such a noob, it should be illegal

[wankee]

Okay....trying this again And remember, I warned you, lotta noob questions ahead :baby: Tonite's project is to refresh my memory and check around this site some more (don't think I've ever checked the tutorials here), try to get my site sketched out again.

Paid domain name/hosting/content is definitely one of my first priorities (something faster than 56k is the other one), especially since the first free host I picked hasn't answered the email I sent a week or so ago....

As for my initial site, I figured I'd start with what I know and like, and focus on stud/bear/muscle pics & vids, stories if I can find them -- more masculine, less twink. I'll need to whittle it down probably, plus I really wanna work in HisFirstHugeCock cuz I really like that one :grin: As soon as possible (either right away or within the first couple of updates) I'd like to have both erotica and porn, but over time depending on how well the site takes off, I'd like to add a community area, chat/forums/cams, and see about visitor-contributed things like artwork and amateur pics (big cans of worms there tho). Once I have a better idea of what's going on I'll probably break things up and/or start up more sites; rather get the hang of it first or I'll get really lost, really quick.

My first questions are more important though, because I know I need to spend a lot of time working on the first site, but I'm beyond broke right now and need to be spending the bulk of my time finding a job so I can make next month's rent and phone bill. 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? I figure it'd be better to flip burgers or whatever so there'll be something coming in sooner for sure, and work on the site around the other job until I know the site(s) can support me more (but that's totally just guessing). I'm not looking to buy a BMW or anything, just pay for rent/phone/electricity/food/ISP, and maybe a bus pass. 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?

Some other things I've wondered about:

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. (btw, I've considered just hosting with each sponsor and having several smaller sites that way, but I'm too easily confused when I don't know what I'm doing yet -- for me, one site will be much more manageable)

2) Anyone have any recommendations for sponsored hosting, or maybe who should be avoided? And is anyone familiar with PorkyHost.com by chance?

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.

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.

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 )......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).

I've looked around a bit at sites done by others, and I'll be doing that a lot here in a few (got three forums open now, so I'll be running through the member lists), just to get an idea of what's common and what's not. Experienced wisdom would be very much appreciated tho :groovy:

[Lee]

Okay lets answer these one at a time for you

Here goes..

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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 )......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

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