Greenguy's Board - View Single Post

juggernaut · 2005-07-08, 03:39 PM

I agree with LindaMight. This is the worst time to open a cam site. With recording the streams in the 2257 down to shoot everything else. The advice I would give you that I got way to late. Was "DONT OPEN A PAY SITE TILL YOU HAVE MASTERED TRAFFIC, DON'T OPEN A CAM SITE TILL YOU HAVE MASTERED EVERYTHING"
There are so many things that come into opening a camsite that I would recommend, if you are dead set on doing it. That you look into programs that offer you all their streams on your site in hopes you will send them sign ups. In the end you will make more money doing that then spending the money on servers, software, billing, model payouts, payouts in general, etc.
If you are new to the WM world and think like most do, open a cam site and the money comes rolling in you are in for a surprise. Sites like IMLive and Ifriends have been around for some time and have a very good staff who know what they are doing in order to make the site turn a profit.
I am lucky my wife is a host and if not for her my site would make no money at all. If you dont have a ton of traffic your hosts will not stay online on your site. It's just the business, those hosts are out there to make money. They dont care about your site, only the $$ and rightfully so. If you can provide them with visitors all day long to chat with then and only then maybe you will make money. If the visitors just sit and chat with the hosts all day and dont buy time then the hosts will leave.
Our site is only a little over 1 month old. We have found that 99% of the people who come to the site just sit and either watch the free video an never come into the chat, or they are from countries whom you dont see much in the line of signups comming from.
Its a really hard site to manage and keep running. My time schedule went from normal wake up in the morning and go to bed at night, to going to sleep at 5am and waking up at 2 or 3 in the afternoon. You need to stay up durring the busiest times of your site. If you dont and no one is there to answer customer or host questions then you will have issues with people not returning and hosts feeling they are not being taken care of.
Look around at IMLive and Livejasmin and Ifriends and see if you can sign up with them on their WM program. Build a site around their streams, this way you have seriously cut your self out a big chunk of startup cash.
I don't know if they are still running the program but IFriends I think used to give out $100 per sign up. Think about it, you open a site and after all is said and done, in the end you make be lucky to walk away with 10 or 15% from any sign up on your own site. If you have a customer who buys $100 worth of time you walk away with $10 or $15 after payouts, keep in mind thats allot of money for a person to buy. Most will buy the least they can. I see more people buying $30 cause its our smallest purchase, then I do buying $100. The people who buy the $100 are people who either know the host, or are (dare I say the word) Pro cam viewers. They know how the systems on most sites work and are confortable with purchasing that time. But its not an everyday thing for new sites. Now if you are on the IFriends program and that same person signs up then you just get an even $100 less the management nightmares of maintaining a customer DB and customer service, etc. Hope this helps, not trying to burst your bubble. It can be done but only with hard work and a commitment for a few years. If you can get past the major brick walls it should pay off, even if its a small site. But getting past the walls is the hardest part. Jugg..

2005-07-08, 03:39 PM	#5
juggernaut Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Central Jersey! If I was rich and powerful I would dress as my avatar does. Posts: 1,448	I agree with LindaMight. This is the worst time to open a cam site. With recording the streams in the 2257 down to shoot everything else. The advice I would give you that I got way to late. Was "DONT OPEN A PAY SITE TILL YOU HAVE MASTERED TRAFFIC, DON'T OPEN A CAM SITE TILL YOU HAVE MASTERED EVERYTHING" There are so many things that come into opening a camsite that I would recommend, if you are dead set on doing it. That you look into programs that offer you all their streams on your site in hopes you will send them sign ups. In the end you will make more money doing that then spending the money on servers, software, billing, model payouts, payouts in general, etc. If you are new to the WM world and think like most do, open a cam site and the money comes rolling in you are in for a surprise. Sites like IMLive and Ifriends have been around for some time and have a very good staff who know what they are doing in order to make the site turn a profit. I am lucky my wife is a host and if not for her my site would make no money at all. If you dont have a ton of traffic your hosts will not stay online on your site. It's just the business, those hosts are out there to make money. They dont care about your site, only the $$ and rightfully so. If you can provide them with visitors all day long to chat with then and only then maybe you will make money. If the visitors just sit and chat with the hosts all day and dont buy time then the hosts will leave. Our site is only a little over 1 month old. We have found that 99% of the people who come to the site just sit and either watch the free video an never come into the chat, or they are from countries whom you dont see much in the line of signups comming from. Its a really hard site to manage and keep running. My time schedule went from normal wake up in the morning and go to bed at night, to going to sleep at 5am and waking up at 2 or 3 in the afternoon. You need to stay up durring the busiest times of your site. If you dont and no one is there to answer customer or host questions then you will have issues with people not returning and hosts feeling they are not being taken care of. Look around at IMLive and Livejasmin and Ifriends and see if you can sign up with them on their WM program. Build a site around their streams, this way you have seriously cut your self out a big chunk of startup cash. I don't know if they are still running the program but IFriends I think used to give out $100 per sign up. Think about it, you open a site and after all is said and done, in the end you make be lucky to walk away with 10 or 15% from any sign up on your own site. If you have a customer who buys $100 worth of time you walk away with $10 or $15 after payouts, keep in mind thats allot of money for a person to buy. Most will buy the least they can. I see more people buying $30 cause its our smallest purchase, then I do buying $100. The people who buy the $100 are people who either know the host, or are (dare I say the word) Pro cam viewers. They know how the systems on most sites work and are confortable with purchasing that time. But its not an everyday thing for new sites. Now if you are on the IFriends program and that same person signs up then you just get an even $100 less the management nightmares of maintaining a customer DB and customer service, etc. Hope this helps, not trying to burst your bubble. It can be done but only with hard work and a commitment for a few years. If you can get past the major brick walls it should pay off, even if its a small site. But getting past the walls is the hardest part. Jugg..