"Top 5 Members Area Mistakes" from TheBestPorn.com

thanx, we have only one of 5 mistakes ) We devide videos on parts, but rather big parts.

i'm gonna do some devils advocate here.. just b/c everyone else is agreeing

1. Video encoding is weak! Surfers demand high-quality video, 500k+ is a must. Connection speed usually doesn't matter, surfers will let them download overnight if they need... with the high resolution monitors and hdtv's of today, they want large screen video. Windows media has the best encoding I've seen for what you get per mb/sec. WMV files are also streamable while downloading, which DivX can't do. Offer the LARGEST bit rate you can, and use a quality encoder.


I dissagree... people pull out the CC to jerk then.. not the next day.. sure they may download some for their personal stash.. but when you have a boner.. you don't wait all night for it to download... anyone considering offering high k downloads should pound down their hosting company .. and be sure all hotlinking and password sharing is covered..

also..i've seen 300k versions look as good as other companies 600k and higher versions.. b/c the person doing the encoding was able to write custom settings...


2. Video clips are separated into small clips. This is VERY annoying. Again, surfers don't mind large downloads. They want the ability to download and watch full clips... Imagine watching a porn dvd, and having the movie stop after each chapter. If someone is jacking to porn, the last thing they want is to pickup the remote or click the mouse to view or download the next clip.


agreed... offer both full length downloadable.. (wrap this one with DRM) so that you can control its usage after the member cancels...


3. Some spend too many resources on pictures. Images are free on TGP's in 100's of niches, and are becoming less desirable for a pay-site as broadband access expands. This isn't what users are generally looking for when they pay money. Pics are a good supplement to the video, but unless it's a high-quality studio that specializes in photography, don't waste too much time or money on image galleries.


disagree... if you track hits.. galleries are still pounded on a daily basis... and yes.. everyone who runs adult sites are on broadband.. but 50% of the US is still on dialup.. so images are still a base you must have.. otherwise.. Karups, alsscan, twistys etc.. would all be going out of business.. and they are far from it ;)



4. Plug-Ins generally are worthless! The main reason plug-ins get such a bad rap, is because 95% are behind the times. Some are also VERY saturated, and experienced surfers will move on. There are a few plug-ins I can think of that do provide excellent added value, but otherwise, they're a waste of a members area. As reviewers, we pretty much ignore plug-ins, unless the site is either REALLY cheap (under $10/mo.) or has some of the higher quality plug-ins.


disagree... especially if you just launched your very first custom site.. with 10-15 episodes... what do you use to keep those members happy for the next 7-14 days while they wait for an update??? there are some very good pluggins out there.. and by offering them you also create a one stop shop type of members area... no need to go to another site if they can get it all in one place...


5. Lack of information! I see SO many sites spend good money in producing quality content, only to have it published with very little information about the talent, the scene, the date it was shot, etc. Some sites may have lots of content from the same model, but no stats on the model (bio) or a way to search for all the content from that model. Every piece of content or individual has a story, but very few actually give you descriptions or even basic info about it.


agreed but could you imagine going through thousands of sets and over 100 content producers collecitons and matching up a set, name,model??? and if the model changed her stage name.. which happens often.. it would add to this mess... categorizing content.. is a great thing to have ... if you have the resources and time to do it...

Hey girl!

Congrats on your review, the editors seemed to enjoy your site:
http://privateivy.thebestporn.com/

Have a good one!

for sure... someone is introduced to the internet every day.. someone gets their first credit card every day.. someone turns 18 everyday..

and better yet.. our parents are getting their first computer and getting online everyday..

SMART porn surfers are the worst kind of traffic any program can get... b/c they know how to join, jerk, and cancel... and that is true of both revshare and pps...

i don't care how good the content is.. or how well the members area is laid out.. why pay $20-40 when you can pay the trial.. get off and cancel... (and that is exactly what smart porn surfers do).

I agree with a lot of what you've said Ricky -- "members" are alot smarter than they were even a year or two ago and keeping them active is a huge task no matter what site you run.

I'll add a couple of things here, from my perspective...

1. DRM -- if you're not using it, you should be. The ability to market your members after they quit paying is something that every pay site owner should be looking at these days if they have video content. And before the screams start about how members expect to own the content they download from your site, a flexible DRM system will allow you to let surfers see the content as long as you want them to, even if they've stopped paying their bill. Personally I look at it like this -- if you stop paying your cable or satellite bill, DirectTV and Comcast aren't going to continue to allow you to use their services. As a whole, we need to re-condition surfers to realize they are paying as they go, not sucking down your member area and not paying to view it after the trial. This is not rocket science...

2. Video encoding -- right now the majority of surfers don't have a connection or a video card that is capable of handling large speed wmv's in a situation that will give them a noticeable difference in quality between 300 speeds and 700 speeds. As someone else mentioned, the buffering and frame jerk is as much a turnoff as watching a 56k stream on a brand new machine with a t3 connection. Multiple speeds are a must, and I'd go with the streaming option for all the speeds if I were only going to choose one method of delivery. Streaming allows the surfer to pause, rewind, fast forward from the moment they start watching, just like a Tivo or a DVD experience on their television...

Once again, and I can't stress it enough -- give your surfers a more memorable experience with recognizable parallels to television and movies and you will make more money over the short and long term.

Anyone who's doing a large number of joins a day and only using the reseller/recurring model is just asking for trouble with Visa if you ask me. It's very easy these days to look at a join page and see who's on the breakout list and who's not, and I see alot of the bigger programs bouncing on and off the list with regularity. If I owned one of these programs, I'd be looking for every way possible to offset my chargeback situation... one time non-recurring charges is a GREAT way to do that, especially if you are giving surfers something they recognize in order to entice them to make a transaction with you...

Over the next 12-18 months, I'll bet that all the major motion picture studios in non-adult start to use streaming media coupled with DRM in order to do web delivery of their products. Actually I know this is a fact since more than one of my consulting clients is already in negotiations with these folks. Once that happens, those who have already strategized their businesses into a semblance of that structure will be far ahead of those that are scrambling to catch up.

I think alot of times people get caught in this industry without the ability to have both short and long term strategies, and never realize the real potential of what they have.

Thanks! I thought it was a fairly good review...I've had better and I've had worse LOL ...I really liked that all 4 editors had completely different opinions on my members area, but most of the facts about what I really offer was obvious in all of them.

I love your new review site too BTW, I do agree that they are a wonderful resource for surfers and great marketing tool for webmasters of paysites with members areas strong enough to take the review It definately helps weed out sites that don't really stack up to what they offer in the tour, etc.

Take care!

Ivy

Hey Greg, you make some great points. I'll respond to each one in short.

1. Video Quality - Agree that members are very impulsive, and video quality may not make or break the signup. But video quality will have an affect on retention and overall satisfaction. Solid encoding can output great quality .wmv videos at 500k.

3. Pictures - Agree, there are some great sites that focus mainly pictures only and do well. These sites are either independent photography sites (Abby, Hicks, Suze, Alscan, MET, etc) or compilations of high-quality photos in the 100k's (Karup, Twistys, ATK). What they all have are high-quality photos mostly exclusive and not mainstream. Pictures will always have their place... but it takes a unique site to pull this off.

4. Plug-Ins - They can work fine, but stick to quality plug-ins and don't depend on them to retain users. It's the primary content the users are interested in (and were sold with), and should be the primary reason why they will re-bill.

I definitely agree with you though, and there are definitely exceptions. What I wrote is just some general problems I see... it's impossible to define them as universal issues. What you posted is GREAT info though, and webmasters should understand all the possibilities.

agreed...

Good stuff.

One thing I found interesting is that our top 20 rated sites don't even have trials: http://www.thebestporn.com/reviews_t...tingSiteType=3

Good sites generally control the "savvy" crowd by avoiding trials because of the point you make. The best way to make the most out of smart surfers, is to get them to pay the most money up front... some will still retain, but it takes a lot to winner over this crowd.

Yeah right ! Lens should pin this post!

Hey KimmyKim!!!! You're a never-ending pool of knowledge, you know that?? That's some great stuff!!

I'm lucky enough to have a wide variety of clients, especially now that I'm in LA, to be able to see what works and what people that have been really successful in the past are using on their new projects...

At the end of the day, there's more than one way to succeed, I'm just noting the things that are a common thread between the ones I'm seeing that are doing well now and building for the future...

I am reading with vigor.

Trust me when I say product managers will hear all of this and we will strive to make products that do what you want.

That said, if you have any suggestions, let us know and we will see what we can do.

Look for a lot of new stuff to come out of the DivX bat cave thoughout the rest of the year.

Hit me up also if you want info about DivX CE devices, yes they are already at walmart, amazon, circuit city... and for about $80. Tip of the iceberg.

Thanks for all the valuable info.

Great post Rick. May I ask your opinion on the importance of exclusive content.

Some threads that I have read suggest breaking down members area into a certain % of exclusive versus non-exclusive (example 50% exclusive and 50% non-exclusive). Do you see exclusive content as being a necessity to satisfy a member?

You mentioned the names of several programs that you believe sell easily and need very little marketing because they are high quality sites. Some of those you listed have 100% exclusive content and some have very little or no exclusive content.

What's your take on this?

Damn good question!!!!!!!!!

I don't have any magical advice unfortunately. Bottom line is that you have to create a unique product, one that exceeds your competitors in some way. What makes a great site and gets great ratings aren't always the sites that you see flashing on webmaster boards.

The top sites I've seen usually have 100% exclusive or close to it. They usually have so much exclusive content, that they don't need plug-ins or purchase content from someone else.

The sites that don't have exclusive content that pop into mind are sites that license Red Light DVD's (deluxe pass, videosz, climax corner, qmov) offerring 100+ DVD's for download on their site. A very small percentage of users have probably seen this content already, but the majority don't recognize it and find the content just as useful.

I can't get into niches like Fetish content, simply because I haven't seen enough of them yet...

There's no science in my opinion. Find your niche in the business, find new ways to present/produce it, and master it. Whether you create your own content, or purchase it from someone else (or a combination of the two), there's no exact science. Exclusive material will always be a good advantage, but there's always other ways to make your product valuable.

I've done a LOT of video encoding in the past 3 years for different companies, for contract work, and for myself...


it's amazing how some company will have huge files and yet no good quality... I'll agree with you on that.


But I'll have to agree with Greg and Derek on the pluggins. On one side, you do have some trully outdated pluggins that are probably worth shit for your members, but then you get the kick ass ones that will actually gather a following.

When I entered the pluggin business, I tried to look at what people were doing right, and what people were doing wrong and I tried to incorporate all the good stuff in my pluggin. And let me tell ya, from looking at some trends from all the tracking I can do with the pluggin, that Yes, some people will go and spend 5 mins only and never come back.... but you will get a good enough amount of people that will come back every week for months... HELL, I've got some guys coming back every other day for the last 4 months!


so, my pluggin is what, 400$.... takes ONLY 12 members of yours that like my product, and BAM... the pluggin is paid for and you will make more than 12 persons happy at having access to another site with downloadable content, that's updated every day.


Same would apply for any webcam sites such as what Derek has to offer... where else can they find some High quality live feeds ... that content never gets stale!

Your plug-in is FANTASTIC my friend. This might be the only plug-in I've seen (so far) with high-quality (and well encoded) divx downloads, as well as other streaming options. I like the ratings/reviews as well.

Plug-ins, from what I've seen, are like "B movies" of porn. The majority of them aren't worth viewing, but once in a while you find a great one that stands out from the rest. Your plug-in is good enough to stand on it's own as a pay-site.

Interesting....

Great post and good advise. thanks

Well said....well said indeed!

Wow, between rankscom, Gregtx, and KimmyKim I've learned more about creation of a good paysite than I have in the last 6 months!

Excellent info, I realize it is a balance of opinion/fact but thanks for bringing up these issues!

DRM is great, unless you know how to beat it.. People are quickly learning how to beat it, lots of message boards are already starting to talk about it. If you can play a video on a computer it can be ripped.

Either way, still something good to use

-- Plugins if you don't have plugins, then you are losing members.. Sometimes they like to see something different. Find some good ones, and every now and then rotate a few out.

-- Videos are easy to get.. Offer a low/med/high streaming and downloadable wmv.. Then a high rez mpeg. 99.9% of your member base can view all of the videos then.

Offering one large file will get downloaded LESS than your smaller cut up files. I know I have tracked it for years.

-- If you don't have pictures then again you are losing tons and tons of cash. Members may not like pictures more than videos but they sure as hell download them, trade them, post them, etc.. This brings in a huge amount of very high quality type-in traffic.

-- Our members areas do have information about the girls, write-ups, info, etc... After we did this retention never went up.. I still do it but I don't think they give a shit, they want porn. On that I have tested tickers for stocks, sports, etc.. None of that shit seemed to help.

Companies have CB issues cause they do shady shit or don't have a fucking clue what they are doing.. Simple as that. Yes, everyone can go over 1% for a month due to hosting issues, auth issues, etc.. But it goes down quickly if it's an error, guess that is why visa looks at 3 months.


My best advice is give the member what they want. Shit loads of videos and pictures, exclusive, downloadable, easy to use, no brainier, fast loading members areas. Don't forget your help files and pw help system for the real idiots.

I agree with you here, I would have posted this if you hadn't.

Most surfers do want videos but they still love the pictures. Especially if you're dealing with an amateur style site, they want to get as many sets of their favorite girl as they possibly can, and if you have more sets on the way they'll stay a member that much longer to get them.

Also on the plug-ins. There are alot of shitty plug ins out there with B rated 1970's porn, but there's also a new generation of plug-ins these days. Topbucks and Magnatique's plugins are just 2 examples of this trend.
Plug-ins are a bonus especially when they're in your niche, but even if they're not people are curious and might want to check out something else from time to time and you basically make it free for them to do it since you provide it as part of their membership. Yet another reason for them to stay a member.

However, the plugins need to be the icing, not the cake.

This post is a must read!

Rick is the Yoda of this industry, only much younger.

I will be responding to your e-mail. I appreciate you taking the time to give me you advice.

Thanks a lot Rick, what you just said means a lot to me !

hopefully I can keep on doing what I do and get more quality pluggins out there in order to change the B Movie facet of pluggin to an A-Movie

Good points. Some better than others.

Great Post !!! Thanks for sharring your information

Hi guys and gals! I run Climax Corner (#3 on Rick?s site, www.thebestporn.com) and I wanted to throw my $.02 worth into the ring.

We offer three different resolutions (150, 400 and 900 kb/sec) and each scene is divided into one ~24 minute file, six 3-minute files and 48 30-second clips. Users can also stream or download files (WMF format). We track user?s behavior and ~70% of people go for the entire scene at the highest resolution so clearly that?s what customers want. Of course, that doesn?t mean that you can ignore the other 30% of people so we figure that you have to offer both.

We only offer WMF files for the simple reason that the codec is good, everyone already has the player becomes it comes with Windows and you can stream and download files. In addition, as Rick pointed out, we are seeing a convergence between the TV and the computer and everyone knows that Microsoft is going to be a part of this (e.g. the next generation of DVD players will play WMF files.) In addition, DRM is a relatively easy add-on if your files are already WMF. Basically, if I?m a betting person, I?m going to bet on the company with 50 _billion_ dollars in the bank:-) I?m not saying that you can?t have multiple formats, but if you are only going to have one it seems silly that it wouldn?t be WMF.

In terms of exclusive content versus non-exclusive it can work both ways. On a per minute basis exclusive content cost approximately 20 to 50 times more than non-exclusive content. However, if you have non-exclusive content you need to have a lot more of it (because it does get whored around) which not only means increased licensing costs, but also greater storage needs, more web servers, higher bandwidth bills and more encoding time. We have about 250 DVDs on our site and each one takes about 8 hours to get onto the site from start to finish so that?s one man-year to just select and encode content so it?s a non-trivial amount of time. Thus far we?ve gone the licensing route only because we are computer geeks and don?t know squat about shooting content:-)

We kept our site video only because it seems like pictures are played out. They?re everywhere and why look at pics when you can whack off to full-length motion? This is also from a selfish perspective because we wanted to run a porn site that we could enjoy and we love high-res movies!

If anyone wants to check out our site that hasn?t already seen it shoot me an e-mail and I will hook you up with an account.