Mistakes to avoid...
 

When opening a new paysite....

Anyone with experiences to warn others about?

Misstakes:

NOT using custom content
NOT opening an affiliateprogram
NOT using a good webhosting

Well thats some misstakes...

How long after opening the site should you add an affiliate program?

Edit: How much traffic should your site have seen and tested before getting an affiliate program to test with other webmasters ?

Nobody else? Nobody had problems opening up their first small paysites?

Custom content is nice but expensive. Also, its better to have good quality generic content than bad custom content.

You can do quite well without an affiliate program and not have to put up with the headaches that affiliates cause.

I agree with the comments about good webhosting.

It was a bomb!!! Didn't know jack about this biz! Some would say, I still don't. Figured out that I was in over my head so I shut it down and started TGPs to learn more about the traffic and so on. Talked to some people in the biz at one of the Internext shows and on the phone and online. The advice was a help.

So now, looking to get back to the paysites.

I think 'quiet' is proof enough that you don't need an affiliate program to do well. His site is also proof that custom content goes a long way for build the fidelity of recurring members.

From what I see and hear, Affiliates are a royal pain in hte ass. Just too many cheaters in the world!

What made it a bomb? You couldn't get traffic or your couldn't build a recurring clientele?

For me it's not so much the pain in the butt part - cause I've had to deal with the best of the best idiotic fools in mainstream jobs - but it's more a matter tweaking the site to the productivity I want of it before letting someone else prove me wrong.

the key to reccuring is to be consistant with your weekly updates.

I think so too :-)


Did you not hit any walls when starting your first paysite, Honeyslut?

If it's any help -
1st - Open a site in a niche that you feel comfortable with (I am assuming you haven't got limitless cash)
2 - Learn the trade inside out - Make sure you know how to drive traffic to your site, how to turn the surfer into a member, and how to keep him -
3) Original content is important at starter level - Because your new member has most prbably been a member of several other sites and he has seen all the bought stuff. So - original content - Regular updates - loads of interaction with the members.
4) When you are generating a reasonable amount of cash - Re-invest as much as posible in more marketing - Pay submitters for tgp - Pay someone to create free sites etc -
5) Now you are getting somewhere - Look at opening new sites -
6) Only consider running a programme when you have something to offer partners to make it worth their while joining your programme, and when you are already creating sales enough for you to live on comfortably.

7) If you have shit loads of cash - Ignore the above - Create a members area full of upsales - Pay someone to bulid you 60 or so nice designs - Come here and say you will pay 100$ for every webmaster you refer to your programme - Find someone to cross sell to - Find another programme you can sell your cancels to.
Join a few programmes and spam the email addresses of your cancels - Then create another load of cheaper sites to offset the amount of chargebacks you are getting and start over -
Very soon you will be a "playa"
Just my:2 cents: :1orglaugh

Just people at the board I was hanging at when I started my first one would say negative stuff like.

"You don't want to do a paysite. " AVS is the way to go

blah blah.

I never hit a block cause I started very small and just added content all the time.

It was hard when globill disappeared last year.

Hahahah 1 to 6 is helpful indeed! Thanks!!

7) won't be the case for me - but I don't think it's too far from the truth :-)

Well - I've heard alot of negativity & people are still making money - even in things I'd never put my money in. So I think there is a market for everything.

I hope you're back on your feet after that disappearance!

Anybody else want to share their experience? Good or bad?

is custom content really all that important? i would think non-exclusive would work just as well, as long as it's not been spread around too much.

I would think that if you are concentrating on a different niche or micro-niche it isn't 'as' important. Some people like one thing only - and a collection to all of them is good enough. It also depends on your competition. If they have a mish-mash of stuff but yours is concentrated - you may have a greater chance of keeping your surfer because they look for that in particular.....not 3 million pics of everything under the sun....

I could be wrong.

The other thing is that eventually you'll have to get custom content if you want to keep them cumming :-) and rebilling.

You should open the affiliate program at day one. You are going to want a big amount of money to play with and an affiliate program will get you going in the right direction.

umm yes it is that important.

I'm not sure I'd be skilled enough to know who's cheating and what not.


BTW there's something wrong with your sig

NOT buying type-in domains in 1997.

A lot of new sites these days do not use affiliates....Just paid advertising. We do both and there can be some advantages to not using affiliates in this low chargeback environment. Often it's cheaper to pay for the advertising than to give up half or more of the receipts.

Have you tested both theories?

Did you have a site with non-exclusive content & it didn't pull as many signups?

Did you then re-launch it with exclusive or just open another one with exclusive?

i started out using $200 worth of content that i won. that gave me a good start for my first paysite.

buy cheap (but good) content..just look around, usually content providers will have end of the month sales or some kind of specials.

That's what I was thinking - like I mentioned, I'm not sure I'd be able to spot those types of snakes in this business. In due time, I'm sure I'll figure those out too.

Well that's a good thing! I think it has alot to do with the presentation too. Every restaurant does the same thing, it's how they spice it up and present it that appeals to the masses. Well sort of....... :-))

Don't forget password protection:)

No traffic 1st. To answer I need to give ya more detail. I did two pay sites. One I did and didn't have nearly enough content to keep a handful of customers. Didn't even know where to go to buy a portal etc. Like I said, I didn't know jack.

The second I bought or I should say leased the right to promote a site. Plenty of content, but I didn't have traffic or total control over the site. This was very stupid on my part. I heitate to admit I did it. I bought traffic from sex.com etc. You see the dumb moves kept adding up and I was wasting $. Doing that plus a mainstream job. Can't believe I fell for stuff I did.

Gladly talk to you on ICQ or phone if you want all the details and opinions. Looking for people to partner with on projects now.

I have had both. The non exclusive site did fine with sign ups but had a terrible time rebilling and was awash with chargebacks. Site no longer is owned by my company.

Our exclusive sites sell considerably better and retain customers at least 5 months on average and have a chargeback level that is more than acceptable.

Cool just added you :-))

If I may ask, how often was the first site updated? And how often do you update the second one?

Do you have plugins or only your own content?

BTW, I love the design for the first site and the logo for the second one in your program!

I think Harlotcash has a ton of good info listed in the thread. Talking to people that have won and looking at what they did in details helps.

Take someone like sleazy. I go to his site, look at the source code, try to figure out how much he is making and how he did it. How did he get the advertisers, who are they, why did they go with him and so on.

I just used Sleazy as an example, cause everyone here knows of him. I took a close look at shemp, choker and more. The learning process is hard one. The number that just walk in and make the big bucks are very few. KRL sold men.com for 1.3 Million. But he was making plenty before that happened. Wonder how many newbies know about his experience with the 900 number phone sex deals?

Of course there are secrets that you'll never find out unless someone decides to share he info.

Good thread, this should win you a GFY shirt. BTW - wasn't trying to say you were a newbie.

Quality thread.

:glugglug

BTW.....the newbie comments don't offend me. I think everyone is an eternal newbie. There is always someone smarter/wiser/quicker with a different angle on things & that difference can prove everyone's theories wrong.

Just want to correct something - KRL bought men.com - I don't think he sold it :-)

Thanks :-) what you drinking?

The non exclusive site was updated two to three times a week, content was cheap so updating is easy. The exclusive sites are updated weekly at the very least (we do suprise updates on occassion).

We have played with plug ins and may add them again. Problem was finding a plug in that was used enough to justify the cost, had high enough quality, and did not cause more than the normal amount of member emails with problems.

Thanks, we do have an alternate design by dickman designs for the first site that we are testing now.