What I've Learned After 2 Days

[JustAnotherDude]

I hope this'll be semi-useful for people, especially those in the "Thinking of Starting Out Phase."

1. It's not as easy as you think it will be. I know everywhere says that. But it's true. Read, read, read. And you still won't know a thing til you start doing stuff.

2. Enlightenment may come all at once. I was reading up on AVS sites. And all at once, it clicked. AVS stood for Adult Verification Service. OOOOOOOOOOH!

3. Think simple. I've completely changed my site's design and layout three times in the past two days (for comparison's sake, I've run a few non-adult sites and changed layouts once a year, if that) and am working on the fourth. The first time, it was a nice layout with light-up buttons and that kinda stuff. I was really impressed with myself. And it was an absolute pain in the ass to work with and update and my layout took up a lot of my screen. My new one will be about two graphics. Maybe 3. My best work'll never be seen, but I will hopefully make more money this way. And I'm still embarassed to put the link in my profile, cause it's so newbie and need so much work.

4. Don't be ashamed if you get a thrill when you make your first money. I called people up to say "Woohoo! I made a cent!" I'll listen, if no one else will.

5. Sleep. Sleep is when you are a viking. |viking| It also clears up your brain so you don't make horribly embarassing typos or do things like make the ad link to the picture of the ad on your server. Instead of, say, the site you're pimping. Oops.

6. Remember that this is a business and you have partners and responsibilities and it's a lot of work. A LOT of work. Not something to do on a lark. I've spent most of my time mucking around in HTML and reading sponsorship agreements and even when I AM looking at the naked ladies, it's with a critical eye, like "Hmmm, she has a nice rack, but will she work on the big boobs subdomain? Or should I put her over in that blondes gallery I want to make money on?"

7. At the same time, it's the best business I've been in. People can't get enough of it, want more of it, and will actively seek it out. You can call looking at porn sites "research" and get away with it. Where most advertising has to be "You want this in your life," this is more of a "Come check out all this cool stuff, then go check out THAT cool stuff! WOW! Is that her TONGUE?!" approach.

8. The banana guy dances to just about any song you have playing. Watching him dance to Hey Ya! by Outkast is mesmerizing.