TopLists A little good and a lot bad.

Toiling away at your website day in and day out trying to get more traffic to
your site? You have some traffic but its not making you any money and you want
more? How to do this…

Traffic is like money - money makes money, well traffic makes traffic!

What is a TopList?

A top list is a script driven site with a long list of links. The links
change their order every few minutes based on who is sending the most traffic to
the site. The objective is to send enough traffic to the site to stay near the
top of the list without being the person sending the most traffic. The sites
listed closest to the top of the list will usually get the most traffic, as that
is what the surfer sees first. Usually there will be a descriptive link or
picture with two numbers next to it. The two numbers stand for the number of
surfers that site has sent into the top list and the number of surfers that have
clicked out to that site from the top list. Simple isn't it?

What is TopList traffic like:

TopList traffic is the traffic that the last site couldn't make money with.
So it could be assumed that the traffic was crap - right? Yes and no. While the
traffic didn't convert to money for the last site doesn't mean it won't convert
for you. The last site the traffic came from may not have been what the surfer
was looking for. It may have been a site full of blondes when the surfer was
looking for a picture of that looked like their ex-girlfriend who was a
brunette. Make sure your site offers the surfer all the different porn flavors
to make the best use of the new traffic you get. When you send someone off to a
TopList your sending the traffic you couldn't convert and it's the next guys try
at offering.

Who Should use a TopList:

The answer to this question would depend on the size of the TopList you're
planning on participating in.

Rules to remember:

- People with tons of traffic will have better results with a popular TopList,
one with tons of traffic.

- If you have a small amount of traffic go with a smaller TopList. This way
you have a chance to get in the top 5 or top 10 sites on the list.

- There are exceptions. If you have very little traffic and you play a larger
TopList you may get a bunch of traffic - if your banner or description is just
outstanding.

The links that get clicked on most often by surfers are the links at the top
and bottom of the pages. Surfers tend to go to the extremes. So if you can get
listed on the front page of a larger TopList with a good description but closer
to the bottom of the page you may pick up 2-3 times more traffic than you send
in.

However, this depends a lot on how sharp the competition is. If the others
'playing' the TopList are old pros - then you're screwed. Go cut your teeth on a
smaller TopList.

Once you've worked your way up to the top of the smaller list, move to the big
TopList and working your way to the top of that list.

When NOT to use TopList:

Lets say you have been generating your own traffic through various sources
for a while now and you have a good handle on it. You have also been sending
your non-converting traffic to the TopList and getting a good return for some
time. Sooner or later, your site will begin to send more traffic to that TopList
than any other site… Good, yes?

Uh no, not really… If you're sending the bulk of the traffic - and You're the
top site, then you're getting less unique traffic back than you had in the past.
Suddenly, the TopList isn't the best deal for you anymore. It's time to consider
pulling out of that TopList. If you're kicking in the lion's share of the
traffic then perhaps you should give serious thought to opening up your own
TopList. You have the traffic to seed the site… Why not start your own venture
and be the owner of a traffic-generating site? Let people come to you to get
traffic instead of you having to go to them.

Owning a TopList:

Lots of decent scripts floating around to run your own TopList site. There
are two types of TopLists you need to be aware of. A list that you're the only
person on that is not open to the public and is just used as a tool to count and
manage your surfers from one of your sites to another. The other option is the
more common TopList that is open to the public and that is what we're talking
about!

If you're in control of a lot of unproductive traffic then opening your own
TopList might be a good choice for you. You make money on the site by placing
banner ads or text links on the site that surfers see before they get to
everyone else on the list. You may also have the list broken down in say groups
of 10 links with a text description of a pay site breaking them up. You can run
your TopList any way you want as long as the people who play your TopList feel
it is fair. Keep in mind that if your popping consoles or siphoning off too much
traffic nobody is going to send you any.

You out-grew the TopList… So now what?

The site is kicking ass! You have the world by the tail and your site has
moved beyond the need to trade traffic with a TopList, your or anyone else's.
Congradu-freaking-lations! But now you're thinking: all the time you spent
learning how TopList work was a waste since your never going to use that
information again - right? Oh? Is that so? By this time you have learned a lot
more about how traffic works and what makes people click. Now - you can go back
and start another site (or heck, 20 of the damned things!) and use the TopList
as a tool to filter off your crap traffic into those 20 other sites AND pick up
more of that oh so reclusive productive traffic - by putting all your sites all
on the same TopList - filtering and duplicating your past successes over and
over, and over again… Oh, and for the rest of your life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By Jo Hawke - AEBN publicity@aebn.net

- AEBN.com, -
http://www.aebn.com - Adult Entertainment Broadcasting Network, is the
original Pay-Per-View provider on the Internet. They were the first content
provider to offer full-length, adult videos in a Pay-Per-Minute format. AEBN has
gathered over 18,000 top-quality videos representing over 800 studios -
literally the largest and broadest selection of adult videos available from one
provider.