Looking to start my first paysite (BIZ THREAD)
 

Well,

I have a bunch of content that I have purchased, and I am very close to finalizing things with a payment processor.

So now I am looking to setup a paysite, and I have the following questions for you:
1. How important is the domain name for branding? Since most people will be members (and be forced to remember the URL), and since most of my members will come VIA tgp/mgp submissions and blogs. Do you think it is extremely important to have a short/catchy domain name?

2. Is there any type of content management system that works on a monthly lease? OR maybe there is a nice open source solution out there?

3. Where should I focus my security efforts? Password cracking? DDOS? What are the main threats to my business?

4. If you could give me 2-5 tips, on how to improve efficiency/effectiveness, what would they be?

5. What is your average charge back ratio? Is there any way to improve this? (less charge backs)


Thank you so much for any information you can toss my way :)

stephen takacs is back?

GFY Search. Its all there.

stephen takacs? Sorry not 100% sure who that is?

Yes I have been doing a lot of searching on GFY, but some of the questions I couldn't find answers to.. so I'm turning to you guys :)

Thanks for the replies so far..:thumbsup

Tip #1: buy sigs!

Tip #2: chinese have the best traffic and the largest population online. 404 converts exceptionally well. its cheap and since chinese don't have much porn, it converts really well.

well I have been told a lot of people on here are just "e-ballers", but I'm sure some one on here must have some experience :)

Tip #3: Use Ibill - they are by faaaar the best and most reliable for credit card processing.

I'm not sure what part(s) of my post put you under the impression that I am slow... please save your "witty" comments for the "would you hit it" threads.


Thank you kindly.

Tip #4: read www.lukeisback.com everyday for the best news on the adult business.

if you know so little about running a paysite that you have to ask these questions and think "i have already bought the content" matters, then you are not going to get any reasonable replies.

now leave me alone, i am busy thinking up witty comments for this thread and for your future "where does traffic come from?" posts in a couple weeks.

Tip #5: Hire Lawrence Conner as soon as possible. He is affordable.

You know if you were flying a sig, you could have made a little over a dollar, just on replying to this thread alone!

Hell that's almost a full minute of live webcam action, I'm sure that is more than enough to pull your pecker 2-3 times.

"where does traffic come from", certaintly not from you, I'm quite fine with my traffic and how it converts. I'm looking for advice from the experts, who wouldn't try to improve? And since obviously you are no where near an expert, I'm going to ask you to kindly leave this thread.

Thank you and have as great life :):thumbsup

Tip #6: Get to know AlienQ. If you are going to make it in this biz, you can't afford not to know the guy who invented HTML, grain alcohol, Ferrari's, the space shuttle program and wombats.

Tip #7: Chio might not really be a pirate. Sharks don't really fart. He may or may not possess a carrot and wax it often. Take his posts with a grain of salt.

http://precociousmoments.tripod.com/pics/monkeys.jpg
needed some color in here:winkwink:

Tip #8: Contrary to popular belief, Juicy D. Links really does have websites and knows what he is doing.

Tip #9: Contrary to many assumptions, KB has never had a website and has trouble spelling "HTML" and is not really a pimp... and "marketing consultant" can also mean "basically unemployable - but i show up at parties and know a few people"

dont pay for his "consulting services"

Tip # 10: No caricatures of the prophet Mohammad should be viewable on your site. If you are Danish, you already know this.

Tip #11: Image in this biz if everything. Like everyone else, always try to look more successful than you are. Post pics of houses that are not yours, cars you don't own and talk about far away places you have never been to. Google is your friend.

11 free tips is all you get from me.

sorry :(

I particularly like Wombats.


Thus it inspired Zaphdingbats.
Or for most other popularly known as wingding font cases.:thumbsup

Ok, let me try to give you some serious tips.

Being able to get a catchy domain name is always good, however it is not easy these days. a two word domain is probably the best you can get, I personally would not settle for a .net or any other ext then .com Your members will get an email after signing up and a "smart" surfer will keep that info, including his/her sign in info stored.

CMS systems are all over the place, just shop around and use what fits your needs.

PW protection is something you'd need I suggest strongbox personally. But there are others as well.

Find some people that take you serious and are willing to help you. There are plenty of helpfull people on the boards.

Good luck with your venture. :thumbsup

hahaha..bastard. i had to look that up.
:)

I'm not an expert by any means.. but i'll throw in my 2 cents

1. Domain name isn't that important.... so long as it isn't some crazy long 7 word domain or something...

2. Upload the content and do the updates by hand for the first while, don't spend money where you don't need it. Once you get big enough where your time would be better spent other places, then get a CMS

3. Strongbox is a good solution, and affordable. 75 bucks for the script i believe... but again, you don't really need this right off the bat... if there are not many members, what are they going to brute force, right?

4. Build freesites every day, they will always bring in traffic.... if you start building them daily... in 3 months.. when you have a shitload of freesites each sending 100uniques/day or something.. it'll be well worth your time.... (wish i woulda listened to this advice when i first started)

5. Tell the surfer what he is getting on the tour, and you shouldn't have a problem with chargebacks... Basically don't promise access to 3000 full dvd scenes if you only have 20 scenes in the members area and you'll be fine.

good luck with it man :thumbsup

:thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

nice thanks for the great replies, I know the "basis" of free sites, but I just haven't really ever explored the possibilities of it... do you have a link to a tutorial? Maybe a forum thread? Just something that goes more indepth, in regards to submitting the free site, and optimizing it?

Update the content by hand for the first bit? What is the easiest way to do this? Using some simple PHP includes?

One more bump in regards to 2257, what is the proper proceedure to do this? Not really interested in going to a lawyer and getting a 2257 document written up. From the looks of it a lot of people (with poor grammar) have also decided to write it them selves.

Does anyone have a template or something I could snitch off of?

Thanks again

why do you think most of your members will come from TGP/MGP's ?

and for #4, dont rely on TGP's and MGP's for most of your traffic is the best advice I can give you.

Well I mean that's where I currently get my sales for the programs I submit, I will just stop supporting their program and support my own site :) My tgp traffic is not too bad honestly...

any other tips?

Not much luck with TGP/MPG traffic Venus?

Use Pennywize, Strongbox, or Proxypass to protect your site (especially if you have a lot of movie content). If the site is good enough, hackers will crack into your members area and share it to the world - crashing the server... You need some protection.

Chargebacks are on the rise this year, i believe credit card fraud is the main cause. Plus then there are a few lovely customers who credit 3+ months. I'm almost at 1%.

Are you making more from the TGP's then you are spending in bandwidth?
Are you getting rich from your TGP sales ?

I dont do TGP's unless I am really bored
I think I posted about 5 or 10 last year.

Its shit traffic, compared to the amount of bandwidth used, profit is lower then I care to work for. There are much more profitable ways to get sales.

I am making quite a bit of sales with tgp/mgp yes..

Do you have any links for pennywize/strongbox and proxypass? which one is the best? (Do they all do the same thing?)
Thanks :)

It can help but it's not make or break. If you are going for SE traffic at some point it helps and if you really build a brand like a Twisty it is good but it really isn't the be-all that you need to pull your hair out over.

2. Is there any type of content management system that works on a monthly lease? OR maybe there is a nice open source solution out there?

Monthly leased: http://www.toomuchmedia.com/products/carma/

3. Where should I focus my security efforts? Password cracking? DDOS? What are the main threats to my business?

NATs has a module for this too but Pennywize is decent or Strongbox.

4. If you could give me 2-5 tips, on how to improve efficiency/effectiveness, what would they be?

Effectiveness: Do one site and do it right. Do a site with content you understand and would be a fan of yourself. Everyone sees programs out there that have many sites but they often are seeing them a good deal of time into their "life." Guys like Duke and Twisty built to very significant numbers by doing a product RIGHT instead of doing alot of products just okay. I've seen it make the difference over a dozen times now.

Efficiency: Do what almost no one does in this business and write yourself a true business plan. Have goals and times to acheive them and work off of a task list with milestones. Alot of people work alot of hours in this biz but aren't really WORKING those hours. You can accomolish alot with great focus.

5. What is your average charge back ratio? Is there any way to improve this? (less charge backs)

It should hang under 1%. Keep what's on your tour easy to find in the mem area. Make it easy for members to quit so they don't have to charge back. Give them updates regularly and when you say you will. Basic common sense... what would you chargeback for?

*Subscribes*

ok, but what is the profit, or are you not the one paying for the bandwidth because you have been using hosted galleries.

I really appreciate all of the help I have been getting, and to the couple of guys who hit me up on ICQ.. you guys are great :)


What would you say is a good *base* of content? How often should you update?

What formats are ideal? How many different sizes should I use? How big should each video be (length)?

Thanks soo much for all of this :)

I am lucky enough to have a connection in the hosting world, so it really doesnt cost me as much as you would think..

I am not really one to get into numbers on a public forum, sorry :(

But it does profit for me yes.

#1: buy bicyles
#2: get business cards
#3: go to a club and staple a sample on your business card and pass it around to everyone

but you might have already done that though :(

LOL... ok ... if TGP's are your thing then go for it. I have been doing this 9 years, have tried advertising in everything from mainstream magazines, to bulk email, to spamming usenet, spamming ICQ, TGP's, cu-seeme, AVS and so on... I have also been on the local news (in several states) and in local papers, if its out there and I thought it worked I tried it.

The one, most important thing I have learned, above all, is to get traffic from outside of the popular circles and to get traffic from as many different sources as possible.
what I mean about outside of your circle, is if you have links to a few people who all link to each other, instead of only linking to the same circle jerk traffic, link to a few them concentrate on traffic outside of what they try to get, get that fresh traffic in. Amateur sites are real bad about this, they all have the same "friends page" and they all link to each other waiting for the signups to roll in when what they are getting is basically circle jerk traffic, the same people keep going around in a circle with a very limited amount of fresh traffic.
Get outside of the same stale traffic and get fresh stuff, when the fresh starts comming in go back and do more work on the stale stuff, but keep the fresh flowing in.

just a tip I learned the hard way.

V

here is a little thing that was on the local news about my site - this was in 1998
http://216.158.136.80/news.asf

WTF, what board is this and what have you done to GFY?!?!

good advice venus.. I personally am not a big fan of "link exchanges" for paysites.. it just looks unprofessional IMO.. would rather not have many outbound links.

link exchanges used to be the best way to get good traffic, they still are but fewer people are doing it or hiding the links.
sending traffic out that is going to leave anyways, you might as well let them go somewhere that will get you something in return.
the other option is to spend money to buy traffic, usually shitty traffic. But my goal is to keep most of what I make.
but you will figure out what works for you, or fold up like the thousands of others I have seen along the way :)

right right, I'd have to assume that link exchanges are not a *HUGE* money maker though, I mean you're sending away a ton of your traffic, no?


I Have some pretty good ideas for traffic generation. Just making sure the site will hold it's own first :)

link exchanges still make me lots of money and I still solicit sites to exchange links with, but they are always sites that have the traffic I know will convert for me.
For example, a site that only get 500 hits a day of targeted traffic, to me is worth more the 10,000 hits from a tgp.

people are going to leave anyways, your not going to convert everyone, you can try, you can try even after they leave(I do), but they are going to leave, if they like your site they will be back, if they dont they wont. Since they are leaving, where do you want them to go...

so you *DON'T* submit to tgps/mgps? Seems like a waste of money not to?