Where am I going wrong?

[Khun]

It's been a while guys!

So, after about 4 or 5 years, good friend and fellow photographer has talked me into getting back in the adult market. Needless to say, things have changed quite a bit.

I have spent the past couple weeks trying to get caught up (as best I can) on the state of the industry, the current software, billing solutions, marketing plans, etc. While I know I have much more brushing up to do, I now have a preliminary game plan and would love some feedback as to what sounds right and where I am going wrong. Here we go:


Domain: Undecided as to the exact but it will be an $8 regular registration and I think I can find what I want. The name I want will be something uniquely brandable like MC Nudes, Herge-Art, MET-Art, etc. I have no desire in names like HugeTitTube, UltraHotTeens, or other combinations of search term words (SEO be dammed).

Billing: CC Bill. From the looks of things, I can bill, run an affiliate program, manage passwords, and more with this one solution. This is an area that I am not 100% certain on, however, I know they are solid and provide a host of features I need without the added expenses of additional scripts (such as an affiliate program) in the startup phase of the business.

Password Management: CC Bill. See above.

Affiliate Program: CC Bill. See above. Also, I am not sure I want affiliates to start. I would like to get a good footing on the site itself and promoting it myself before I try to bring in affiliates to promote the site for me.

CMS: Elevated X. Spoke with AJ for a while last week and am impressed. Also, there are no shortage of recommendations for Elevated X here on GFY. My only hold up is that the layout is not ideal but have been told that the script can be modified to fit my wants/needs.

Hosting: Elevated X package hosting for $400 per month. Not sure if this is MojoHost, Reflected, or Webair but I know the names of all three and feel that I am not too far off the mark on price or quality here. For the record, the server is a Dell PowerEdge 860 - Quad Core Xeon X3220 2.40Ghz Processor - 8GB RAM - 25 Megabit Bandwidth.

Content: As I hinted at above with the domain, the site niche will be art nudes and glam. We will have very little, if any, hardcore. All content will be custom produced by team of shooters and myself. I will add that my team and I are all very experienced photographers and videographers.

Thats it for now. I am not looking into traffic and down and dirty promotion yet, that will be the next area I dive into. So, with all this in mind, what are your thoughts? What am I missing? What sounds good? Am I flat out missing the boat anywhere?

I look forward to reading your input!

[amateurcanada]

Hi there - if your a startup you shouldnt invest in such a large server capacity. We use www.nakedhosting.com and speak to Kacy - she works with me personally to adjust what I need. Start slow and adjust costs based on profit but never compromise speed in this arena of instant gratification.

Lets see some of your content? Are you using high end cameras etc? High def? SD?

[Khun]

Hi there - if your a startup you shouldnt invest in such a large server capacity. We use www.nakedhosting.com and speak to Kacy - she works with me personally to adjust what I need. Start slow and adjust costs based on profit but never compromise speed in this arena of instant gratification.

Lets see some of your content? Are you using high end cameras etc? High def? SD?

None of our past content is released for adult usage. Well, technically I have releases to do whatever I want with the work but I would not post any of the models' images without their explicit consent out of respect.

Cameras, yes, I shoot stills with high end Nikons and Nikon glass. Video, I shoot with the Canon 5DmII and 7D with mostly primes. Both cameras are HD, the 5D being 1080 and the 7D being 720. I use both to get the best of shallow depth of field and ability to overcrank for killer slow motion when needed.

Finally, as to the server, I know this is overkill to start. Elevated X has a $500 setup so I would prefer to get a bit more than I need and pay setup once rather than have to move servers, pay another setup, and deal with the issues that ALWAYS arise in a server migration.

[bbobby86]

yea... thing have been change...

[WebairMetz]

Feel free to contact me and I will be happy to assist you with a server that fits your needs on the ElevatedX platform.

Regards,

[Khun]

Thanks Mike. I will give you a shout sometime soon so I can compare the specs and prices.

[Khun]

Wow, must be doing stuff right or I didn't hit the right keywords...

Obama, right wing fundamentalist, 2257, Jesus, global warming, OMG pix.... There, that should make this thread a little more lively.

[Amputate Your Head]

Wow, must be doing stuff right or I didn't hit the right keywords...

Obama, right wing fundamentalist, 2257, Jesus, global warming, OMG pix.... There, that should make this thread a little more lively.

not only are you wrong about all of that, not surprising that you never acquired the skills over at the janitor's union, but you're a pinko commie socialist obama-loving bastard child of dick cheney!



that should cover 90% of any responses to that also now.

[TeenCat]

you are missing good design that sells, then you are ready to go, have luck!

[damnage]

Good luck!!!!

[mgtarheels]

$400 for the following???!?!? You're getting raped, if so.

Hosting: Elevated X package hosting for $400 per month. Not sure if this is MojoHost, Reflected, or Webair but I know the names of all three and feel that I am not too far off the mark on price or quality here. For the record, the server is a Dell PowerEdge 860 - Quad Core Xeon X3220 2.40Ghz Processor - 8GB RAM - 25 Megabit Bandwidth.

[Khun]

$400 for the following???!?!? You're getting raped, if so.

Hosting: Elevated X package hosting for $400 per month. Not sure if this is MojoHost, Reflected, or Webair but I know the names of all three and feel that I am not too far off the mark on price or quality here. For the record, the server is a Dell PowerEdge 860 - Quad Core Xeon X3220 2.40Ghz Processor - 8GB RAM - 25 Megabit Bandwidth.

That is the intro package. Here are the full specs:

Dell PowerEdge 860 Server
Quad Core Xeon X3220 2.40Ghz Processor
8GB DDR2-667 ECC RAM
2x1TB SATA Hard Drives, RAID 1 (2x1.5TB +$20, 2x2TB +$30)
25 Megabit Bandwidth (50 Megabit +$75, 100 Megabit +$300)
Fully Managed and Monitored
Weekly Backup
Unique IPs for all Domains
24x7x365 Live Support
Complete Migration Assistance (From previous host)
Free LinkSentinal Anti-Hotlinking License ($50/month value)
Free JW Player 5.1 Pro Unlimited Commercial License ($200 value)
Free Flowplayer 3.1 Unlimited Commercial License ($1450 value)
Elevated X CMS ($150 Value)

Do note that this does include the $150 license fee for Elevated X. Is this a bad deal? If so, can you suggest another option from a reputable company?

[AJHall]

Khun,
I wish you'd have asked me about this, I would have given you all the info

The $400/$425 hosted CMS plans we offer are MojoHost/Webair. I'm surprised that Mike Metzger didn't mention that hosted plan was Webair's when he replied here but he probably didn't know.

All of the hosted plans we offer were created specifically for the Elevated X content management system by the respective owner of each hosting company. Each company already hosts high traffic Elevated X users and is familiar with our software and the needs of our users as they grow their businesses. You're in good hands with us and the companies we refer to.

If you want to comparison shop call me and I'll give you a list of 3 or 4 other solid, reputable hosts so you can get quotes.

1-800-690-9277 ext 1 is my direct line.

AJ

[Tempest]

After having worked with Elevated X for awhile, I'd suggest you seriously look into other options. Course I don't know what else is out there other than Carma and IMO neither one of them is fantastic.

If you do decide to use Elevated X, use smarty for the templates and not xml which is just painful.

[AJHall]

After having worked with Elevated X for awhile, I'd suggest you seriously look into other options. Course I don't know what else is out there other than Carma and IMO neither one of them is fantastic.

If you do decide to use Elevated X, use smarty for the templates and not xml which is just painful.

Tempest - your reply clearly shows your lack of knowledge about our product.

We switched to using Smarty EXCLUSIVELY over a year ago. The exact date of the press release and GFY post about this was made on July 17th, 2009. In fact, the LAST 2 CMS versions we've released have used Smarty templates.

The thread is here and I think shows our commitment to making things easier for our customers and for designers who provide them services:
http://gfy.com/showthread.php?t=915664

Please stop speaking about our system until you're more well informed

If you'd like to setup a time for a demo I'll be happy to show you the CMS inside and out and explain how it all works, including the templates.

AJ

[Tempest]

Tempest - your reply clearly shows your lack of knowledge about our product.

We switched to using Smarty EXCLUSIVELY over a year ago. The exact date of the press release and GFY post about this was made on July 17th, 2009. In fact, the LAST 2 CMS versions we've released have used Smarty templates.

The thread is here and I think shows our commitment to making things easier for our customers and for designers who provide them services:
http://gfy.com/showthread.php?t=915664

Please stop speaking about our system until you're more well informed

If you'd like to setup a time for a demo I'll be happy to show you the CMS inside and out and explain how it all works, including the templates.

AJ

Really.. Well the version I was using, 3.1.1206, used both Smarty and xml, NOT exclusively Smarty. Maybe v3.2 uses Smarty templates exclusively but I didn't pay much attention to what was different in that one since they weren't going to be upgrading.

I'm intimately familiar with that version of the CMS and the bugs I kept finding in it and having you guys fix. I'm also intimately familiar with the DB structure of that version and how poorly it's designed. Saving the exact same data in mutiple tables is very poor design, not to mention storing it as xml AND serialized php. I would hope that things like that would have been revamped in v3.2.

Regardless, ElevatedX and Carma are probably the only real choices out there.

[AJHall]

Really.. Well the version I was using, 3.1.1206, used both Smarty and xml, NOT exclusively Smarty. Maybe v3.2 uses Smarty templates exclusively but I didn't pay much attention to what was different in that one since they weren't going to be upgrading.

I'm intimately familiar with that version of the CMS and the bugs I kept finding in it and having you guys fix. I'm also intimately familiar with the DB structure of that version and how poorly it's designed. Saving the exact same data in mutiple tables is very poor design, not to mention storing it as xml AND serialized php. I would hope that things like that would have been revamped in v3.2.

Regardless, ElevatedX and Carma are probably the only real choices out there.

I should have clarified -
Since adding Smarty templates to version 3.1 last July, by default all new CMS installs were setup with Smarty unless the customer specifically requested the older XSL templates (which almost never happened). When we announced a Smarty template set we offered it for free to anyone who wanted to switch over to it. A lot of users opted to start using Smarty on new sites and continued using XSL on their existing ones. I can't say for sure but this might be why the install you worked on had both. In version 3.2 and moving forward we are no longer offering an XSL template option although we are still supporting customers who are still using XSL with older CMS versions.

XSL while powerful, was overkill and for many it was rough to work with unless you were already an XSLT coder or really wanted to customize the system. It had a few fans but the Smarty version is definitely better and each new version of the CMS is a big improvement over the last in many areas. Customers complained that XSLT code was too hard to work with so we moved away from the XSL templating. Since we changed to Smarty we've had far fewer complaints.

You seem to have some strong, negative opinions of our software. We do take things like this seriously. As much as I hate to read stuff like this (it literally ruins my day) I know it's good because listening to the complaints and taking them to heart help us make things better.

We're big on transparency and it's common industry knowledge that we run an honest business. Since you chose to post your complaints publicly I'll do the same and will post a response to address the technical issues you described.

Before doing that I'd like to know more about your experience with our software. It will be a big help to know which company you own/worked with when you encountered all of the bugs you mention. Anytime someone has negative things to say or has an experience like you've described it's important to me to look up the account and see how the tech support was handled. 3.2 is a LOT better than all previous versions and much of the reason is due to feedback from users. Having the details in front of us helps us improve both the CMS product and our support service as well.

If you can shoot me an email or call me and give me the info on the customer account you're referencing here it will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

AJ

[Paul Markham]

I suggest you get Strongbox and Throttlebox. The pages describe what they do. In short they stop scum getting into your site and raping all the content.

How much content do you have to start off? Asking models if they want there pictures and videos spread across the Internet suggests you may have a model release. If you do then fine, if not then get them to sign one. You can hit me up on ICQ and I will send you the ones we use. What IDs of the models do you have to prove the girls are over 18?

Using the sites you mentioned as examples is great for the style of the content, I believe these sites have been going a long time. Starting up now and shooting that level will take money unless you have a lot of content to kick it off. Or a lot of money.

I'm assuming you and your photographers have the skills. Do you have access to this level of models and the locations? These sites have some stunning girls, many from Eastern Europe. MC Nudes I suspect has Czech girls because I'm blocked from viewing it.

The hosting side is easy to get right and cheap. The content side is a nightmare and expensive.

[Cherry7]

MC Nudes uses Czech girls like us,,,,



ALthough they claim Megan shown here is from the UK, ( I wish ! )