Adult Webmaster Glossary

by TGPFactory Staff

Below you will find a comprehensive listing of common terms and abbreviations used in the adult webmaster world, accompanied by their definitions. Have a question about a term not on this list? Contact us to have it included!

Alexa - A subsidiary of Amazon, this website is commonly known for providing information on the levels of web traffic to sites in its index.

Alexa Rating - The traffic rating assigned to a website by Alexa.com in comparison to traffic to all other websites in its index. The lower the number, the better the ranking.

AVS - Age Verification System. An AVS service sets up a global password-protected entry point for its member sites.

Backlink - A link back to your site in exchange for you providing the site a link. If Page A links to Page B, a backlink is Page B linking to Page A. The number of backlinks to your site directly affects your search engine rankings.

Clean - A clean site is one that is free of misleading or blind links, excessive advertisements, and spyware/malware. Many TGP owners require their traffic trading partners and gallery submissions be "clean."

Console - A pop-up advertisement displayed on paysite tours encouraging surfers to sign up for additional subscription memberships. Most commonly referenced as "Console-Free" tours, which do not contain any pop-ups.

CPC - Cost Per Click. Typically found as a type of affiliate program in which the sponsor pays you a dollar amount every time a surfer clicks on their advertisement.

CPM - Cost Per 1,000 Impressions. Typically found as a type of affiliate program in which the sponsor pays you a dollar amount every time their advertisement is displayed 1,000 times.

CSS - Cascading Style Sheets. A language used to describe how an HTML document should be formatted, including colors, fonts, etc.

FHG - Free Hosted Gallery. Galleries offered to webmasters by affiliate programs that can be used to promote the sponsor's web sites. These galleries are hosted on the affiliate program's servers rather than your own.

Gallery - A one page web site that displays 10-20 thumbnails linking to full-size photographs, or 2-5 thumbnails linking to 15-20 second video clips.

Hardlink - A link to your web site that is hardcoded into a trading partner's web site, rather than generated automatically by a trade script. This method of trading traffic ensures the link to your web site is always visible, regardless of how much traffic you send to the site in comparison to other traffic trades.

HTACCESS - An extension file for the Apache web server, this file can dictate many things to the web server including password protection, redirecting URLs, 404/500/etc. error URLs, and more.

ICQ - The instant messaging choice of the adult entertainment industry. Similar to AIM or MSN, ICQ offers instanteous chatting, file sharing, and best of all it logs messages for you when you aren't online.

MGP - Movie Gallery Post. Similar to an adult TGP web site, MGP sites offer thumbnails, usually larger in width than in height, that link only to video galleries.

NATS - Next-Generation Administration and Tracking Software. Developed by Too Much Media, this powerful script controls all aspects of affiliate programs. Benefits to affiliates include detailed statistics and tracking, as well as advanced anti-fraud features.

Niche - A subcategory within the broad porn spectrum. Niches range from the common Teen, Hardcore, Softcore, Lingerie, etc. to the more specialized BBW, Spanking, BDSM, S&M, etc.

Photoshop - Introduced by Adobe in 1990, Photoshop is now the industry-standard software chocie for bitmap graphic design. All of our designs are created in Photoshop.

PPC - Pay Per Click. A type of affiliate program that pays webmasters each time someone clicks on an advertisement they've listed.

PPS - Pay Per Sale. A type of affiliate program that pays webmasters each time someone purchases something, whether it be a physical product or subscription membership.

PR - Google PageRank. PageRank is determined by Google and was developed to give surfers an accurate system of rating the relevance and popularity of the web site. PageRank is affected by the page's Google ranking as well as the number of other web sites that link to the page.

PSD - Photoshop Document. The proprietary file format used by Adobe Photoshop.

Ratio - The ratio of total hits to a paysite tour in comparison to the number of sales generated. For example a ratio of 1:100 means that for every 100 total hits, 1 sale was generated.

Ref Code - Referral code. A unique code, usually passed as a variable within a URL, that gives credit for sign-ups to the person whose account is linked to the ref code.

ROI - Return On Investment. More common in the business industries, this term is your net profit after all expenses. If you spend $15 per month on hosting, $20 per month on purchased traffic, and $1.25 per month on the domain name ($15 divided by 12 months), your total investment for the month is $36.25. If you generate $75 in profit, your ROI is $38.75 ($75 minus your investment of $36.25).

SE - Search Engine.

SEO - Search Engine Optimization. The process by which web pages are optimized to increase search engine rankings.

Skim - The process by which surfers are redirected to traffic trades rather than galleries listed on an adult TGP site. May also refer to the percentage of total clicks that are redirected, ie. 70% skim to galleries.

Sponsor - A company who pays its affiliates for generating traffic and/or sales for the company or its member sites. Popular sponsors include TripleXCash, Traffic Cash Gold, and MeatCash.

TGP - Thumbnail Gallery Post. TGP sites offer thumbnails linking to picture and video galleries, and are perhaps the most popular type of adult web site.

Thumb - A miniature version of a larger picture that is used in linking to a gallery page or full-sized photograph.

Thumbnail - A miniature version of a larger picture that is used in linking to a gallery page or full-sized photograph.

TLD - Top Level Domain. The last part of a domain name following the period, ie. .COM, .NET, etc.

Toplist - An ordered list, usually ten to thirty in size, of the top web sites that send traffic to the web site the toplist is found on. Toplists are typically generated automatically by trade scripts.

Trade - Traffic trading partner. Trades are other adult web sites that trade traffic with your TGP site by redirecting visitors

Trade script - A software application, usually written in PHP or PERL, that is installed on your server and allows you to redirect a percentage of total thumbnail clicks to trade partners instead of the actual gallery.

Uniques - Unique hits. The number of unique (individual) visitors that have visited your site. For example if ten people visit your TGP pages a total of 80 times, the number of unique hits is ten.

By TGPFactory