This young whippersnapper at the Cozy Campus forum, named Hammer, posted a very interesting set of statistics for his blog, from his Google Analytics account:

71.03% of his surfers used Firefox for a web browser.

4.18% viewed his site on 800x60 resolution monitors.

36.71% were viewing it on 1024x768 resolution monitors.

86.30% of his visitors were connected to the web via Cable/DSL.

98.9% of Hammer’s surfers had Java enabled.

Maybe not interesting to the average blogger but certainly interesting to the average adult webmaster.

"Adult webmasters are loving the blogs. Blog readers are almost like a whole, new market. Blogs allow us to reach surfers in a purely voluntary, soft-sell fashion."

For a very long time, it has been common practice to build our porn sites so that they load as quickly as possible, on the most user-friendly Internet connections and browser programs. For example, most Thumbnail Gallery Post sites will not accept a submitted page containing JavaScript. While JavaScript in itself is harmless, a webmaster can hide outbound page links behind JavaScript. TGP gallery owners depend on the trust of surfers and bookmarkers. JavaScript doodads are just not cool and Java Applets? Fuggeddaboutit. You will find that most adult webmasters still operate on the firm belief that the majority of surfers are viewing sites on Windows OS, with Internet Explorer as a browser and that we should still be optimizing our pages for dial up connections.

So why are Hammer’s blog stats considered uncharacteristic for the adult webmaster norm? Is blog traffic really that different from Internet porn traffic? Who are these damned blog readers and why should a smutmaster care what they think?

In 2002, the Pew Internet and American Life Project began to study blogging and bloggers. At that time only 3% of the web users surveyed claimed to have started a blog. By 2004, that percentage had risen to 7% - representing approximately 8 million individuals. In 2003, PEW found that 11 percent of web users were blog readers. At the end of 2004, those numbers shot up 58 percent. Advertising broker, Blogads, conducted reader surveys in both 2005 and 2006. The 2006 survey received 36,230 respondents in the political category alone. Of those 36,230, 72.42% were males and in general, most had an annual median income of $50,000-$90,000. For the Internet smutmaster, that seems like a very nice target audience.

The BlogAds survey gives other clues as to why blogs stats are so different from more conventional porn sites like paysites, TGPs and top lists.

For instance, almost 80 percent of the BlogAd participants had either a college degree or a post-graduate degree. As well, the job title picked by the most participants was Computer Professional. In other words, chances are a lot of blog readers are Internet veterans, people more likely to take personal command of their machines, more likely to use Firefox. This to me jives with Hammer’s high numbers when it comes to surfers viewing his blog through Firefox. Blog readers use the web differently than do non-blog readers.

If you have gone anywhere near an adult webmaster massage board within the past year or so, you’ve noticed that there’s at least one blog-related post on every main forum page, if not ten. Adult webmasters are loving the blogs. Blog readers are almost like a whole, new market. Blogs allow us to reach surfers in a purely voluntary, soft-sell fashion.

Google loves blogs and you will be amazed at the amount of SE traffic you’ll receive when you update yours on a regular basis. In addition, larger numbers of blog fans are using awesome RSS reader software/services to keep track of their favorite weblogs. When you ping an RSS syndicate with your fresh blog entry, the syndicate immediately disseminates your update to its various subscribers. Traffic generated this way is going to serve your interests much better than 20,000 hits from a Traffic bot. Even better, bloggers often trade links via blogrolls and make sure to link to articles mentioned on other blogs.

Adult webmasters that have had success with blogging have learned to follow the basic model and participate in the blog community. Bloggers encourage visitors to comment and visitors like to comment. All in all, blogging enables an adult webmaster to garner a more thoughtful, emotionally mature, financially stable market.

Please note, blog maintenance is different too. You can’t just build it and forget it like you would a two gallery free site. You want to build a following with a blog. The most popular bloggers post at least once daily if not more. You also want to link to other blogs and take the time to post comments on them. You have to spread your name around the blogosphere much like you do around adult webmaster message boards.

When you examine the stats on your regular porn site, you see very different user preferences than you would from your blog. Regardless of your content, it’s always wise to create sites optimized to favor the most likely visitors. If you’re making a typical porn site, then you’ll be working to please that 75% surfing with Internet Explorer. If it’s a weblog, then you’ll be insuring the page looks right in Firefox. You’ll be marketing to intelligent adults, not horny college boys. You’ll be like Hammer on Cozy Campus. You’ll be a blogger!