Is going Adult still the best advice for newbie internet marketers

[Steve]

I started internet marketing in 1999. At the time I went into adult as it offered by far the best chance to earn good money in a reasonable period of time. Since then I have branched into mainstram marketing. Recently a couple of friends of mine have asked me advice on breaking into internet marketing with adult. However, at this point I'm not sure adult is the best way to go for a newbie given the opportunities that now exist in the mainstream area.

What do you think? Is adult still the best avenue for newbies?

Thanks,
Steve

[Surfn]

In a word NO.

[natalie]

In a couple of words.. tell them to go away cos we don't need anymore

[RawAlex]

Short answer no, long answer not a good idea.

The world has a head start, there are about a million people nibbling $100 a month out of this, and honestly, we don't need any more.

Please check google for search term "porn" or "porno movies" and see how many results you get. Then move on to some other 10 year old get rich quick idea.

Alex

[LowryBigwood]

I'll chime in...

For me, the amount of time I have in adult versus the amount of time I have in mainstream, mainstream is kicking adults ass!

I'm about 50/50 diversified as far as earnings, with the time invested probably somewhere around 80% adult / 20% mainstream.

Your results will be different of course.

[american perv]

def. not a good idea..

[bunky2u]

Yeah good point... A lot of people who are in adult are looking around and wondering "Where are the sales?" The sales are there, and the traffic, but it is spread all across the many thousands of affiliates... all who are working their asses off to make a few more bucks.

Making a living off of Adult can be done... it takes a lot of knowledge,time and effort, networking, ad writing, and learning. Like any business, don't expect to see a return or a profit in your first year.

[Xeno]

I would have to say that the adult industry (to break into it) is becoming much harder than it was for those who got in years ago. It also depends on what you are (or would) going into because there are some things that are just too much of....actually most of everything is too much now. Then there is the regulations and other things that outside sources can, do, and will affect the business (ie: the us government -- although its not so much for me because I'm Canadian). The adult business is something that requires a LOT of hard work on a full time basis if you want to do this as your main income source and it's definitely not going to happen overnight.

Setting aside the gloom and doom, if you have it in yourself to work long hours for long-term, and to be creative with whatever you do, there is potential. Thats the key...its to be creative and to do something that no one else has done or at least improve on something that already exists. The other factor is business and marketing knowledge; this is ultimately the most important of all because if you have these two skills, you can for sure dig yourself into the $ side of the adult biz.

In summary, if you do the adult, just be prepared to work much harder than others who got into the industry long ago and don't give up. Be creative; be business smart with marketing savy; and make sure you have an exist plan if things don't work out, you have something in place to fall back on; research whatever you plan to do carefully and go on your gut feelings.

And yes....I agree on the part that don't expect a huge return too soon. In many cases it could take at least a year (again it depends on what you do). So if you are looking for a quick BIG buck, this is not the solution.

For myself, I started about 7 years ago but never got serious with it until about a year ago. I run a web design business (mainstream) which actually keeps me very busy (even with adult design work), so I pretty much work 16 hour days 7 days a week.

[DJilla]

I agree with all of the above comments. I would add though that adult is so competitive that if you have the drive, time, and money to sustain yourself, competitive pressures will force you to learn all the aspects of web creation and marketing in a very short period of time not that these will translate into adut revenues but they will give the newbie a "college education" on web marketing. Adult has usually been where the leading edge lies in web technology.

[MarkTiarra]

Being that your question isn't just if you should do an adult website but if you should do one OR do a non-adult Internet venture, I'd still say it's easier to make some return on the adult side.

Indeed the level of saturation is tremendous but this is also still an industry in which 95% of the people have very little business sense. In the early days you could be lazy, have no plan and in many cases pretty dishonest and make plenty of money without a problem. Now it's become like any other business you could get into which is to say:

You can absolutely succeed but you have to be a real businessperson and plan, work and work within the rules if you don't want to get smacked around. Compared to trying to make a living with a non-adult site it's still easeir. All the same rules apply there but with less % of the sites generating any revenue BY FAR.

I remember a couple years ago people were saying "it's over" and "don't bother" and I can list a half dozen programs or more who launched since then and have grown to over 6 figures a month in revenue. They are the exception but that opportunity still exists.

Duke Dollars
Naughty America

There's just a couple of them for example.

[Surfn]

MarkTiarra

At this point I don't think having a good business plan guarantees anything in adult. Hard work and good network is a noobs best shot at success IMO.

[RawAlex]

Mark, new programs that succeed these days are rarer than hen's teeth. If you actually saw the numbers behind many of these high profile programs, you would be very disappointed with that you see. The numbers just are not there at the levels you would think they should be.

Many programs report "webmaster rank". I am amazed where for some programs, a single signup in a period would make you a top 100 webmaster. That tells me that many of these programs aren't turning anywhere near the coin that they claim on the boards.

So many programs have come and gone in the last few years, bought out by others, merged, sites gone... yadda,yadda... even with a really wonderful business plan, adult is now the same crap shoot that any other business would be - and the investment really required to make it go is about the same as opening a fast food franchise or whatever.

The chunks of gold has been mined out a long time ago. The glod flecks are still around, and occasionally you might find a vein of gold now and again... but we are now more in the heavy lifting and consolidation phase of the business, not the "newbie strikes it rich" phase, IMHO.

Alex

[Ramster]

Alex is right but there are some things to consider. A top 100 webmaster could be 1 sale but the top 10 of many programs send 5-10+ sales a day so that adds up fast. Those companies are still making a lot of money. Granted not as much as people may think in some cases.

There are several programs that have popped up. Many have come and gone but some have taken off nicely. Usually the ones that have taken off like Naughty are run by guys who have been around for a while and just expanded into paysites though. So not really a newbie per say.

So Alex is right in that sense, a newbie doing it is rare.

Mark I agree. People have been saying for YEARS...it's dried up. Get out now, blah blah blah.