niche paysite development/startup costs
 

Just doing some research of my own on setting up a paysite(gay niche) and thought I'd ask the experts here on the board for their opinions.

How much you pay:

a) for graphic development;
b) pic content;
c) plug ins etc.
d) other programming

Would you start an affiliate program at the same time?

Assuming you've done all of the above well, where would you advertise, how much would you spend in this area, and last but not least how much working capital would want to have behind you?

A)no less than $2k,assuming you want some banners,fPA's and what not
B)maybe look into some exclusive,it pays off if you're serious
C)I havent seen any WELL put together gay plugins so can't help ya there
D)eh

don't start with an affiliate program,well not public...get some friends to send traffic your way so you can guage your ratios and retention...publicly releasing a site as soon as you start it will hurt you,people want to make money and if you don't deliver you lose out too.. so work out the kinks with your own traffic

To come out with an affiliate program imo requires a good amount of capital. If you're doing a niche thing it's an excellent idea to buy custom content, not only will it encourage webmasters to use your program, but it also offers a great incentive to retain members.

Programming is expensive as well, if you're looking to cut costs you can always use a 3rd party billing company that offers a revshare program with their services...of course doing that not only ties you in to being forced to use that billing company without a severe headache and you also get stuck with only getting the statistics they provide. If you decide to go the programmer route, let me know =) I've written my fair share of custom webmaster partnership programs =D

The actual website cost will probably run you about 3-4k assuming you're getting a graphic designer who knows what they're doing and are actually building you a custom site rather than from a template. You can always try out one of the many contractor auction sites to find a graphic designer.

The big money drain will be your initial payouts, especially if you're using a pay per signup system. Most 3rd party billers hold a % of your funds for a time to offset potential chargebacks and credits, Plus most PPS pay out more than a month's membership for a user, which means for the first little while you're going to have more money going out than coming in. I think the standard rule of thumb is always have around 3 months worth of payout funds readily avaiable.

Craig

I'll take it up the butt for $1k BTW

thanks for the info..

hmm... only a 1000 to fuck ya? do i have give you dinner as well?
i'd wanna see a pic first before i started :1orglaugh

what's with sigs with gays in'em... stop making me nausious....

You could start out small and build up the paysite in a year. That is what I did :)

How exactly would you start small?

I've thought the same thing before, start small and work up (especially from a content point of view).

But it must be so frustrating to have a site that you know could be so much bigger and better.

How would you suggest starting out small, whilst still making bank. ie, where would you 'cut the corners' ?

Cut the corners content -wise... then market the site yourself thru PPCs (search engine surfers are not very experienced as to what is a good/bad member's area) - get a members's base then as rebills will add up invest more in content and then... no limits.

I made my own design to start out with, bought some content and started at 10.95. I am now charging 19.95. I make free sites, tgping a bit and do avs .

If you want to be a player and make the big money then you have to shoot your own content and do what everyone else suggested . :)


Anyway, I got a digital and took some pics of myself so I do have some exclusive content....:Graucho

I was just letting you know that you can start out small if it is a niche .. :)

I like the challenge of building a business. I had a small book/comic/card/gift shop that I started from scratch with about $1000 inventory and built it up to $50,000... I closed it when I moved an hour away .

The answer to a & b is that I do them myself, while I just leave out c & d. So for me, it's "free"-- except for my time and paying models.

Personally, I think about a grand for the site design is reasonable if you are outsourcing. Can't offer any advice at all with the rest. In general, ask yourself how long you want to go before you break even, and estimate from there.

Gay content seems to generally cost more. I guess it could be easily $3000+ for content for the first months.

some good advice there, people. Thanks!

what have any of your experiences been with PPCs?

You can actually get a decent amount of photo content for $250-$500 from smaller companies that arent all over the web and would look pretty exclusive to most members. You just have to negotiate for it. Email me if you want to know who to look at.

You can negotiate so many things within a paysite, assuming you have something to negotiate with.

Our gay leased content package contains 1 live voyeur/sex show feed and 4 pre-recorded streaming niche feeds, gloryholes, barebacking, str8 guys, and showers, and a new site can get it for $250 for the first 2 months.

$1,000 is pretty fair for a full site design.

Go with a payment processor and you wont need any programming initially.

Work the site yourself for a few months at least before launching it to affiliates. If they kinks arent worked out, they wont come back. :(

Good luck!