Do you believe that sticking with one website and doing it really well is more profitable than trying to create several sites and diversifying ?
By sites I mean (paysites).
Trying to figure out if it's better for me to start offering original content and branding heavily or buying stock content and creating niche paysites.
Also, is using Verotel for an affiliate program a bad thing ?
Any input would be appreciated.
Artist/Painter and Webmaster of Huskyhunks.com.
I started a bear site. A couple of months into it I listened to someone who told me that young guys was where it was at. So I launched a second hub. Then I got a full-time job. Then I decided I needed to diversify and start two more hubs with two others AENs (don't want all our eggs in one basket). Then I started a link list. I've registered about ten other domains to do various things with. Needless to say, I'm overwhelmed.
Stick with one thing until you're doing it so fabulously well that no one could do it better than you, then I'd started another project. Otherwise you could end up with a lot of things you want to do but don't have the time to do.
Michael
I agree that ii is best to find one thing and do that really really well. But I also think it is a good idea to look towards diversification.
used to have dozens of projects going when I was working in the straight side, and was always overwhlemsed and not able to get everything done. We made the decision in the current business to focus on our specific niche and it seems to be paying off. Making our own content has been a huge help in this regard. I would always advise original content over stock stuff.
That being said, I think it is a good idea to spread things out a bit but that depends on your personal situation and goals. We are adding additional products within our niche such as dvds and printed materials. But we are also starting to look at growth opportunities outside gay asian. I think the important thing is to control and manage growth closely. I have had it control me and that is no fun.
We are also fortunate in that we have staff members that can take on responsibility for different projects and that helps tremendously.
You're getting some excellent advice. If you can master the content/category that you choose to brand as you/your company and make it great, the opportunities to expand on that will happen as you're ready to take on the additional work load, expenditures, staff, etc. Things like adding site feeds or a PPV system, live cams or moving exlusive DVD's and so on through your affiliate program can certainly provide expansion opportunities.
As to expanding with purchased content ... my advice would be to think about every conceivable niche, fetish, or micro niche you could easily branch out into another site WITHIN the same basic niche most of your custom content will cover, by simply adding another 20-30 shots to your shooting schedule, and hold those back for the future site.
Lets say you were doing amateur teens for a specific country and happen to be doing an interview as part of the film and photo footage. Let's also say you happen to shoot a lot of those outside at the beach, and the hardcore ends up back in the hotel room.
It wouldn't be a big deal to add in a teaser series of the guy in speedos at the beach for a speedo niche site later on. You just don't include the bulk of the shots on the first main paysite. In the meantime, you can also carefully buy up additional online content that also would help beef up your speedo content and layout the member area with links to the exclusive as well as "bonus" 3rd party content.
So now you have another site you can launch with content that didn't cost another arm and leg to have produced and models that are probably already gaining a following from your primary site.
Making sense?
We are using Verotel affiliate program for all of our sites and it's working well. Why should it be a bad thing, you heard some bad?
verotel has a few problems. one is that - except for a person on this board - it's hard to get support from them. i can call ccbill or icq them or email them and i always hear back. i have emailed verotel a few times and never heard back - and i've heard that from a lot of people.
also ccbill has a $25 minimum payout whereas when i just tried to lower my verotel payout below $100 to see what would happen, i was told
"You have attempted to access information that does not belong to your account. Verotel risk management has been notified."
if i did something wrong - not impossible - it's because their forms and pages are complicated and not at all intuitive. i can change things successfully in every program i work with but verotel. i know webmasters who won't use them and affiliates who won't use them simply because their stats are a living hell.
also - unlike ccbill or epoch - you can't have multiple page linking in verotel, or so i've been told by several annoyed program owners. i can't guaratee this, but they all say the same thing.
if you're in eu, ccbill is the way to go. if you're in the u.s. ccbill or epoch are both less trouble and easier to use than verotel.
in their favor, they do pay most people on time which is a plus. and i've never heard that their stats actually fuck anything up. but i won't sign up for a program using verotel anymore. they're just too much trouble for me to bother with.
I used to believe in sticking to one thing -- until I realized that I wasn't going anywhere...
So, now I diversify. I try to keep things to a minimum though. It's a balancing act sometimes.
I consider websites like books, movies and tv shows -- very few people are able to retire on one book, movie or tv show.
Well, maybe their support is better now. We never have problems to get in contact with them. As I promote websites also by myself for private working, I remember that I wrote them a mail on a Friday evening about 9:00pm and had an naswer in less than 30 min.Originally Posted by basschick
A 25$ check here in EU is a bad thing. After all banking charges there are only about EUR 7.00 less.
It's possible with dfiffernet sub accounts. But you are right, that's not very comfortable.
...and yes, Verotel stats are horrible.
I also know CCBill very good. All pretty fine there. No doubt!
i think sticking with one thing is good but once you know how to do it well, then trying something out or diversifying won't hurt.
Yes, of course, diversification is a good thing and you really don't want to put all of your eggs in one basket. But sometimes people use diversification as more of a procrastination tactic than a long-term business strategy.
You just need to be cautious you're not running around doing a lot of nothing.
Michael
A big thank you to everyone that has responded to this thread. If I may weigh in just a bit, it seems that it's very easy to get overly ambitious when it comes to managing content and sites. I think there's a tendency for a one person operation (or small team) to try to "keep up" with the larger companies. I doubt there's any way to beat them at their game. If I buy stock content, there's no way I can compete with their original content. That probably wouldn't be the best way to proceed (for me).
How do I make the game come to me ? How do I turn the size of my operation to my advantage ?
In the past, I just sliced the pie up into more pieces, but in the end, it was the same pie. Do I make multiple pies, ( I doubt it, don't have the resources ). So, I just have to make the pie bigger, alot bigger.
Since I have a long long way to go to corner even my small niche of husky guys, improving my site would seem the obvious way to go right now. Make myself better, more original content, more branding, better design etc. then maybe I can look at diversifying within my own big man area.
Artist/Painter and Webmaster of Huskyhunks.com.
Huskyhunks - it's very easy to keep up with the bigger companies because their sites are terrible. they make their money from upsells, cross sales and exit sales. i think the problem here is that smaller webmasters feel that's wrong to do and then compare themselves.
a lot of the bigger programs don't want to make sales - they want to make exit sales because they don't have to pay affiliates for those. and with epoch, you can cross sell on cancellation, too, so big programs make money in every facet except - ironically - rebills.
of course, there are sites like randyblue that don't - but they're not really the multi-million dollar operation that topbucks or ce is. they have LOTS of a high quality product and enough updates to make people have something to look forward to. they don't have tiny updates - like a small part of a video - or less frequent updates.
Husky,
I'm going to try and be gentle, but if I can be brutally honest and I hope you'll take this is the spirit of helpfulness. I think you need to be more consistent.
You're here, then you're not here for long periods of time. You're starting a paysite, then you're back to AVS. I think at some point you were going to shoot your own content, but 2257 might have killed that. And there have been other projects that have come and gone. I don't know, the details aren't important.
What is important is that as someone who works in the bear niche, I've been watching you because I'm always looking for new sites to sponsor. But from my perspective, you're not consistent. I'm not sure I want to send you my traffic because I don't want to wake up one morning and find that you've changed your whole business model or that I can't get a hold of you or that you're now doing this or that.
In all fairness to you, the industry has had a couple of huge blows in the past couple of years that have forced many of us to completely re-arranged our businesses: VISA/AVS compliance regulations, Adult Check dumping a huge number of their webmasters, iBill, and 2257 (the ongoing saga).
Also, I understand too well that we sometimes lose our way and we're not sure what to do, so it's easy to get diverted into a new project, which is always exciting. But if we have too many false-starts or too many changes, people don't want to deal with us.
I deal with Chili Host because Luke is solid, he's always here, he answers my e-mails and goes out of his way to keep me happy, even at times when I'm an unreasonable bitch.
There is an AVS out there that I will never submit galleries to because just about everyone on this board has said that it takes them five days to approve a gallery.
I recently bought some content from a provider in a foreign country, and although it looked like they had credit card processing, they really didn't. I got an e-mail that the order would be processed manually on the next banking day. (I ordered on a Friday.) And then it took a couple of days to get it approved once it was processed. And then I had to wait for my download. And then I had to request my 2257 docs. And then I had to ask them again. Their business model is too cumbersome, I doubt I'll bother with them again.
These are some examples of how consistency or the lack of it can make or break your business.
I think Husky Hunks is a great product. I think you just need to work on it, continue producing great galleries, work towards some more exclusive content, and make that your thing. But whatever else you do, you ought not to waiver too far from your core until that is solid as a rock and the community knows it. With Husky Hunks a strong and well-known site, they'll better accept a new product from you.
Again, I hope you'll take this post as helpful and not critical because I'd love to do business with Husky Hunks.
Cheers,
Michael
Hi Michael,
You're right. I really haven't worked as an adult webmaster in two years. I was hesitant to put much effort into the site because things were so sketchy. I only update once a month which is only a couple hours a month of working. You could total all the work i've done in two years and it would amount to two or three weeks of solid work. I'm very lucky to have such great members and rebills.
I still watch what's going on and who does what. I'll submit a few sites here and there and see who/what bites. I actually think it's a good time to start up again. I don't see 2257 as the nuclear bomb that I thought is was going to be. I did have fun shooting my own content. I learned how to make dvd's. I composed my own music and all that good stuff.
I never really liked running my own affiliate program. In the short time that I ran one, i didn't like sharing the sale. I also didn't like the added responsibility. If I want to take off for a month and go somewhere, than I just didn't want to be tied down by having to look after an affiliate program. Go figure.
I don't think Verotel has a strong affiliate setup. It lacks alot of the tools that webmasters and affiliates need to be able to use. I'm sure some webmasters are doing well with it, but for me, it's just too basic.
With all this being said, I've tried alot of different content out. Different sponsors and affiliate programs and using different angles to sell that content. I'm still much better at selling my own site.
This is a great thread. So many webmasters offered such great advice. I can't stress that enough and I'm very grateful because it helps us all to share our experiences.
Artist/Painter and Webmaster of Huskyhunks.com.
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