The industry seems to be very competitive even for established businesses. Do you think the days of the "newbie" are gone ?
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The industry seems to be very competitive even for established businesses. Do you think the days of the "newbie" are gone ?
well, mind you some newbies these days have really what it takes but i feel sorry for newbies who really need to read and learn more to master things in the adult biz because competition might make them fall.
With all the new regulations, it's definitely going to make a person think twice before getting into the adult industry.Quote:
Originally Posted by Huskyhunks
One thing that "could" be a "+" in the all to near future is the .xxx domain. It passed ICANN today.
PapaBear
I think the new regulations will make some people think twice about this biz, if they hear about them. Let's face it, if a business is selling packaged turnkey sites to newbies, they'll probably tell them they have everything including the documentation they need to get going. But are they likely to say, "Oh and by the way, if you don't do these 25 things and continue doing them, you'll go to jail" or are will they say, "BTW, if you work at home, you're going to have to put your home address on your website."
So I think a lot of people will still get into this business and not realize the full extent of the legalities until they meet some people, make some friends, and do some reading.
From the noob standpoint, I think making this business less appealing is a good thing. As it stands we attract far too many people who think they just buy a domain name put up a set a pictures and presto! the bank account starts filling up. It'll deter the hobbyists, the wanna-bes, and the not-very-serious. People who want to make money in this business will always find a way.
dzinerbear
Hi Dz... you handsome devil you ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Dzinerbear
I do agree with you on all of your comments. I know as amateurs, basically a startup company, and with the new regulations, we've had to sit down and really give this some serious thought.
PapaBear
there are lots of newbs who never find a board, and who probably know nothing about the new regs. i knew plenty of newbs in the past who, by the time they found a board, were happily breaking plenty of laws. when we'd tell them, they were so shocked there were laws relating the the web...
I know we have found out a lot since joining GWW basschick. It's "Hats Off" to all of you that participate on GWW and help us "unknowing" and "newbies" out.Quote:
Originally Posted by basschick
PapaBear
That is so true ... and I do feel for anyone who does pick up a "ready made" porn site deal from someone who doesn't have the moral fiber to aprise them of the legal responsibities of owning and running such a site. It's an individual decision to do so of course, but I know I make a point of directing newbies who contact me for designs to shitloads of adult resources. If they go ahead, at least I know I did my best to "educate" them.Quote:
Originally Posted by basschick
And all this 2257 stuff now has me revamping what I may request from a client before I'll even throw a picture to my graphics program, much less use it as a design sample.
Anyone else waking up with a headache every morning now??? :uhoh:
Now Bec... tisk tisk... you just had to go and call me a headache on a public message board... sheeesh! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Bec
PapaBear
LMAO ... now, don't go twisting things!!! :groovy:Quote:
Originally Posted by GLBTcity
Being a "Newbie" I really don't know that I can make it on my own. I was telling Bec earlier today that I think I picked a really bad time to try to go out on my own. 1. With summer coming up, sales are going to be down and webmasters are going to be less likely to want to spend the money on outsourcing. 2. Like Bec said, with 2257 alot of webmasters are going to be spending extra money on lawyers to make sure that they have everything in order and will be trying to save money elsewhere.
All I keep hearing in my head right now are those wonderful word of encouragement from my dad when I decided to start my own business. "You don't have what it takes to make it on your own. You need to work for someone."
Makes ya just wanna get up and do the Happy Dance don't it?
Any webmasters looking for a low milage video editor? LOL
I know it's rough for those of us that depend on the larger programs with expansion plans Ken ... we need that ongoing development to put food on our table. It's some serious belt tightening for "other" sideways involved industry like yours and mine at the moment.
Hang in there babe - hopefully sunny days will return soon! :sun:
I do think that newer webmasters coming in to the industry from 'today' onwards are going to find things extremely difficult however, thats not to say it is a good or a bad thing.
Necessity, for the most part would dictate that thos who are doing this as a 'hobby' whilst in between jobs really will fail and not make any money which is good for everyone, whilst those who run this as an actual business and research what is needed from them to be a success in the industry will ensure that although slowly they will succeed.
I think Patti made a very good point to, many new webmasters either dont find the boards when they need them or, they find the WRONG type of board, lets not forget that in the last 2-3 years we have seen an explosion of message boards that cater to the hobbyist webmaster and, whilst many of those boards are busy, they lack the business understanding by many (including the board owners) to offer anything of worth to the new webmaster.
I was actually talking to Patti about this very topic last night i beleive, out of all the boards that are currently in the industry, the trend seems to be attracting a 'post count' rather than a 'business thread count' as was often the case going back to '00 it seems these days, the more posts you have on a board, the more money companies are willing to spend on advertising therefore, the more non-business orientated boards open up, not only throwing the newer webmaster in to a continuing cycle of not being able to find the help they need but, when someone does offer them help. its either for the wrong reasons or, the information itself is so out-dated its unreal.
Of course the one thing that we all need to remember is that the more new webmasters start hopping in to the industry, the harder its going to be for everyone to make money as the pie keeps gettting cut in to smaller and smaller slices.
Over the past 6 months im sure you could see people on a range of boards including GWW who either no longer post or have left the industry completely and, im sure this trend will continue over the coming months as government regulations and the slow down in surfer activity starts to take hold on the industry as a whole.
Just going back to a point i mentioned above about the type of help they [newbies] get offered being for the wrong reasons or out-dated, it should be said that some of the time, the reason for this is because the wrong questions are being asked, for example, rather than asking where do you find your traffic, the better question would be how do you get your traffic and, more importantly, how do you market to that traffic once you have it.
A single question with no qualifying sub question really is worthless in todays marketplace, only by asking the right sort of questions will you (and they) actually be given the right answers, it would be so easy for me to just reel off a list of TGPs, link lists or search engines for where i get my traffic but, unless you know the mechanisms behind HOW i get the traffic, that list is in effect useless.
Just my $0.02 :)
Regards,
Lee
I like how some of you are putting an emphasis on American laws keeping newbies away without considering the fact that this is a global market.
The global internet is quickly emerging. Europe even leads the US in broadband subscribers now. It won't be too long before US dominance of the internet is history.
I would consider the future newbie threat from foreign countries to be substantial. Especially to the American webmaster at any level due to potential limitations of internet freedom's effecting us and not them in the areas of 2257, obscenity and potentially .xxx and Acacia.
Another thing to consider is that American newbies (or at least the little guy) and Europeans now produce more new ideas for the industry than mid to large size American companies.
You may be right in thinking that the foreign "newbie" will see an opportunity to fill in some impending "gaps". I forsee that happening as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt 26z
As to new ideas - right now I think everyone involved from small to big here in the States is looking for creative ways to meet this challenge and stay in the game.
On another note, I was having an icq conversation with the owner of a very large straight porn program ... and he succintly remarked that "it takes less paperwork to obtain a firearm here in the States than it does to put a photo to the web."
I replied "well, you aren't pointing it at some kid on a daily basis ..." which was said sarcastically, given the amount of guns currently in the hands of gang members.
Gotta love our priorities ... :(
Because quite simply, the adult web IS controlled by the US no matter how you look at it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt 26z
Trust me when i say this its true, ive worked the international marketplace for close to 6 years now and time and time again im seeing international sponsors following the exact same rules that are dictated to webmasters of all walks of life from the major US companies. Realistically, if you want to remain profitable, you MUST have some kind of connection to the USA when it comes to operating porn sites, whether that be hosting, content providers or even traffic sources.
The largest international adult paysites are owned by US corporations ;)
Europe leads the US in a lot of ways however, unless many of these companies are willing to do business how the US dictates, they wont grow as ig as they could do. Sure, Europe leads the way in broadband use but, how many sponsors out there have anything to even attract broadband surfers? I can think of perhaps 2.Quote:
The global internet is quickly emerging. Europe even leads the US in broadband subscribers now. It won't be too long before US dominance of the internet is history.
I wouldnt consider the international webmaster threat to be substantial at all in fact, id say it would remain the same as it is now, non-existent. How many large programs can you name that are operated outside the US? 1? 2?Quote:
I would consider the future newbie threat from foreign countries to be substantial. Especially to the American webmaster at any level due to potential limitations of internet freedom's effecting us and not them in the areas of 2257, obscenity and potentially .xxx and Acacia.
The fact of the matter is, the US is the single most largest population of not only porn surfers but also porn webmasters in the world.
5 years ago i was saying that it wouldnt take long for the international webmaster community to outgrow the US and become dominant, 5 years later that still hasnt happened, sure that community has grown but, the US webmaster community has grown and adapted with those changes even outgrown those changes in some instances.
Yet most of those ideas fail within the first 3-6 months.Quote:
Another thing to consider is that American newbies (or at least the little guy) and Europeans now produce more new ideas for the industry than mid to large size American companies.
Lets not also forget that demographically, the international webmaster community has a much higher percentage of cheaters, scam artists and theives than we have in the US. Because of this cross border business relations are cut-off unless you are an established webmaster, those in the US simply dont want to be open to bing fucked over internationally and have no reasonable action of recourse.
As i said 5 years ago i do beleive there is a lot of growth in the international webmaster community however, at the same time that growth isnt going to be embraced because of new foreign webmasters, its going to be embraced by those US webmasters who start to think globally.
Regards,
Lee