Worst Site Ever

[johnfromvan]

Note to mods: no need to eye your ban button, I'm referring to my site)

Hi everyone!

This is my first post, so please be gentle I have what arguably may be the worst adult paysite out there (shemale-express.com). Three years into it, and over $10,000 invested, no sales. Nearly 5000 unique hits per month (very modest but significant), and nothing. Surfers seem to avoid the site like the plague. Lucky to get one signup every 3-4 months. Even my main sponsor (Video Secrets - VS) brings in nothing. Nearly 500 uniques to VS every month, no sales in over a year. Tried selling the site, but no one is interested. Becoming very cash poor, with medical expenses (in excess of $25,000) on the horizon - been delaying, but time is running out. The only option I can see is to delete the website and content (wipe it all clean), and invest the money (normally put towards content) towards a life insurance policy to, at least, take care of my family. So, if anyone has any constructive criticism, or advice on how to get the site to make money, I'm all ears. I have reached the point of sheer desperation.

[ottopottomouse]

Banner image is pretty dreadful, same with the gradient background.

Home | Members | Tour | Updates | Image Gallery Preview | Video Gallery Preview | Join | Live Shemales

These buttons are very un-noticible and I wouldn't be surprised if people land on that page and don't even realise there is a paysite.

Whole page just looks like it was set up in 15 minutes with the sole intention of wanting you to go to the cam site almost like a parking page.

[fatfoo]

Congratulations on your 1st post, johnfromvan. Welcome to GFY. It is unfortunate that you did not get any sales from your site: http://shemale-express.com.

[sexyangela]

Well when I have visited the site, I didn't find much interest in the Design and the clarity of the images. The banner image itself is stretched to fit. More appealing design with HQ images and good User Interface would bring more visitors to your site. I wouldn't pay bucks to sign up as a user. Try to change the design.

Regards,

[cooldude7]

hire a good site designer ...

and seo....

[wehateporn]

I wouldn't give up yet if I were you, sometimes just a few adjustments can make all the difference. Though I wouldn't throw much more money at it until it shows signs that it converts

[HowlingWulf]

how could you spend $10,000 and not buy a professional tour design?

[jkthedesigner]

Woah. I hope you didn't pay $10,000 for that. You could have done a lot better..

[johnfromvan]

Comments were brutal, but honest - and 100% appreciated. I have been considering this third party template: adultwebtemplates.com/template-Shemale7-280-3.html. The designer will, for an additional charge, customize it (e.g., replace Sitename with Shemale Express) - total $154. BTW, $10,000 invested is just in content, and not site design. I haven't made the investiment in site design (all in-house), so this is something I must do. But, will the aforementioned template work, or should I have one coded from scratch? And again, thanks for the great remarks and suggestions!

[ottopottomouse]

Originally Posted by johnfromvan

Comments were brutal, but honest - and 100% appreciated. I have been considering this third party template: adultwebtemplates.com/template-Shemale7-280-3.html. The designer will, for an additional charge, customize it (e.g., replace Sitename with Shemale Express) - total $154. BTW, $10,000 invested is just in content, and not site design. I haven't made the investiment in site design (all in-house), so this is something I must do. But, will the aforementioned template work, or should I have one coded from scratch? And again, thanks for the great remarks and suggestions!

720x550 is very small.

Look at sites that you would consider your competition and see what they are like. Not suggesting you copy, just that if most of them have a design that is 1000wide and scrolls down several pages then maybe that is what you should be thinking about. You want anything you are paying for now to not look already dated.

[purecharlie]

Oh boy, oh boy, where to start? OK, well let's just make this simple point first . . . if you have invested $10,000 in content do NOT give up when a very small investment can turn this site around.
OK, now that's been said, let's move onto some things you need to address:-

1. What is your site trying to be? I don't see how you can call it a paysite and then also say you send traffic to other sponsors? Which is it? An affiliate traffic-generating site for other sponsors or your own paysite? Decide which - don't be both. You don't see Brazzers or Bang Bros sending traffic to other sponsors from their paysites now do you?

2. Redo the design - definitely. It's crap - and that's being nice! Ottopottomouse said it right when he said check out your competitors and then use the best bits from their sites to create an eye-catching design that will lure in the punters. If you know f*** all about adult paysite design then pay the $600 or so it would cost to get a really top notch design by someone who has a track record in adult paysites. That AdultWebTemplates link you posted looks pretty basic to me (no offence AdultWebTemplates - some of your stuff is really good ) and I would not suggest that's the way you go. Unless you paid the $790 price for the unique design then someone else might have the exact same design and that wouldn't be good - and if you just pay the $39 for the non-exclusive version and get some guy to customize it for a bit more then you're going to get what you pay for - a cheap ass design. I think for $790 you can get a proper adult paysite designed specifically for you. Design is one of the key things so don't skimp -get in an expert. I can recommend a few I have used in the past who know adult paysites inside out if you require . .

3. Your existing site has traffic leaks all over the place so I would imagine your affiliate traffic is pretty pathetic. I see you have an Affiliate program which is a good thing - but get rid of the traffic leaks or no decent affiliate will promote you. Let us know on here if you don't understand what I mean by traffic leaks and we can explain it to you.

Those three should get you on the right track - I would agree that you don't need to invest in any more content until the site starts converting properly. Why bother keeping up to weekly updates if there's no-one looking at them? Redo the site design (and make sure you get it right!), fix the traffic leaks and then get promoting it again and once it starts converting properly and bringing you in a decent income, then you can start buying in additional content to keep the weekly updates going. Good luck

Oh, and one other thing - 5,000 uniques to a paysite per month is pretty low so you will need to drastically up your traffic as well (quality traffic though, don't go buying it!)

[Chosen]

Welcome to GFY

[johnfromvan]

These are GREAT comments and feedback - thanks! Looks like the first step is to hire a designer to create a new look for the site. Can anyone (purecharlie perhaps) recommend someone? Easy to Google, but I would rather hear who you guys recommend. I would like to get this done this month. Then, next month, fix other issues and work on traffic.

[purecharlie]

I can recommend the following two as I have worked with them in the past and know them to do good work:-

Insane Adult Creations

Zuzana Designs

[adult-help]

Nearly 5000 unique hits per month
----
there is your problem. this can translate to just few hundred real visitors per month. thats nothing..plus what others said about design..

[Zuzana Designs]

Originally Posted by purecharlie

I can recommend the following two as I have worked with them in the past and know them to do good work:-

Insane Adult Creations

Zuzana Designs

Thanks for the recommendation Charlie. johnfromvan shoot me an e-mail when you have time if you're still looking for a designer.

[pornguy]

Talk with Czarina about a design. She may or may not take on the project as she has a few tranny sites of her own. But you can always ask. she is an amazing designer and person.

mail her at info at wedesig.net

[Tjeezers]

Good niche
should be making money with the right marketing input

[czarina]

if nothing else, get a nice header up there.

[brassmonkey]

you need a better design

[tnaflix]

Get serious, put some real work and effort into it. Research and understand and kick some ass and make some sales man. No offense but doesnt sound like you have given it a real go yet

[buildingfutures]

Good luck man!

[saintbush]

I feel very sorry about this.

[Dodododa]

Get your 10 best videos and create previews that play on the front page. I don't know what I'm getting when I look at your site. You have to make me fall in love with one model in particular, then I'll want to sign up (because I won't be able to easily find that one model on a free site).

[michael.kickass]

Welcome to GFY pal!

[Cash]

Welcome to GFY

[pm2000]

Welcome, here are some Newbie webmaster tips to get you started
http://www.pmmarketing.org/webmasterschool/