - some sites choose to offer a shorter period of access for as low as $2.95. The idea is, from your and your sponsor's side of things, is that the surfer will sign-up and a) either forget to cancel this trial, or b) will like the site so much they won't cancel. Either way, at the end of that trial period, you and your sponsor start to make serious money.

How to find out if your sponsor offers a trial

Sometimes the trial price will be evident either on the tour, or on banners and full page ads. If it isn't, the first step is to go to the tour. Click on the "JOIN" or "INSTANT ACCESS" link, and you'll be taken to the page where the surfers buy their memberships. NORMALLY there'll be a series of buttons there with choices on them for the different memberships. If you see one for "3 DAYS - $2.95", or something similar, then you've got what you needed. Some sign-up forms require you to put your name and address in, and get to page 2 of the sign-up process, before they talk about the prices. Do it. It's harmless - just don't put your credit card info in!

Using the trial to make money

One of the things I'm a great believer in, and something that helps make me my living really, is using the trial price to encourage surfers to sign up. I use it in my adverts on TGP galleries, free sites, and even search engine sites. I also include the price on 90% of my paid advertizing - like my pay-per-click search engine traffic. While EVERY single text ad I make doesn't have to include the price (that would get boring!) I like to work that bad boy in regularly.

Doesn't it spook the surfers?

You'd think so, wouldn't you? Putting the price on on of your ads is actually an effective way to cut through all the bullshit, and sort the wheat out from the chaff. Obviously you're going to get people who see it and drop away: people that don't want to pay for porn - but that's not necessarily such a bad thing. Anyone that does click on an ad which has the price on it is going to be PURE GOLD - whether they came from a TGP or from a search engine.

It also adds 'honesty' to what you're saying. Surfers get suspicious... Will your link bounce them to a console hell? Is there really something here that they might be interested in. They're not totally dumb either. They know that everything you just promised them in an ad can't just be free. I've written some very successful ads which even start out with: "FACT: You're not going to get the best shit for free..." That can be very effective with all kinds of traffic.

Juicing up the trial

It's also important to make the trial sound like something special. The way that you word the price is important. I find the following effective:

3 day pass - ONLY $2.99

INSTANT access : $2.99

See it ALL for $5.95

FULL access for $4.95

LESS THAN 99 cents per day

ENTER the member's area for $2.95

Think about what they're getting, how long they're getting it for, and how little it will cost. Remember that this site has a million times more on offer than anything they can get at a TGP or link list, and really sell it.

A trial price isn't magic

By adding the price to your ads, you're not going to see amazing results, or generate a million sales just by doing that. Unless you have drawn them in, and given them some fast, powerful reasons why lives will be enhanced once they're a member of this site, there won't be enough momentum to carry them past the price. Work on building ads as well as you can. (I've written a lot here about that too). Most importantly, learn to be a surfer and ask yourself what would YOU pull out your CC for?

No trial? No problem...

Here's a brick wall that I hit recently with one of my PPC search engine campaigns. I found a great paysite and decided that it was a very cool niche that I could make some money with. I did my research into the niche, some relevant phrases, and tried to get an idea as to what was on offer to members by looking at the tour. BUT - I didn't check the join page until the last moment. This paysite did NOT have a cheap trial. It was a straight $39.99 for a month's access. I thought "shit - this isn't going to work..."

But I thought about how I could try it out anyways, and I decided that it would be a good idea to tell surfers about the price without actually mentioning it. I wrote an ad with this as the last line:

"Instant access with a credit card"

That did the job beautifully. I get good sales from this paysite - even though there isn't a trial. While the price was something that, in this case, I didn't think would help my campaign, I did think it was important to qualify the traffic. So with a more vague reference to the fee.

Don't be afraid of the 'cost' of a membership. Think about how you can use the trial especially to sell products even to more difficult surfers. Some of 'em WILL pay.

TOM ^"^