I'm about to join the Elevated X crowd.
Gee, I'm a big kid now!
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I'm about to join the Elevated X crowd.
Gee, I'm a big kid now!
LOL ! here's hoping you get everything switched over without major issues :)
p.s. Luke has experience with that program and might be available for hire if you need some assistance.
So... how you liking those long legged pants???
Hmmmmm, it is not 1:30pm on the west coast, and NO contact from Naked Hosting!!
Who's supposed to contact me first, Elevated X or Naked Hosting?
that part I don't know, but I sure hope you used my referral link. You could PM AJ Hall and ask?
I did use your referral link.
ElevatedX & Naked Hosting Deal ~~ $99 monthly
http://www.about-link.com/visit/cmshostingdeal/
OK. I'll try AJ Hall next.
There is a live chat button at the very bottom of the page that link goes to. Also here are 2 numbers:
1.800.547.9995 US & CANADA
1.909.498.4415 WORLDWIDE
And thanks for hitting my link... very much appreciated.
I talked with Naked Hosting. To me, it seems like they are NOT the people who one and more of us had a problem with a few years ago.
They were quite bright.
I think I'll be building a nice network.
...yes, i remember that, and cringed a bit when you said you were getting an account. Glad to hear things are going smoothly this time around.
Since there is this new pricing opportunity regarding access to Elevated X, it would be great if other Elevated X sites would comment in this thread - about modification and customization experiences.
I have very simple needs, and wants, regarding my new membersites!
Because the big trade show events panels are telling us to serve the mobile user vs the desktop user, I want my members to "watch" my videos, now download to own.
Bec, your sig promotes the $99 software and hosting plan deal. There's actually 3 plans.
There seems to be a bit of a difference between what the software will do at the $49 and $99 levels, compared to the $248. Not only the hosting plan in terms of space and bandwidth and Domains, but the software in terms of download, progressive download and streaming.
Maybe also templates and CMS.
The differences are sort of known by tech support, but not fully.
The first phone call was with Sales. And an $89/month plan was all they wanted to talk about.
I should talk to you about that privately.
I'm thinking of moving one of my sites to Elevated X. Nick, how has your experience been since early June?
Their salesman called me and said I wasn't good enough for them, so I spent 2 months developing my Android "Gay Sights In..." Map Apps. http://forums.gaywidewebmasters.com/...-Now-Available! www.NickBaerGallery.com .
That and between the salesman and Naked Hosting tech, there started some shell game about the $49/mo, vs the $79, vs the $99 vs the $250... A couple of those deals were in Bec's sig, a couple weren't.
it fast became a circular firing squad.
Just today I spent a few hours back on the membersite project. Since I want to serve "viewing" of videos, not downloading, I have picked a couple of HTML5 methods.
I wrote a site in 2008, and updated it for HTML5 "viewing" (vs. downloading) in early 2013. I think I will just expand upon that, and put it in a prettier wrapper - or at least a simpler if not prettier, more mobile-centric wrapper.
I already wrote it (PHP/Javascript/HTML5), no need to buy something else, and suffer the learning curve of weeding out the "downloading" when all I want is "viewing"...
When I was at XBIZ London in Sept 2012, the conversation was all about mobile. And mobile users and devices aren't about storing clips and downloading files.
Mobile users just want to watch.
I found some HTML5-based scripts today that are awesome. Then I inventoried my hard drives, and found a year's-worth of video already in mp4. That and another HDD with 1280x720 files, and 3 other HDDs with a hundred or more each of VIDEO_TS folders of DVDs I made of content that I shot, that can be transcoded to .mp4 in batches with a few clicks.
Finding new HTML5 script libraries today was an eye-opener! After 2 months of ObjC and Javascript more specific for iOS and Android Apps.
One snippet I found in a Library that I copy-pasted in a half-hour, is the little slideshow in the upper right-hand corner of my Android 4 promo section on www.NickBaerGallery.com . Easy, friendly Javascript, not requiring any secretive .css files! I even made 2 mods, on my own!
Since the slideshow is of screen captures from my Android tablet, and tablets and smartphones have rounded corners, I pasted-in a couple lines of Javascript I already had to make images have round-corners! No conflicts. Then, the images were being displayed actual size, rather than sized to fit the space, so I added width=200px to the img statements - and didn't break anything! Hooray for Javascript code that you can copy/paste!
My biggest concern right now is not HOW to write my site, but HOW my site will ever become visible to surfers.
Since I made my Android 4 Map Apps promo box available on my 5 sites a few days ago, 94% of the hits to the individual App detail pages have been by Bots. googlebot, bingbot, and lesser known.
94%!!
The 6% that were human, or at least unidentified Bots, didn't buy, and if they had, wouldn't have made much of a dent in this month's rent.
The lesson from this for a studio/webmaster such as myself, who didn't have a membersite prior to the Google censorship rounds of the past couple of years, is that it is a good thing I can write scripts to save $250 a month, because I would be lost in debt - financial losses - trying to find surfers and be seen by surfers.
I made the first baby steps to my new member site.
FIRST, I got a hosting plan in the US! I LOVE my European web host, but I want an additional host here in the US.
Different Time Zones, different IP Blocks...
The first iteration of the sites is not about recurring memberships to streaming video. The first step is a responsive way to serve tangible and digital goods. DVDs, eBooks and Clips.
http://The-Body-Guards.com
http://The-British-Beef.com
I trust the sites will resolve in your corner of the world.
About 20 lines of css, and another 200 of PHP, reading an array with 60 Array "members" of data. Two domains @$9.99.
I'm now starting to test the streaming video the members will enjoy.
I bought the two Domains on Monday, Sept 1.
Today, 3 days later, 25% of the hits is from Bots! And that is using the filter I created several months ago. I believe there are a few more Bot names I should add to the list. They are getting creative and coming on with new and unique names!
Hey there. Teddy here from Adult SiteRunner. I might suggest you take a look at our packaged solution. We firmly believe in protecting content and we offer you the choice to stream only to your members as well as pay to download or pay to stash videos in the cloud (though we suggest you do all three for top monetization). We also have integrated one click purchases in to our platform.
Our service includes everything in one package. Hosting, software, security and CDN as well as optimized design for mobile and tablet.
;)
Sorry for the pitchy sounding post but I think we might be just what you are looking for. No programming on your end and a turnkey solution that's proven to work.
-teddy
I don't have $399/month to try something new, that ultimately may not see any traffic from Google.
I didn't thoroughly read all of the site, but I'll go back to find out how billing is handled. CCBill, or NATS, or something you have created in-house.
Therefore, how do we attract Affiliates and how are payouts handled?
Or, are you so sure your product will work, that the $399/month comes of the top from revenues, current and future?
You bring your own billing account. We are tightly integrated with CCBill, Epoch, and NetBilling but we can support others.Quote:
Originally Posted by nickbaer
Our product works and has been used on sites since 2006.
Ultimately though you have to market and promote your site for it to be successful. We just give you the ability to make the most revenue possible from your visitors once they hit your site.
Keep in mind that the base price of $399/month INCLUDES hosting, software, CDN, security, and more all in one package. That price is for a streaming only site with no paid downloads or cloud stashing. We highly recommend adding those options to make the most revenue.
I can call and we can go over this.
As a studio (content producer) who partners with VOD, Clip and tangible DVD sales channels, since I became a member of GWW in 2004/2005, I have concerns:
* VOD sales are drastically less year by year.
* VOD partners are not replacing departed personnel.
* I see big name member sites dropping prices to $9.99/month, and others giving longer free trials.
* Cam sites are (each) attracting 7,000+ viewers (to male models) at a time, during peak periods of the day.
* Google is less and less interested in promoting small porn sites.
* There's fewer and fewer webmasters.
* I have a favorite friend who made some money doing something "legit," and invested it in a niche, personal POV fan site. He only talks about being "poor" and doing outside work to support himself and his hobby.
* Web Hosts are increasing the amount of bandwidth use per month.
* "streaming only site with no paid downloads or cloud stashing. We highly recommend adding those options...". Those features are: $249 /month - Pay Per Scene with One-Click Purchase Module, and $199 /month - Cloud Stash Feature (requires one-click purchase module). That doubles the real cost from $399/mo to $847/mo.
* 60-day turn around sounds like this is either a steep learning curve, or you have to do it, and you're busy. "Have your site live in 60 days or get your money back*" "*60 day promise: We want our customers to be up and running quickly so they can start making the most revenue possible. If after 60 days your site is not ready to go live because of any omission on our part we will be happy to close your account and refund your money."
Bec and I have noted the ongoing loss of members and participation here, and the constant complaining (reporting) by webmasters left on the other forum, that e.g. this month has been one of the worst ever. Of course, they are webmasters, not (always also) site owner/operators. Few of them seem to be full-time webmasters only, some seem to be in a household where there is another bread winner, so webmastering for them is like being a housewife with a hobby. Others have.health issues and can't or don't work outside of the home, maybe due to the insurance or government benefits they receive from being sick.
When I do marketing of this or that Cam model showing off his stuff or about to do a sex show, my Cam site affiliate stats go crazy up. When I do marketing about a specific popular DVD, or videos on a VOD site, I have to get out my magnifying glass to see any blips on the radar screen.
From what's left of site owners, after mergers and acquisitions from the recession era fire sales, no one is saying much to encourage anyone to hop into the biz now - as a studio, site or webmaster.
I think a software platform that does what you advertise yours can do, could be useful, but I think the $847/mo needs to be shared. If the site hosting portion of this industry is going to recover from the mergers and fire sales of ~2009 - ~2012, and attract new faces, it isn't going to be by anyone who has a stash of cash left over from shooting porn or selling porn from 2010-2014.
There should be new faces opening new gay sites. But $847/mo, with an estimated 2-months of development, and then finding traffic from scratch, is real scary.
Nickbaer:
We would be happy to discuss our system and its advantages with your further but it sounds like you already have made up your mind because of our price points.
We are not only in the business of selling this solution but we are also fellow content producers with successful sites of our own. Our product is aimed at people who love their brand and work to make it successful. For those people our pricing fits well and in many cases is a mere fraction of what they are currently paying for their existing solutions.
Consumers want choices these days which is why our product offers the ability for them to either simply (and securely) stream videos without downloading (ala Netflix), pay per download (ala iTunes), or purchase videos to keep in the cloud (ala Ultraviolet). Or even a combination of all three. All supported by your billing companies "one click" or "card on file" feature which supercharges up sells and add on purchases.
What we offer is more than just software and a hosting account. It's a totally realized solution on how to do REAL and GOOD business by taking advantage of top level techniques and strategies used by the mainstream big boys all backed by our support. The 60 day promise is because to set up a site on our platform often requires a fair amount of work if you have more than 50 video scenes on the site. We help you get started too, we support you and don't just take your money and run and leave you to your own devices to try and decipher complicated "help documents".
Simply put, our pricing is at the bare minimum of what any serious content site owner should expect to pay for the overall online maintenance of his site because it encapsulates all your needs into one source. Software to run your site, hosting for html, CDN data networks for smooth video playback worldwide, security to help prevent hacking and pirating, mobile and tablet optimization, model acquisition via a built in model application system, amazing design that has been proven to sell more content and much more.
Sorry for the long winded responses. I just find that it's almost impossible to explain our entire approach without writing so much. It's a lot of great stuff.
I just signed up for a demo acct. I agree that revenue streams need to be diversified with various types of product delivery. I'm eager to take a look!
I think the price points are reasonable, but I think that the owners and operators of micro-niche type content studios might have a problem there. Maybe I missed it, but the pricing page on your site doesn't mention multiple sites. If I owned 4 niche sites, would this fall under the same monthly charge? I've found multi-site licenses promoted by other CMS vendors in that price-range. Thanks!
Shane, I have replied to your inquiry via email.
We offer special add on pricing based on your needs.
Talk soon!