Originally Posted by Jesus H Christ
(Post 18673598)
Hey, not to pitch a biography, but I've been around for 16 years and recognize a phase everyone goes through. In short, you got your network up/rolling as a profitable routine that kept your interest and paid bills for years, now its not so profitable as you question if it's worth the time/effort to continue?
I'll be obvious in part, so others newer can also read. We all know porn was a goldmine form day one, as you just happen to find/pan in a good internet vein. Your successful competitors still have producing mines and better equipment, but their yields are also getting much smaller. So these competitors (here) are not going to give solid detailed advice and if they did, odds are you're being setup to fail.
Also, if you've noticed programs are dropping like flies as the solid ones are already too over saturated. So, if you're seeing low traffic conversions now, obviously it's only going to get worse as jumping from program to program isn't going to help you no matter what the program reps say. It's their job to say, it's all good all the time when in fact, most program reps are failed webmasters/traffic generators themselves.
Then you have the people here who'll swear if you get better hosting, webdesign, content, branding, marketing programs etc. your traffic will convert much better! The reality is you'll be lucky to make back your investment, if ever. These same people are profiting by selling the dream/success of the porn industry past. If they had true knowledge, as most will assure they do, they wouldn't be selling it. BUT in the rare instance it was profitable for you, they'd tip off their best clients in a heartbeat.
Anyway, you're at that point now where you just play though until your networks not profitable and sell off everything and call it quits? Or come to the realization, this is what you do, and don't want to do anything else. If you can, I'd highly recommend jumping into (MS) mainstream.
If you decide to make the jump, here's some advice during the transition via my horror stories. Got into porn in 1996-2002 and never really liked it because of the people, as they were all broken? Plus the things I saw along the way never sat well with me.
Anyway, I took the knowledge and tools and jumped into MS in 2002 full time. Looking back, it was pure luck because of mere timing, porn marketing methods, and the tools supporting the method. I launched a forums in a "subject" and 10 sites that would be considered a type of blog today.
Due to porn marketing methods my network exploded, within a year I had 1000's of daily active members in my Network, getting 10-15 calls a day for paid banner spots. The money was rolling in and often wondered why I stayed in porn so long when the MS money was this good?
And this is where the problem started. I had advance marketing skills, but little knowledge in the "subject". Instead of starting with a niche you know a lot about and working your way up, I did it backwards. It took a couple years until the mods and key contributors figured out I didn't have enough experience/knowledge in this vast subject.
It was like blood in the water as this ship was going down fast and formed a mutiny because I would not share in the revenues the sites generated as the contributors wanted to be paid for their posts. It got ugly fast and in the end, (3 years later) only 30-40 members a day would hit the sites.
I sold the network for what one monthly banner ad would cost in it's heyday. Later to find out the new owner would not honer the excising advertisers contracts. This didn't go over well for my reputation as six years later I completely put him and all but one of his associates out of business. I am still working on the last.
The main lessons learned transitioning from Adult to successful Mainstream? Adult sales are primarily a visual compulsion buy as MS is an interest or necessity. Interest or necessity (usually) is supported by vast knowledge and lot's of text. Meaning, know a lot about the subject before you even start or focus on a smaller niche.
People. I thought people in porn were broken fucked up deviants? Compared to the people in MS, they are mentally balanced geniuses. I once had a competitor in MS make serious death threats if I didn't pull down a site due to a SE position.
Over the years I've had every agency imaginable called on me as the newest, Homeland Security, as I must be a cyber terrorist because I posted a bad review and design flaw in a product. The company is worth several million. I've been sued several times as all were thrown out but two, because I won the counter-suits. Then took the court proceeding transcript and posted it online until they paid.
My absolute favorite was guy so mad he was going to contact all my sponsors and get banners pulled. I told him he's a shit talking pussy if he doesn't, knowing full well all the banners on that site were adSense.
I can go on, but the point is you're very lucky because you already have the knowledge launch/maintaining a profitable Network. This means you're years ahead of most because the vast majority in MS, don't even know how to setup a Network correctly or make any profit. This will always insure bitter resentment as their frustration/anger vents towards you. The true irony, I've had more then a few loathe that we share the same planet, but after we've talked? - All asked me to help them.
So if you're going to jump to mainstream the my recommendations is first find an excising domain close to your niche with a PR2 or above, WP blog, good content, AdSense, 5 free feeder blogs, good backlinks (only) to the feeders, and a good skin. If you're not making at least $75 a day after 3 months, it's time to move on to something else.
Now if you can do this, things are about to get a whole lot better for you as you start to learn more. Because that's all MS is, those who have an appetite to always learn more, as the rest lag in bitter frustration.
Have fun and make money!
Long post but was going to blog about it anyway.
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