TGP Tutorials & Articles
The TGP Business Model
by Andrew of AdultWebmaster101.net
So you've been submitting galleries for a while, and you're thinking of starting up your own TGP. Or perhaps you just want a place to display your own galleries along with some sponsor hosted galleries. Even if you're not ready to take on the task of accepting gallery submissions and/or managing traffic trades, a small TGP on your domain can be useful as a hub for your galleries.
Be aware that there are several caveats to running a successful TGP. The TGP space is very saturated, and at this point in the game it's unlikely that you'll ever be anywhere near as big as, say, the Hun or Thumbzilla. You'll have to master the intricacies of traffic trading. You'll be spending most of your time evaluating (and possibly rejecting) a large number of gallery submissions. You'll also have to deal with cheating webmasters. Even if you don't accept submissions, creating thumbs and/or descriptions for large numbers of free hosted galleries can be time consuming.
The initial investment for a dedicated server/bandwidth, software and traffic can easily run into many hundreds of dollars, so don't start a TGP unless you can afford it. None of this applies, of course, if you're simply using your TGP as a hub, and are not expecting to make a lot of money from it. (Trust me, you won't.)
As a surfer, you've probably wondered how TGPs make money. (And as a webmaster, you should already know the answer!) The most obvious income stream is through advertising. Almost any TGP you visit will have ads promoting various sponsors, from pay sites to penis pills to dating sites such as Adult Friend Finder. There may also be sponsor links sprinkled throughout the listings.
The second, and less obvious method is with free hosted galleries (FHGs). Many sponsors create professionally designed galleries for use by their affiliates. Almost all TGPs make use of FHGs, even those that accept gallery submissions. You'll find them mixed in with the regular submitted listings.
A variant of the TGP business model is what is known as a "fake" TGP. A fake TGP consists solely of free hosted galleries, sometimes combined with galleries built by the TGP owner. Fake TGPs do not accept gallery submissions, thus the name. With the number of sponsors offering free hosted galleries, it's possible to build a database of thousands of galleries using only FHGs.
The fake TGP has become a popular option for many webmasters. The advantage of a fake TGP is not having to deal with gallery submissions. Any sales made from clicks to your galleries go in your pocket, instead of another webmaster's. The disadvantage of a fake TGP is that FHGs quickly become stale and overexposed, since nearly every TGP in your niche will be using them. Also, some larger TGPs won't trade traffic with fake TGPs.
A third method of income is from selling traffic. Traffic brokers allow you to sell clicked traffic from your TGP to other webmasters. You can redirect clicks to the traffic broker using blind gallery links on your TGP, for example. Another option is to sell "gallery traffic", such as the rows of categorized text links you see at the bottom of many thumb TGPs. These links go directly to paid galleries. Selling traffic can provide a small yet consistent stream of income, and should be taken advantage of.
Large TGPs can also make money by selling partner accounts or paid gallery spots. This can be quite lucrative, but only if your traffic makes the expense worthwhile for your submitters.
To bring in a fresh stream of visitors, TGPs rely on traffic trades. You've undoubtedly noticed that on most TGPs, you will sometimes be redirected to another TGP when clicking on a gallery link. This is a traffic trade. The other TGP will then return the trade by sending one of their visitors.
The percentage of clicks that go to galleries vs. that which go to trades is called the skim. The typical skim for a TGP is around 50-60%. A TGP with a skim of 65% will have 65% of clicks go to galleries, while the other 35% go to trades. Traffic trading is one of the most arcane tasks you'll perform as a webmaster, as it can be tricky to maximize traded traffic.
TGPs require large amounts of traffic to be profitable. For a small niche TGP, this will be at least 10,000-20,000 visitors a day, up to 50,000-75,000 a day for larger niche sites. A large general niche TGP can attract well over 100,000+ hits a day. TGPs attracts lots of freeloading porn surfers, so the traffic quality is generally low. Your success as a TGP webmaster will depend on many factors, such as the quality of your site, your trades, your sponsors and the number of visitors that bookmark your site.
