starting a paysite but need a few pointers
 

so i might be very very close to start a paysite but then i started thinking...

how do u project yourself against hackers and stuff. anygood programs for it ?

allso - was thinking about payments. the easy thing wouldt be ccbill. but ... hmmm... not too crazy about 'em. dont know why really.... :)
anyone else knows of anyplaces to look ?

Pennywize and Strongbox will offer protection from hackers. If you order Strongbox make sure that Ray does the install himself and not the folks at AdultWebware as they couldn't install thier own product on my server. I used Pennywize for years but now use Strongbox.

Most affilaites that you'll want to promote your site will already be familiar with CCBill so from that standpoint they're a good choice. You could always purchase MPA3 or NATS and use multiple processors but that's a big expense for a starting site.

If you're looking for content management I'd recommend http://awizsoft.com/ as I've been using it for years. Again, the folks at AdultWebware weren't able to even install thier and test thier product so stay away from it.

Another vote for Strongbox. This is what we use for the paysite that I manage in my sig and are very happy with it. :)

MY frist question is what OS are you going with? MS or LX? If you are going with MS and IIs stopping hackers is done threw the IIS no text files or permissions on directories etc. Im using whoson.com and they work great for stopping the hackers as I can set the software to auto block someone from iis after a certain amount of hack attempts. But the software is in the 300 range. as far as a LX box make sure you get some extra support on the box from the hosting company if you are not up to speed with it. Its totaly 180 degrees differant then MS and that was the point of making that OS. One that works 99% of the time.
Nice thing about ccbill and their payment systems for merchants is for a linux box after you set up your pages and payment options everything is downloaded in a zipped folder which all you have to do is upload it and your done. I also heard Paycom.net is good also. But from my experience most customers know about ccbill and feel safe with them. It's like telling a person that graigslist is a good place to look for things but when they get their you know odds are they will go right back to ebay.
I'm not really sure who you are and I'm not sure how much experence you have doing this but heres some advice from a paysite owner that I wish I had before I started. And please dont take this as I'm jumping you. If you are somewhat new to this business then I would say be very careful. Getting American payment processors is not that easy these days. Banking is always and issue.
"Don't start a paysite till you master getting traffic, dont start a camsite till you mastered everything."
Hope this helps.

I use Strongbox and recommend it 100%. That is my two cents on the security/hacker issue.

As far as starting a pay site at this particular time ;) ....I say......RUN and never look back.....:)

Linda

Strongbox again here.

Just ordered another 6 licences to add to the pile and it is honestly the best way to stop bruteforce attacks and leaked passwords.

Pennywize is more of a solution to already leaked passwords rather than prevention.

Hey...can I really change what it says below my avatar? I hope so!

Linda |bow|

Opps...sorry...I mean above....

You can ask to have what it says after your 500 post. Until then it keeps on changing from a list made up by the board owners.

great help peeps - i say thank you :)

i'll have a look at these programs * two thumbs up! *

http://www.stopthathacker.com/ Works great and has been around for a long time.

Hugs,
Danielle

stop that hacker seems like a great program
better take a good look at it :)

and ohh.... tons of tons of work

Most of the advice in this thread has been about preventing hackers. I just wanted to emphasize the most important piece of advice posted, as it had nothing to do with hackers.

I wouldt agree . no doubt about it.
lucky its not a porblem - I master my niche and building traffic no problem.
have allso teamed up with a guy who is much mkore skilled than me ;)

|thumb Best of luck, and please let up see when you have it ready to go. |bananna|

I use strongbox on my sites and have to say its the best so far. I also use sitedepth for content management because I found that one to be the easiest and best as well. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe if you order SiteDepth now you get Strongbox for free... contact Omar and tell him that Terry sent you.

http://www.strongboxxx.com
http://www.sitedepth.com/contact.php

Good luck!

CCBill. Strongbox. In that order.

Not everyone does it in that order. I personally think that creating your own unique thing is a better bet financially than working to build someone else's empire. I wouldn't want to be dependent on a sponsor for my livlihood. If I screw up, it rests on my shoulders, but if I'm going great, I reap the reward, too.

Although, after two and a half years of paysites, I think that once I get my third one online this fall, I'm going to be brave and try making my first free site. :)

The same rules don't apply when you can create your own original content for the cost of your own time and equipment.

When you have to pay to buy content or pay models to shoot your own, the economics are far different.

Most of us are just homely old farts that no one would pay a dime to see nude on a web site. ;)

(I apologize to everyone for that horrific visual, especially at the dinner hour.)

Just to clarify: of the three sites I currently run, one is a store with an inventory investment, one an "amateur" site of me ("free" content), and one is purchased content. My third paysite I'm working on is also purchased content.

Purchased content, in my opinion, is far simpler (and often cheaper) than making your own content. Content, even of oneself, doesn't just "happen" out of thin air. I invest money in clothes and lingerie, a dozen pairs of sheets and duvets, toys and props, hotel rooms, travel, sometimes paying photographers (and soon, a video guy), along with two digital cameras and a decent computer. Plus, my time is worth something, even if it's not a directly out-of-pocket expense.

Being able to just go shopping online for pic sets is actually a far easier and cost-effective way of making paysites.

But you learned your "webmaster lessons" on your own amateur site. Single girl sites where the girl alone or with a boyfriend/spouse are the owner, performer and webmaster are a unique entity, and the same rules simply don't apply. In fact my own very first adult site was just such a site in 1997. A whole lot more than just the rules have changed since then.
Perhaps, but unless you pay premium dollar for purchased content, said content is neither original nor exclusive to your site. Which is one of the major selling points of amateur sites.

I'm not saying that building a successful paysite can't be done as a first adult site, but I'd guess the success rate increases drastically when the "webmaster lessons" are learned building non-pay sites first.

That's how I feel now. It's took me four years of making other people rich to decide I have to start my own paysite. You ever have a sponsor send you a pic of their new ferrari? I have, it made me feel like an ass. That was from a guy that I was one of his first affiliates and I busted my ass sending him traffic and in 3 1/2 years never sent me a Christmas card.

hahaha never sended you a x-mas card.
u know - when i'll go online i'll be the first one to send a personal x-mas card to anyone sending more than 50 signups a months :)

bwt - what processors are good ? was thinking about ccbill as they are easy to work with. shot them a mail a few days ago and is waiting for answer. what i wouldt like to do is offer like 25 $ or 30 $ pr paying signup.
partner program will give me very little income as theres some huge expenses to be payed :( no porche for me

trying to figure out the best possible way of doing this

most of you wouldt prefeer to get payed pr signups right ? as a new program it wouldt be more easy for me to go with a strict recurring program for partners.

hmmm i dont know - best thing wouldt to be able to give a free signup trial of one day and then just pay affilates 20 $ flat. but will probably go broke on that - for now atleast :)

i have made more money with recurring programs than i wouldt ever do on a full week of work on a normal job....

anyway - anyone having any thoughts a about processors please put it here :)

thx everyone for you inputs... very helpfull

Toby: I'm not saying that the two aren't different beasts, but I disagree with the idea that being your own model is the cheap and easy way of starting a paysite. As for quality bought content, I'm not sure how much that runs per set, but I do know how much my outfits/props alone have cost, and I'd imagine they're more than comparable. (Ever been to a lingerie shop or seen the prices on quality toys?) Besides tangible costs, there's a whole additional world of work and hassle that comes with being your own content (from pedicures to tit jobs to potential stalkers to babysitters). From this side, the grass sure does look greener if you can just go shopping for the exact pics you want on a content provider's site.

Nooze: the reason I would recommend CCBill over a merchant account is because a lot of webmasters prefer CCBill affiliate programs. There seems to be less worry about shaving, getting checks on time, and having enough sales to get a check.

edit: Before you decide what kind of PPS payout you'd want to have, you should operate the site for a while and see what your retention is like. (Unless you have a nice investment to pay affiliates from the get-go and want to take the risk, of course.)

One point about CCBill: If you go this route, I would NOT recommend using a CCBill link code directly. No offence to CCBill, but if you ever decide to change your billing or add other options, your existing webmasters will be forced to change link codes and basically makes a major mess of the situation.

At bare minimum, provide the webmasters a short URL feature through your own domain the redirects through ccbill. That way you can redirect them again later if you need to for other billing options.

Affiliate admin software is a better choice, but costs money. The difference though is often the feeling of "pro" versus "amateur". CCBill is quick and dirty, and gets the job done. Other options are larger and take longer.

Many webmasters perfer ccbill programs because they like to try to play cookie games.

Alex

Yes, I've been inside a few lingerie and adult toy shops, particularly during the 18 years I was married. I agree that those things aren't cheap if you want stuff that will last.

The cost comparison would depend on whether you were buying non-exclusive or exclusive content, and on just how specialized the niche. I think the cost of purchasing exclusive content is probably about a wash with the wardrobe, toys, props, etc. that you noted. Exclusive content is really a fairer comparison to the content you do yourself.

I don't think we're really all that far from being on the same page, just slightly different perspectives.

I'll toss you another curve, just cuz I think you can probably hit it. I make a comfortable living with no pay sites and I purchase almost no content. Other than my hosting, my expenses are minimal. That begs the question, why build a pay site to begin with? :D

I run my own paysite along with George. We have the toys, model the clothes, go to hotels, have four digital cameras, one digital video camera, pay for hosting, pay for the toys and clothes, etc. I don't count the nails since I would do that anyway. I didn't pay for a boob job...but I do wear wigs and have paid for a few of them. We also have had many toys sent to us by manufacturers who want to see it on our site. And I think we are doing wonderful even after paying CCbill their percentage. We are the roadies, the models and the webmasters, pretty much in that order. With all the stuff that is going on about model ID's, etc., I would not want to buy anything from anybody. Just my opinion....and I agree...
CCBill and Strongbox...in that order.
Cheers! Linda |pink |pink |pink

great info - thanks alot

it might be ccbill to start off with. i agree that ccbill makes it easy and webmasters will be sure to get their check.
but i must say i was hoping to find a company that was ready to make payouts via epassporte :)

I know i'd have to run the site for a little while to see what kind of retention it wouldt have. I'd bet all my money that i can make surfers saty +2 months. thats why we thought about making the cost the normal cost , and give 30 $ pr payed signup -
gotta bring in some webmasters fast :D

hmmm +48 hours and still no answer from ccbill - thought they wouldt be much faster :(
myvirtualcard.com seems like a good bet - and they use the mastercards version of visa electron

anyone else knows of any good ones out there ? anyone that support epassporte?

Paycom of course.

Do yourself a favor and don't rush into this man. This isn't something you should be doing half assed, it takes some time to setup everything correctly.

i know - i'm not rushing into anything - just like to have the info from the many processors i've contacted as fast as possible, so i can read up on them all and ask all the questions :)

Paycom dont want to process for me - something about visa regulations and high risk :(

but found someone else that has something like epassporte. its just the mastercards version of visa electron. might be ok - i dont know

My focus is not free sites and galleries, but from where I'm sitting, the prosperous and exceptional free site is a rare thing. (Those I like are infused with personality and quality content, which are the same traits I like in a good paysite.)

This might be the easy answer, but if you can truly make free sites work for you, then good on ya. Personally, though, I still prefer the control over your own income you get with a paysite. A sponsor could go belly-up or shave your income or refuse to give you model documentation you need, so I suppose the best bet there is to diversify yourself and don't put all your eggs in one basket. (Again, samething can be applied to paysites.)

i'm not starting a paysite to begin with

i have 2 freesites that gives me x k a month and some tgp that allso brings in .. lets just say alot of cash :)

this is the next step for me and have been planning for over a year... now i finally found the ideal partner so now we are active working on it.

why send 100.000 's of clicktrhoughs to someone elses program when i can send it to myself :)

Some great info in this thread, and some misleading info too.

Rawalex is right when he suggests you dont use ccbill's link codes directly, as their affiliate tracking leaves a lot to be desired. I suggest using a Affiliate management script like Nats or Mpa3. You will be responsible for affiliate payments though.