Apparently from the email and IM's there is some confusion on what a clips store is (
http://www.gfy.com/sell-and-buy-forum/887448-1-yr-content-cms-customization-12-mo-guarantee-added.html). So I am going to give you a break down of what it is, and how it works. In my example, I am going to stick to mainly Clips4Sale.com. Mainly because that is the one I make the MOST money with. Although some have better success with FetishVideos, Clips.com, ClipClinic, YouYouGirls, and so on.
When I started my adult business full time. I launched all my sites via Clips4Sale. It allowed me to make some sales, test the waters, and get some good feedback while building up my content for a pay site.
Each site was a bit different on when I launched but it took me roughly around 3 months to get about 6 months of material to launch my pay site, put together some DVD's. Some sites were launched in 3 months. Some longer. Some shorter. Just depends on how much I shoot, and how many updates I want per week.
So I started out with $3000.00. Bought $500.00 camcorder. Business partner had still camera, and half million dollar house, so we were off. We paid the girls too much at first, and did not know how to best streamline production. We do not shoot on a per scene basis like most of porn. We pay per SHOOT. So we get a number of scenes per SHOOT to maximize revenue, and margins.
Over 9 months we had tinkered with the type of girls, what we shot, how we shot, listened to the feedback, tried different update days and ways of updating until we found our groove. Around the 9 month mark things took off, and we started shooting our stocking project.
We followed the same exact formula as before. First working the C4S connection. We started a new store, and cross linked it. We promoted it on TGP submits. Over the next few months we would make our money back while getting enough content to launch a new pay site. One we did, BAM, sign ups.
Within a couple of months we moved on to tickling. It was something we had received a ton of e-mails on, and apparently few catered to it. We kind of stumbled into it by accident, and started doing... basically what the e-mails told us. Over a few months we build up enough content to launch a site, BAM took off. Even on DVD sales. Which I have to admit was surprising.
Clips4Sale has done some evolution over time. It was mainly a place for fetish and niche webmasters and content producers to sell their wares without building a website. You could just use their interface, and CMS. Their processor, and over time, Neil (the owner) built up some nice traffic. Doing the Howard Stern show, and some other things to make it into the mammoth it is today.
The site now offers a section for selling DVD's, pictures from your galleries, webcam, and number of other features to help you make some sales via automation among other things. It probably takes some time for a newbie to learn these things, but over time you get the hang of the automation I suppose.
Now, all that said. A lot of store owners rely on the POP of updates for their traffic. They do not have a lot of content, but they are always trying to get that POP. The front page of C4S was changed a few months back and now that is not going to be as beneficial as it was before. I recommend you build your OWN traffic.
For me, I include C4S option on all my sites. I link to it heavily, and even on TGP submits. I have always done this. While Neil's traffic, and the POP is nice. I do not count on it for my sales. So just a head's up for those who do not like link building, traffic trading, and the rest.
Other clips stores vary. I am not going to go into my experience with all of them but I encourage you to try them out. It is just more money for your content. The percentage for payouts will differ as well as traffic, admin panels, and offerings. Some more. Some less.
The same can be said for their percentages of money they take from producers. C4S is a 60/40 split. Some are 50/50, some stacked even more to the clip store. Some offer an affiliate program to supposedly boost you up to 70% :rolleyes:. Each has their niches, and grooves.
For a long time Clips4Sale was catering to only the mom and pops. Small and medium market fetish and niche providers. Over the past couple of years it has exploded into something like 20,000 or 30,000 stores!! My store number is 1353/2305/2917/2865/4057 and so on... As you can see I started YEARS ago to give you some idea.
At the conferences, I have talked to any number of programs and people. Some use C4S. Some do not think it is worth their time. Personally I find it an invaluable resource. But, as always in online business and adult, a lot of the success or failure comes down to YOU.