AaronM

Bingo. When I started doing that, not only did the quality of my applicants go up but I was also able to weed out the bad models without them having my email or phone number to continuously bug me about getting work. I have several recruiting sites and I've tried a lot of different ideas on them all. The one thing that negatively effected the performance of each of them was when I added too much information. I thought I was doing them a favor by giving break downs of the different type of shoots I do and how things pay, providing a lot of samples, and basically discussing too many details. Applications dropped off in a hurry when I did this. When I went back to the K.I.S.S. method, things picked up right away. Now they get a page with a basic sales pitch, a link to a few handfulls of PG-13 sample images, and a link to the application. One of my sites just displays a few images and links to the app, nothing else.

Potential models fill out my applications and answer a number of different questions that my clients want asked. For example:

My first application asked for their name. Most of these "models" think they are cute by putting "Cupcake" or some other stupid name. Some of my clients won't approve a model for a shoot without checking their databases first to see if they already have content of her. This means I had to email or call the models to find out their real names. That got old real quick so now my applications ask for real name and stage name. I also added fields where they can link me to their various online portfolios along with the photos I have them upload with their apps. I've redesigned my applications multiple time and still tweak them every once in awhile.

Learning recruiting can take awhile. Writing your ads takes trial and error and has a learning curve as you mentioned. I've found that changing the order of words can make a significant difference in ad responses. When running print ads I discovered that if I use an 800 number instead of a local phone number, more models called as they felt is was more professional than all the other ads. (<---this has some other great benefits too) When I put my URL and no phone number, applications fell way down. So...My print ads have no URL and always have a phone number and my online ads never have a phone number. I get FAR more applicants online these days.

I've also learned that an ad I write today may not work at all but if I try the same ad 6 months later, it may work very well. Likewise, the ad may work great in the Phoenix market but suck for the Portland and San Diego markets and so forth. Every once in awhile I intentionally run an ad with a Christmas theme in months other than December. Because it's a little out of place, it draws more attention. You can't do it often though or it will lose it's appeal.

Model Mayhem and OMP are a complete waste of time for adult work. Sure, you will find a model here and there but overall, even the ones who select the erotic and nude options are not usually comfortable with spread shots or insertion and even fewer are down for video of any kind. The only reason I keep either account is so I have access to view the portfolios of models who apply through my sites.

I hope you can make some sense of all the crap I just typed and put it to use.