Getting to Know Your Surfers
Posted On: 2011-04-14
One thing that you will often here me stress both here on Rated Hot and over on Porn Resource is the need to for affiliate marketers like you and me to know who the people are who come through our galleries and free sites.
Of course we can't ask them to identify themselves ... we can't even ask them to tell us how old they really are. But that doesn't mean that we can't put together something of an image of the people that we're talking to via our free sites and galleries
And it's important that we do take some time to look at who our surfers are because when we know a little bit about them then we're going to know how to talk to them ... how to tailor our sales pitch so it resonates with them ... and the sort of language we should use on our websites to get the result we want.
But how do we actually go about identifying the people who hit our sites? As I said a moment ago we can't actually ask them but we can look at them or at least the footprints that they leave behind. From those footprints we can know where they come from ... and even know a little bit about their socio-economic background too.
Obviously the first thing we need to think about is who might be attracted to the niches that we're working in. If you ask around on your favorite webmaster board you'll get plenty of help in identifying just who wants to look at your niches.
It's almost certain that you will be told that BBW, big boobs and mature sites attract a lot of older guys and that's right, they do. However from my time in the adult industry out there in the real world I can tell you that some younger guys are also interested in BBWs and mature babes.
Obviously MILFS and cougars are going to attract younger guys too ... but older guys will also be hitting those sites. Teen sites are also going to attract a lot of young guys and a lot of older guys as well so you will need to think about the words that you use when you're trying to reach out and attract such a wide audience.
But that's only half the information you need to know and for the answers to the other questions you should be asking about your site visitors you need to dive into some data.
If you're really keen you will be putting Google Analytics on all your sites but I'm not sure I would be quite that keen if I were you. If you're churning out a couple of free sites or galleries every day it won't be long before you're drowning in data so maybe only add the Google Analytics to 1 in every 10 or 20 sites you build.
Once the data is being collected go back every now and again and see which geographic regions your traffic is coming from. Google Analytics will break that data down into countries, states and even cities and that can help you understand your visitors a little better and help you target them more effectively with the sales pitch that works best for a particular location.
But that's only the second step along the way towards getting to know your site visitors better. You might now have a rough idea of what age group your site visitors are and you may know where most of them come from but there's something else you need to know ... and it's something that most people wouldn't tell you even if you asked.
I mean who in their right mind would tell an adult site what their income level was?
Well fortunately you don't have to ask and you don't even have to know what their income level might be. What you do need to know is whether they're blue or white collar workers because that will tell you a lot about their socio-economic background.
And why is their socio-economic background important? Well if you talk to a site visitor like a street-hustler and he comes from a white-collar background then you stand a good chance of missing the sale. On the other hand the street-hustler approach just might work better with a blue-collar worker.
But how can you tell whether the people who visit your site are predominantly white or blue-collar workers? Well that's actually quite easy and all you have to do is look at your server stats.
Any half-decent web server stats package will show you when the most people hit your server and when you combine that with the regional data that you can get from Google Analytics you'll be able to make an informed guess on who you're talking to.
Don't be surprised if your server stats show that most people are hitting your site during daylight hours on week days. That indicates that people are looking at your site from the place of work and who has the most access to computers and the Internet at work? Certainly not blue-collar workers ... but white-collar workers tucked away in their cubicle mazes certainly do have all the access they need to surf for hot porn.
So if your stats are showing you that most people are hitting your sites during the day then it's a fair chance that you're pitching your message at someone who has a college education ... or who has at least got themselves a white-collar job. Once you understand that you then have a better chance of pitching your marketing message at a level that will appeal to them.
Working through those three stages means that you will have a better understanding of who and what the people are who are hitting your sites and you can tailor your message to best suit their situation. One size won't fit all but you will be able to communicate more effectively with people once you know who you're talking to.