"People don't like advertisements."

Conventional wisdom right? The common belief is that the general populace hates ads and advertising with a passion. However, another commonly held belief is that advertising works. Kind of a contradiction, huh?

"People don't like it when ads encroach on their entertainment however; they will embrace advertising that suits their needs."

Do you hate advertising? If so, then you might want to rethink your choice to be an adult webmaster. The fact is, most adult websites are basically glorified ads for paysites and adult services. Free sites, TGPs and AVS sites are really nothing more than commercials, coded into HTML. Like it or not, if you are an adult webmaster, you are in the advertising business. If you hate advertising, then you probably won't enjoy being an adult webmaster.

The truth is that when it comes to advertising, the general populace is involved in a hate/love relationship. People don't like it when ads encroach on their entertainment however; they will embrace advertising that suits their needs.

"That ad spoke to me."

"I was ready to give up and then I saw that ad."

"That ad looked so cool, I had to check it out."

Advertising is the art of planned serendipity. The surfer chooses to visit your site because you've promised to provide something they want. This choice gives the user a sense of control. Once on your page, it is your job to show that surfer what was promised in such a way that they will want more. You gain control over the user through effective advertising. You show them just enough sample porn, while simultaneously advertising a better product. You give the user the power to make a choice and at the same time, you make the choice obvious. The surfer thinks they have discovered your sponsor all by themselves. Your page just happened to be the page that introduced the idea. Planned serendipity.

One thing can ruin this process of delicate surfer-nudging: Overkill.

How many ads do you have on your adult site? Two? Three? Five? Are you of the belief that more is better? Well, it isn't. People don't hate ads. They hate overkill.

One or two strategically placed ads can be very effective. A site chock full of banners is just, plain irritating. When you run a free site or host a gallery, your surfer expects a certain amount of advertising in trade for the free porn. A banner and a button is par for the course. That last thing your surfer wants is to be jerked around. When your site is so full of banners, it makes it hard to find your freebies; you only succeed in pissing off your audience.

A site full of ads isn't just irritating, it's confusing. Remember, the user came to your site for the samples. When you inundate them with banners, you make them forget why they visited your page in the first place. Overzealous advertising muddies the waters. The surfer falls off the track. They unconsciously count the ads. Their enjoyment of your free porn is degraded. Your numerous ads promise more. More what? More ads? They click the back button. You lose them forever.

When you think of ad placement on your site, think Zen. The fewer the better. That doesn't mean you should do away with ads altogether. It means what it means: One or two well-positioned ads.

You want to limit the number of ads, but you still want the surfer to see your ads. You want to display your ads on your page so that they will always be in the surfer's eyeline. A good way to do this is by posting larger ads. Try Skyscraper banners that run the length of your page. Put a big, square banner in the middle of a table, surrounded by free porn thumbnails. Experiment with interstitial ads where the surfer clicks a link to a free gallery, is presented with a full-page ad and a link to continue on to the freebies.

We're not telling you to stop flying ads on your adult site. We're telling you to fly fewer ads. The magic is in the presentation, not the number.

People don't hate ads. They hate overkill. Give your surfer the free content you promised but make your sponsor's content look better. Do it with fewer, yet better positioned ads.