Okay lets answer these one at a time for you :)
Here goes..
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So for someone totally new to the industry and who isn't much of an entrepreneur or website wizard, how realistic is it that I could make a few hundred dollars this month?
In all honesty it does depend. Initially though, i would say not to bank on making $100-$200 a month until around month 2 or 3 given the state of the idustry at present. That said, i do know webmasters who have made money from their first day so thats a little comforting for you to know :)
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If it's not doable now, how long does it usually take before the hard work pays off, and exactly what all is involved in the average day and week?
Can take anywhere from a day to a year to make *significant* income on a regular basis. In all honesty with you again, if you aim to have made $200 by month 3 i think that is a very realistic goal. Obviously it is dependant on hours worked etc etc.
So far as how much you need to work a day, again, in all honesty it depends. I know individuals making $1 a day who put in 40 hour weeks and i know webmasters who make $100 a day putting in 40 hour weeks. The real question, IMHO is how you can learn to market your sites to the surfer but you are already in one of the better places to gain knowledge of how to do that, but then i am biased lol
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1) When I sign up with a sponsor and use their hosting, am I limited to using only their content, or can I have someone else's content on my site too? That was why I went with a hosting service rather than sponsored hosting, because I've signed up with a few places and didn't think I could mix the content together on one sponsor-hosted site. Plus I've ended up with more than one AVS signup, and figure those can't be used together on AVS-sponsored hosting at all.
Generally speaking you are limited to only using the sponsors paysites when you use a specific sponsors free host. Of course the sonsor would be the best place for you to get that info as they all have different rules :)
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2) Anyone have any recommendations for sponsored hosting, or maybe who should be avoided? And is anyone familiar with PorkyHost.com by chance?
ARS ( http://www.advertisingrevenueservice.com ) used to have a good free host although im not 100% if they still do im sure someone else will tell you abotu that though :) As for the host you mentioned, never heard of them sorry :(
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3) How does the AVS thing work on free hosts (i.e., not sponsored hosting)? The AVS script doesn't act as an .htaccess file does it? (betting it doesn't) Are .htaccess files generally allowed on free hosts, or is it worth asking them if they allow it or have another way to shut out the protected areas? What other options are there anyway, besides an AVS service? I'm big into keeping out the kiddies, but have no experience with membership sites and all the little scripts that entails.
Most free hosts will not allow you to have custom .htaccess files although again, you would be best asking the free host you decie to use :) As for the other parts of your question, AVS really is one of the better ways to keep minors out of your site and even then it isnt a 100% foolproof method unfortunately :(
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4) Which reminds me, how much can I show in the free area? Full frontal, erect/limp, solo/couple/more who's just naked, or about to do something....? Is "softcore" more open to my own interpretation, or should I plan to crop some images at the pubic hair (or where it'd be ;))? I'm not concerned with teaser shots, more with not letting the kids see too much when they lie and get in anyway......there's plenty of other ways to see the goodies, IMO they can find it elsewhere.
A good general rule of thumb is if you are building free sites, stick to no more than 30 images per site (10 pics on 3 gallery pages) if you are building TGP Galleries then a good rule of thumb is usually no more than 16 images. Again though, depending on where you are going to be submitting thes sites each traffic source has their own rules that you will need to follow in order to get listed.
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5) Finally, can someone give me advice/observations regarding basic site design? I can crank out a more conventional site similar to GWW's layout, no problem, but that doesn't seem to be the way it works for an adult site. I've read often that "ugly sells," and I can make myself put less effort into a site's look (still gonna be usable tho dammit lol)......it seems to me that the only sites who can get away with a nicer appearance are the service sites, sponsors and resources and such, and the very well-established adult sites.....they can even use Flash if they want. Would it be better to throw my design ideas out the window altogether, or just hold off until I'm more established too? I'd like to make a decent site that's somewhat memorable, but won't bother if it'd be a complete waste of my time (gotta make those galleries sometime LOL).
Experiment, try hundreds and thousands of different designs, if you find one that works well, duplicate the hell out of it but still keep trying new designs there is no right or wrong when it comes to desiging your site, what works for me may not work for you and if it works today it may not work tomorrow. One thing you need to be aware of though, use other peoples designs for *inspiration* NEVER copy their designs you'll get in more trouble than you will know lol
Some sponsors actually have free site templates you can use if you promote their sites, i know Fetish Cash used to have them although i havent checked their wm area for a while now so cant tell you if they are still there or not.
Hope this helps and if you need any more info just post away :)
Im also going to split this into a new thread for you so you get some more feedback from people who wont read this whole topic :)
Regards,
Lee
