Need Advice... wanna go full-time

Ok, I need some advice and I know you are the right guys/gals to ask!

I've been at this part-time for about 2 1/2 years (although the 1st 6-9 months were a wasted effort with freehosts and sponsor content). I NEED to go full-time... I hate my day job :boom: although I do make a good living. But I am getting so tired of the grind... and besides, my performance has suffered so much, I'll probably get fired before I can quit. My goal is to work full-time as an adult webmaster within 3 to 6 months.

A little about myself:

I gross over $4000 per month from mostly AVS work - DeluxePass, UGAS and (now) Mancheck (because Michael is so cool!). I used to submit to more AVS's, but for the most part, I didn't get much return for my effort. I earn a tiny amount from sponsor sales. I don't TGP much and I've never built a free site.

I net between $1500-2000 per month. I spend a lot on content and google adwords. I need to net a minimum of $3000 per month, so I don't lose my house and starve to death!

I haven't done twink or straight sites. I build bear, leather, bareback, military, etc. sites.

I'm not a great designer, although I do put a lot of effort into my sites... I don't build templated sites. I'm terrible at text and lazy at SE optimization. My strongest selling point; I use the freshest content on my sites (as a surfer, I would get so frustrated with tired content).

Eventually, I would like to have a few paysites within my preferred niches, although AVS payouts are so high ($15-$20 per sale) that I currently don't see the economic advantages of running my own paysites.

Well folks, do you have any advice?

The one MAJOR peice of advice i would give is make sure that when you do go full time, you have AT LEAST 2 months of money you can use to fall back on icase things change drastically.

Having a 'safety' bank balance is probably the most important thing any webmaster looking to get into adult full time can have.

Regards,

Lee

Great point, Lee!

I want to thank everyone here that has given me advice in the past. G-A and Lee run a first class show and attract the best and the brightest and the nicest folks in the business!

Why don't you try to squeeze more money out of your current sites, maybe try some upsells to AVS sites, something like FastSize

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Erik Estrada
Why don't you try to squeeze more money out of your current sites, maybe try some upsells to AVS sites, something like FastSize

---

Thanks for the very off topic spam :thumbsup:

Regards,

Lee

Thanks for that Lee. :groovy: Anyways, I've never had luck selling products.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Xstr8guy I've never had luck selling products. [/B]

---

Yeah, and with my luck, someone would break their cock using that thing and sue me. :)

You know, xstr8guy, I'm with you on the paysite thing. With AEN payouts as high as they are "why bother" has always been my answer when people say "go paysite."

Xstr8guy, your strength is that you're fast. You has your MANcheck hub built almost before I finished typing my e-mail to you suggesting ways you could create a better bub. I couldn't believe how fast it went up.

I find new content, xstr8guy's already got it up on his website and is collecting rebills on it.

Oh look, DeluxePass, what's this ... xstr8guy's there with Bell's on.

The problem with paysites is that you've got to keep them fresh, and fresh costs money. You build excellent hubs that trap traffic. I'd just start enlarging that.

Bear content is pretty tough to come by, which is why I started to the Euro foreskin stuff, so you may want to think about enlarging things to bring in some other niche that turns you on. But I have to caution you, I'm finding it hard keeping my wits managing the two different niches, there's so much I'd like to do with both of them, but I'm only one guy.

Think about getting some board software and starting up a bear board of some kind. It could be a way to drive more traffic to you other hubs.

I don't know, I'm thinking outloud here. I'll certainly help you any way I can with my new venture, and if you ever need any help with SEO stuff, just ask. I don't know everything, but my husband calls me GoogleLord for a reason. :) You should fly up to Toronto one weekend and I give you a weekend long tutorial. (No comments from you peeps, thank you.)

And just continue looking to this group for answers and opportunities. There are amazing people here with amazing skills and products and the serious GWW's really do help one another.

If I think of anything else, I'll be back.

Cheers
Dzinerbear

Have you considered reusing your AVS sites as TGP galleries and free sites? You can even upsell from a softcore tgp gallery page to your AVS site if you wanted.

You know what would be awesome is if a few of us got together in a multiperson chat and started hammering out some ideas? I would be keen on doing this any morning monday-thursday which equals evening sun-wed for most north american webmasters. Any takers?


cheers,
Luke

Please definitely count me in.

AIM: dzinerbeartor

Cheers
db

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Chilihost
Have you considered reusing your AVS sites as TGP galleries and free sites? You can even upsell from a softcore tgp gallery page to your AVS site if you wanted.

You know what would be awesome is if a few of us got together in a multiperson chat and started hammering out some ideas? I would be keen on doing this any morning monday-thursday which equals evening sun-wed for most north american webmasters. Any takers?


cheers,
Luke

---

hmmm.... now there's a good suggestion...
I'd be interested - when you all are ready to gather...
I don't have AOL anymore though...
I do have mIRC - haven't used it in forever...
I wish this board had a chat ROOM
that had the availability of a private group chat...

althought there are allot of things I can't or don't do
(such as design work etc..) - there are things that I
can do - in a barter sort of arrangement...

the group chat would be a good thing...

keep me inform :)

my contact info:

PM me here on this board
eMail: evelyn937 (at) lycos.com
ICQ: 119-325-350


~Bell

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Xstr8guy
Ok, I need some advice and I know you are the right guys/gals to ask! I've been at this part-time for about 2 1/2 years My goal is to work full-time as an adult webmaster within 3 to 6 months.
A little about myself:
I gross over $4000 per month from mostly AVS work
I net between $1500-2000 per month. I spend a lot on content and google adwords. I need to net a minimum of $3000 per month, so I don't lose my house and starve to death!

I haven't done twink or straight sites. I build bear, leather, bareback, military, etc. sites.

I'm not a great designer

---

Hey there

Good luck! And a fellow Texan. My advice is to just be careful and disciplined. I would be so much farther along if I were more disciplined. But oh well. I happen to be doing webmastering full time, and now I'm actually doing things like paying for trips to Phoenix and Hollywood, FL. On the other hand up until last year I was living like a pauper.

This year my porn site has taken off nicely, and I have no overhead on it. Plus I have five other non-adult sites - all pertain to topics that I enjoy, so it's very fullfilling.

You can definately make a living being a full time webmaster. Some of the programs are good, and others are not so good. Plus I also have done different projects to test the waters. If it doesn't work - it's not a big deal.

My experience is very different from yours though. Lots of my sales are from selling products -- like adult DVDs, PPV. I don't do any of the TGP things or setups that use AVS or ManCheck. Maybe someday.

You sound pretty careful, and not like me which operates more along the "ready...fire...aim" scenario. Maybe you should start another site or two before cutting the employer umbillical. I know that when I add a new affiliate program to my site, I work on the prospect that I want to have it paying me at least $100 month quickly.

Still after seven years of being on my own, it is nice that I see tunnel layed out in front of me, and light at the end.

Steve

Thanks for the tips!


D-bear
Toby and I would love to visit Toronto, too... heard it's a fun place.

You know what's funny about SE optimization... when I do it, I get bored with it right away. But the sites that I have done SEO on have been getting good results recently. I never had much SE traffic in the past, but now it's finally picking up. In fact, I have even suspended one of my adword campaigns because I am getting great listings for a bunch of different SE terms... saving me $30 a day.

I actually have expanded to other niches a bit (like latin) but my hearts just not in it, so I just stick to what I know best. Sometimes I feel like I picked too limited of a niche for myself... am I missing MONGO sales by not doing twinks sites or promoting twink sponsors?

Chilihost
I love the idea of a online chat. I'm strictly an evening and weekend webmaster (CST), though. But count me in and I'll be there if possible!

I have done TGP before and have tried both sponsor links and links to my hubs. My problem is... I just don't have time to expand on it right now. Do you think if I had more time to TGP or do freesites, would I be able to count on more cash rolling? Or would I just raise my income by a few bucks.

desslock, I am careful, but not by choice. Because I have a full-time job, a house and a relationship to maintain, I only work about 20 hours a week on this business. I would gladly work 60 hours a week doing this and then I could take more chances.

I sure would like to pick your brain on product sales and especially PPV. I've never put much effort into that side of things. I guess when I started, my biggest return came from AVS, so I ended up focusing on that and virtually quit trying other things.

I built up the AVS part quite nicely, but now I'm kind of trapped. Now I have to keep cranking out AVS sites or else sales taper off quite quickly

eeeek! Yes I have learned about sites that need maintenance. If you are going to really maximize your website business, move away from that.

Hint: Build pages that you can setup and then walkaway.

See now I can go to Midtowne down on Pacific Av and just remain firm and comfortable with the knowledge that my page on Joe Landon is yielding just as much traffic as when I was working in front of my laptop's keyboard.

Steve
:groovy: :groovy: :groovy:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Xstr8guy
[U]I actually have expanded to other niches a bit (like latin) but my hearts just not in it, so I just stick to what I know best. Sometimes I feel like I picked too limited of a niche for myself... am I missing MONGO sales by not doing twinks sites or promoting twink sponsors?

---

I thought the same thing. I thought I was missing some huge river of cash by not doing twinks, but it didn't materialize. My Euro Uncut site is definitely growing and sales to my secondary sponsors like Randy Blue and Sean Cody are going up. But you know what, X, you can make a buttload of money selling any niche if you're doing it right. There's something for everyone.

Quote:

---

I have done TGP before and have tried both sponsor links and links to my hubs. My problem is... I just don't have time to expand on it right now. Do you think if I had more time to TGP or do freesites, would I be able to count on more cash rolling? Or would I just raise my income by a few bucks.

---

I'll let you know. I just started back into TGPing this week, so we'll see where it goes. So far this week the only thing TGPing got me was that ghostlinking motherfucker that I e-mailed you about. I've submitted to a bunch of TGPs this week and I'm getting a feel for them. Who is accepting? Who isn't?

This weekend, I'm teaching Ted how to pick pictures for TGPs and how to resize them. Then he's going to set me up with a swack of galleries and I'll go on a submitting campaign. So, I'll let you know how it goes.

db

it sounds like there are a few of us keen on getting in on a chat, maybe I can arrange something on IRC....maybe Darren Austin will lend us his chat room for an hour?


cheers,
Luke

I'd certainly be open for a chat ... and I have a chatroom available on a nonporn website that isn't open to the public at the moment... (the chatroom isn't open, the site is) ... that I don't mind us borrowing, and anyone wanting a fast chatroom on a non porn domain name - go grab one by setting up an account at www.bravenet.com ... 15 minutes of tinkering a little and you're good to go.

Lee ... any idea on how EZBoards setup their chatroom option for their board users? Once I set that up for another forum I help out with, it actually put in the links and shows how many people are in Chat right on the forum header.

Bec, I like the idea of stealing Darren Austin's room for a bit, its totally easy to use - no tinkering required, just use the java version on his site or hop in via IRC. Anyone can hop in at any time, other than showtime it is usually empty.

But of course I would like to get permission to use it first!


cheers,
Luke

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Chilihost
Bec, I like the idea of stealing Darren Austin's room for a bit, its totally easy to use - no tinkering required, just use the java version on his site or hop in via IRC. Anyone can hop in at any time, other than showtime it is usually empty.

But of course I would like to get permission to use it first!


cheers,
Luke

---

does that mean non GWW'ers would be in there during
our chat ??

~Bell

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Lee
The one MAJOR peice of advice i would give is make sure that when you do go full time, you have AT LEAST 2 months of money you can use to fall back on icase things change drastically.

Having a 'safety' bank balance is probably the most important thing any webmaster looking to get into adult full time can have.

Regards,

Lee

---

Lee is completely right! When my hosts AND computer AND backups all went at the same time, I was SOL and had no financial security. I have yet to recover! Always make sure you have a really good nest egg going before plan b becomes plan a.

My only advice on going full-time is create a platinum avs site that you are really, really passionate about, and make it the pivot of your "empire" promote it on everything you create, so you always have your own tier between avs and sponsor upsell. Since platinum is recurring, you can build up a huge amount of resells while always increasing the amount of traffic you are sending it just by continuing the work you are doing now.

This dosn't work with avs sites that use other avs's than the platinum one, they don't allow links to other avs sites, but ugas has a nice regular and platinum avs, and eventually you will probably end up doing some TGP and free sites.

*slides in next to xst8 and steals his notes*:goof:

Actually, I do have a question: Let's say you're dreaming about a site that you're REALLY in love with, the niche is yummy perfect for you, but no one that you know of actually produces the content for it and you're a piss-poor writer who has trouble keeping the lights on?

What to do??

I think being an part time adult webmaster is a great job. The money is great for the amount of time you put in. But... I also believe that being an adult webmaster full time can be a crappy stressful low reward job. Relying on it for your sole income brings alot more of the bad things into play.

You have to work 10 times harder to double your money when you go full time. You have to wonder if it's worth all the extra effort. It isn't easy. I personally don't think it's worth it. I like working a few hours a week to update and keep the rebills going. It's relatively stress free and I can concentrate on other things in my life. Being a full time webmaster made me crazy, cranky, and always on the brink of quitting during the Visa days.

Being a full time webmaster is so much more complicated than it used to be. Not only do you have to do your design and updating duties, you have to be a p.r. person, go to the forums, get the latest information, etc. It is all encompassing and 12 to 16 hour days are alot more common than the average 8 hour job. Good luck on whatever you choose.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Tala
Actually, I do have a question: Let's say you're dreaming about a site that you're REALLY in love with, the niche is yummy perfect for you, but no one that you know of actually produces the content for it and you're a piss-poor writer who has trouble keeping the lights on?

What to do??

---

This made me chuckle ... sounds like you've climbed in the same boat quite a few of us find ourselves in ... we've got the boat, and can see the destination, but no oars to get us there!

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Bec
This made me chuckle ... sounds like you've climbed in the same boat quite a few of us find ourselves in ... we've got the boat, and can see the destination, but no oars to get us there!

---

That's be it. And it's driving me bugnuts.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Huskyhunks

You have to work 10 times harder to double your money when you go full time.

---

HH brings up a good point. This is one thing that worries me a lot. In the past 6-9 months, I've managed to double my revenues, but at the same time, my expenses have doubled. With more time devoted, I would hope to double my revenues again (to reach my goal) without increasing my expenses too much. Is that too much to expect?

Has anyone recently gone from part-time to full-time?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by DigitalJay

My only advice on going full-time is create a platinum avs site that you are really, really passionate about, and make it the pivot of your "empire" promote it on everything you create, so you always have your own tier between avs and sponsor upsell. Since platinum is recurring, you can build up a huge amount of resells while always increasing the amount of traffic you are sending it just by continuing the work you are doing now.

---

DigitalJay,

This is the only thing I'm doing right already ;)
I have one really kick-ass site that brings in the majority of my money. I do need to expand on the traffic I bring to the site by TGPing or using other "webmaster friendly" AVS's.