Do you look down on 'amateur' webmasters?
 

I had an interesting converstaion the other day. The BBW niche is one of the few left these days that has what I would say are as near to 'real' amateur sites as you can get and still be in it to earn a bit of money. Of course how we all define amateur is interesting because at what level is someone professional but I will stick with the term as most understand it to be a one model site where she or her partner are most likely the one doing all the webmastering.

Anyway, there was a sort of group discussion on a forum and someone made the comment that the 'professional' webmasters look down their nose at the amateur side. I tried to explain that from my perspective my job as a webmaster that creates and runs multiple sites is a totally different game than what they are doing. I got the notion that if this was about bands some one would have muttered the term 'sell out' in regards to the professional/mass market side of the industry. It was an interesting debate. It also stemmed into the 'moral' (for lack of a better term) differences between models that do their own sites and ones that just model for anyone. Personally, I don't see a difference - if you are getting naked in front of a camera for the purposes of having those pics distributed then it is all the same.

I certainly don't see myself as looking down on anyone but with that said it is usually a totally different conversation if I am talking to a 'pro' webmaster or an 'amateur' one. Just on marketing techniques alone, there are only a few amateurs that I can talk search engine techinques to and feel they understand.

Are amateur sites like the minor leagues of our industry? When I started doing this there were very few females on the boards, etc that hadn't at some point had their own amateur site - heck I had my own (Tam comes to mind too) - but it seems that has changed a lot over the last few years and even those who did seemed to have shaken them off for the multi-site style of webmastering.

Anyway, it was an interesting conversation and as the singular 'pro' webmaster there bar the host of the conversation I began to feel like 'the man'.

nevermind.. :error

I personally prefer to promote the "amateur" sites. They do well. :2 cents:

we at AdultLounge.com help "amateur webmasters " ....because one day you never know...that "amateur webmaster " can be our biggest affiliate partner ( notice we like the word "partners" better ) cause technically all our "webmasters" are our partners :-)

dismissing and looking down on these people will only help them when they sneakup and takeover

When I think amateur I think Carol Cox, one of the originals.

You always have good questions. No, not at all. This is what an "amateur" does ... http://carolcox.com/bio/faq7.html

That is a great way to look at things. I mean every has to start at the bottom. :thumbsup

hows life treating you sarah?

I always look down at everyone. I'm tall.

how tall?

I'm a short arse...I look up at everyone.

Some days are better than others. The stock answer I give everyone is that I am 'managing to manage'. Working and living at home alone is lonely when we are used to someone being with you 24/7 but I am adjusting and just making sure I have friends over a lot.

we at dieselaction.com help "amateur webmasters " ....because one day you never know...that "amateur webmaster " can be our biggest affiliate partner ( notice we like the word "partners" better ) cause technically all our "webmasters" are our partners :)

oh and I guess I should add that I most certainly don't feel that I look down on anyone...i just found it interesting that so many thought that our side of the industry did. There were some surfers in on the discussion too and they certainly painted us out to be the devil but a lot of that has to do with the niche and the fact that most 'comerical' bbw paysites don't have a clue in regards to what a BBW fan wants.

To look down one's nose at "amateur" webmasters is laughable! Everyone who now considers themselves a "professional" was once an "amateur". So to look back at where you came from and scoff is ridiculous... :2 cents:

* Although I do know of one or two pricks who think like that! :1orglaugh

I want to be a triangle.

But the "amateur" webmasters you are talking about, do this full time or not?

I mean what do you define as "pro"?

Is it based on income level?

I look down on anyone that doesn't have Got Jizz in their members areas ;)

I think this is the point that amateur websites clearly excell over the commercial sites. We understand the niche because we are deeply ingraned in it.

You can definatly tell the difference in a site run by someone that understands the niche, vs one that is just trying to make a buck off of it. And when it comes to niche stuff (bbw, balloons, messy, anything) those that understand it will make more money. Now, if you take regular porn, that doesnt require that much knowledge of what guys like, commercial sites will always excell.

How do you seperate amateur from pro?

I'd probably still class my self as an amateur as this still isn't my main source of income, but I can safely say that I understand certain aspects of this industry better than some 'pros' (though granted mostly on the more techy side of things).

I do get the feeling that a number of people do look down upon me, but hey I couldn't really give a fuck, if they want to look down on me, then fine, they obviously don't want me as a business partner/customer. No biggy in an oversaturated market like this I can pick and choose who I work with.

Amateur girls websites have a lot of ways of not paying for affiliates. More power to them if they do get affiliates.

I just was looking to promote some on my niche TGP's, and when I looked into it, there were several things that put me off from promoting a certain individual.

a) I could only signup as ccbill affiliate
b) She didn't bill VISA with ccbill, but verotel from which I wouldn't get credit for
c) He site was like swiss cheese, so full of traffic leaks it's not even funny (sponsorcodes, toplists, all kinda shit)
d) 50% revshare in her head means 50% from the first ccbill signup and no recurring.

So, in conclusion.. I do NOT look down on amateur site operators, but IF they want affiliates.. they should be more careful and consider them as well. :2 cents:

i would be considered amateur.....i've never gotten the feeling that "pros" look down on amateur sites.
they are two very different beasts.

Some of the hardest workers in this industry are "amateurs", and some of them do extremely well for themselves. THe only people I "look down my nose at" are lazy people who think everything should be handed to them on a silver platter.

Yeah historically we have had a lot of problems with the amateur girls - the traffic trades decayed the minute we stopped monitoring them, the girls would teach the customers how to remove ccbill ref cookies, they had one day cookies, they would take the affiliate traffic we were sending and straight on trade it to a toplist, etc.

There were only about two handfuls of amateurs that I could actually trust. Half of them are gone, and the other half are now running amateur empires.