Hey everyone,
Our primary focus since launching our first site in August 1999 has been in the paysite realm. I?ll use this opportunity to discuss various ways paysite owners can put more money in their pockets.
Know Your Niche
The amount of niches out there are mind boggling. For the purposes of this article let?s assume your site focuses on a specific niche or even somewhat micro niche, but not quite as obscure as hairy midget amputees.
The consumer willing to pay for niche specific content knows what is authentic and what isn?t, so you better know it too. That isn?t to say if feet don?t get you off to never do anything in the foot fetish space, but for god sakes know the difference between nice and gnarly.
Limiting your niche also limits your audience. Thankfully the interweb is a big place and there are lots of eyeballs looking for all kinds of crazy stuff. If your paysite focuses on micro-niche content, members will stick around for as long as you provide them with the type of content they crave. The minute you stop, so will the re-bills. Which is why solo girl pregnant sites will convert great, but don?t expect to retain your members for too long.
I used those micro niches as examples, the same holds true for more general categories as well, regardless if the content is exclusive or not?. Know your niche!
Content - The meat and potatoes of any paysite.
One of the most frequent questions I get asked pertains to exclusive content, is worth the cost?
Just like everything in life you get what you pay for, the same goes for content. If you aren?t showing potential customers something they haven?t seen elsewhere you aren?t giving them a reason to join.
For performers staring in their own content, the cost is relatively cheap. For producers creating custom content the cost can vary dramatically. One thing holds true for both types of production, if you?re shooting it then you?re the only one who has it? Until someone uploads it to tubes and torrents, but that?s a whole different topic;-)
Creating content is an investment, one of the biggest advantages is it?s a onetime cost. If 10 people join your site or 10,000 join the cost of that scene is the same. There are many other avenues to monetize on your exclusive content, selling it through the multiple VOD outlets, clip stores , DVD distribution and reselling it as non-exclusive down the road. But this article is about paysites so I?ll try and stay on topic.
With the plethora of cheap, non-exclusive, content packages out there it makes it cheap and easy to launch a site with 100?s if not 1000?s of videos. Thing is, it?s cheap for a reason. You aren?t setting yourself apart from the others that are doing the exact same thing with the exact same content. That said, I buy many non-exclusive content packages, it makes for great bonus content and allows me to update my members areas daily helping with retention.
Just make sure your tour focuses on the exclusive content:-)
Odds are what was posted above isn?t anything new to the bulk of the people reading this. You know your niche, shoot some great content, launched your site and now want to know how to make more money from it.
Aside from more traffic, as that?s a whole other educational series, I want to share some tips that will help you from leaving money on the table with your existing traffic and member base.
Now They See It, Wait Maybe They Don?t!
We work day in and day out using desktop or laptops, we design our sites and test them using these devices. The thing is, more and more surfers are using their phones and tablets to look at porn, the mobility makes for a much more private viewing experience. How does your site look on these other devices?
Thankfully most modern tablets and phones are mini computers and display standard sites quite well, but if you don?t have a responsive design that formats itself to the users screen size than you?re losing potential business. Redesigning your site to today?s standards is a must, it?s all about ease of access and your content must be viewable and site easy to navigate.
Having high-rez pics and HD video is great, unless someone is on their mobile device. Having your content display responsively is also important. The latest JW player adapts to the users device and ensures your videos play on all devices, it?s a great solution for your streaming needs.
Remember it?s not just your tours, make sure your join form is legible and simple fill out on a phone as well.
Take My Money? Please!
You work hard to get the surfer to click that ?Join Now? link, make sure you have a way to take the money they want to give you!
Even though the bulk of consumers use a credit card to join a site, there are many other options that you can use to increase joins and the bottom line.
For North American traffic ACH is one of the most popular alternate payment methods, it allows users to join by using their checking account. The downside to ACH is it can sometimes take a couple days for the payment to clear, if you give the user instant access they may get it for free if the funds aren?t available. On the plus side, ACH customers rebill for far longer, people are less likely to check their bank statements as they do their credit card statements.
It?s a big world and there are many alternative payment methods available to monetize on traffic from around the globe. By using geo-targeting you can display country specific payment methods to monetize in places that don?t use credit cards as frequently as those of us in North America.
When it comes to credit cards, not all transactions are treated equally. Just because a user is denied by one processor, doesn?t always mean the card is bad, cascading the client to a secondary processor can often save the sale. It?s for this reason having multiple credit card processing solutions is important. Having your own merchant account will also lower costs and increase throughput, but most of the facilitators of these merchant accounts require a minimum monthly volume.
One of the newest players in the alternative payments sector allows users to join using gift cards from just about any large retailer. I happen to love when someone comes up with something completely different and that?s exactly what this company has done.
I haven?t mentioned any specific billing companies as to not play favorites but feel free to contact me if you want more information in the providers we use and are happy with.
Updates Aren?t Just For Members
I see it often and have been guilty of it myself, having a static tour that doesn?t update alongside the members area. Anytime content is added to the members? area, something should be added to the tour and blog, otherwise your site looks like its stagnant. Returning potential clients may check back once or twice, with nothing new to see the odds of them coming back a 3rd time or joining drops dramatically.
Adding a sample of your updates to the tour also gives you the opportunity to add keyword rich descriptions which is great if you have pornstars featured on your sites.
If you are using cheaper non-exclusive content as filler, make sure the image you chose for your tour isn?t one that is seen on every ex-gf tour out there. I see some of the same models, or even the same pose used over and over, it drives me crazy.
Giving surfers a reason to come back increases the odds converting them to a member, it?s that simple!
Get Social, Communicate!
Ever get the feeling someone is following you? If not then you better do something about it.
With the plethora of social networking avenues available, getting in front of someone?s face has never been easier. For the more mainstream social platforms that don?t allow adult you?ll have to be creative and less in your face with the content you upload. Choose your efforts wisely, trying to promote your new PissSlaveGagGape.com site through facebook and Instagram isn?t the best use of your time as your profiles will get deleted rather quickly.
Twitter is a fantastic tool to inform your fans of new updates and promotions. Most people check twitter on their phone, so if your site isn?t mobile friendly you?re losing out.
There are tools out there like Hootsuite that will help you manage all of your social media accounts through one dashboard, saving you time and making your life easier.
E-mail marketing has gotten a bad rap over the years but it works if done properly. Having email collection boxes on your site to send out monthly newsletters is a great thing, just make sure you send a confirmation (double opt-in) and keep your list clean. Sending e-mails that go straight to the spam/junk folder is a waste of time and effort.
Emailing ex-members with win back offers also works exceptionally well, if done somewhat infrequently. Remember, it?s only a special if it?s special.
We have found e-mailing expired members within a week of their expiration asking them for their feedback on the site is a great way of opening the lines of communication.
There are a few 3rd party e-mail solutions where a company will mail your ex-members win back offers for you, as well as mail their site offers to your ex-members with your affiliate code, giving you a % of any sales. We found this type of solution works at first but the oversaturation of emails killed our lists rather quickly.
Not to sound repetitive but most people check their mail on their phones, so if your site doesn?t work properly on mobile you are losing out.
DamianJ has a few great tutorials on e-mail marketing, I suggest reviewing those.
cont....
Our primary focus since launching our first site in August 1999 has been in the paysite realm. I?ll use this opportunity to discuss various ways paysite owners can put more money in their pockets.
Know Your Niche
The amount of niches out there are mind boggling. For the purposes of this article let?s assume your site focuses on a specific niche or even somewhat micro niche, but not quite as obscure as hairy midget amputees.
The consumer willing to pay for niche specific content knows what is authentic and what isn?t, so you better know it too. That isn?t to say if feet don?t get you off to never do anything in the foot fetish space, but for god sakes know the difference between nice and gnarly.
Limiting your niche also limits your audience. Thankfully the interweb is a big place and there are lots of eyeballs looking for all kinds of crazy stuff. If your paysite focuses on micro-niche content, members will stick around for as long as you provide them with the type of content they crave. The minute you stop, so will the re-bills. Which is why solo girl pregnant sites will convert great, but don?t expect to retain your members for too long.
I used those micro niches as examples, the same holds true for more general categories as well, regardless if the content is exclusive or not?. Know your niche!
Content - The meat and potatoes of any paysite.
One of the most frequent questions I get asked pertains to exclusive content, is worth the cost?
Just like everything in life you get what you pay for, the same goes for content. If you aren?t showing potential customers something they haven?t seen elsewhere you aren?t giving them a reason to join.
For performers staring in their own content, the cost is relatively cheap. For producers creating custom content the cost can vary dramatically. One thing holds true for both types of production, if you?re shooting it then you?re the only one who has it? Until someone uploads it to tubes and torrents, but that?s a whole different topic;-)
Creating content is an investment, one of the biggest advantages is it?s a onetime cost. If 10 people join your site or 10,000 join the cost of that scene is the same. There are many other avenues to monetize on your exclusive content, selling it through the multiple VOD outlets, clip stores , DVD distribution and reselling it as non-exclusive down the road. But this article is about paysites so I?ll try and stay on topic.
With the plethora of cheap, non-exclusive, content packages out there it makes it cheap and easy to launch a site with 100?s if not 1000?s of videos. Thing is, it?s cheap for a reason. You aren?t setting yourself apart from the others that are doing the exact same thing with the exact same content. That said, I buy many non-exclusive content packages, it makes for great bonus content and allows me to update my members areas daily helping with retention.
Just make sure your tour focuses on the exclusive content:-)
Odds are what was posted above isn?t anything new to the bulk of the people reading this. You know your niche, shoot some great content, launched your site and now want to know how to make more money from it.
Aside from more traffic, as that?s a whole other educational series, I want to share some tips that will help you from leaving money on the table with your existing traffic and member base.
Now They See It, Wait Maybe They Don?t!
We work day in and day out using desktop or laptops, we design our sites and test them using these devices. The thing is, more and more surfers are using their phones and tablets to look at porn, the mobility makes for a much more private viewing experience. How does your site look on these other devices?
Thankfully most modern tablets and phones are mini computers and display standard sites quite well, but if you don?t have a responsive design that formats itself to the users screen size than you?re losing potential business. Redesigning your site to today?s standards is a must, it?s all about ease of access and your content must be viewable and site easy to navigate.
Having high-rez pics and HD video is great, unless someone is on their mobile device. Having your content display responsively is also important. The latest JW player adapts to the users device and ensures your videos play on all devices, it?s a great solution for your streaming needs.
Remember it?s not just your tours, make sure your join form is legible and simple fill out on a phone as well.
Take My Money? Please!
You work hard to get the surfer to click that ?Join Now? link, make sure you have a way to take the money they want to give you!
Even though the bulk of consumers use a credit card to join a site, there are many other options that you can use to increase joins and the bottom line.
For North American traffic ACH is one of the most popular alternate payment methods, it allows users to join by using their checking account. The downside to ACH is it can sometimes take a couple days for the payment to clear, if you give the user instant access they may get it for free if the funds aren?t available. On the plus side, ACH customers rebill for far longer, people are less likely to check their bank statements as they do their credit card statements.
It?s a big world and there are many alternative payment methods available to monetize on traffic from around the globe. By using geo-targeting you can display country specific payment methods to monetize in places that don?t use credit cards as frequently as those of us in North America.
When it comes to credit cards, not all transactions are treated equally. Just because a user is denied by one processor, doesn?t always mean the card is bad, cascading the client to a secondary processor can often save the sale. It?s for this reason having multiple credit card processing solutions is important. Having your own merchant account will also lower costs and increase throughput, but most of the facilitators of these merchant accounts require a minimum monthly volume.
One of the newest players in the alternative payments sector allows users to join using gift cards from just about any large retailer. I happen to love when someone comes up with something completely different and that?s exactly what this company has done.
I haven?t mentioned any specific billing companies as to not play favorites but feel free to contact me if you want more information in the providers we use and are happy with.
Updates Aren?t Just For Members
I see it often and have been guilty of it myself, having a static tour that doesn?t update alongside the members area. Anytime content is added to the members? area, something should be added to the tour and blog, otherwise your site looks like its stagnant. Returning potential clients may check back once or twice, with nothing new to see the odds of them coming back a 3rd time or joining drops dramatically.
Adding a sample of your updates to the tour also gives you the opportunity to add keyword rich descriptions which is great if you have pornstars featured on your sites.
If you are using cheaper non-exclusive content as filler, make sure the image you chose for your tour isn?t one that is seen on every ex-gf tour out there. I see some of the same models, or even the same pose used over and over, it drives me crazy.
Giving surfers a reason to come back increases the odds converting them to a member, it?s that simple!
Get Social, Communicate!
Ever get the feeling someone is following you? If not then you better do something about it.
With the plethora of social networking avenues available, getting in front of someone?s face has never been easier. For the more mainstream social platforms that don?t allow adult you?ll have to be creative and less in your face with the content you upload. Choose your efforts wisely, trying to promote your new PissSlaveGagGape.com site through facebook and Instagram isn?t the best use of your time as your profiles will get deleted rather quickly.
Twitter is a fantastic tool to inform your fans of new updates and promotions. Most people check twitter on their phone, so if your site isn?t mobile friendly you?re losing out.
There are tools out there like Hootsuite that will help you manage all of your social media accounts through one dashboard, saving you time and making your life easier.
E-mail marketing has gotten a bad rap over the years but it works if done properly. Having email collection boxes on your site to send out monthly newsletters is a great thing, just make sure you send a confirmation (double opt-in) and keep your list clean. Sending e-mails that go straight to the spam/junk folder is a waste of time and effort.
Emailing ex-members with win back offers also works exceptionally well, if done somewhat infrequently. Remember, it?s only a special if it?s special.
We have found e-mailing expired members within a week of their expiration asking them for their feedback on the site is a great way of opening the lines of communication.
There are a few 3rd party e-mail solutions where a company will mail your ex-members win back offers for you, as well as mail their site offers to your ex-members with your affiliate code, giving you a % of any sales. We found this type of solution works at first but the oversaturation of emails killed our lists rather quickly.
Not to sound repetitive but most people check their mail on their phones, so if your site doesn?t work properly on mobile you are losing out.
DamianJ has a few great tutorials on e-mail marketing, I suggest reviewing those.
cont....
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