MIKEY and MANDY is an Adult Site, do NOT enter unless you are 18 years old! If you are 18 then welcome
How to Start Your Own Adult Pay Site
Or: The do's and don'ts you might need when you decide, "Hey, I can do this too!"

By Michael C Gross (aka: Mikey)


Me

In 2003, I sat down with my partner, Roberta Morgan and said, "Let's start a porn site for the likes of you and me." "Sounds like fun", says she. Little did we know.We both had some experience in the media and knew a fair amount about publishing. We knew NOTHING about web sites and the adult industry. This article is for those of you who are pretty much in the same position.In short; tips for porn site novices.

There are dozens of books and articles about how you can get rich with a porn site...all of them filled with success stories like Danni's Hard Drive or Suicide Girls. The adult cartel had millions of images and videos in their libraries and found the internet was the way to go if ya wanted to reach hundreds of thousands of people in search of a little porn. Ten years ago it was the wild west and lots of people got rich. Today there are hundreds of thousands of adult sites (not even counting the blogs)...competition is tough and the road to riches is not so straight or clear. This little article is not about ways to get rich, but how to follow a dream. We had no one to help us when we started and I sure as hell wish there was a place like this to get some advice. Hopefully, for those of you who want to get into this area of publishing, this will make things a little easier.


Google in "How to start an adult site" and find ways to spend money...(and maybe get some advice)

You may already have noticed I'm not a writer, (I'm a photographer, designer, artist, but alas, not a writer). I'm putting this to "paper" in my own words, so forgive my less than skilled prose. I also realize there are web pros out there who will laugh at how little I know. I don't pretend to be an expert, just someone with a dream that found out some things the hard way and want to guide you toward realizing your dream.

I used to produce movies and edit magazines. If I approached those subjects this simply, I would say "to start a magazine, buy paper", or to make movies "Get a camera"...but if you were going to do those things you would probably have a degree in journalism or film, giving you a head start...This is the internet...anyone can do this, so I've kept to the very basics.

OK, to get back on subject; Here are the things we've learned in the three years we've been doing this.

The DO's:

1. Have an Original idea. Make your site original in any way you can...Say to yourself, "Is anyone else doing this?" The answer should be no.Your photography, your models, your point of view...whatever... maybe a "new" genre..should be a FIRST. Then name your site accordingly to get the right audience.


2. Own your domain name (http://mysite.com). Sometimes when starting a site, it's neccesary to get a webmaster to put your site up. You may have the material, but not the web skills to mount a site. If you get help from the outside, be sure YOU own the domain name...register it in your name. It can be taken away from you later if it's out of your control and the only person who contols it is the domain name owner!

3. Get (or learn how to become) a good webmaster. I take pictures, edit, etc..but learning the ins and outs of html was beyond me. Make a deal with a friend...or be VERY sure of who you use to build your baby...it will be a long relationship with a lot at stake.(In addition to posting your pages, someone is going to have to know Photoshop as well).

4. Find the right server to host your site. You can't put an adult site up on just any server. Yahoo and Mac or Godaddy are not going to host an adult site. They don't want the headaches of being in that business. If you search the web for adult hosts, you'll find thousands of takers.Unfortunately, if you don't already know someone who can guide you, it's a crap shoot. Price alone is not the way to decide...you need security, reliability and service. We went through THREE before we found a good company. Be sure you add a traffic meter of some kind to your site, so you can track your hits and where viewers are coming from.
Look at the sevices offered by "GreenguyAndJim", it's a good start.

5. Go with a good billing company. "What's that?", you ask. Remember this about starting a PAY site; you have to collect folks' money. The credit card companies and banks don't want to be in the adult business (at least not openly), so the collecting of money has to be done by a third party. The third party billing companies collect the $ and after taking 20% off the top, pass it on to you. THEY make the arrangements with Visa, etc.They also manage your affiliate program (more about that later) and assign member's passwords. There are dozens of billing companies and most are honest. We started with what was once the second largest company: Ibill. One day the owners ran off with everyone's money...owing millions! We lost all our members and money. To date, although they have restructured, they have not payed us (or thousands of others!). Now we use the best billing company in the industry (in our opinion): CCBILL. They do a great job, are attentive, (24 hours a day) and most important, they pay on time, with honest reporting. The good thing about them, is that they take on any size site and the customer (your members) are used to seeing them on other sites...so there is a certain amount of trust in a otherwise untrustworthy business. Look at the other sites that use them and use it as guide for pricing your site.

6. Figure out how to get traffic. When we started, folks said, "How are you going to get traffic (people) to your site. In otherwords, you can build it and hope they come, or you can go out and get them. A wise friend of mine once said, "The only people making money on the web are the one's selling ways to make money on the web".
This is very true.
There are more than a few hundred programs and sites out there that will send you thousands of  hits a day for a price.
The adult conventions are full of booths promising amazing traffic. The problem is, they are, in the end, expensive and maybe not right for your site. It doesn't do any good to get tons of people looking at you if they are not buyers. It might cost you in band width as well (depends on your deal with your web host)...with little return. We never, I repeat, never found a traffic program worth the money and effort. Save your bucks in the beginning, until you learn more. As time goes on, you will make connections, exchange links, get reviews, run contests, get press and become known. Be patient. It helps to learn optimization (the art of getting your site picked up by search engines for free). Believe it or not, there is an "Optimization for Dummies" book that I found very useful. Getting traffic is still the number one problem for us and any other site.We have managed to do it the long, hard, slow way and eventually after several hours a day of work over three years, we're doing fine. We are in business.

7. Advertise. (or maybe, don't!) There is an old saying in the advertising business, "I wasted half of my advertising dollars, but I don't know which half". You can advertise directly for potential members, or in the trade for people to join your affiliate program. I tried Google advertising and you have to be an actuary to manage it. Some people love it, I found it to be a complete waste of money. No one wants to talk about what a waste Google is.We also tried consumer print advertising..wrong media.
In the end almost all advertising was another way for others to make money..not us.
The exception: AVN-online. We use AVN to reach other professionals, attracting sites to join our affiliate program and BRANDING. Branding is an uncertain, unmeasurable way of simply getting known. You can't trace "joins" but you need to be visible, and after a while you want people to say," I've seen these guys before...who are they?..let's take a look". The folks (in particular, Edison Velasco) at AVN are honest experts and will help in ways that fit your budget. Blog advertising is a crap shoot.The prices vary (from $40 a month to $1,000 (or even more). The problem is, blog surfers don't buy, They like free stuff. You may get traffic, but not many sales.Good for branding though...just don't shoot your advertising wad there.Want to check blog ads out? Just look at a blog that covers adult material...click on that "Advertise Here" button and see what they offer. Start with a cheap one, test the waters and see what happens. Don't spend a lot, figuring on getting a lot of joins and growing fast...it won't happen.

8. Have an affiliate program. In order for free sites (and many review sites) to list you with links, you will need to reward them with a cut of the pie. Your billing company can set you up and distribute the money. CCBILL does a great job and sites trust them to get their money (never directly handled by you, so they don't have to trust you, sight unseen). There are complicated ways to set up thumbnail galleries etc..but it's too much to cover here, just believe me when I say you need an affiliate program. You can see how we do it here. There are a hundred models, pick the one that works for you and your genre.They all take effort, but we get 50% of our business this way, and couldn't survive without it. Note: Be prepared to give away a lot of material (photos etc.) for free, but consider it good branding. With your logo (watermark) and url on 'em, they get passed around the world. It doesn't hurt you to have tons of stuff out there for people to see...hopefully leading back to you.

You can also build a free site that drives traffic to your pay site. A good example is our
INTELLIGENT ERECTION site...take a look.

9. Update frequently. The only way people will stick around and renew their subscription, is if they are getting new material...and a LOT of it. We add new material (updates) 15-20 times a month. The material we add is meaningful...not just an image or two. Some sites claim "daily updates" and in fact just post a few new pictures.
You have to do what sites like METart (and us) do. PROVIDE LOTS OF NEW STUFF...and often!
We have a 70% renewal rate because our members are happy and can depend on something new and surprising. along with the "expected" every few days...making us a bargain. (Not to mention, we lower the price of the sub if ya stick around a few months).



The Don'ts:

1: Steal. Be original...don't steal material, don't steal ideas.

2: Charge Too Much. Pricing is tricky and changes all the time with the competition. (We've changed our pricing three times, finally settling on what keeps the most return traffic (renewals). Some sites are priced to sell once, others to be a bargain over time, we chose the later.

3. Lie. Don't promise one thing on your preview pages, then give 'em another once they've joined. be honest with your members, make it easy to contact you, and easy for them to quit. In the end, you will benefit.

4. Go for reviews early. When you start up, you'll want the adult review sites to cover you. If you do it too soon, you won't have enough material or the kinks worked out and the bad review will stay with you for a long time. Many review sites won't bother to review you twice and the one's that do usually want to wait a year. So don't rush it.

5. Use Spam. It's illegal and just bad karma.

8. Panic. Your site will be hacked..your server might stall now and then (happens to the best sites), the laws will change..someone else will steal your concept...things like blogs suddenly appear and change the whole game...it's ok...
It's business..imagine being Napster.

My Final Words of Advice:

Have fun! (We have put in 20 combined man hours a day for three years and it HAS to stay fun).
Be Patient! I guarantee it will take longer than you thought to make a few bucks...You won't be taken seriously until you've been around for at least two years! You will spend a lot of money a long the way, so be prepared to think of your site as an expensive hobby for a while.
Play In the Right Sandbox! Go to an adult convention in your area and mix.(there are33 adult conventions in the U.S. every year, find one near you).We have met some great people in this business as well as more than a few crooks. Find people who share your vision...help each other out... it will all come around.
It's all Voodoo! I asked a webmaster friend why his traffic has been going up and down, and what did he do to effect it? He replied, " I have no fucking idea...it's all Voodoo. How right he is.

I Hope this was of some help to you if you are thinking of starting your own adult pay site..Good Luck!
If I can help in some way, write to me.

(This article I found has another point of view: http://www.bloggerheads.com/porn_report.asp)

Michael C Gross (aka: Mikey)

Want to see what we did with what we learned?: Look at our site.


PS: See my article on "How to take better dirty pictures"


Michael C Gross is an award winning art director: National Lampoon, Esquire, Heavy Metal, as well a free lance designer for The Rolling Stones, John Lennon, The Muppets, and the Mexican Olympics (1968).
He has his art and design displayed in 5 museums around the world.
He was a film producer for 15 years producing such movies as: Heavy Metal, Ghostbusters (1and 2) Twins, Dave and six others as well as three TV shows. He has 4 Emmy nominations.
His photography is published world wide and his personal site has examples of his art, design and photography.

This article addresses subjects like What is an affiliate program? How to I get traffic to my asdult site? Starting your own porn site. Publishing porn.Traffic programs...the do's and don'ts. Advertising Porn.Buying advertising on porn sites and blogs. Adult advertising.Adult Traffic programs. Building an adult site.Starting an adult site.Adult webmasters advice.etc.