Path to success?

[iMan]

Hey,

I'm still working on my templates and a first site to submit here, but I've been thinking on some sort of long time strategy.

After reading posts with people coming out with pay sites and affiliate programs without having even tried a free site first, I'm wondering if that is a good way to go about it..?

What would really be the best/safest strategy?

I'm not sure that I would dare to attempt a paysite at this point, so I've been thinking of starting by creating a significant load of free sites etc. and use them to build on my own link site.
Then, when I've got a decent sized empire of porn to stand on, I can venture into the land of paysites with some traffic ready to channel to them... and after that, maybe even an affiliate program to go with it.

Or, is the faster way to wealth to just jump into the big stuff and just start creating a, or a few good pay sites and then build free sites, tgp's etc. to promote my own stuff right from the start?

Or, is having paysites/affiliate programs not even the best thing to aim for?

I understand that there are probably many, many more ways to go about it, and I'd appreciate yer view... without revealing any trade secrets of course

Thanks.

[virgohippy]

I don't think you're gonna have much luck with a question that vague.

It seems to me that if you really want to make money at this business you need to act first, without asking someone to walk you through things. If you're looking to go the freesite => link list => paysite route, this is a great place to get great feedback from industry experts; but only if you're willing to put in the effort.

Step 1: Build your first freesite, make little or (most likely) no money.

Step 2: Come back here and recieve much criticism and abuse. (Continue to make no money)

Step 3: Build many many more freesites. (Make slightly more than little or no money)

Step 4: Repeat steps 2-3 as necessary.

Step 5: Your running a business now - figure out how to make it work.

Be prepared for many sleepless nights filled with ours of hard work, and very little money. You've got a lot to do.

Welcome to the mix.

[iMan]

Hey virgohippy, thanks for your reply!

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for a safe guidance to the fortunes!

I guess my question/observation is a bit vague, and I appreciate your advice.
But I thought that this newbie forum was here for questions from the inexperienced

Anyway, I also see that your points are right in line with what I first had in mind... but as I said, I've seen posts from people who's obviously haven't done anything free of any kind, yet they're launching affiliate programs!

I'm just trying to figure out what the best approach is before putting hours of work into something that might be all wrong.
And yes, I do understand that it takes work... anything else would be foolish. The question is simply where to best put that work.

[AndyS]

Hi Iman

Basically I agree with what i think virgohippy was getting at, you’re going to spend most off your time learning, tweaking, refining and then learning more. So your going to make mistakes, i imagine making those newbie mistakes while running a pay site/affiliate scheme would be a lot more expensive and damaging than it is while trying your hand at free sites.

You know your background, finances and abilities better than anyone else but personally i have taken the route of taking lower risks while i had more to learn.

[amadman]

No matter what you do it is not going to just work. It will take time to learn how to make things work.
If starting with a paysite then that time will cost you alot of money.

so I've been thinking of starting by creating a significant load of free sites etc. and use them to build on my own link site.
Then, when I've got a decent sized empire of porn to stand on, I can venture into the land of paysites with some traffic ready to channel to them... and after that, maybe even an affiliate program to go with it.

This sounds like a reasonable plan to me. Work this one and see how you do. You can always change
your plan at a later time.

[nomercy]

Originally Posted by amadman

No matter what you do it is not going to just work.

I just read that really fast and thought you said "No matter what you do, it is not going to work." Sounded like a prank fortune cookie or something. Anyway, sorry. Misreading that line just made me chuckle.

As for advice, I'm a relative noob myself. But from this perspective I can say that I've found myself changing the way I look at the business and where I fit in, what I want to do and how, etc, as work. It's sort of hard to explain, but as you start doing things and interacting more with your peers, a lot of things just seem to become more clear as you go.

I think the best thing to do is just choose a small group of niches that you feel you may know well enough to sell and start with free sites and/or TGP galleries and/or blogs and/or whatever. Don't let yourself get too bogged down with the big questions right at the start. Get your feet wet, start working on something and things should become more clear as you go.

So there you have it... vague question meets vague answer. Sorry that I can't be more specific.

[msanchez]

I'm not sure that I would dare to attempt a paysite at this point, so I've been thinking of starting by creating a significant load of free sites etc. and use them to build on my own link site.
Then, when I've got a decent sized empire of porn to stand on, I can venture into the land of paysites with some traffic ready to channel to them... and after that, maybe even an affiliate program to go with it.

This doesnt sound like a bad plan to me either. The real benefit of doing it the long slow way is that while it takes a bit longer you are learning about how to manage your sites, make them more efficient, experiment with different things until you find a few things that really work for you.

Might be a certain niche, or maybe you find your really good with converting toplist traffic (just examples) ultimately if ya stick with it the long road will give you all the knowledge you need to be a success.

On the other hand if you have bunch of money and just want to throw it around that could work too

[Chop Smith]

1) Chances of you getting rich in this business is about as good as you becoming a world class soccer star.
2) Cocksuckers in this business will blow smoke up your ass so learn who really knows what they are talking about and telling the truth. My staff statatician has not finished her study but about 2% of all post on boards have merit. However, since we run out such posters from this board you are safe here.

For over four years, I have been searching for 'the path to success'. Those that started in the '90s seem to do well. So my plan is to wait for them to retire or die so I can move up the food chain.

Good luck in your efforts

[msanchez]

Chop your gonna throw off the statistics if ya keep making posts that make sense.

[Chop Smith]

Nah! After dealing with our useless, maladapted staff member, Doc Holly Goodhead has learned to factor in the unknowns. This includes my brief periods of sanity.

These type of threads make me think about doing one of those 'get rich quick booklets'. I can not show folks the 'path to success' in this business but I damn sure can tell them a number of things not to do.

Well I am off to work on my traffic pumps so I can pay for my T1 line.

[iMan]

Guys, thanks for your replies!

I guess I should have called the thread 'Avoiding the sure path to failure' or something since that's more in line with what I had in mind.

I'm just trying to get a clearer picture of this biz. And whether I have loads of money to throw at it or not, I'd rather not
But time and work (especially wrong work) is money spent too.. and I'm trying to find out if building free stuff is just gonna fill others pockets while getting me nowhere.
Other than experience gained of course.

You're all confirming that what I've had in mind isn't wrong, although I should probably have started with this at a much younger age if it's like becomming a world class soccer star
And that starting at the "other end" might not be wrong either, but more costly for sure.

Thanks again everyone, this sure is a great place to learn the ropes

[Chop Smith]

The short of it is learn to push traffic before you spend big bucks on paysites/affiliate program. Start with building free sites. Follow the rules and gain the trust of your fellow webmasters.

[iMan]

The short of it is learn to push traffic before you spend big bucks on paysites/affiliate program. Start with building free sites. Follow the rules and gain the trust of your fellow webmasters.

Sounds like great advice, thanks!

[picXX]

Hard work and consistency works, no matter what you do.

As chop smith said, start with the beginning, learn to obtain traffic first, then make something you can push that traffic too. (IF you cant push traffic to sponsors, how are you suppose to push traffic to you're own paysite? make sense...eh?)

[karomesis]

iMan, the question you should ask yourself is where is the market headed, not where it's been. To give you an idea, I firmly believe that cams are the early stages of virtual reality which will peak in a few more decades, people say that the resolution is shit, or how do I use those blurry pics for a FS or gallery, but times are changing fast, and we are just getting warmed up.

The people who made it big, alot of times were in the early stages of a trend, or helped to pioneer that trend themselves. But alas, all good things must come to an end, and porn mediums are no different. Change, adapt, and evolve to suit your surroundings, don't be obsessed with an idea so much that you lose perspective and you may just make a few bucks in this biz.

Good luck

[docholly]

1) Attend the Radio show so people here will get used to seeing you around

2) Attend On the Bench to learn how to do things and ask questions in a learning environment

3) Attend the SE chat with Bill to learn how to make the your sites optimized for best possible search terms

4) Build, submit, tweak, forget, go back in 3 months tweak again. (by tweak see where your traffic is from, what key words have lead searchers to your site and make sure you have picked the correct sponsor for your traffic--which you'll learn if you do 1,2 & 3)

5) In mainstream business it take 3-5 years to make a profit if you survive the first 2 years. On the web, time moves much faster so you need to check your results after 3, 6, 9 and 12 months..

6) Do not check your sales every day.. 1 or 2 times a week is enough.. file that under the "watched pot never boils"

7) Promote a site, niche, platform you are familiar and comfortable with. if you don't know anything about trannys, or fat girls, or balloons, then don't promote them until you find out. That doesn't mean you have to "love" it ..it just means you have to educate yourself.

8) Lots of wm on boards inflate how much money they make or how many sales they make etc etc.. whatever they say, divide it by 1/2. Those who really make money will never tell or brag.

9) Approach this like a brick and mortar business. If you work from home, then set yourself a schedule for tasks. 1 hour to do xxxx then break and do something else, but don't be distracted (like me) by spending hours reading boards and 'goofing off' make sure, if you wnat to do this full time, that you devote at least 40 hours per week working in your business rather than on it.

10) join chopscash.com

[juggernaut]

Originally Posted by iMan

Sounds like great advice, thanks!

Chop is 100% correct. There are to many varibles involved for anyone to gain success off of another persons direction to success in the adult world. Even if you are an adult star the path will always be differant. For example, the very first super hot porn star was Ginger Lynn. People were freaked out that such a hot girl at that time was doing adult work. She is roughly broke now, well not 100% broke but I'm sure she is not super rich. Then take Jenna, also smoking hot but not the first of her caliber. I like to think as Raquel Darrin as the 1st super model type to hit the adult world. But yet Jenna apparnetly is rolling in $$ and the rest still need to find ways of making $$.
I started out with a paysite first and realized I made a mistake, should have done as chop said. Learn to get and move traffic. Free sites are the easiest way to learn how to do that as they really cost nothing. You can get hosting for as little as $15 and thats all you need to start. Once you have gotten to a level were you are comfortable with moving traffic then move up to a tgp or LL. When you are 100% sure you can get traffic and keep it steady move to a paysite. This is an industry for a reason. It's real business, so real that you migh be surpised how many mainstream companies have their hands in it one place or another. IE movie rentals at hotel rooms are offered by some very big mainstream companies but they just put a smaller company name on it, so you don't know it's comming from, say Time Warner. Nothing worth having comes fast. Work at this business and think long term and you might be luckly enough to succeed. Don't let anyone tell you it can't be done. They are not you. First and formost you must love what you are doing or you will not want to put in the time needed to make a buck. I have dropped a shitload of cash in the last 2 1/2 years in this business that I could have used for better investments. So much money I could have bought a 3rd house and flipped it. But I love the felxibility of this business and the freedom it provides. But the headaches are all the same. Stay here, read here and make some small freesites and see how it goes.

[Chop Smith]

To the lady with phd behind her name:
Even if you did leave your whoring cap on, damn good post and advice. Nice of you, Vitgohippy, Juggernaut and the other to take the time to go into details to show someone the way.

Now who will explain traffic pumps, T1 lines, building dedications, staff, Jazz, hog roast and "place linking code here"? Not to mention introducing him to the Hun and Larry

[virgohippy]

Originally Posted by Chop Smith

Now who will explain traffic pumps, T1 lines, building dedications, staff, Jazz, hog roast and "place linking code here"? Not to mention introducing him to the Hun and Larry

I believe that advice costs extra.

[docholly]

Originally Posted by Chop Smith

Now who will explain traffic pumps, T1 lines, building dedications, staff, Jazz, hog roast and "place linking code here"? Not to mention introducing him to the Hun and Larry

If my sources are correct, i do believe he has now left the building.

Thank you, Thank you very much.


note to chop: there is an elvis on every corner here in vegas

[RonaldBiggs]

/usr/bin/success




.

[iMan]

Hey everyone,

Many thanks for all great and helpful replies. I really cannot thank you enough!

I'm sure you get a lot of noobs like me coming in here asking stupid questions, so let me once and for all apologize for that... and to warn you that there's probably more to come
I'm also sure that there is an endless supply newbies coming to this board expecting everyone to show them how to make millions, and when it doesn't work out that way for them within a week or so, they give up.
Despite what the title of the thread may imply, I don't have those expectations at all.
I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to the internets and I've actually been thinking about and trying to learn how to get into and work in this biz for quite some time now.
So, although my membership at this board is as fresh as they come, I didn't JUST open my eyes.
But respect is earned and I'll try my best to eventually earn all yours

There are some really great replies here and I'm trying to suck it all in even though some of it my be a bit over my head at this point!
I obviously can't go into a dialog about most of your stuff, but for sure, they're all noted!!

So thanks again all of ya, and happy 4th

[Fonz]

Also, when submitting freesites don't go questioning every rule you'll find on the LL's and try to convince LL owners that rule sucks and it should be different. We've had our fair share of that around here already

Good to see you're willing to learn and listen to what others have got to say. With that attitude you should get pretty far

[ronnie]

Very good attitude and good to see for a change..

ronnie

[iMan]

Also, when submitting freesites don't go questioning every rule you'll find on the LL's and try to convince LL owners that rule sucks and it should be different. We've had our fair share of that around here already

Ok, I'll try to not do that then
I do get that no link list need me and that I don't have to submit anything to them..

Thanks Fonz!

Very good attitude and good to see for a change..

Thanks Ronnie, glad to hear that