Do Fetish Sites Sell?

This thread by Lykos started a discussion about fetish sites that I think could use some further exploration.

Why don't we see more good gay fetish sites?

I have a sneaking suspicion that they just aren't a good return on investment. Maybe there just isn't enough demand to justify shooting many thousands of dollars of exclusive content for a niche that doesn't sell extremely well.

For example, a few years back I was chatting with a Don when he was with Ounique. I was bitching about them not having enough hairy men content. And back then, Ounique was the ONLY content broker that had ANY hairy men. He said that there was so little demand for bear/hairy content that very few photographers bothered shooting it.

So, if a rather basic and popular niche has so little content devoted to it, how can we effectively develop and market a site with even less demand?

Yes fetish sites do sell, very well in fact.

The problem is, most of the highly visible sponsors, in both the gay market and the straight niche, dont have a good understanding of what most fetishes are.

Very few sites i have been inside actually have a good amount of content that is actually hosted on the same server as the paysite itself, very few sites have a lot of movie content in them and, even fewer market their fetish sites properly.. To the surfer.

Also, when talking about gay specific fetishes, bear in mind that it is really only in the last 2 years that we have started to see many of what are called the 'market leaders' even embrace the gay marketplace as part of their business plan and, those that have, with a few exceptions, have only done so using their existing PPS business models of fill a site with plugins, offer webmasters 'pretty' looking sites and high payouts and we'll make a killing on the up and cross sells.

Ive spoken about retention rates on Condom Cash before and, although they have dropped slightly in the past few months, im still seeing a lot of members rebill past month 3 because they cant find sites catering to their specific tastes anywhere else, in fact, a few weeks back i actually received an email from one of my members telling me that they had never seen another site that had as much content as i have (inside Tattooed Guys) dedicated to the niche with no plugins.

Ultimately, it comes down to 3 things..

1) Is there a void to be filled with a niche specific site?

2) Is there enough content available for a niche specific site?

3) Is there money to be made from a niche specific site?

If all 3 of those criteria arent met by programs when they are brainstorming for ideas of sites to develop, i guarantee the program wont take a chance on developing the site.

But back to the topic at hand, yes niche specific or fetish sites do sell the problems are, lots of people (from program owners to affiliates) simply dont want to take a risk on something that hasnt been 'proven' by someone else, as is the case with 'DILF' which is a niche we're now seeing some of the large straight PPS programs launch niche sites for after we prove the concept would work.

Regards,

Lee

there aren't many good fetish sites, and the photographers who sell through ounique need to sell their content. so they aren't likely to shoot much in niches where there are no buyers.

fetish that is done right converts like magic - only it usually ISN'T done right. i see leather sites where most of the guys are wearing harnesses but other than that, not a lot of leather is in evidence. guys in socks, guys in speedos, guys in pantyhose - these are great fetish niches but there just aren't many sites around.

or how about bald guys? guys with beards? guys with enlarged nipples like steve hurley?

Errm yeah fetish sells. :innocent:

But I definately agree with Lee & Basschick on the points they raise.

The retention can be huge but it does require a little more effort to get the original sign-up (understatement).

That's why once you've got them make damn sure you fulfill the members every desire whenever possible. He'll really apreciate it.

IMHO it comes back to the very basics of any retail:

"Its far better to keep a customer than find a customer"
aka
"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"

$0.02