So you want to become an adult webmaster? Well it's not as hard as you might think. There are a couple of things you should do first; and I will attempt to help get you started in the right direction.

10 Steps to becoming an Adult Webmaster

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Step 1. Decide what you want to do - You must decide if you want to produce your own unique content (e.g. making your own videos) or if you will be using content from other sources (e.g. affiliate programs). This is very important, because if you've never had any experience in the adult industry other than watching porn, you'll probably want to start off slow. Affiliate programs are the recommended way to go, because there will be sites that can sell you content, but there have been some issues recently with some sites not really having the legal right to sell you that content. Affiliate programs are great, because the bigger ones will have their own conversion tracking centers, which means that you don't even need to fuss with billing companies. If you are a photographer and really want to start shooting your own adult content, there are myriad issues that you will need to deal with, and more than I can provide here. I would recommend you start going on the adult webmaster boards, and find out more. Below you will find links for many of the Adult Webmaster chat boards, all of which are good for different things… YNOT Masters is the best.

 Step 2. Assess your skills - Are you going to be making this website yourself? Are you going to need someone to make it for you? If you aren't a web designer, there are a couple of things you should be aware of. First, not all web design is the same. You MUST shop around when looking for a company to make your site. It’s going to be harder to become an adult webmaster if you don’t possess web design skills unless you’ve got lots of cash. Paying someone to build an adult site, that’s any good, will cost you plenty. Then you have the problem of finding content. If you are paying someone to design a site for you it really needs to be a pay site, and then you need to decide if you are going to make your own content or buying it from someone. In either case, the company that you buy the design from should be able to provide you with places where you can buy your own content. For the rest of us who know web design, the challenge is the same but the startup costs are next to nothing. If you are familiar with web design, don’t forget to check out all the links following the 10 steps.

 Step 3. Choosing the Theme - This goes for both making your own content and using someone else’s. You must have a clear idea of the type of content you wish to promote. I would suggest 2 things in making this decision. Stick with something you know. If you are straight, don't try to do a gay site right away. And if you like blonde teens, don't try to do a bondage site. The point is that if you like something you will be more likely to understand the target audience since you are apart of it. Once you understand your target audience, or in business terms your Target Market Segment, you will be able to cater to their needs. Now that you’ve picked something that you know don't let it be a broad topic, like blonde teens. The reason for this is simple. If you choose blonde teens, how many other sites are you going to be competing with? Too many to count, so why would you want to limit your opportunities? Of course you don’t, so you not only need to pick something you know about, limit your selections to what are called niches. These are smaller segments of broader subject areas. So instead of choosing blonde teens, maybe choose blonde teens from the University of Michigan , or blonde teens working on the farm. See the difference? So choose something that maybe there isn't much of, and be the BEST in that category. We call that "niche marketing" and you would be well served by adhering to it. Explore the links below to the different affiliate programs and see what the content differences are and what types of niches are available.

 Step 4. Picking the Right Domain - This is so important today. Most of the good names, or I should say most of the common names have been taken. No need to look for freeporn.com or sexyblondes.com they’re already taken, and every variation is taken as well. If you're looking to make any money you need to be different. Pick a domain name that is easy to remember and unique. Your domain (e.g. www.thebestsexstore.com) needs to be uncomplicated and easy to remember. Sure I wanted to get sexstore.com or just bestsexstore.com but you make due with what you can get. Also, you don’t want one with hyphens or too many X's in it. Consider your audience. If you are going to tell your friends about your site, then you need to have something that they won't need to write down. A memorable or remarkable domain name isn’t always possible. But try to get one anyway. You should note that some web design companies already have domain names that they have purchased and can sell to you directly, so don't be discouraged when the domain you want isn't available. Oh, and try to stay away from the .biz .info .ws - they are LAME. And more often then not, when your friend or person you sent to your site is typing in the name they will make it a .com and they will go to another site and not yours. Stick to the basics, and remember: memorable & brief.

Step 5. Affiliate Programs - Most of what I have written applies to people who are not going to produce their own content. To that end, you will need to get involved with an affiliate program. It’s important to note that because you are not making your own content, you will not be making a "pay" site. Pay sites are ones in which there is a membership fee to join. Affiliate programs allow you to promote someone else’s pay site and give you a commission when people sign up. This is fantastic and a great way for people to get started cheaply in the adult entertainment industry. Let me explain. Let me begin by saying that I’ve included a list below of recommended affiliate programs. My favorite affiliate program right now is one I found only recently called Perfect Gonzo. They are not the best that I have, nor are they the only one I have, but are good enough for this example. Perfect Gonzo only has 3 sites, unlike most affiliate programs, but what that lack in volume they make up for in quality. These 3 sites are some of the best I've seen, and I knew that they would be money makers and easy to promote! That's really the key, there are probably a couple thousand affiliate programs out there, and of those maybe 20-30 huge ones with 40-100 sites each. Those programs more often than not get into the trap of making "cookie cutter" websites. Where you go on and most of them look exactly the same, and in many cases... share the same content, which in my opinion is very bad. So when looking for an affiliate program to promote look for sites they have that are unique and high quality, e.g. if you can’t tell if it’s a high quality site by the tour, chances are that your potential customers can’t tell either… and won’t sign up. That's the great thing about Perfect Gonzo, the have "exclusive" content for each of their 3 sites and it's all really high quality. Incidentally, “exclusive” should really mean exclusive. When you view exclusive content there should never be a doubt that it’s really exclusive. So affiliate programs are great, and I have listed several of the better ones in a list at the end of this article for easy access. So which ones should you sign up for? I would recommend signing up with all of them. Wow, that’s a lot! Not really, it will feel a little strange, because they will want your social security number, but it's necessary if they are going to be paying you and you’re a US citizen. I haven't had a problem yet, and keep in mind, if they screw one person they're not going to make anymore money, so they want to keep your info safe and secure. The reason you'll want to sign up with all of them is simple... you never know when you might want to start promoting their content, and they all give you access to different promotion materials. Almost like advertising kits, some sites that look really cool on the outside or on their affiliate page, may really be crappy when it comes to marketing materials that they provide their affiliates, and the only way to know what they give you is to sign up. Luckily it’s 100% free to signup, and if an affiliate program ever asks you for money to sign up… it’s a scam. You won't have to pay anything to join these sites, but you may have 2 options when you sign up. 2 Types of affiliate programs. They will ask you if you want to be paid per join, or if you want to be paid off the recurring memberships. This is a tricky one, but I'm confident that I can make it clear for you. For me, it's simple; I do the pay-per-join option every time. The reason being is that I don't know about the retention percentage or ration for a particular site. They may even tell you what it is, but I wouldn’t believe it. Oh I’m sure it was true at one time, but there are so many factors that go into retention and you’re relying at that point on the sites ability to keep its customers… not something I want to base my paychecks on. So, if you do the pay-per-join, you get cash right away (well at normal intervals). You will also notice that the PPJ sites are not all the same amount. One affiliate program might pay $15 per join, and another might pay $40. For me, I would say stick with ones that pay at least $25 per join; you don’t want to wait forever to get money.

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Step 6. Keep close to the "industry" - One of the most important things you can do for yourself once you start, or even before you start is to get on the message boards. The adult webmaster community is surprisingly helpful when it comes to being a newbie. I have found that they are always willing to help people out when they're having trouble. Below you will find a list of webmaster boards, the most important one is YNOT masters, and they’re just the best.  

Step 7. Treat it like a business - If you are ever going to make money in the adult entertainment industry, you must treat it like a business. This simply means that this can't be a hobby for you. You can't just update your site whenever you want to. One of big things when you have a free site, or even a pay site, is the constant rotation of content. People want to feel like there’s something new everyday, or at least twice a week. Remember, the competition is high and deeply entrenched. So if you’re ever going to make any headway, you need to have a slow but steady pace at which you grow. Be serious about it. Of course you should have fun, you're an "adult webmaster" but treat it like having fun at work. Set time aside every day to work on your sites and to do “research”. As silly as it may sound, you need to search for porn all the time. Knowing what the competition is doing is a big plus in our case. You need to see what others are doing, and for that you’ll need to set aside time each week and most every day to do your work.  

Step 8. Think Different - Giving credit to Apple Computer for this tag line, but noting that this is so important to what we do in the adult entertainment industry. You must think different, or die. If you want to make a life out of this business, you must always keep in mind that there are 100's of thousands of people doing the same thing you are, and not everyone makes the big bucks. If you want to make money you must stand out and be different. You must constantly think of new ways to improve. This doesn't mean changing your site a million times to make it better. Often it's better to just leave it alone, and make one big change every 6 months or so. I mean with respect to advertising, linking, getting search engine placement, you must think different.  

Step 9. Be Honest - Remember the goal, to make money over time and to consistently grow. You cannot achieve this by deceiving your customers. Even though you will be using affiliate programs in the beginning, you must be truthful. If you are advertising for a site and it has videos of women in their 30's, don't put that it's a teen site. If you sign up with an affiliate program, which is free to do, don't sign up for the site and make commission off the signup. They will cancel your account, and never let you be an affiliate again! If you do have a pay site it's worse, because you are directly responsible for your marketing. If you have a busty blonde’s website, don't advertise it as a brunette website, and have people signup and cancel because you misrepresented your site. Or the big one is using the word “free” if it’s not. Please don’t ever do this, you’ll only be hurting yourself. Driving traffic to your site and claiming that it’s free when it might not be, will not only give you false clicks, but your CTR (click through rate) will be low because once people see you have to pay, they’re gone. This is bad business, and not a way to keep your customers coming back every month.  

Step 10. Network - I don't mean network your computers together. I mean with the people in the industry. The chat boards are great, but you must also go the shows. Internext, the Phoenix Forum, and the others are a fantastic way to not only meet new people but to see what’s hot and what’s not. Let me give you an example of why this is important. I went to the Phoenix Forum in early 2004, where I was about 5 feet away from Jenna Jameson! I will first say that she is even more beautiful in person than she is on film, but I was nervous about going up to her. My friend, who was with me, went right up to her, gave her a big hug, and started talking to her! He was talking to the biggest adult star in the world about business, and her new affiliate program that was just launching called Jenna Cash. He talked to her about promoting her sites in different ways and was given access to materials and people that not many get access to. The point is that people in the adult entertainment industry, for the most part, are very friendly and willing to help you out. All you have to do is just make the effort to get to know them and the best way to do that is the trade shows, and by using the chat boards. Link exchanges are also a great result of networking. If I meet someone from a particular affiliate program, I can get to know them and possibly get my website listed on theirs, and that will help business. To that end, I will also be starting a link exchange program. If you would like your site listed here on my webmaster resource page, please send it to me. All I ask is that you do the same for me. Doing this will help our positions and rankings in Google, and that is GREAT for business.

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I hope you found these steps helpful in getting started with your adult website, it’s such a fun job to have. Bookmark this page (Control+D) as I will be updating resources from time to time and you may find something new that might be helpful to you. Also, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. info@thebestsexstore.com

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