For gods sake am I the only one who is seeing major problems with this thread? Here we have someone who admits to having only $1000 in his bank at the best of times, and you are all encouraging him to start a paysite and even possibly a webmaster program!!!?

I mean nothing against tortus32, he is only as good as the advice he is given, but some of you should have realised he wasn't ready for a paysite as his posts here reflect that!


Tortus, seems you have already signed up for ccbill and verotel. Good luck mate, and since its now too late for me to suggest you hold off heres a short list i will copy and paste that I have given others. You might want to look at getting strongbox installed on your paysite aswell, as I am assuming you are not on hosting that could handle a 60mbs surge from eventual password leaks.

I snipped a few things since I know you already have them covered. Sorry for the roughness of this list.

- You need password and paysite security programs (eg strongbox)
- You need a content management script or at the very least an automated gallery generator
- You need a fast server on tier 1 BW
- You need scripted email responses for member requests (eg password etc).
- You need to design a tour that can convert (or pay to get it done and risk it not working)
- You need to design a members area (or pay to get it done)
- You need upsells / plugins / free plugins or at least some value added extras

If you are hoping to get affiliates:

- You need a wide range of banners that are tested and get results.
- You need a few gallery templates at least

- IF you are using a 3rd part processor like CCBill
: You need a program front end that you can plug the tracking into

- You need funds for advertising on boards, or at least a respected board presence
- You need to have the time to deal with affiliates 1 on 1
- You need to have content that can be given out AND the licence must allow it.


But ... i will save the best for last .... all the above aren't as important as this one.....

You NEED traffic. Without traffic your paysite is as good as a Tax Writeoff

Thanks,

I started this site back in October of last year. So far it's only cost me the $750 for the Visa thing plus hosting and I did pay a few of the models, but most of them are models that I do free portfolio work for, so they did the content for free. I get about 3 or 4 sign ups a week through Verotel, and I got 2 sign ups the first day I signed up with CCBill, even though they had to pay with MC instead of Visa at the time.

I'm home all day, so I have the time to do all the deisgn work and gallery building. If things start to improve, I will be able to pay for better hosting and such.

Bill :D

Not a bad start. You need to try to get at least a few sales a day to cover costs and development of the site, so keep working your traffic up. As i said before a paysite without traffic is merely a tax writeoff.

Having your own content and the ability to design yourself is a major bonus. Sorry for my skepticism, but i have seen so so many people start their own paysites with no clue as to what they are getting themselves into.

Try to use a combination of CPC and selective paid advertising to get yourself to 5 inhouse sales a day, then you will have a worthwhile venture. You might need a few $k to invest though.

Thanks, I'll keep pluggin away at this!
It helps that I'm home all day to work on it.

Bill

CCbill for me too..I like being able to combine my checks for smaller sponsors.

I am about to start my first paysite too in the next few months and I have been kicking around the same questions you are but decided that if I don't have the $750 to spend on it then I am not ready to open the paysite.