Members Area Link Trades

[KevinG]

I have not done members area link trades before, but had a request for one from a decent looking site, that could be considered competition, but could also be considered a relevant link since it's in the same niche.

I am wondering what the folks around here think of sites trading links in their members sections?

Here's some good and bad points I thought of:

Good:

Targeted to the same niche, and a proven "porn buying customer" it could deliver highly qualified prospects to both parties.

It could become additional revenue if you use an affiliate link.

Bad:

You may be competing with yourself by sending your customers elsewhere.

There could be inequities involved, like if one site has 5,000 members and the other site has 100.

It can be difficult to monitor the recip since it requires a login.

[MRock]

Back in '99 when we got started, it was the way to go. Hardlinks too, not affiliate links. But the amateur market was cool like that back then... We also did material together too, so maybe that would be an added plus.

The points you make (good and bad) are noted and accurate.

[Nymph]

If you are going to be building a seperate page just for those, then I'd say go for it, give it a try, if it doesn't work, delete the page.

If you are planning on splatering the links among your site, I'd think twice about it.

[Toby]

What I'm seeing these days, when I do see member area trades, are links using affiliate program codes. That takes care of the problem of disproportionate traffic, and also provides an easy way for both parties to monitor the trade.

About the only time I'm seeing uncoded link trades in member areas is when there is a pre-existing established relationship between the sites.

[DannyCox]

We have always done hard links out of our members areas, but the days of "trades" are long gone. We use affiliates codes and get paid for anything we send. We actually do better out of out members area on Carol's site than we do from anything we push in the free side. We are targeting people who have already paid for a site, and many of them have no problem joining multiple sites.

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by KevinG

I have not done members area link trades before, but had a request for one from a decent looking site, that could be considered competition, but could also be considered a relevant link since it's in the same niche.

I am wondering what the folks around here think of sites trading links in their members sections?

Here's some good and bad points I thought of:

Good:

Targeted to the same niche, and a proven "porn buying customer" it could deliver highly qualified prospects to both parties.

It could become additional revenue if you use an affiliate link.

Bad:

You may be competing with yourself by sending your customers elsewhere.

There could be inequities involved, like if one site has 5,000 members and the other site has 100.

It can be difficult to monitor the recip since it requires a login.

It's usually done with affiliate links now, that takes care of the inequities in traffic size. But then it looks like an upsell to the user and can impact your retention either by losing them to another site or just turning them off by hitting them with what they see as ads in an area where they expected to get everything all inclusive.

Not much different than a cross sell.

Now I will tell you one area where this still works well...that is solo or amateur girls where they are shooting with other girls. You do a content share and also swap some traffic if you can get them to shoot together.

There's also still room for the good old fashioned "friends" list in my opinion. That's a great way to seed new sites. We do a lot less of it than we used to just because there's so many people who'll jerk the surfer around and a friends list is an implied endorsement. Send 'em somewhere that they encounter pop-up hell, get zango'd or ripped off in any way and you've violated a trust. We still go for LOOOONNNNGGG retention over churn and burn cookie cutter paysites.

[NY Jester]

I think trades from within members area are actually better than from outside trades for the simple reason ..its highly pre-qualified. They are already paid members of your site, I dont see it being a traffic leak per-say. We are always looking for decent members' side trades with other sites. We only ask that you have an affiliate program in place and we prefer those with a WM referral % as well but its not a deal breaker. And the reason being, any trafic sent from within the members area to a linked site is monetized and each click has earning potential.

Anyone interested in members side trades you can contact me via PM or ICQ.


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