What is the future for AVS?

[dalimili]

Hi all...

I started doing gay websites under a certain AVS system several years ago.... I did it for some 2 years and later I had changed my profile totally.....

However just few weeks ago some things happened in my life that I had to rethink all gay portfolio all over again....

Now a great shock to me was that I actually didn't know where to start these days.... it seems there are so many gay AVS systems, but mainly they all offer the same thing....

So hence my question, what exactly is the future for AVS ? Ok, some of them have their webmaster upgrading to platinum or gold or whatever, but what is the next big step... as it's quite ridicilous how many sites with no quality at all there are.... and they are still accepted into these AVS...


Or is this it?

Dali

[gaystoryman]

It is like anything these days. There are the good ones and then there are the fringe ones. I can't comment on most as not really my field or experience of late, but from what i have seen you might want to check with Dzinbear from Mancheck.

Least you get honest up front answers and a willingness to work with you, which says lots to me. Other's seem less inclined to discuss issues or offer any real help, but sometimes that is simply determined by who you talk with.

I think the aen/avs market is a viable one, just tougher to crack like any of the fields are these days. So for those willing to work it, it can pay off.

just my pennies worth
ian

[sexkeydwayne]

Dalimili,


I would like to talk with you about what you are planning on doing, and where you want to take it in the future. I don't like doing shameless plugs here. Would you please contact me at your earliest convenience. All of my contact info is below.

ICQ - 175991098
AIM - sexkeydwayne
Yahoo - sxkey_dwayne

[Dzinerbear]

What is the future of AVS? Bluntly, we don't know.

Officially AVS is dead, that is VISA does not allow companies that used to operate under that model to call themselves an AVS. The major issue is that VISA does not want anyone claiming that a credit card is a valid form of age verification.

MANcheck is still busy and going strong. We refer to ourselves as an Adult Entertainment Network (AEN). We complied with the new regulations imposed by VISA, and that consisted mainly of us removing AVS, "protecting minors" etc from our site. We've heard of no new compliance rules coming down the pipe, but we all know how quickly things change in this business.

MANcheck requires that a site have at least 50 pictures for a regular site and 100 pictures for a plus site. Regular sites are accessible with the $19.95 annual membership and Plus sites require the $39.95 membership.

A $19.95 membership includes a 7-day demo of our premium $39.95/monthly membership and it rebills on the 8th day. You can upsell to MANcheckPlusVideo, you can also try and sell members time in MANcheckCinema, although the commissions are considerably less. Still a buck is a buck, and MANcheckCinema is another way you can make money off of existing members.

As far as the quality of sites. It's difficult because so many webmasters are still stuck back in the cookie cutter past. At MANcheck we try to rectify this problem by only listing a couple of sites in the cases of webmastgers bombarding our system with tons of galleries. You can, of course, use this to your advantage by creating really nice sites and galleries. They'll sell better and we'll list them all.

I started working with xstr8guy a few months back and his sites are coming along nicely.

If there's anything I can help you with, let me know. I'm always happy to help.

Cheers
Dzinerbear

[Xstr8guy]

Essentially there are several different philosphies when it comes to AVS/AEN...

1) Cookie cutter template sites with old content. The theory is to build 5 or more sites a day and submit to every AVS that will accept your crap and hope for the ocassional sale from the "new sites" list and sponsor sales.

2) Hand built sites with fresh content. With this style, you build several sites a week (or when appropriate content is available). You might target a particular market segment/niche and build-up your bookmarkers on your hub site. Mirror your sites discriminately, perhaps on 2 or 3 AVS's.

3) Make paysite quality Premium sites and feed it with traffic from your regular AVS sites.


I think that any of those scenarios is still a viable way to make money... and perhaps a blend of each style would work the best. In my opinion AVS is very much still alive and well... it's just called something different now.

Trial and error is still the best way to find what works for you. If you can't afford a lot of new content, well, you may not want to start by building a hub for bookmarking surfers. On the other hand, if you have a big budget, you might want to build a network of Premium sites in every niche. Chances are, you're somewhere in between.

[dalimili]

I was also wondering, since I've been away for quite long period, whatever happened to GMS- GayMegaSites....

I have to say they had great rules for webmasters and they had mainly quality sites listed..... why did they die I wonder....


Another thing is, what can all these gay AVS services offer for future? As I said upgrading to platinum or gold or plus is current option, but what then?

P.S. What's the deal with **** being **** on the board?

[Dzinerbear]

The other thing that AVS/AEN sites offer you is traffic. They all have different rules, but you certainly have the capability of promoting secondary sponsors on the inside galleries and middle pages.

Running AVS/AEN galleries is a package deal, you want to promote the AVS/AEN, you want to upsell to their premium product, and you want to cross-sell other sponsors (where you're allowed) so you're getting the biggest bang for all of that traffic.

GMS still seems to be around: http://www.gaymegasites.com/ Don't know them personally though.

Cheers
Dzinerbear

[JustJohn]

GayMegaSites did have a nice system going. Unfortunately they no longer list sites or accept webmasters. The site is up just until the existing membership runs out.

[dalimili]

What's with the Allmalepass? I mean it looks like it's working, but ...?

I'm really in need of any info for all these AVS companies, so thanx in advance

[Xstr8guy]

GayMega Sites were owned by AdultCheck. I don't have the energy right now to explain the whole AC fiasco... except to say that they fucked over hundreds of webmasters and moved off-shore. AC did close down GMS shortly before they imploded and moved the memberships to AC Gold, but they may have sold it off to someone since.

[Xstr8guy]

Originally posted by dalimili
What's with the Allmalepass? I mean it looks like it's working, but ...?

I'm really in need of any info for all these AVS companies, so thanx in advance

As far as traditional AVS's, I am currently using U*G*A*S and MANcheck.

For gay only AVS's, I have tried Mansites, GlobalMalePass, RainbowPassport, IMen, GayVerifier and Gaybouncer... and some others I can't remember. I personally don't like the "free" AVS business model. I also now only use programs the have Premium/Platinum/Gold monthly recurring programs. Imen and Gaybouncer are programs with great potential, but unfortunately they are severely neglected by their straight owners.

Some of the straight/gay programs are worth looking into C*berage, ProAdult and AdultBouncer have made me a few bucks, but I don't actively build for them anymore.