It's interesting because your business model is probably the best one for right now. You were ahead of your time ;)

Two part question:

Do you attribute your success, at least in part, to saving money by buying your Callaway golf balls in bulk?

Where do you buy said golf balls?

Hey Shap,
Paul here.

I would like to know what is the best video format for a paysite.
I would like to offer a format that can use used from iphone and pc too.
(using streaming). What do you recommend? Many thanks!
btw, happy birthday Twistys.com :)

I guess I don't
Lets see if Shap has some ideas.

I can tell you one thing. Hiring offshore staff was the single smartest thing I ever did. haha

So So True :thumbsup

We haven't experimented enough with this. Most people I know say the only way is a limited members area with instant upgrade links throughout. I haven't tried it so I can't say.

At first I was very afraid of members complaining about price, or non exclusive sets or competing sites etc. Surprisingly we never had that problem. A few times discount prices have been brought up but nobody's complained. One thing we did to help that is offer our best discount to everyone. That is our yearly membership. It's the lowest price and best deal. So if they complain about a monthly price someone else got the other members always remind them if they want the best price just join yearly. That definitely helps.

Surprisingly we haven't encountered one scenario where we regret being totally open and honest with the members.

Does it have to be these? I really think the best service you can do yourself (and your affiliates) is to really get your tours converting on traffic you are buying. If you are turning a profit on paid spots then they'll probably convert well and make good money with you as well.

It also depends on your site. Twistys has a huge picture archive. Over 1,000,000 images and a number of our members of photography lovers and don't care about video. So pic galleries are important for us. But for most sites I think the video galleries are most important followed by banners and probably pic galleries last.

I'm against leased feeds. I know they've improved quite a bit since I was first exposed to them in 2001. I've never touched them and never will. One main reason is because everybody is sharing that feed. So at best you are adding that feed to keep up with the competition but not to surpass it.

I think it depends on the site and the members. Their feedback is key and whatever they seem to be requesting more of I'd look into.

I'd say having a cms that allows you to adapt and grow is key. We had to completely rewrite our cms this year. Why? Because simple features we should have been able to add we couldn't.

Improving the surfer experience is the most important thing to worry about. Improving the content and site navigation are probably the two best areas to focus on.


In order of importance.
1. Buying banner spots to directly sell your own sites to surfer
- tube sites provide a greater audience and larger numbers than ever before possible in our industry. The companies that are able to buy these spots at a profit are making a killing.
2. Buying gallery spots to directly sell your own sites to surfer
- still has potential but a decreasing market. Important to do but not make it your main focus.

mid level importance
4. Buying banner spots to recruit affiliates
- i'm not big on buying banner spots to recruit affiliates. I prefer the old go out and contact everybody one by one on my own. Maybe I'm just cheap lol

of very low importance
3. Hiring someone to get email marketing lists to send CANSPAM compliant emails to potential members.
and
5. Buying webmaster email lists & paying for affiliate mailings to recruit affiliates.
- never did this so can't really comment on it

I can totally see that.

We use a big mix. Nats is our affiliate program, we use google analytics for our daily stats, we have an in-house program we use which brings a lot of this together, stats remote for our affiliate accounts, excel for our spreadsheets, and quick books for accounting.

It's a big mix. Wish there was something that was simpler.

That's always been a tricky question for us. I have a feeling this question is one to try to make me put my foot in my mouth or start shit with another company based on my previous comment LOL.

When we started it was guys like GlamourModelsGoneBabe and SexyBabes.tv. Ie the 3 guys using almost nothing but matrix content to run their site.

From there as we grew and moved into producing our own content those guys remained competitors but we set our sites on the Danni.com MacAndBumble, DigitalDesires of the world.

Then we moved on to the Glamour Brands. Penthouse, Playboy, Hustler.

And now it's down to the basics. PAYSITES LOL. Ftv, Nubiles, McNudes, MetArt, Brazzers. We are all shooting the same girls. It comes down to who is carving out their own little niche and doing what they do as well as they possibly can. You have to be mindful of what your competition is up to but not get caught up or worried about it.

I haven't found the magic formula for tubes. I know some people have found that formula. I'd keep testing and not limit yourself to one or two tubes. i believe some tubes may not have much of a magic formula no matter how many hits they have.

Thanks DWB.

The backend is custom. Our original was custom built roughly 8 years ago. It was a work in progress. This year we rebuilt it from the ground up. I believe it took about 6 months and is still being worked on. It's a constant work in progress.

cool posts

how is twistyshard doing compare to twistys?

do you find it much harder to sell hardcore stuff compare to softcore?

1. How much money do you make a year, personally?
2. Can I have some of it?

:) Here's to a successful 10th year.

Bump because I am so fucking tired of epass/sknanb threads.

Thanks I really appreciate the kinds words :thumbsup

Thanks Paul! Next time I'm in London we definitely have to get together and talk :winkwink:

I'm a big Facebook guy and I spent a lot of time understanding Twitter this year. Facebook is interesting because of the personal nature. A lot of people I know have their parents on facebook. That really changes the porn aspect of it. Facebook has clearly stated one of their goals is to make sure everybody uses a real name and has one identity. That imo does not lead well to porn. Plus they are real fast to delete anything even close to porn.

Twitter is another thing all together. Most people use it as a spam source. From everything I've learned that's the worst possible use for Twitter. Twitter provides you with a few things. One it allows you to be a fly in a wall and observe multiple conversations. The other is it allows you to engage with fans/surfers etc. That's is the angle I'm going for on Twitter. I'm using it to communicate with people. There are a few links posted but that's by staff who still aren't "GETTING" twitter. Whenever I use it I use it to engage with people and let them know what myself and my brands are all about.

LOL Knetgolf.com best golf ball site on earth. I prefer Nike :thumbsup

Hi Paul.

You definitely have to offer it in a format that will be played on iphone. We currently offer wmv (a must for pc users), mov (a must for apple users), m4v. Our movs play on an iphone. I may be wrong I believe encoding in mp4 allows you to hit the iphone and quicktime market. We are adding a flash/html5 player. Why? Because so many people are used to YouTube i think it's a must to have that function on Twistys.

YouTube has become the norm for watching videos. You have to have a similar user interface if you want to reach the broadest market and get people using your product quickly. You don't want to get so fancy that there is a learning curve to using your site. Remove all barriers and make sure you site is as easy and familiar to users as possible. Having a learning curve to use your product is a big mistake. The big boys (youtube, facebook etc) are setting the standard for us. Go with it instead of trying to create something better.

Thanks :)

By all means people fire away. Sorry it took awhile to reply. Yesterday was family day :thumbsup

Do you think it is possible to start a 'Twistys' type site in this day and age with non exclusive content to start with?

what cms do you use to run the members area of twistys

Some great tips, thanks for sharing

He already said it's a custom cms they have been building for 6 months...

The problem today is their isn't as much non exclusive content as there once was. You have guys like matrix going out of business. When it comes to photos there are very few companies that can provide you with current updated sets. That's key.

The other option is dvd content. The problem with that is good luck competing with Videosz and guys like that. You'd have to find a way to carve your own little niche and do your own thing. It's doable but a lot of work.

Pushing Aria Giovanni now vs pushing the hottest new starlet is a big difference. With tubes people have been seriously over exposed to older girls. You have to be up on the fresh faces.

As fuzebox said it's custom. We've always run Twistys on a custom cms. I've seen the cms' out there. They could never handle Twistys. No disrespect. Just being honest.

HAHAHAHA You can join me at Yankee stadium to watch the Yankees go for #28

i know there are many variables to my question, but in general, what is considered an average or decent conversion ratio on tube traffic? i've heard anything from 1:1000 -1:3000 depending on the offer. i've found that 1:1000 seems to be where "good" ratios fall for me. for some reason no one ever wants to commit to an answer for me and i can't be a very good affiliate if i don't know what numbers suck and don't suck. :helpme

1:1000 is good. Some niches will do better but generally speaking your 1:1000 to 1:3000 is very acceptable. The key question is are you profitable at those ratios? Can you buy more traffic and if you convert at that ratio will you remain profitable? If you can you are doing well.

My 3000th post is to congratulate you both on 9 years and a job very well done.

One Question, when I am going to have the pleasure to see you guys in Australia? If not soon I will make sure I get over to catch up with you, been to long between good chats :)

Thanks for the reply Shap.

Starting on a tight budget means that the latest sets are also not within reach. I have what I think is a good domain - 6 letter and easily remembered. Content at present is non-exclusive and have managed to gather 500+ members with a free to join model - that's to join not to see all the content. About to change it to a paid and see what the results are.

Hi Shap.

Great thread and thanks for some awesome answers to the many questions us "little guys" have. My question is one of a different kind than the above ones. See I am a solo girl website, that has been on the net for over five years (see info below), and wants to join a larger network like yours. I notice that you have other solo girls on your network (Nicole Graves & Anette Dawn) and I wanted to know, how did your company go about choosing these girls over others, and are you looking to add another one?

My other question is this: How might I go about getting a larger network of solo girl sites to add mine to their network? How do you structure the solo girl's partnership? Do you believe the single site, solo-girl website model is going to give way to only large networks with a number of solo-girl websites?

I believe I have a website that would make an excellent addition to some large networks. It's successful, exclusive, has a hard working model... me ;) and the weekly updates can be turned in fully edited. My husband is the photographer/videographer/editor, making the updates cost effective (as no need to pay for those services), not to mention if instructed by the program manager, we can even upload (ftp) all the updates ourselves. For that matter, I have never paid any male or female performers who partake in any of my naughty adventures. What I need is a larger network to do the promotion and selling of the site, and I be responsible for all updates to the site (one video and one to two photo sets each week). I will be hands on as for the fan/member interaction, including a daily diary, weekly live camshow, twitter, trade shows, etc, etc.

Facts:

I have been on the net for over five years (since 2005).
Have well over 30,000 photos = 430 sets.
Over 210 exclusive full length videos (over half in HD).
Huge amount of archived camshows.
Over 125 original erotic stories written by either myself or husband.
Both my husband and I work on the site for our full-time job and DO make a good living at it (however we DO work on average 120 - 160 hours a week combined).
I have an affiliate program - BarbiBucks.com

Some may question why I want to join a larger network, but truth be told, I need a life! That and my husband has been told by his doctor to reduce his stress. My site is very profitable, but if my husband and I can't enjoy the fruits of our hardwork, why make it?

Thanks in advance for any help you may reply with,
Kisses,
Barbi Sinclair

If by chance any larger networks see this thread and may be interested in having my solo-girl site join your network, please send me an email at [email protected]

Thank you for taking the time to answer this for me, much appreciated. Hopefully we can do some work together in the near future.

bump for Shap's answers!

Midgets love shap too

LOL :) Nice program btw

Thanks mate!

Assume you had to clone your website under another domain and name. A totally new one without the brand recognition that Twistys currently enjoys.

How much (% wise) do you think your sales ratio would be affected?

Shap, I know you can't say which sites specifically to buy banner spots on, to drive traffic directly to a paysite, but, in general, what TYPE of sites should a paysite owner look for?

The #1 biggest problem in attempting to buy traffic from guys like Choker or ProTraffic (no offense to those guys at all) is the kind of traffic they sell does shit if sent directly to a paysite. So, okay, instead of buying 5k hits from the UK buy a banner spot. But where? Give some general direction and I can probably sniff out the cheese (the sites worth contacting).

Thanks Shap!!

Been doing it for years, but for free. http://www.paulmarkhamteens.com/memb...ll=1&orderby=7

Like most things was told it would never work. LOL

As Shap didn't answer here's a few tips.

What ever niche/niches you're doing, there's a good chance there are dozens if not 100s of other site offering the same niche. Getting a surfer to get aroused about your site is tough. So;

Know your niche as well as the buyer.
Love your niche as well as the buyer.

AND. Don't fill your site with cheap repetitive content, thinking it's a numbers game. Adding 5 poor new scenes a day isn't cutting it today. Members aren't fools they know there are a 100 other sites out there with a fresh look on the niche. They will cancel after a month or two and come back in a year to see if you updated with anything worth another $30.

And in any micro niche there are only so many people who want to see it. They search for it and will soon learn of you're sites.

The only problem is paying for it.

I doubt if many of the big boys would succeed today. Many of them are trying hang on to what they have. Have you seen all the threads with support staff moving on? That's just the ones with a board presence.