Access
When you go through a door, you enter. When you join a club you have membership. Access is another word used to describe the ability to enter a website or open a program. Your paysite customers are given Access to the member area upon signup. When you open Notepad, you have Accessed the program.
Ad
An advertisement. On television ads come in the form of commercials, infomercials and product placement. In magazines and newspapers, ads are full pages, small graphics and circulars. On the net, ads can be banners, text links, full-page or pop-ups.
Ad Rotation
Script or Software that serves a different banner and associated link in designated positions every time the banner ad is called.
Ad Space
Ad Space, term originally applied to the printed medium. A printed page has so much space and advertisers are charged a fee to place an ad, according to the size of the ad. On the web, it's pretty much the same deal. One buys ad space that will be presented on a web page. A web ad can be a full-sized banner, a text link, a linked button graphic or even a pop-up console. Webmasters charge prices for ad placement according to size and position on the page.
Ad View
A site like Yahoo is very popular. Lots of advertisers are willing to pay big money to get their ads placed on Yahoo in a prominent position. That position is at the top of the page. Instead of limiting that space to just one sponsor banner, Yahoo uses a script that displays different ads from different companies on a rotating basis. Yahoo sells this space as blocks of ad views. IE: A paid spot on Yahoo is served up a certain number of times. Say, 20,000 views for $500.00. Ad views should not be confused with Ad Impressions, which refers to how many times a user physically clicks on an Internet advertisement.
Address
The location of a website on the world wide web. Usually reffering to the URL.
Adult E-Zines
An e-zine is a magazine for the web. An adult e-zine would be one with erotic stories, sexually oriented articles and dirty pictures. Some adult e-zines are free to browse all the way through. Others have partially free content.
Adult Games
Virtual strip poker. Slider puzzles where the player puts the nudie babe in order. Adult games can be simple or highly stylized. Most adult games are made in Flash format. Most adult game providers lease their content and deliver it from their servers.
Adult Search Engine
A search engine is a website where a user can type a key word or phrase into a form box, click a button and all sites containing that text or phrase will show up on resulting pages. An adult search engine does the same thing but lists adult sites within it's database. Many times, mainstream search engines will not index adult pages. Adult search engines are a great way to get traffic to your site. Go here for a complete listing of Cozy's adult search engines.
Adult Stores
Sometimes referred to as Adult Toy Stores because they sell sex toys. Adult stores feature lotions, videos and inflatable friends just like a brick-and-mortar smut shop. There are many affiliate/sponsor programs where the webmaster can open a virtual adult store without overhead costs. Visit our adult store listings here.
Adult Webmaster or Webmistress
The person who owns and/or operates an adult website. It doesn't have anything to do with experience, you can be new in the adult biz, as long as you operate an adult site, you are considered to be an "Adult Webmaster" or "Adult Webmistress."
Animated
When something moves, it's animated. On the web, there are images which don't move, they're called STATIC. The cool part is one can take some individual static images, string them all together and create an animated image. If it's done with GIFs, it's called an animated GIF. If it's done and saved in swf format, it's called a Flash animation. If it's done by encoding and saving video in a digital format, it's called a .mov or .avi.
Animation
A group of images, put together in a sequence so that -when displayed- the image appears to move. The two most common animation formats for the web are the animated GIF and Flash.
Application Program
An Application Program is a software program that requires user input to operate. Microsoft Paint is a paint application. An online shopping cart is an application.
Avatar
Before the Internet came along, the word avatar used to mean "otherworldly messenger". Now an avatar is a picture graphic used on message boards and chat rooms as an icon for a participant.
AVS (Adult Verification System)
A system was designed to prevent minors from accessing adult sites. AVS services usually also have a large network of sites that adult surfers can access with one password. Sample AVS service: Adult Check, you will find many AVS sites in our Listings.
AVS Site
A site that uses an AVS system. Somewhat of a cross between a FREE and PAY site.
Bandwidth
Basically, bandwidth is the flow of bits traveling in and out of a website through a server. Every time someone opens your page, all the documents and graphics download to their computer. Not only can the amount of visitors to your page affect your bandwidth usage but so can the size of the content on that page. The more visitors you have and the more content you offer, the more bandwidth your site will use.
Banner
A banner is the name given to a specific size of graphical ad. Different size ads have different names. A banner can be 468 x 60 pixels in dimension. Banners are called banners because they stretch across the width of a webpage much like a hanging banner in real life. Banners are mostly used when advertising a site.
Banner Exchange
A program that enables an exchange of traffic between a network of adult sites. Put up their script and submit your banner ad for some traffic. Go here to visit our banner exchange listings.
Banner Farm
A Banner Farm is a web page where the majority of the content consists of advertising. A page full of banners, basically. If you want to get your adult site listed on search engines and link lists, then don't submit a banner farm.
BDSM
Bondage & Discipline = BD. Sadism & Masochism = SM. BDSM is a blanket term for such activity. BDSM is a Niche in our business and a very popular one at that.
Bear
Bear is a term mostly used in Gay culture. It refers to an older man who is very hairy.
Bitmap
An image format, Bitmaps are pretty universal and easily displayed on most personal computers. However, the pixel-by-pixel size of a Bitmap image is rather large for the Internet and therefore not a standard format for the web. GIF and JPEG are the formats used most by site designers.
Black Hat
There are two kinds of hackers. A white hat breaks into systems in order to point out security flaws. A black hat breaks in so they can do damage.
Blacklisted
To be blacklisted means to be forbidden. As an example, if you submit a gallery to a TGP reviewer and they feel you're a cheating rule breaker, they will blacklist you. If you're blacklisted, you won't be able to submit galleries to that TGP anymore. Be warned. People who make blacklists share them with others. Chances are, if you get blacklisted at one place, you'll be blacklisted elsewhere. Search engines, sponsors and anti-spam groups also use blacklists.
Blind Link
A text link that does not directly refer to where it goes. If say, you add text to your page that says: Get Laid Now! and you link it to the referrer ID hyperlink of your sponsor program; you might be violating their terms of service. Your sponsor will probably have approved text links for you to use and will not approve you making up your own. On the other hand, there are some sponsor programs that ask you to use blind links such as the ever popular: Don't click here!
Blog
(Short for Weblog) A Web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically, like an online journal. A blog can be updated like a web site or from a mobile device.
Booked Space
When you arrange/pay to have your banner displayed on someone else's website, that other person has booked space for you. If you rent a booth area at an adult convention, then you have booked space.
Boot Up
When you turn a computer on, the machine performs little checks to make sure everything is working okay. The CPU tells the motherboard that it's a computer. The motherboard tells the Buses what they are while in turn the buses tell the cards what function they perform. After the cards come the disk drives and hard drives, then come the operating system and start up programs. The process of checking all these items and applications is called booting up. When you boot up you pc, you're starting it.
Brand
Cattle owners used to mark the flesh of their animals with a special character. That mark was known as a brand. That brand helped to prevent theft by permanently identifying the owner. Very similar to trademark; a distinguishing characteristic associated with a person or thing. Nowadays we use the word "brand" to identify companies. IBM is a brand name. Microsoft is a brand name. Others may push Playboy products but only authorized dealers are allowed to use the Playboy brand.
Brand Name
When you market to consumers you want to develop a relationship. You want people to instantly recognize the name of your company, product or site. A brand name helps you establish that connection with buyers. When you read the words Lays, you think of chips. When you see the word Windows, you think of Microsoft. When you see the word Cozy, you think of us!
Branding
Branding is the process of embedding your product/company/name into the minds of your surfers. You do this by constantly attaching your company name/logo to all your web efforts. Branding takes time. Branding is for the long haul. Branding means reputation and value are implied with a name.
Browser
A program that displays and navigates web pages. Examples: Internet Explorer and/or Netscape.
BSOD
Blue Screen of Death. That horrible blue warning screen you get with Windows OS when the system crashes. If you get this screen, turn off your computer, count to twenty and turn it on again. Windows usually repairs itself when you boot back up.
Button
A Button is the name given to small ad banners usually 120x60 pixels in size (standard size).
Cache
One of the words with a real-life definition somewhat askew of it's computer-related meaning. In physical terms, a cache is a safe hiding place for stuff. In computer terms, a cache is temporary storage bin for previously viewed images and pages from the net. A user's browser software will copy web sites to a temporary folder so that those pages load faster the next time they're accessed by the surfer. A full cache can slow down the browser and clearing the cache will improve surfing. Different browser programs have different names for the cache such as History or Temporary Internet Files.
CAN SPAM
An anti-spam law recently passed in 2003. CAN SPAM makes it illegal to spoof a sender email address. Some say that CAN SPAM won't stop spam but instead defines the rules to legally spam. For adult webmasters the most important part of the law is the requirements for the SUBJECT line emanating from an adult business. All adult-related email must say Sexually-Explicit-Content in the SUBJECT line, hyphens included.
CD Content Provider
When an adult webmaster buys content, he/she usually buys it from an online provider. That online provider will either deliver the product by download or burned on a CD and sent through the mail. In the beginning of content provision for webmasters, the only way to receive one's purchase was by CD/snail mail. ZIPContent came along and originated the concept of delivery through download with compressed zip files. Some webmasters prefer to still have their content on CD for back-up purposes. Most providers these days will offer both downloadable and CD content. You will find a complete list of content providers here.
Cell
A single square in an HTML table. A Table is an HTML tag, that (when added to a page) displays content in even squares much like a multi-paned window. A table may contain one or as many cells as you want, all broken up into rows and columns.
CEO
Stands for Chief Executive Officer. The leader of a company.
Character
A character is a letter or punctuation mark or number. A single keytype from a keyboard. The letter "b" is a character. A semi colon ";" is a character. The number "5" is a character.
Chargeback
A chargeback is what happens when your customer changes their mind or decides they don't like your product and tells their credit card company they will not pay the fee your sponsor or paysite charges. Chargebacks are bad for everyone concerned because you do not only lose income for the sale, penalties are applied and sometimes they are applied to you.
Chat Room
A chat room is where users exchange messages in real time. A chat room can be served through instant message software, through Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and various other similar protocols. The point is, to chat means to converse over the web in real time with text. On the other hand, message boards and news groups are also discussion areas of the net. The difference is the communication is delayed in IRC and message boards. There's a small wait after the user clicks the submit button, before their message may be viewed by others.
Chatting
There are a few different ways to hold a discussion on the Internet. One can exchange e-mails so rapidly with another it's almost like a real-time conversation. A bulletin or message board system can host elaborate deliberations amongst many posters but that's not chat. Chat takes place in real time. Instant message programs like AIM or ICQ are chats. Internet Relay Chat happens in real time. There are also Java chats. Chatting happens in real time.
Circle Jerk
A Circle Jerk or CJ for short, is a place you get stuck in through trickery or deception. On the web, a trap tricks the surfer or webmaster with a link which, when clicked on, gets them stuck in an endless barrage of pop-up windows, page redirects and other crazy stuff. The mainstream world calls this trapping.
Click
Naturally, you know that when you press down on your mouse button -in order to perform an action- you make a nice click sound. You know the difference between a click, a double-click and a right-click. On the net, the word click takes on an additional meaning. A click refers to the action of "clicking" on a banner or text link. Sponsors and advertisers alike are very concerned with clicks. Some sponsors pay affiliates for each time a surfer clicks on a banner. Web Advertisers track their sales productivity by the number of times an ad is clicked by surfers.
Click Rate
There are different kinds of clicks in the adult Internet. A plain old click is a visit to a web page. Then there are banner clicks and click-thrus to successive sites. Probably the most important clicks to an adult webmaster are the clicks they garner for sponsor banners. However, they'll measure the banner clicks against how many visit clicks they've gotten on the page with the banner. If a page is getting a lot of visits but nobody is clicking on the ad banner, that's not a very good click rate for the ad banner.
Click-Thru Program
A sponsorship program that pays you an "X" amount of money for each and every single visitor you send to their site. Check out our click-thru program Listings.
Click-Thru Rate (CRT)
An average of the number of times a banner is clicked per 100 impressions, often written as a ratio. Example: My banner was served 100 times and clicked twice. My click thru rate is 2:100 or 1:50.
Click-Thru Ratio (CTR)
CTR stands for Click Thru Ratio. When you place a banner or a hypertext link on a page, not every one of your surfers will click on it. Even if they do click your links/ads, they may still not buy what you're selling. Your CTR indicates how well your efforts are going. To illustrate, if you're acquiring ten sponsor sales for every one hundred times a surfer clicks on your affiliate ad then your click thru ratio is 10:100. 10:100 is a pretty darned good CTR.
Client
A client is a program that requests documents or files from a server. Your email software is known as client software because it requests downloads from an email server. A client can aslo be a person who requests a service from you. In that case, he is you client.
Compliance
There are lots of rules and regulations that the adult webmaster has to follow. Sponsors have rules. The government has rules. Billers have rules. When you follow the rules as they are stated, then you are in compliance. Compliance means to be in a state of obedience to rules.
Conference
In this instance, the word conference refers to a very big adult webmaster gathering. A conference implies that aside from a showroom floor, there will be keynote speeches, seminars and workshops. This is where webmasters make business deals and get up to date with the Adult Biz. The most well known adult webmaster conference is INTERNEXT, held twice a year and sponsored by AVN. Make sure you check out our Cozy Events Calendar and our Shows/Conventions listings.
Configure
The act of setting the options in a program.
Console
Another name for a fancy pop-up window.
Contact Information
Either yours or the party of interest. Any self-respecting adult website will include a few ways to contact the operator/owner. Email address. Phone number. Fax number. Mailing address.
Content
The meat of your adult website. The stuff, the stock, the features. If you have a TGP then the links to gallery pages would be your content. If you have a free adult teaser site then all those images and video clips of semi-nude babes would be your content. If you have a paysite, then everything under the sun would be your content. You will find a complete list of content providers here.
Content Filtering
The act of blocking access to sites, words and email that you don’t want to see.
Content Provider
A company that offers adult pictures, video clips for sale or lease. They offer a legal agreement with specific rights to display their content on your adult site(s).
Conversion Ratio
If you sell one membership for every 1000 times surfers clicked a sponsor banner of your adult page, then your conversion ratio would be 1:1000. Conversion ratio refers to how many sales one acquires per visit to a sponsor's site from a referrer ID banner or text link.
Cookie
Information or usage logs stored on a user's computer by a Web site so that their preferences (username, password, information regarding previous visit) can be recalled.
COPA
The Child Online Protection Act, made law during the Clinton administration. COPA has yet to be enforced because circuit court judges have rendered decisions stating that this law is unconstitutional. The US Supreme Court will hear COPA again sometime in 2004.
Copyright Laws
Authors, artists and inventors work hard to come up with their wonderful creations and products. Copyright laws protect such work from undeserving profiteers. A photographer owns the copyright to their images and therefore is the primary person to make money from the sale/use of those images. That photographer has the "right" to "copy" his/her work for profit. Copyright laws insure that the creator gets the money.
Counter
A web based hit counting program that usually reports by counting the number of times a specific image, provided by the counter, is downloaded from a web page. Click here for our counter listings.
Cozy
In reference to our site...it has many meanings and it's a lifestyle! It can mean good, chill, hot, cool...and just about anything else you want to use it for as long as you stay cozy!
CPA (Cost-Per-Action)
An Internet advertising model in which payment is based solely on qualifying actions such as sales or new user registrations.
CPC (Cost-Per-Click)
The amount of money it costs an advertiser per click generated to their site from a paid campaign. For example, if you paid $100 for 1000 clicks than your CPC is $0.10 per click.
CPM
A measurement of determining advertising costs for a website. CPM stands for cost per thousand ad impressions. The "M" being the Roman numeral for one thousand.
Credit Card Processor
In order to receive payment for services by credit card, one must have permission/authorization from the credit card company. A credit card processor has such authorization. Merchant Account Service and Third Party Billing (IPSPs) are examples of credit card processors. Check out our listings for Credit Card Processors.
CTR
Click Through Rate or Click Through Ratio. The number of sales you make compared against the number of times the banners were clicked. If your banners were clicked 100 times before you made a sale, your CTR would be 1:100.
Custodian of Records
In the simplest terms applicable to the adult Internet, the custodian of records is the person who created the content. The photographer who took the pictures. The camera operator who shot the video. These are the custodians of record. By law, content producers and providers must provide this information in an easily locatable part of their site.
Custom Photography
When you want content that you can't find anywhere or has never been done before, you'll want to find a provider who will do custom photography. Most providers are open to special requests but be prepared to pay extra. Check out our Content Provider Listings for a complete list of Custom Photography Providers.
Cyber Cafe
A cyber cafe is a public place -such as a club or restaurant- where the venue features computers hooked up to the Internet.
Cyber Citizen
A citizen of the World Wide Web. If you look at the web as a world in itself, we're all cybercitizens.
Cyberprise
A business is an enterprise. A business on the net is a cyberprise.
Cyberspace
When DARPA decided to hook a bunch of computers together through the phone lines they created a new kind of reality. The world is still the world and gravity still works. But in this neural network of linked machines called the Internet there is a palatable realty. A space within a space. Welcome to the world of Cyberspace.
Cybersquatting
Squatters were once people who found a patch of land and just stayed there, without paying for the privilege or obtaining legal rights to the plot. A cybersquatter is a person who has bought a domain name with the intention of selling it. They don't want to develop a site. They want to sell the domain name to someone else for big money.
Cyberstalking
In real life, a stalker is a person who follows you, invades your privacy and violates your right to be left alone. On the net, a Cyberstalker would be someone who contacts you in IM chat without your permission; tracks you down on message boards or emails you with personal text you don't want. Sometimes porn models get cyberstalkers. Sometimes anyone can get a cyberstalker. The trick is to stay as anonymous as you possibly can. Don't reveal your hometown or personal info to strangers on the web. If you're corresponding to site members, learn where to draw the line between marketing and open-ended invitation. If you fear for your safety, find out your stalker's host or ISP information and make a complaint of harassment. File a complaint with local law enforcement if you have to.
Cyberterrorism
A blanket term for attacks on websites and servers through hacking, viruses and denial of service attacks. Such attacks are costly to the victim because of lost revenue; lost information, stolen information, coverage charges and the monies paid to repair the damage. Reports of these attacks help to instill fear, which is the cornerstone of terrorism.
Data
Originally the word was Datum and it used to mean an assemblage of research and/or facts. In the information age, data is information that has been translated into code like Binary so that it may be deciphered by math co-processors and software. Factual information (as measurements or statistics) used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation. For example you could have an Excel sheet full of Data relating to your monthly profits.
Dead or Broken Link
A link that is no longer valid or isn't working. When you click on a link and get a "page not found error."
Dedicated Hosting
The computer that stores files and distributes them over the World Wide Web is known as a server. When you pay for web hosting, you have a few options of what type of server you want your site to reside upon. If you pay for virtual hosting, you are paying to share the same server with many others. When you pay for dedicated hosting, you are paying for a specific machine dedicated to only your site. Dedicated hosting costs more but insures better service for your surfers. Hosting Listings.
Deep Link
The hyperlinks that relate to the content within your site and reside inside the many pages of your site are known as deep links. In other words, deep links are those not on your site's front page.
Deep Web
Search engine spiders are only capable of indexing a limited number of web pages and sites. There are estimably three times as many web pages not indexed by search engines than there are indexed. These hidden pages are called the Deep Web.
Default
When the other teams fails to show up for the game, your team wins by Default. The game result is decided as a default measure. With computers, we have what are called default settings. Usually defaults are factory-determined settings applied to software applications. Installation of a folder named "My Documents" is a default setting for the Windows operating system.
Defragment
Using a computer is kind if like when a bunch of kids visit the library. The books are in a nice, neat order but by the time they leave, everything is out of place. Defragmenting your hard drive is similar to a librarian cleaning up the books after a visit by the kids. Files get mixed up and split apart when you use your machine. The more defragmented your hard drive, the slower your computer functions. Defragmentation puts everything back in its place.
Demo
Demonstration (real or simulated) of how a software, application, interface, or other program type works.
Demographics
In marketing terms, your demographic would be your target audience. If your content is comprised of bondage imagery then your desired demographic would be bondage loving surfers, and so on.
Design
In relation to a web page, a design is the overall layout and graphics of that page.
Desktop
The main screen of a computer running an operating system. In Windows the Desktop is where you see wallpaper, program icons and a taskbar running at the bottom of the screen. When you click an icon on your Window's Desktop you open a program Window.
Dialer
Dialer or Phone Billing is an executable program. When used in porn, once installed, the dialer disconnects the surfer's modem and reconnects to the dialer's server. The dialer porn delivery service charges their fees to the users phone bill and the rates are comparable to 1-900-phone lines. Dialers can be misused by webmasters who force surfers to download or trick them into installing the dialer. Dialer Listings.
Digitize
The process of converting non-digital information into digital format. One would digitize a photograph by using a scanner.
Directories
A directory is a search site where the links have been categorized and listed accordingly. Directories are usually edited manually whereas the links from a search engine are obtained by software. Yahoo and Google are search engines. DMOZ is a search Directory.
Document
Basically, another name for a file. A webpage is an HTML document.
Domain Names
At one time a web address was comprised of a series of numbers. Now, the numbers are still there but we attach names to Internet locations. The domain is the middle part of the URL (Universal Resource Locator). The first part http://www is the part that tells browser software and servers the file is a web page. The last part .com is the top level domain, .com for commercial, .edu for a university site, etc. The domain is the one you create and register. The domain is the unique identifier of the URL.
Domain Names System (DNS)
The way a domain name (web address) is assigned and designated to a specific IP Address.
Domain Parking
If you want to pay for and register a domain but you're not ready to host it, you can park it. Most times your registrar will allow you to park your domain on their server until the time you can point it to paid hosting.
Doorway Page
An alternate entry page into your website that is specifically geard for search engine ranking.
Downloadable Provider
In the beginning of Internet porn a site owner would have to buy his/her content online and then wait for it to arrive in the mail on CD. Content files were too big to download in their original formats. Then ZipContent originated the concept of compressing large image files into zip files, making content purchasing easier for webmasters all over the world. Content Provider Listings
Downsizing
An artful way to say "We’re low on money so we're going to have to fire some people and close some departments."
Downtime
Any time a computer is down it's downtime. When a web server crashes or fails, that's downtime. When your own machine gives you the blue screen of death and it takes you a couple of hours to get things going again, you've experienced downtime. In the old times, when only banks had computers, downtime used to refer to the period of the day when those ancient machines had to collate data and send/receive payments. When this happened, no transactions were allowed. They called it downtime.
Drive-by Download
When a webmaster forces an executable file or spyware program onto a surfer's machine, that's called a drive-by download.
Drive-by Spamming
Spam is junk advertising email. Spam is an unwanted commercial. In a chat room or on a message board, a drive-by spammer is one who posts the spam and leaves. They don't join the conversation, they don't reply to the flames.
Drop Down
A type of menu in software programs or on web pages. The Address Bar on your Internet Explorer browser contains a Drop-Down menu. Just click the tiny arrow on the right of the type-in box and you'll see a menu drop down. These types of menus help make web sites and program windows tidier and neat.
E-Book
A book formatted to be read digitally either by an e-reader program or browser. E-books are downloadable and save paper because everything's digital.
E-Form
If you've signed up for a service or download on the web, you've probably filled out an E-Form or web form. Forms are created with HTML so that the surfer can actually type into boxes on a web page. The FORM tags are written in HTML but the actual interactive application of a form (signing up for a newsletter, joining a paysite) usually needs CGI enabled on the server (your hosting server) side.
E-Zine
A form of content, basically an online magazine. Cozy's Content Listings.
Email Programs
The software program a person uses to receive, read and send email. Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger and Eudora are email programs.
Encryption
The process of converting readable data into data that’s unreadable by anyone except those allowed.
Enter Page
Warning Page or Enter Page, the page before a surfer views the main content of your site. The warning page usually displays a statement noting that the material the surfer is about to view is adult oriented. The purpose of a warning page is to keep under aged surfers from accessing your adult site. Warning Pages are very important.
Entrepreneur
Another name for a businessperson.
Erotic Stories
A form of content used by a webmaster. Erotica implies sexual storytelling with plot and character development. A sex story is one where the prose is all about the act. The line between erotica and a sex story is thin and up to interpretation. Erotic Stories Listings.
Error
When you do something wrong with a program or on a website, you get an error message. An error is another word for a mistake.
Ethical Worm
When an administrator wants to patch network security flaws automatically, they sometimes do it with an ethical worm.
Euro
A monetary denomination designated by the European Union. The US has the dollar. The EU has the euro.
Exclusive Content
When you pay an adult photographer to shoot content that no one else gets to use but you, then you've paid for exclusive content. Exclusive content is mostly desirable for paysite operators/owners. Content Providers Listings.
Exit Traffic
Exit traffic are the surfers who leave your page. Whether they click the back button on their browser or go to another site from a link on your web page, when they vacate your site, they are considered exit traffic. Sponsors and traffic traders consider exit traffic as valuable as unique site visitors and will help you make money from exits usually by popping a window coded into your page that opens upon departure.
Eye Candy
An image that delights the eye. Some webmasters rely a little too much on eye candy than they do on actual site content.
Favorite
Another name for a browser bookmark. Internet Explorer has named their bookmark file menu "Favorites".
Feeder Site
A site used for promotion, filtering, or additional property that leads into one primary traffic target.
Fetish
When a person is sexually aroused by an object or body part, they have a fetish. The uninitiated often confuse BDSM content with fetish content. Examples of fetish content would be foot, balloon or smoking imagery and erotica.
File Format
A file format is a type of file. There are images formats like .GIF and .JPG. There are webpage formats like .HTML and .ASP. There are document formats like .TXT and .PDF.
Filtering Software
To block out certain sites or email senders, you would use a filter. To make this process easier, there is software specifically designed to perform the task. Parents often apply filtering software to protect their children from harmful content. Two of the most well-known of these programs are NetNanny and CyberSitter. For a complete list, make sure that you check out Cozy's Legal Listings
Flash
Flash is a type of graphical file format developed by Macromedia
. Primarily, Flash is used for animation on the web. Unlike GIF or JPEG, for a surfer to see Flash animation on their browser, they need to install a browser plugin. Fortunately, most browsers have the Flash plugin pre-installed. Flash is used to build banners and even whole websites. If you see web animation that's clear, fast moving and high quality, it's probably a Flash animation.
Frames
A Frame is basically a webpage nested within a webpage. When you see a site where the left part of the page stays the same while the right portion changes with each link clicked, you are probably viewing a framed page.
Free Content Programs
Content that a webmaster could use for free. Make sure that you read the restrictions set forth by the owner of the content carefully. There are adult sponsors who allow webmasters to put links to free content on their websites. The sponsor/provider makes money from surfers when they sign up for paysites/services through the ads embedded on the free content. Cozy Frog has a great Free Content Program, click here to check it out.
Free Hosting
A free site is one where the surfer doesn't have to pay any money for full viewing access. A free site is free for the surfer. Free hosting is free for the adult webmaster. Free adult hosts allow you to have a site on the web without paying for the server space or transfer fees. If you sign up for a free host, you get a certain amount of storage space and (customarily) as much traffic as you can get, all without paying a penny. Free hosts make their money in a few different ways. One is to redirect a percentage of your visitors to their sites. In other words, for every one hundred times a surfer goes to your page, your free host redirects ten of them. Another way they make money is by auto-embedding their ad banners/text links into the top (HEADER) and bottom (FOOTER) of each HTML document in your account. They also make money from your surfer's typos by presenting them with an ad-heavy HTML (404) page when they or you mistype. Make sure to check out our Free Hosting Listings.
Free Site
An adult site that is free for the surfer to access and browse around. Not to be confused with an adult site on a free host. The free site is one that charges no fee to enjoy it's offerings.
FTP
FTP (File Transfer Protocol), you need to upload (FTP) your web pages from your computer on to the web for everyone to see. Transferring your files from your computer to a server.
FUBAR
F.U.B.A.R. is an acronym for "Fucked Up, Beyond Repair."
Full Page Ad (FPA)
More referred to as an FPA, the full-page ad is exactly what the term implies. Adult sponsors will supply their affiliates with the HTML and graphics of a full-page ad marketing a specified program/paysite. The affiliate uses the FPA as a way to promote their sponsors. A webmaster can make a full page ad of their own but should always check to see if doing so complies with their sponsor's terms of service.
Gallery
A gallery refers to a web page where several small images are laid out row by row, side by side on the document as if they were hanging on a virtual wall. Each gallery image is sized small enough so that most of them are viewable in the browser window. These smaller images are called thumbnails. Each Thumbnail image is hyperlinked so that when a surfer clicks on it, it leads to its corresponding full size image. Most webmasters who create galleries do so in order to submit them to Thumbnail Gallery Post sites, or TGPs. Cozy's TGP Listings.
Glitch
A glitch is a problem in either software or hardware that results in a lack of functionality. Most glitches are temporary but some are almost impossible to fix. An example of a glitch would be one of Internet Explorer's many security vulnerabilites.
Hacktivism
Some hackers do it for a cause. When hackers bombarded the RIAA website with denial of service attacks, they were doing it to protest the music industry's seemingly harsh stance on P2P mp3 traders.
Hit Counter
Hit Counter or Stat Counter. Tool used to track the number of surfers that click onto your adult site. Usually provides other useful stats like the number of return visitors, geographic locations, weekly-monthly totals and so on. A stat counter is pretty much a glorified hit counter. Most pre-made counters made for adult webmasters collect more data than just basic site visits. These -usually graphic- counters log referring sites, unique and raw hits, countries sending traffic and even the time of day the hits were created. All of this data is known as site statistics.
Hits
Number of times your page was viewed. Example: My main page got a total of 1500 hits yesterday.
Hosting
In order to have a website, one must have their files on a website server. A host is a provider of website servers. Every webmaster needs an adult hosting company. PornCity is a free adult host. Candid Hosting is a pay adult host. Hosting Listings.
Hot-Linking
When someone links to an image on your server to display it on their site instead of linking to the image on their own server. Draining the bandwith of the party that has the image on their server.
HTML
HTML or HyperText Markup Language, is used to author web pages. HTML is the way that you can put information so that everyone can see on the web. Without HTML, you wouldn't be able to design web pages.
Hypertext Link
Hypertext is the combination of units of information into attached relationships that can be manipulated by the user. Hypertext is part of the language of webpages, HTML. Hypertext Markup Language is the code that makes up web pages. A hypertext link is simply a command enclosed in tags that when clicked upon, take the user to another site or another page on the web.
Impression
The number of times a file is called from a server, such as a banner or web page.
In-Line Link
An inline link is a text or graphic hyperlink that takes the user to another place on the same web page they are presently on. For instance, if your page contains a lot of text and you want to direct surfers to particular sections of that text, you can do so with an inline link. An inline link -when clicked on for an example- could take the viewer to certain chapters of an erotic story.
Incentives
A brick-and-mortar company will offer stock options to their long-term employees. Corporate salesmen work harder for bonuses such as free trips to high sellers. These special goodies are known in the business world as incentives. Adult sponsors offer incentives to their more productive affiliates. Some will give away free video games or hardware to high sellers. Others will increase the payments to webmasters who garner big profits.
Index
Index is another one of those words that have been reconfigured for Internet culture. The main page of a domain must point to an index.html file or it won't show up. Search engines will add you to their database and refer to the action as indexing.
Instant Message (IM)
Provides the ability to see if users are online or offiline and exchange messages across a providers network (IRC, ICQ, AIM, etc).
Inventory
Inventory can be either a noun or a verb. As a noun, an inventory is your collection of business-related stuff. For the adult webmaster their inventory would be the whole of their content. When you go through your site and count/catalog your content, you are performing an inventory.
Invisible Frameset
Frame pages nest two or three pages into one window. The sizes and positions of those different pages can all be manipulated so some reside at the top in horizontal headers or on the left as always-on menus. Most times it's easy to recognize a frame page because one can see the border of each individual page in the browser window. There is a tag one can use to make those borders disappear or be invisible.
IP Address
Internet Protocol Address. Unique series of numbers that identifies a network, domain, or computer from all other computers on the Internet.
IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. It's a chat system that runs on its own servers and through networks. It's an older form of chat that came before such instant message programs as ICQ. Nevertheless, it's pretty popular among porny geeks. Most adult webmasters communicate on IRC through a software program called mIRC.
ISP
Your Internet Service Provider. Company that is offering you access to the internet.
Java
A programming language used by programmers to build and create programs. A widely used scripting language.
JavaScript
A scripting language you can directly insert into HTML documents. They only work with surfers that have Java enabled on their browser or surf the web with a browser that supports JAVA.
Jump Page
A jump page refers to a web page that serves as a "jumping off" point. The splash page is considered a jump page. A URL redirect message is considered a jump page. A link list is also considered one because you "jump" from it to other pages.
Keywords
The words and phrases a surfer would type into a search engine are known as keywords. Understanding those key words and phrases and applying them to your adult site will help insure that visitors find your page. The most used keyword on the Internet is still the word "sex".
Layering
When several components are organized so that each component acts sequentially via a hierarchy, this is called layering. Graphic creation software uses layering. Some shopping cart software incorporates a privacy protection method known as Secure Socket Layering, or SSL.
Legal Content
Adult content for which you have rights to display on your site. If you display pictures on your site without prior consent from the producer of the image, you are violating Copyright Laws.
Licenced Content
When you purchase licensed content, you protect yourself and your provider legally. A license is a contract between you and the provider that stipulates the terms of sale and use of adult content. A provider might demand you only use their imagery on a set number of domains. They might not allow you to alter their photos in certain ways. For you, that license proves you have legal right to display the images or video clips you paid for. If you find a content provider doesn't post license info or provide licenses along with purchase, beware.
Link List
Usually regarding Top List and Thumbnail Gallery Post, a link list is a site that uses links as their content base. Instead of uploading and serving images and videos, the link list simply provides hyperlinks to other's sites. Link List Listings.
Listing/Listed
When a gallery builder submits a gallery to a TGP and the TGP adds their gallery to the daily list. Then that gallery builder got "listed". If the gallery link is near the top of the page, that webmaster received a good "listing". The same lingo applies to link sites.
Live Chat
On the web, there are many ways to communicate with others. Some methods are delayed such as email and message boards. Other methods happen in real time and are referred to as live communication. Live chat usually pertains to an adult paysite feature where members can chat live with models.
Live Show
Live shows on the adult web happen in real time. For instance an amateur model might conduct live shows for her site members. Such transmissions work with basically the same equipment and software as live video conferencing. Live shows can be observe-only or can be set up so viewers are allowed to chat with -and in- the same virtual environment as the show performer(s). If you have the right equipment you can hold your own live shows but they can be really taxing on a host server.
Live Video Feeds
A live video feed is exactly that. The content is happening in real time. Adult video chat is an example of a live video feed. When an event is saved and replayed, it's known as an archive. Live video is very desirable content but is more costly in bandwidth. Here are links to some live video feeds in our Listings.
LLC
Limited Liability Company. A business structure, part partnership, part corporation. As an LLC a company is protected from personal liability and can set a different tax structure than a self-employment company.
Mailing List
Many adult site proprietors collect email addresses from their visitors or members. There are many ways to get emails such as offering a sign-up form for an opt-in newsletter to site visitors. One can buy email addresses but it's best to collect them through opt-in. However you get them, the email addresses you have are your mailing list. Basically it's a list of customers, site members or even fellow webmasters who choose to receive emails from you.
Major Search Engines
It seems there's a new search engine born everyday. Most of them will find a decent audience but there will always be those search engines that are most popular overall. At one time, AltaVista was a hot search engine but it's past its prime. Yahoo was a biggie for even longer but now Google is smacking it down. AOL has a search. MSN has one too. There's WebCrawler, AllTheWeb, DogPile and HotBot. Most of these resort to directory-based results when searches get intensive. The most used search directory is Google. Go here for our Major Search Engine Listings.
Marketing Services
This business is highly competitive. No matter how brilliant your idea is, there's hundreds of other webmasters who know a thousand ways to drive paying surfers to their sites instead of yours. A marketing service also knows the tricks and steps one can take to get a page seen and sold. Different services offer different types of assistance. Some work on optimizing your site for search engines. Some are adept at marketing your sponsor program or adult resource to webmasters. While others are banner-traders or traffic brokers. Cozy has a great list of Marketing Services in our Listings.
Medium
A painter's medium might be either oil or watercolor. An author's medium is the written word. An actor's medium would be stage or film. A webmasters' medium is the computer.
Memberships
A fee paid by a surfer that allows them to access a paysite. Most memberships are offered on a monthly basis.
Merchant Account Service
To take credit card payments, a business must have a merchant account. Credit card companies have specific rules and fees that must be adhered to by anyone wishing to use their services. A merchant account is a partnership between a vendor, a bank and a Credit Card provider. Adult site owners often have trouble finding a bank that will accept them for a merchant account. It's important to know if your bank is adult-friendly. Fortunately, there are companies that already have merchant accounts who will process credit cards for you. These companies are known as IPSPs, Internet Payment Service Providers or Credit Card Processor or Third Party Processor. For a fee, they help take away the expense and headache of a merchant account. We have a wonderful collection of Merchant Account Services and Third Party Processors in our growing Listings.
Message Board
A page or a site, where you can post messages to fellow webmasters. Networking is a crucial part of the business because valuable topics are usually discussed on these message boards, or sometimes called forums. An excellent source for newbies. Cozy Campus is our official Webmaster Forum.
Meta Tags
Web pages are constructed from a language called HTML. A part of that cannot be seen by the surfer but will be seen, read and indexed by search engines and directories. That part is the code that lies within the HEAD tag at the top of any web page. Within the HEAD tag lie the TITLE and META tags. A search engine robot will read your page's TITLE tag first, and then it will read the META tags. The META tag is where you put the keywords and search terms a surfer would use to find your adult page. You will find valuable information concerning Meta Tags in our Traffic Lounge Class and HTML Language Class on Cozy Academy.
Model Release
Document that a model signs to hand over specified rights to display or sell any material in which model appears in. Very important for photographers.
Mouse Potato
A couch potato is a person who lies all day, on their couch in front of their television. The word potato implies a vegetative state. A mouse potato is the same thing except you replace the couch for the computer.
Mouseover
A JavaScript code where a certain action is performed when a surfer moves their cursor over a script on a page. When you move your cursor over a link that uses a graphic image and that image changes to another without clicking, a mouseover script is responsible. Mouseover can be used for more nefarious purposes such as configuring the mouseover code so a program is automatically downloaded when a user moves their cursor over a hot spot on a page.
Multitasking
Window 95 is responsible for this word. Before 95, a Windows user could only work with one program, one window at a time. When 95 came out, they added a Taskbar. If you have a Windows OS, you’ll notice it at the bottom of your monitor screen. The Taskbar enable you to run more that one window/program at a time and you could switch between from the Taskbar. In other words, Windows 95 allowed the user to be able to multitask. When you are working on several tasks at the same time, then you too are multitasking.
Napster
Napster was the original peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing system created by Shawn Fanning. Before P2P you had to download files in a client/server environment, i.e. you, the client, got files from a web server. With P2P you can download files from another client via a network of client machines which are routed through a web server.
Net Jumper
An advertising service, which embeds ad banners and hyperlinks onto freeware programs. This is basically adware.
Netiquette
Etiquette is a set of acceptable behaviors in a social situation. Netiquette is a set of acceptable behaviors in a cyber situation. For example, when you type a message in chat room using ALL CAPS, netiquette says you are yelling.
Networking
Networking is some dumb Madison Avenue buzzword invented to modernize the term “doing business”. Anytime you’re out there showing your worth to people who might do business with you, you’re networking. Any time you send emails to your clients, you’re networking. Any time you attend an adult webmaster convention or gathering, you’re networking. If you hang arround forums, then you are networking with other webmasters.
Newbie
A new or inexperienced webmaster who wishes to venture out into the Adult Online Web.
Niche
There are two general categories of porn, straight softcore and straight hardcore. Niches are everything else. Some niches are huge like the teen and gay niches. Others have smaller audiences like BDSM or fetish sites. Many adult webmasters prefer to deal with niche content/sponsors because the niche market is easier to reach.
Nickname or Screen Name
Another term for screen name. The name you give yourself -and which others see- when posting on message boards and in chat rooms.
No Shaving
Shaving is a term used in reference to sponsor programs. The sponsor somehow shaves money off of your payout total. This can be done in different ways. An example would be when you send a surfer all the way through a sponsor banner/first page/tour/sign-up process, yet that sale is not counted in your affiliate statistics. A shaving sponsor would drop your referrer ID/cookie right before the surfer joins the sponsor site. Naturally, we all look for sponsors who promise No Shaving.
Obscenity Laws
In a perfect repressive world, we would call them sex laws or morality laws. Unfortunately for the moralists, we live in more enlightened times. We don't have laws on sex but rather laws on what is and what is not obscene. Obscenity laws affect you no matter how illuminated you are. In the US, it's up to the individual community to decide what is and is not obscene. If you live in a state where it's obscene to sell dildos, don't sell dildos. Learn the obscenity laws of your town, state or region.
Online Casinos
While not porn, online gambling is an adults-only activity and it goes well with porn traffic. For a fee, surfers can pay to literally gamble for money on the web via online casino. Online gambling is a popular affiliate program for adult webmasters. There is currently a lot of attention being paid to online casinos by lawmakers who wish to see it banned or at least highly regulated. Check out our Online Caisno Listings.
Online/Offline
When you’re offline, that means you’re off the Internet or network. Your connection is offline. Many software programs try to connect to the Internet or network by default and ask you if you’d like to work offline. Offline browsers aren’t really offline because they intermittently go online to download content onto your machine. Broadband Internet connections are always online.
Opting In
Say that each week, you sent out an email newsletter. If you obtained the recipients of your list because they signed up for it via online form, then your list members opted in to receive your newsletter. To opt in means to choose. Email addresses purchased in bulk from a seller aren't really opt-in addresses.
Outsourcing
When you can’t do the job yourself, you hire someone else to do it. This is outsourcing. There are many reasons to outsource and cost cutting is but one. Sometimes people outsource because they aren’t proficient enough to perform the task at hand. Others outsource because they’re too busy with other matters. If you hire someone else to do a job and you pay them little or no money for hard work, then that’s bad outsourcing.
Pagejacking
Pagejacking is the hijacking of a web page. A fraudster copies and saves your web page to their server. Then they add redirect codes to it and submit it to search engines as if it was theirs.
Partnership Program
Partnership or Affiliate or Sponsor Program: a revenue program that pays you a recurring percentage or fixed price for every member you send to your sponsor's site. Sample of a Partnership Program: Top Bucks. Cozy has a generous list of Partnership Programs in our Listings.
Password
A password is a special word you use to access protected documents and sites. Most services and software set-ups will require that you submit a password to protect you and them. Never forget your passwords. Write them down and put them in a safe place. Try not to store them on your computer because you never know.
Pay Per Click
Adult affiliate sponsors offer different payout programs for webmasters. One program might pay the affiliate a certain commission for each actual membership they're responsible for sending to the sponsor. Another popular payout program is the Pay Per Click program. With it, the affiliate is paid an "X" amount for each qualified banner impression his page generates. It can really add up if the webmasters's page gets a lot of traffic. TGP gallery pages are a great place to post Pay Per Click banners/text links. Cozy Pay Per Click Listings.
Pay Per Signup
When an adult webmaster affiliates with a sponsor to sell that sponsor's product, the sponsor will pay the webmaster a commission and the amount will depend on the type of payout program. One type is the Per Signup. The affiliate gets paid a fix one-time "X" amount per surfer they get to sign up for a membership to the sponsor's service. Cozy Pay Per Signup Listings.
Pay Per View
Some paysites offer the surfer a chance to download/watch individual videos instead of buying an entire membership. The surfer pays for each access per view. There are also adult sponsors and content providers who provide a pay per view service.
Pay Site
An adult website where surfers have to pay a determined fee to access main content (member area) on the site.
Payouts
This is a general word applied to money paid by a sponsor to an affiliate webmaster. Some sponsors payout weekly. Most will only payout if the webmaster has reached a monetary minimum of sales for the payout period. The amount of your payout depends entirely on your sponsor and the amount of sales you generate for them.
Perl
Perl is a computer language with similar syntax to C. Many CGI (Common Gateway Interface) applications are written in Perl.
Personal Site
A personal site is another name for a Homepage. In other words, a personal site is not designed for business purposes. The free webspace your Internet Service Provider gives you would be used for a personal site. A personal site is not for making money but for showing personal interests, thoughts and hobbies.
Phishing
Phishing happens when some goofball tries to send you an email -from a fake address- which looks important. They will make it appear as if the document comes from a famous company by spoofing their real email address. Usually these folks want your personal information. If you open such an email, you took the bait, hence the fishing reference.
Phone Billing
Another term for Dialer. A dialer is a service where the user downloads a small executable file. That .exe file (software program) is basically an Internet modem connection to the servers of the dialer provider. The provider then charges the user by the minute and the user sees/pays the charge on their phone bill. Cozy Dialer Listings.
Pic Post
A site where you can submit a picture and your ad on a daily basis. They will post your picture along with your ad for their visitors to see. Check out our Pic Post Listings.
PIN
Personal Identification Number. You’ve probably got one if you have a debit or ATM card. Some sponsors will refer to your affiliate ID as a PIN.
Pixel
A pixel is a unit of measurement of color for displays and images. For instance, the average computer monitor displays a viewable area of 800 by 600 pixels.
Plug In
A plug in is a ready-made type of web "CONTENT". Content is the stuff of your site, whether it be dirty pictures or nasty fun games. Plug In content is pre-manufactured and ready to add to your page with a few HTML links. Many plug in providers will even host the content on their servers and allow you to change colors and add a logo graphic, so the plug in matches your site. If you want a complete list of Plug In Providers click here.
Plug In Pic Galleries
A plug in is a type of adult content where the plugin provider hosts the content from their server. The adult webmaster simply has to "plug it in" via hyperlink or IFRAME tag. Plugin pic galleries are galleries hosted on the servers of the plugin provider. Some providers update the galleries each day. Some update them each hour. Cozy Plug In Pic Galleries Listings.
Pop-Under
A window that loads underneath the presently open window. You'll know a pop under because it suddenly appears in the task bar. If you click the minimize button on the window you're in, you'll see the pop under. It's a subtler version of the Pop Up.
Pop-Up
A window that opens independently of the page you're already viewing in your browser. A webmaster will add a tag to their code so a new window opens after a pre-determined amount of time. As a surfer, this new window appears to "pop up" out of nowhere. Pop-ups can be big, little and with/without close buttons.
Premium Hosting
Web hosts offer different packages for different webmaster needs. If you only need a little bit of space and bandwidth, then it's probably not a good idea to pay the big bucks for a leased server where only your account resides. Premium hosting can refer to leased server space or it can refer to shared space with a larger allotment for bandwidth, storage and email accounts. It really depends on the terminology of the specific hosting company. Read the hosting packages of any provider to find out their particular services and costs. Premium Hosting Listings.
Pro Bono
This is a term meaning free service. Usually you hear this term applied to lawyers who take charity cases where the client doesn’t have to pay. Legal work done for the public good. A service that you provide at no charge.
Ratio
A ratio like this refers to banner clicks and actual sales produced from them. When a webmaster says they got a 50:1000 ratio, they mean that out of 1000 people who clicked on his sponsor banner, fifty surfers paid for memberships. Fifty out one thousand is a pretty high sales ratio. Unfortunately a ratio of three sales out of one thousand is a more realistic norm.
Raw Hit
Successful downloads of actual web pages not including images or file downloads.
Rebill
A rebill happens after you have gotten one of your surfers to sign up and pay for a membership at either your paysite or that of a sponsor. The first time your customer pays, their credit card is billed. Each time they pay for an additional month of porn access, their card is rebilled. Rebills are good because most sponsors will pay you a percentage of those rebills in addition to paying your initial sign up commission. We have a generous amount of Sponsor Listings that will make you some decent money.
Reciprocal or Return Link
To reciprocate means to respond in kind to an action. A reciprocal link is a return link. As example, when you submit a gallery to a TGP, many TGP webmasters require you to post a reciprocal link to their site on your gallery. They list you. You reciprocate by linking to them.
Record Keeping Requirements
There are certain responsibilities with running an adult website. If you host content of nude models, then you have to provide TITLE 18 information on your front page. If you register a domain name, you have to provide your name, phone number and address in your registration. If you make money selling anything on the web, you have to declare that income in your taxes. Look in the Cozy Frog Legal Help Guide for more information about record keeping requirements.
Referrer
Most surfers don't type a URL into the address box of their browser to get to your web page. Most of your surfers come from somewhere else, be it a search engine, a TGP or from another webmaster's site. A referrer is the site that sent you the surfer.
Refresh
Sometimes a page or a file changes but the change doesn’t show up. There are a lot of reasons for it but the cure is always easy. If you’ve created a new file in your My Documents folder and it still appears at the bottom of the list, then go to Menu>View>Refresh and click. If a web page you’ve just uploaded isn’t displaying your changes, then go to your browser Toolbar and click that two-way arrow Icon. This action Refreshes your page, it basicaly reloads the page for you.
Reseller
A reseller is a business where the owner sells other people’s products. There are content resellers, design resellers and even hosting resellers.
Retail Content
In the physical world a retail price is the total of wholesale cost plus markup. In other words, an item costs less when bought directly from the manufacturer than it costs when purchased from a retail store. The retailer adds a certain amount to a price tag in order to help cover operational expenses and to obtain a profit. In the adult Internet, the word "retail" is usually applied to tangible/shippable goods such as vibrators and CDs.
Retain Membership
When a paysite member continues to pay their monthly fee, they are retaining their membership. Member retention is similar to the repeat customers so desired by brick-and-mortar vendors.
Rivers
This is a term used when designing a web site. Rivers may appear if you set your type justified. A river is word spaces that appear near each other on subsequent lines of text. It is better to edit the text than to change the word spacing on a line by line basis to correct rivers. Rivers may also be a symptom that your line length is too long or too short.
ROI
Return On Investment. ROI is a calculation of what you get back from what you spend. If you spend money for a site designer, you do it because the improvement should help you make more money. If the new design doesn't help garner more sales, then you didn't get much of a return on your investment.
Row
A Row is a part of a Table. A Table is an HTML tag that lays out square cells on a web page. A one-cell Table is comprised of one column and one row. Columns run vertically. Rows run horizontally.
Royalty Free
Believe it or not, there are products, software and images that cost no money. When a person sells a picture or a story they receive a little percentage payment with each sale. That payment is called a royalty. Royalty Free doesn’t necessarily mean condition free. Most Royalty Free providers set limits of where and how you can use their free items. Look for those limitations in the TOS (Terms of Service) page so that you don't get into trouble.
RSS
RSS stands for RDF Site Summary. It's an XML application. RSS allows you to broadcast text bites of your site to a wide network of users. Many of today's bloggers use RSS feeds to broadcast their text content.
Search Engine
A search engine is really just a collection of programs which search for and list web pages through various applications and algorithms. One program spiders/indexes the site. Another creates a listed database of indexed sites. Yet another handles search requests by comparing them to the indexed database. A search engine uses humans to search and catagorize sites. Check out our Adult and Non-Adult Search Engine Listings.
Server
There are different types of servers. There's mail servers, ftp servers and web servers. A server is really just a big, powerful computer built to perform a certain task. In fact, if you wanted to, you can make your own PC into a web server. But it's easier and safer to leave the business of servers to professionals.
Shaving Hits
A hit is a visit to your website. A unique hit is when a surfer downloads your page for the very first time. When you place a specially coded ID banner link on your porn page and your visitor moves their cursor to it and presses their button, your banner has just gotten a click. Sponsors pay a webmaster for click impressions. Some webmasters will accuse their sponsor of concealing or eliminating amounts of these clicks from their records in various nefarious ways. They refer to this concealment as shaving hits.
Signup Program
There are several ways you can make money from a sponsor. Some will pay you for each time a surfer clicks on their banner. Some will pay you for each webmaster you refer to their sponsor program. Some pay for trials you sell while others pay out on recurring memberships. A signup program is when the sponsor pays the affiliate a certain amount for each surfer who buys a full paysite membership. All of these are payout programs. Most sponsors offer several different payout programs to their affiliates.
Signup Ratio
Amount of surfers that dish out cash to view your adult site as opposed to the amount visitors that visit your site. Example: If 23 out of every 100 surfer that visits your adult pay site signs up for a membership, you Signup Ratio would be 23:100.
Site Map
A site map is a text-based listing of links to all the pages within a full site. A site map is another way to ease navigation for your surfers. If your web is pretty big, then it's going to be pretty hard to place all the links within it into an attractive menu. A surfer can get lost. A site map will list a link to each and every area of your web domain.
Smiley
On the Internet, most conversation and communication is done with text. Text is somewhat unemotional. Therefore, in order to add personality to text, webheads developed cute pictures made with characters. Here are some of these letter/pictures : ) ;). They are called emoticons. When chat boards and rooms have graphics enabled, then emoticons take on the form of images known as icons. The most common icon/emoticon is the smiley face. A smiley can be just a happy face or the word can be a catchall term for emoticons/icons in general.
SMS
Short Message Service (SMS) allows mobile phone users to send text messages. This is done through the Global System for Mobile Communication. SMS is comparable to a paging service. At this time, SMS is mostly available in Europe.
Spamming
Promoting a site or service to unwanted parties via newsgroups or e-mail. Sending someone an advertisement via e-mail without his/her consent. Stay away form illegal e-mail lists! Spamming is not good business.
Spider
A spider is a program used by search engines. This program (also known as a bot or crawler) searches webpages that have been submitted. Different search engines use different spider programs to scan through web pages. Most spiders look for hyperlinks and relative text. Some search the top portion of your code while others search deep within your web.
Splash Page
A decorative document residing on the index page of a website. In essence, a pretty front door. Most Splash pages contain either an enter link to the main site or will redirect to the main site after loading.
Sponsor Content
If you are selling an adult paysite, it's really handy if your sponsor provides free promotional content. Sponsor content is simply content from the sponsor's paysite that the affiliate webmaster can use for marketing purposes. Image sets, hosted galleries and video clips are some of the most-used forms of sponsor content. Sponsor content is great but it goes stale quickly. Don't expect to be listed on many TGP sites with a gallery made from sponsor content.
Sponsor Program
Sponsor or Affiliate or Partnership: basically another name for an adult sponsor program. Affiliate/sponsor relationships center on advertising. The affiliate advertises for the sponsor's program or service on their website, hence the name Sponsor Program. Click here for our Sponsor Program Listings.
Stat Counter
Hit Counter or Stat Counter. Tool used to track the number of surfers that click onto your adult site. Usually provides other useful stats like the number of return visitors, geographic locations, weekly-monthly totals and so on. A stat counter is pretty much a glorified hit counter. Most pre-made counters made for adult webmasters collect more data than just basic site visits. These -usually graphic- counters log referring sites, unique and raw hits, countries sending traffic and even the time of day the hits were created. All of this data is known as site statistics.
Static
When you see the word static applied to a web page or image it means the thing doesn’t move. A single picture is a static image. A single-image banner is a static banner. Text is static content.
Storage
When you have a web hosting account, you are allotted a certain amount of server space where you'll keep all your website files. This space is called storage.
Streaming Video Feeds
A streaming feed is one where the imagery is compressed in such a way that it can play AS it downloads. In other words, the user (with a fast connection and appropriate player software) can see the video immediately instead of waiting to download and then open it to view it. Cozy's Streaming Video Feed Listings.
Style Sheet
Tags nested within the Header tags of a main HTML document. These Style Sheet tags determine the look/colors of the entire website. In other words, all resulting pages within your web will refer to the determining tags of the original Style Sheet.
Submission
When you type your URL and contact information into the web form of another site and you click the SUBMIT button, you've made a submission. If you did it at a search engine, you wait to see if they indexed your submission. If you do it at a l
