TGP for Dummies, Like Me. (pt1) - Adult Webmaster Forums News Resources & Tips

Gaystoryman · 03-12-2009, 04:05 PM

My Take On Doing TGPs

Okay, first off let me warn you all. THIS IS NOT SHORT. Hey, come one, I got a reputation for being long winded to maintain, so give me a break.
So get some coffee out, perhaps a light snack too as this might go on past supper time. Get comfy and hopefully you'll enjoy this brief little article on doing TGPs a la Ian.

By the way, we are serving refreshments throughout this brief little tutorial, just for those nutrionally challenged readers.

So, ready? here you go.....

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TGP for Dummies Like Me

Okay, so a long time ago when the Internet was really fun, a guy could toss up a bunch of photo’s on a page and people would come in droves to check em all out and even sign up to the sponsors you had listed there. Course that was also when operating systems weren’t numbered after the year of release or such. Things have changed big time since then, such as the advent of huge search engines and the need for speed and for rankings.

So, venturing into the dark hole of internet traffic there is this model, called TGPs that many people talk about but what exactly is it? Is it the alternative to doing your homework and getting your pages SEO and trading links with funny fellows in orange and black stripes or is there something more to it?

For starters, TGP refers simply to Thumbnail Gallery Post. It is a site that has a collection of links to various pages that have pictures (or as things are moving along, to movie clips now). Now, sounds simple right? Well it is but boy try making a buck off that and many will tell you ‘good luck’ and others will even tell you that it is not great way to spend a few hours a day either, that you’d have better luck trying to snag Hugh Hefner's black book or find out who the Dark Horse is in the Preakness sweepstakes.

But, (hey come on, you knew there was gonna be a but, didn’t ya?) that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. To begin with, let’s be honest and say that nothing about the Adult Industry online is easy or a cake walk. It all requires research, work, and time as well as ingenuity. It also requires sifting thru a whole bunch of bullshit and opinions that are represented as facts. So let me be blunt, this shit works for me but that don’t mean it is going to work for you nor does it even mean that I know what the hell I am talking about. It simply means that this is one aspect of my own business model that pays off for me. Whether it will for you or not, well, that is something I won’t even hazard a guess at.

Let me be real clear too, this is merely my opinion, it is not 100% gospel according to me or anyone else. Others will have different results or different ways of going about this TGP stuff, and it does work for them too, so are they wrong or more right than me? Again… it comes down to this. Use what you feel comfortable with, try it and see if it works for you then tear it up and make it work for you, using your model.

Now before you start rushing off and buying yourself an auto submission program or a whole bunch of content, take a deep breath and think about this. Venturing into the TGP game is like any other part of the business. There are potential expenses that need to be met and if you can’t afford it, don’t go any further.

To begin with, submitting to a decent TGP will get you traffic, conversions are something we’ll cover later but prepare for the worst. What are you going to do if you get 1000’s of hits but no sales? Do you have the cash to pay the added bandwidth you just consumed for nothing in return? IF ‘yes’ then okay go ahead.

So maybe you like to do things on the cheap like me, but let me tell you that hosting your galleries on a free host won’t work. Most decent TGPs will not accept your galleries so yes Virginia you do need a good domain to use. It does need to be hosted and no it can’t be an IP address either. Again most TGPs won’t accept it.

Alright, so you got a good host (by the way if you are looking for one, check out the one’s listed in the ‘graffiti section’ here in the forums. Also, send Dean (Nete-Quette) a PM.) now you need to figure out what to put in your gallery pages.

To begin with if you use tired old content you really are wasting your time. The Surfer despite some opinions is not stupid. If they see something that they have seen a few thousand times odds are they will simply click to another link on the TGP site. So yes, like building your own site CONTENT IS KING!

Now most will use free stuff supplied from an affiliate or sponsor. That is cool but look for stuff that isn’t over used. Look for stuff that is different or unique from them or go to one of the content suppliers to find some ‘filler’ content that isn’t overly exposed either. You can try Ounique or Paul Markham Bargain Basement or browse thru the graffiti section again for content providers. Whatever it is, look for teaser pics and not hardcore stuff. (I’ll get to why a bit further on, so patience)

So now that you have a decent collection of content, what next? Well how about your page layout. Now here is where I am going to most likely get into trouble with some folks, cause you see to me this is where many TGP submitters fail. They don’t take into account the layout, they simply set up a basic 3 or 4 column table and slap in the thumbnails and toss in a banner down the side or on top or bottom. They don’t take into account the aesthetics.

Look, you are selling something, so put yourself in the position of the buyer. Would you really want to buy some expensive piece of jewellery for the girlfriend from a guy in a raincoat or would you prefer to shop from Tiffany’s? So why do you think a surfer will buy a membership to a site from a sleazy cheap looking web page that has nothing to it but some tossed in photo’s?

There are a couple of things you should know about TGP gallery pages.

1. They don’t allow navigation links on it.
2. They require a reciprocal link back to them plus generally to two or three other TGP sites. (hey they want traffic too, so expect this)
3. They don’t allow certain words such as ‘next’ ‘home’ ‘more’ ‘gallery 2’ and so on. You get the idea. They aren’t too thrilled about losing that traffic or having it go much beyond your gallery page. (there is a way around this by the way, but again… later)
4. No java or scripting
5. No redirection codes
6. Banned words are also a no no, and you know what I mean. Words that would imply under age etc.
7. Maximum number of out going links. (Now this is tricky, some sites allow you one out going link per x number of photo’s while some simply say 4, 6, or 10 or whatever. So you have to make a choice before you design your page as to the number of out going links you will have. (out going links refers to links leaving your page) Some don’t even tell you, they just reject you if you have too many.)
8. Alt Tag limits. Some actually do require NO alt tag so again, another decision you have to make before designing the page.
9. Minimum pics. For most this is around 12 to 15 pics for now, 3 to 4 movie clips (but you’ll have to read their rules to find out more) (Oh, I don’t do movie TGPs just so you know and as such this whole tutorial is slanted towards yummy pictures only.)
10. Thumbnails lead to the image and NOT to an HTML page or dynamic page.

There are some other rules but you can read most of them on their submission pages. AND DO READ THOSE RULES! Seriously, if you screw up at one TGP it can effect your ability to post in more than just that one place. It can get you turfed from tens or more TGPs as they do talk among themselves. They share ‘banned lists’ so again, READ THE RULES CAREFULLY. IF you are unsure if your site will meet their rules or is a risk to being banned, either pass on submitting to that TGP or EMAIL the webmaster. Most will actually answer you believe it or not. Yes, they do because you are important to them. They need fresh galleries so many will actually answer your questions. (I should qualify this in that I deal in the Gay Market and so am drawing on my experiences with Gay TGPs. I would assume Straight TGP webmasters would respond the same way, but heck, darned if I know.)

Now for me, I use a thumbnail set at 74 pixels wide and 100 pixels high. You can use your own scale size but that works for me. Also, try to not ‘over’ compress the images. If they look like shit, are distorted, then odds are you will get the rejection email or simply get a blank ‘bye bye’ page. There are many good compression programs out there, just as there are many good thumbnail programs. I myself use Infranview (for thumbnail & batch renaming of the images) which is a freebie and does quite nicely for me.

You are also going to need to get some added thumbnails together as many of the TGPs use an actual thumbnail to display. Why they don’t have a standard size is beyond me, but most use the following sizes…

a. 88w by 88h
b. 90w by 120h
c. 100w by 100h
d. 75w by 75h
e. 120w by 160h
f. 75w x 100h

Okay this is something you should spend some time on. This is your ‘ad’ that the surfer is going to see. If the TGP uses a thumbnail, you need to make it something that is going to attract the surfer’s eye. Again, I have found that no it isn’t some body feature that works best but the face itself. If the eyes are special or the nose or mouth I couldn’t tell you, but face shots seem to garner more traffic than a nice pair of legs does or (in my case) a nice schlong does. So choose the picture carefully that you are going to use for those special sized thumbs. Take time with them, insure they are crisp, clear and portray a decent feature of your model/image collection.

to be continued...

gonzogone · 03-17-2009, 01:50 PM

I keep telling myself, I should give a TGP site a shot at some point... I think that's about 1,548,291 on the to-do list...

housekeeper · 01-17-2012, 11:44 AM

Interesting, resurrecting a 3 year old post, then spamming it with a bitly link

NeteQuette · 01-17-2012, 03:32 PM

Spam removed

RudeBwoy · 01-27-2012, 11:27 AM

But cool post, glad I read it.

Btw.wonder where's the sequel.

Tigger · 01-28-2012, 01:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RudeBwoy

But cool post, glad I read it.

Btw.wonder where's the sequel.

agree.........

LatinLuvin · 01-28-2012, 03:06 AM

Spam or not, I've decided to dust off the cobwebs of an old 5 year old TGP of mine and make it new again. The pics are so old and crappy, hopefully I can breath new life into it and get some profit out of it.

Tigger · 01-28-2012, 03:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LatinLuvin

Spam or not, I've decided to dust off the cobwebs of an old 5 year old TGP of mine and make it new again. The pics are so old and crappy, hopefully I can breath new life into it and get some profit out of it.

I hear the B&W pics are making a come back