Don’t let the design “snobs” stop you from using an exit console. If you pass on this standard traffic management technique, you may learn to regret it. In this article, Connor Young explains how to set up an exit console, and why, when properly employed, exit consoles are really a service to surfers and not a bother.Don’t let the design “snobs” stop you from using an exit console. If you pass on this standard traffic management technique, you may learn to regret it. In this article, Connor Young explains how to set up an exit console, and why, when properly employed, exit consoles are really a service to surfers and not a bother.

I’ll never forget that video retailer I met at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in January; when I asked him what he did with his Web site’s exit traffic, he immediately snapped, “We don’t use sleazy Webmaster tactics.” Google also frowns down upon exit consoles. In fact, in the Google user FAQ, the following information can be read: “Google does not allow pop-up ads of any kind to appear on our site. We find them annoying.” It seems like everybody hates the exit console. Webmasters publicly bash them, surfers cry fraud at the sight of them, and politicians court votes by threatening legislation again them. So why is it then that so many Web sites use exit consoles? I think you know the answer that I’m about to give here… because the pesky little bastards work.

Just how “obnoxious” an exit console is to a surfer really depends on how that surfer views pop-up advertisements in the first place. Some surfers will simply see any pop-up advertisement as an attempt to “trick” or manipulate them, and will thus react with anger, and possibly spite, when that little window pops up on their desktop. Yet I’m of the mind that these individuals aren’t likely to pay for a Web site service to begin with, and since I’m not in business to supply the leeches of the world with a free, quality porn experience, I could give a frog’s pimply ass what these surfers think about my traffic management techniques. The way I view it, an exit console is merely a way for a Web site to offer surfers additional choices in the event that they did not find what they were looking for in the first place. In that light, an exit console is a service to surfers and not a burden. An exit console is merely an additional tool that a Webmaster can use to raise additional revenues while helping his or her guests find the type of porn for which they’re looking.

DON’T GET GREEDY
That said, it’s entirely possible to go too far with your console and actually hinder your chances of making a sale. If a surfer leaves your Web site, one pop-up exit console is generally more than enough. If the surfer closes that window, you should probably just let him or her go. Don’t get greedy and spawn ten windows. Don’t automatically re-size the surfers browser window to take up the whole screen. These tactics are usually signs of a dishonest or undesirable Webmaster, and most surfers would rather schedule a few root canals than buy something from someone so aggressive and pushy with the sales pitch. Remember Larry from the TV show Three’s Company? Don’t be a Larry.

STEP ONE: BUILD THE CONSOLE ITSELF

How well does exit console traffic convert? That depends on the source of your exit traffic, and so many other variables. Usually exit traffic converts at a slightly lower rate than the conversion rate for the site which spawned the exit console to begin with. So if your site converts at 1:500, expect something slightly less impressive out of your exit traffic. There are rare cases, however, when exit traffic out-performs the site which spawned it. If surfers find your site by typing “asian sex” in a search engine, yet your site is really an “ebony sex” site which happened to mention asian sex, you’ll have a lot of disappointed Asian fans leaving your site. If your exit console offers an Asian porn site, your conversion rates might be quite impressive.

STEP TWO: CALLING THE CONSOLE FROM OTHER WEB PAGES
So once you have created a console page with plenty of links to offer departing surfers, just how do you get that console to pop up when a surfer exits your site anyhow? Well, there are three different pieces of code that you’ll need to know to create an exit console. The first code is the JavaScript code itself, which defines the pop-up window and sets the HTML page which will be displayed in that window. The second is the code that says when to call the script, and the third is the code that says when NOT to call the script. Here’s an example of a console code that pops up the page “console.html” when called… this code would appear right after the </head> HTML tag in the Web page which is to spawn the console when exited:

<!—— BEGIN CONSOLE CODE ——->
<script language=”Javascript”>
<!–
var exit=true;
function exitcnsl()
{
if (exit)
open(“http://www.yourdomain.com/console.html”,”new_window”,”toolbar=0,location=0,status=0,
menubar=0,scrollbars=0,resizable=0,width=750,height=600,top=0,left=0″);
}
//–>
</script>
<!—— END CONSOLE CODE ——->

The above example, when called, will open the console in a new browser window with the dimensions of 750 x 600, with no toolbar, no URL location field, no menu bar and no scrollbars. That script says WHAT to do in terms of opening the exit console, but it doesn’t say WHEN to do it. So how do you instruct your Web page to call that script when someone exits the page? Simply by including the following in the BODY tag for your HTML page:

onunload=”exitcnsl()”

That little piece of code tells your Web page to execute the JavaScript code titled “exitcnls()” whenever the Web page is unloaded. So here’s an example of what the entire BODY tag might look like with this command:

<body bgcolor=”white” link=”blue” alink=”#0033\’\'” vlink=”blue” onunload=”exitcnsl()”>

Finally, you’ll want to instruct the Web page to ignore the JavaScript function whenever a surfer clicks on one of the links that you want him or her to click on. If a surfer clicks on your “sign up” link, for example, then you won’t want to distract him or her with an exit console. You can instruct the page to ignore the JavaScript function by inserting the following code into the appropriate A tags:

onclick=”exit=false”

That code instructs to Web page to ignore exit consoles whenever that link is clicked. Here’s a complete A tag with the command to ignore the exit console when clicked:

<a href=”http://www.yourdomainr.com/paymoney.html” onclick=”exit=false”>SIGN UP! </a>

So now you know how to make an exit console for your Web site, and hopefully you feel a little better about the possibility of using an exit console in the first place. Star throwing up your exit consoles right now, and next time I’ll show you how to create a “blur” console. What’s that, you ask? Ah, that’s a lesson which will have to wait for a future day.

Connor Young is Editor-in-Chief of The ADULTWEBMASTER Magazine. He lives in California where he has worked as an adult Webmaster since 1\’\’7.