Advice on Making Your Porn Blog Work

QUESTION:  tall whiteboy wrote:
Thanks for posting a link to my blog on your blog A Father's Pride and Joy. That one link has led

  

about 200 visitors to my site over the past month. Feel free to repost more as long as you're linking back to me! I could use the traffic.

Do you have any advice on how to get more people to visit my blog? I'm trying everything I can think of to promote my site, but I haven't had much growth lately. Also, Facebook was one of my best marketing tools, but they deleted my account for linking to "obscene" material. Any advice you can give on what has worked for you would be appreciated by this new blogger!

Thanks and keep up the great work,
Andrew
tallwhiteboy.blogspot.com

RESPONSE: My advice from a would-be non-profit porn blogger

The first point of advice is also a telling reminder: You must not have noticed one major difference in my blogs and yours: none of my blogs has any commercial advertising - (except what Blogger (Google) puts there). It is telling because you didn't even mention that fact.

I think that trying to make money on a blog that is created from stuff we've simply found (on the Internet trash heap) is like trying to earn a living by picking up pennies. (It can be done - if you have to have a volunteer crew of 1000s - smile). That is not the only reason that I am never going to go commercial.

The second reason is that once you do, you become the target of your rivals and of your resources (Google takes a wholly different attitude about what a commercial blogger does and what a personal, private individual does). I won't bother to list the other five reasons why I will not be trying to monetize my blogs.

That being said, here is my wisdom about how blogs become popular (or not) or at least just noticed, please take it with a grain of salt and huge dash of pepper. ( ).
I am not saying mine are popular. However, upwards of 5000 hits a day come to my most visited blogs:
Guys Into CMNM http://guys2ncmnm.blogspot.com
About a thousand hits a day are reached on 2 or 3 other ones.

Advice:
0.0 Be a writer: It helps to think like a writer/editor/publisher - instead of simply a porn smurf (purveyor of XX-rated gay material).
Start acting like one and you'll find it will become easier to make your own blog have the kind of qualities that will attract readership.

0.1 Do your homework. You need to be a good blog/site visitor yourself and also do a fair bit of research on what makes a particular blog appealing. Think about how you found it. Experiment with the various non-commercial apps, widgets, gadgets and tools that you have found on other people's blogs. Then you'll have a better understanding of what's working and what does not.

1. THEME: A specific targeted theme works to attract a certain clientele. Too general and the appeal may (or may not) work. That's the reason I maintain 10 different blogs - most of them are themed: cmnm, public sex or dickflashing, bromance/ straight/curious, interracial, daddy/son,
Asian male, gay travel, my own personal experience & commentary, etc.....

I notice that you put a lot of work into making a single post have a theme. That does add a lot of quality, but it only adds value for readers/visitors who have actually found your blog/site.

It also good to have some writing / text even when you're just wanting to show some grouped / themed porn shots. The Google search engine uses these as 'labels' in order to locate and index the photos. When done consistently, your blog's photos will pop up on Google's (and Bing's) image search when guys are trying to find free porn.

2. CONTENT: Intersperse original blogs entries with copied material.

Original means posts that either you write or when you find something worth re-posting and for which you have permission (even if only implied permission). My readers usually can find (not always true because I don't always have or make the time to do this) on a single page - at least one original post - along with the visual porn reposts that I frequently borrow from Queerclick or JustusBoys. Those sites are commercial porn blogs and they are working as viral advertisers for the various porn producers. So that only benefit by having people like me (or you) repost their stuff AS LONG AS it links back to the porn studios original marketing page (or via Queerclick - which is just pimping it for them). So, in effect, I am pimping for the pimp (and taking none of the credit or revenue).

However, since I also post a lot of amateur nude/gay sex photos and do some original writing or take snippets from other sources (especially where I am a contributor), then there is a balance that appeals to me and, hopefully, to the readers.
 

3. Socialize it: Add various social networks to create layers of linking around people - not just the porn.

A. Because they are themed blogs, I can also create a social networking site around that theme so that readers/visitors get some added valued. It works both ways. Guys who join the themed social networks get to view the blog content as well; that's the usefulness of RSS feeds.
The social networks operate separately but it gives readers/visitors an automatic sense of identity and feeling of community.

B. You can also add social networking apps/widgets directly to the blogs to get the same effect and actually create a loyal fan base. Google's FriendConnect is one of the more popular ones. Oddly enough, most of the people who are 'join' as followers of my blogs using FriendConnect are bloggers themselves - who are also looking to befriend fellow bloggers (kind of a backdoor link up).

C. Twitter does work to bring in visitors. I have created multiple Twitter accounts and use Twitterfeed to post updates to all of each of the Twitter accounts automatically when a new post is made to one of my blogs.

4. Tags are important. Blogger tags are not simply so that a visitor can search your blog archive to find a certain item of interest. Those tags are searchable from Google's main search engine. Therefore, you should use

standard tags whenever possible, and don't hesitate to repeat the main key tag words: gay, porn, nude, cock, suck, fuck, naked, male, men etc along with your more accurate descriptive tags. It is automatic free advertising (as long as you have set your Blogger settings correctly).
 

5. Facebook (and several other large portal type social sites, MySpace, Yahoo, Google other sites (Buzz, Profile, etc... ) can be used effectively WITHOUT posting obscene material.

Many of my blogs (themed) ones also have a Facebook Fan page. I just don't post any material from the blog directly to the Facebook Fan page. Instead, I can post a link (without offending visual images) to my blogs.

Particularly, if you have some alternate identities, you can populate your Facebook Fan page and also get 'their' Twitter updates posted to Facebook. One Facebook Fan page I created got to be popular enough, that I gave over the management and administration to one of the enthusiastic members.

Here is the list of my current porn blogs and the main contributors:

My Blogs	Team Members
Twinkaholic: Addicted to Teen Gays	Brian Sullivan garxon19 Kelly 'Sunbuns' Jo KristianKawika Makahakanoa
Passions of the Hentai	garxon19 Kawika Makahakanoa sullybboi Kelly 'Sunbuns' Brian Sullivan
Guys into CMNM	Tim Jo Kristian David Seefallus Kelly 'Sunbuns'Brian Sullivan
Kelly's Second Life	Brian Sullivan Kelly 'Sunbuns' David Seefallus
Mec a poil	(inactive for RSS only)
A Quiver of Errors and Guilded Loins	Kelly 'Sunbuns' Brian Sullivan David Seefallusgarxon19
A Father's Pride and Joy	Kelly 'Sunbuns' David Seefallus Brian Sullivan
InterRacy	Brian Sullivan Kelly 'Sunbuns' sullybboi David Seefallus
____> 男 Otoko -The Japanese Male	Kawika Makahakanoa sullybboi Kelly 'Sunbuns'
Travels with Sunbuns	Brian Sullivan Kelly 'Sunbuns'
The Spirit is Willing but the Flash is Weak, day and night.	BFlySully David Seefallus Kelly 'Sunbuns'
Uber Horny: guys who want it bad	sullybboi garxon19 Kelly 'Sunbuns' Brian Sullivan

Other blogs:

LiveJournal    See my blogs on LiveJournal at:
    http://sunbunz.livejournal.com/
    http://nudewithclothed.livejournal.com/
Over-Blog  (just started using this one):
    http://seefallus.over-blog.com
    http://guysn2cmnm.over-blog.com
Nibblebit.com
     http://sunbunz.nibblebit.com
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Probably, this response is more than Andrew (tallwhiteboy) expected to get. But with each every email I write, I consider that effort to be worth it IF it leads me to a better understanding and also to be able to write something that I can share with others (for free). Therefore, I made my response one of the posts in my personal blog that you are reading now.

Cheers, and thanks for the stimulating question, Andrew. I hope it will be useful advice in response, and that you will have many more readers for your own blog.
 

Kelly

Posted By hardtwoholed to Uber Horny: guys who want it bad at 12/19/2014 10:13:00 PM

Starting a Blog: Deciding on your purpose may take some time, but it's worth the effort

Starting a blog is an idea that always excites a budding or would-be writer. We all have that basic urge to leave our thoughts inscribed somewhere for posterity, an instinct akin to the one that also drives the sexual libido - at least in part, - the primordial necessity to procreate. Having an audience of any kind is of paramount importance as a writer whether newbie, old-timer, or one who is still craving the 'writer's experience' -- even if the audience is only one member - the blogger himself. Several commenters and other bloggers have mentioned that they write first and foremost for themselves, and often solely of themselves. I think keeping up a blog –regularly enough to create a following audience - may very well depend on getting some kind of audience initially, or even just the possibility that a few people actually can find and are reading it.

 For the dozen or so blogs, in my case [if you can actually call them that], I use JustusBoys (sometimes) and Blogger (less now that Goggle is deleted what it calls 'spam' blogs), but more and
more frequently I am using Goggle's Blogger, JustUsBoys (personal pages), Tumblr, and Tribe.net, but not solely because Typepad and Wordpress (no porn / adult content allowed on the Wordpress hosted version) are useful, too.

Wordpress hosted on the company's own servers does not allow pornographic material so that kind of limits what gay content can be published there. I actually think of those blogs as either my memory banks (places to store stuff I want to retrieve later, or 'semen deposits' - places where I store photos, stories and stuff that excited me when I saw it.

 Consequently, not ever so-called blog post is even text or image intended for a real audience. However, some people are definitely only likely to continue writing if they can get some type of feedback about their efforts and the content (albeit, self-focused stories). Therefore , I recommend that first time bloggers start out by making blog-type posts inside another social networking site (Not Facebook!). Obviously, JustUsBoys is a good candidate. As you can see, they have recently upgraded both their members profiles, the forums (discussion boards) and their blog (although I really do wish they had included the capacity to insert HTML (Blogger, Typepad and Posterous all have the function).

 Even Xtube has a blog function, also so does, Tribe.net, which is a good place to get a few people to notice and comment on your blogs -- whether they be literary narratives, simple diaries, opinionated essays, or just sharing a sexual adventure or romance, or some new realization about life, or something interesting or attractive that you've found in the real world or the virtual one, and even the odd rant or rage sometime. JustUsboys.com is also a widely known porn-focused site, but dit allows members to interact in forums and create a blog (now with some enhanced features). Tribe.net was actually the original Facebook-like social network -- at least conceptually, and it still has a great following of alternative eggheads and potheads, along with some other truly great people, some of whom also write. It is mainly composed of many sexually liberated people who freely mix explicit sexual content along with their contemporary sentiments and sensibilities found so abundantly in our chaotic world(s)... Smile.

 I sometimes have the notion that not everyone on Tribe is from the planet Earth, me included (sly grin). Perhaps others can name some other (similar or not) places where newbie bloggers can find a niche and a sympathetic audience (sometimes by default).

JustusBoys is firmly grounded in commercial sales and marketing of gay media (porn) and products. Therefore, its 'services' for social networking have a decidedly "down-to-earth", and 'back to business' tone. Nevertheless, I am grateful for the free (so far) services that JUB does provide. I've said it often to my (imaginary) readers, and privately to dozen of non-blogging members of those sites above: The best way to write is find a topic that you care about and then respond. From that response (usually yours and others' comments to the poster/blogger and the reactions that ensue) may come the crystal of a idea that can easily turn into a valuable blogpost. At least in your own mind, it will have value and be worth repeating, i.e, posting elsewhere.

Sometimes, it a matter of self-confidence, and also a realization that real writers are never actually born as great manipulators of word and thought. In fact, they just develop themselves into that self-definition, and are shaped and reshaped by the nature of their work as writers (communicators), and by the perceived feedback (enjoyment, useful, sympathy, empathy, and exhilaration (sexual and/or emotional) of their audience) This blog post actually started out as a comment (response) to another person's blog post, and the ideas that it generated in me.

It has now become the seed (or the whole peach) of a posting on several of my personal narrative blogs. It took on again a new life and was subsequently revised and lengthened in response to a new development: the debut of JUB's improved blogging tools. I separate my various blogs (nearly two dozen of them) into different functions to serve my own dichotomies of thought and interests: sexual (gay, straight and bisexual or non-sexual) , social, political, emotional and spiritual. It's not necessary to do that for most people, but I find that I tend to follow those bloggers who usually stick to a theme,

or at least, who have a thematic core to their message, instead of constantly changing from one mundane topic to another as if the events of life direct their consciousness instead of the other way around.

 Unfortunately, quite a few of the 'blogs' here on JustUsBoys do exactly that: skip around randomly and also fail to cover the issue/topic/event thoroughly. Most are far too short to be useful. (OK.. you can also argue that some (like mine) are too long to appeal to the average readers/members. Quality is something that requires a sense of discipline as a writer/thinker AND as a reader. It helps when there is an appreciative audience. So when I do manage to find one blog entry on JUB (or elsewhere) that's entertaining, useful or otherwise, meaningful, I try to give the writer more than 'thumbs up'

sign. 'Liking' a post is good and better than no response at all, but it is ultimately not very instructive or reflective of what the person (reader) actually got from a blog post or other writing/photo work.

OK.... I may not have convinced you to begin a blog. It's not such an easy thing to do - or to do well... particularly when one has high standards of journalistic writing. Still, I hope many more people (gay, bi and curious men here on JUB) will attempt it. My wish is that many others will enjoy the fruits of those efforts (as readers and responders), and let the authors know that their writing is appreciated, that it has improved (or positive critique), or whatever. Be grateful for it, even if it provokes anger or disagreement. Go with blog and be good at doing it. Ciao,

Kelly (sunbuns99 or sunbuns) :rb: (P.S. I am currently a bit fixated on some erotic experiences I have recently experienced with male masseurs and physical therapists, thus, the porn pic at the top. Secondly, as I live in Japan and surrounded by men in my daily live 98% of whom are Japanese, so that accounts for the second photo. )