How Much To Start A Profitable Paysite These Days?

[Lee]

I was curious to know how much you folks figured it cost to start a paysite these days in order to turn a decent profit, im always seeing posts on places like GFY saying that it costs in the region of $100k+ to start a new paysite which i always laugh at.

So what do you think the 'magic number' is in order to start a paysite thatll generate a profit almost immediately upon launch?

Regards,

Lee

[DEVELISH]

2 grand

DEV

[PFLJayden]

PFL cost almost $40k. It has a large monthly overhead as well. But it is a voyeur site.
We have PhillyFratLive.TV coming out in a couple weeks. It is costing $1500 to develop.
Maybe that will help with figures.

[HunkyLuke]

you can get a basic site up for $2-3K, whether it is profitable really depends on how good you are at marketing

[Seth]

It really depends if you are starting from scratch or not and if you're shooting your own content.

Camera(s): $3000-$10000
Lighting: $500-$2000
Model Recruitment: $1000
Models (20 scenes at $500/scene): $10,000+
Location: $2500
Attorney: $1500
Hosting: $500
Visa Fee: $750
-------------------------------------------
Easily: $20,000 - $30,000

This is not including your time, anyone else you hire or contract with to help you out, marketing, etc.

If you're already established, the cost can be a lot less as you already have a lot of those things in place.

[Bec]

You forgot stuff like

Domain registration(s): $10 on avg per name
Logo development: $150 and up (might be included in a tour design)
Paysite tour(s) and member area template: $500 and up
Banners and Affiliate Tools (fhg templates): $300 and up
Content Management System: cheapest right now is Awiz for like $150 US
Strongbox Security: $150 per site
If US Based - 3rd party 2257: Like 2257 Safe - keeps your addy off all the pages
Business LTD or LLC - $250 on average
Optional 3rd Party Affiliate Billing Program: like Nats at $150 per month

... and I probably missed something ...

[SirGuy]

No easy question - it's like asking "how much does a car cost?"

A lot depends on what type of site you're creating, how many aspects you handle yourself, contacts and resources you have, creative ways of keeping your overhead costs to a minimum, etc.

We launched our first website on a shoestring budget in 1999. We barely had two pennies to rub together...but we did mostly everything ourselves (web design, content production, prop building, graphics, post-production, marketing & promo).

Granted, we had an extremely unique niche with very little competition at the time, which made it somewhat easier. Our biggest expense was my time and labour.

[HunkyLuke]

course you could go totally cheap and lease a single dvd feed ($99/mo), design the site yourself, go with a no-visa-rego-fee biller, a $1.99 godaddy coupon domain name and a cheap shared hosting account for maybe $10-20/mo.

Total upfront $1.99
total monthly $120

and yes this can be very successful too - once again depending on your own marketing skills.

[Bec]

a cheap shared hosting account for maybe $10-20/mo.

I just put up www.cheapadulthostingxxx.com and actually have hosts offering adult hosting as low as 2 bucks per month.

And you're right -- if you have a marketing system setup, (either your own sites and/or link trades) it can be profitable rather quickly.

[HunkyLuke]

oh nice new site, Bec, that will be a great resource!!!