Something For The Newer Webmasters...
Okay for the past week ive been going over various pieces of information for everyone however, today, i wanted to give some advice for those of you who might have just joined or, are considering joining the porn business, the information below, really is golden, if you only pick up and hold on to two or three things from it, you'll do well, now on with the list...
1. Learn the curve.
This is a business and, like any other business, it has a learning curve, you wouldnt decide to be an attorney one day and walk straight in to your local courtroom to defend a case, with that in mind, what makes you think you can get a domain, a host, content and a sponsor, throw a site up and make money? Simply put, those days ARE over, it takes a lot of work to 'make it' in this business, learn the business gradually, dont jump in both feet first, you'll get hurt 9 times out of 10 if you do.
2. Educate yourself.
Whether you have been doing this 6 days or 6 years, there is always something new to learn, hell, ive been doing this going on 6 years this month and im still learning new stuff everyday. Also, just because learn one way to do something, it doesnt mean that is the ONLY way to do it as i find out constantly LOL
3. When sales suck.
So your sales for the last period suck, the smart webmaster does two things in this instance; A) They look at stuff they have been doing, have you changed your marketing methods, your host, your content, ask for help and B) when you get help, look at it with an open mind, just because someone tells you something that contradicts what you think you know, it might actually be just the thing you need to fire your sales up again.
4. Experimentation rules.
As i mentioned a couple of days ago, what works for me, might not work for you and vice versa, just because Michael does well with AEN's, doesnt mean you or i will. Find something that you are good at then, master it. Its going to be hit or miss for the first few months but, eventually, you'll find something that works well for you, when you find it, master it and duplicate the hell out of it!
5. Think outside the box.
By that i mean try new things, no matter how stupid they may sound to you. What works today, may not work in 2 months time and, what worked 2 months ago, may suddenly start working again tomorrow. Keep an open mind and try at least 1 new thing a month, whether that be a new traffic source, a new type of site or a new niche, by sticking to the same things, day in, day out, you will eventually fail, diversify your business.
6. Learn every day.
On a similar subject to diversifying your business, try to learn 1 new thing a day. By learning one new thing a day, in a month that gives you 30 things to choose trying out (see #5 above). No matter whether you learn about a new niche, a new traffic source, whatever, educate yourself and grow your business knowledge.
7. Learn to cross-promote.
If your 'niche' is black guys, dont get stuck promoting black guy, cross promote another site at the same time, asian, latin, blatino, white guys, whatever. There are always sites or services to cross promote, no matter what your niche is and, you might just end making more money by doing so :$$$:
8. Micro Niches.
Again, similar to #7 above, learn to MICRO MARKET. Using the same example, black men, market the micro market the ebony niche to, black twinks, mature black guys, non nude black guys, solo guys, you name it, micro market it to death if you have to. As well as letting you target your surfers even more, you might just end up making money from those micro niches.
9. Dont be afraid to market to the surfer.
Yes, they are our customers but, they are NOT our friends, no matter what you may think. They cost us money every time they hit one of our sites, they will take as much 'free' porn as you can give them and, they wont even thank you for it. We are in business to do one thing, make money, dont be afraid to market to the surfer, there is a delicate balance between giving them what they want and making money, to often people forget the money making aspect of being in the porn business!
10. Offer up the goods.
It is a statistical improbability that every surfer hitting your sites wants exactly what you have on offer, give them some choices, offer up link tables going to other niches or different products. If they find your site via the search engines, chances are, more often than not, they arent looking for exactly what you have on the site, if they dont find what they want, you'll lose them to somene who DOES have what they are looking for.
11. Yahoo, Disney + Google arent your friend.
So why place links to them on every site you build? Will Yahoo, Disney or Google pay you for the traffic you send them via your 'exit' links? I didnt think so. If you must use an exit link, send that traffic to something thats going to make you money, like one of TopBucks software products.
12. Sell the tease.
Think about this, if you go to a strip club, do you pay the stripper to put his clothes back ON or take them off? If you are giving away the action for free, why should the surfer have a need to join a paysite? Make em pay for the money shot. Softcore, beleive it or not, does actually sell and, with obscenity and hardcore being as much of an issue as it is in the industry at the moment, softcore seems to be the way to go, at least for the immediate future.
13. Boards - Use them wisely.
Whilst message boards are probably going to have next to no effect on your business, thy are certainly an important part of growing it. Your 'persona' on the boards will effect who does business with you, how they do business with you and, more importantly, allow you to network. Remember this, todays newbie might be the next BadPuppy or NakedSword, build friendships and solid business relationships.
As i mentioned at the beginning of this post, the information above really is GOLDEN[ however, it is probably a bit to much for you to take in at one sitting, pick two or three pieces of information and start implementing them on a daily basis, your bank accounts will thank you for it.
Regards,
Lee
