Who Decided ...

[dzinerbear]

Who decided that a paysite update is only an update if it includes a video? I just spent some time on a user-driven porn review site and those reviewers talk about photos, so the perception that surfers are only interested in videos seems false.

But a lot of review sites will only consider an "update" if there's a video. And since there's no governing body of porn sites establishing the rules where does this one come from?

Michael

[MatthewVieques]

Who decided that a paysite update is only an update if it includes a video? I just spent some time on a user-driven porn review site and those reviewers talk about photos, so the perception that surfers are only interested in videos seems false.

But a lot of review sites will only consider an "update" if there's a video. And since there's no governing body of porn sites establishing the rules where does this one come from?

Michael

my own view is that this is subjective and relative to the site in question. some sites are just images, others just video, others both. the test..in my view...is does it satisfy the court of public opinion.... if the members or visitors dont percieve the new offering as a materially new body of work relative to the site regular offering, its probably not a good idea to claim it as update, doing so could hurt credibility. my 2c

[basschick]

if you have an episode with pics and videos, i would consider it's only a FULL update if you put up both. after all, whether pics OR videos, it's not the full content from the shoot.

my experience reading user reviews and comments about paysites is different than yours. yes, they do talk about pics - for example, i read a lot of comments saying that users prefer the pics to all be horizontal so that they can see the entire pics on their monitors rather than having to scroll. but i've also read lots more user comments and polls showing that users much prefer videos to pics. and retention increased dramatically in some sites i know of when owners who had had more pic updates than video updates increased the number of video updates.

for that matter, it's very hard to make a pics-only site fly, but there are tons of video sites with no pics that are easy to sell and retain well.

[dzinerbear]

Okay, so what I'm talking about is that Butch Dixon updates three times a week. We put up a photo set on Monday and Wednesday and a video on Saturday. In my mind that's three updates. But some reviewers say I only have one update a week because we only put up one video.

And basschick, if you consider a FULL update as photos and videos of the same episode, if I put up the video one day and photos another day, then my guess is you'd call it a half update?

Michael

[pocoloco]

I consider everything that is being added an update, however if a site adds content from one shoot on different days, it's just one update devided in 3 parts.

[Adam Mason]

I quess it depends on if you are promoting yourself as a video site or a photo site or a mix of both. Personally speaking, if I got a photo update today and then a video update in 4 weeks time of the exact same shoot then I would say it was one update in two parts. But, if the photo shoot is entirely different to the video shoot then I would say it's two different updates.

I guess the real issue is what surfers want - photos, videos or a mix of both and what they consider as an "update". I've always kept it real simple - 2 video updates a week with picture grabs... with some high-res pics thrown in as a bonus within my member's forum (although I have to say they are a new addition and comprise of around 20 pics each).

[Gaystoryman]

Sorry, but I really don't see the reasoning of whether the added content is split among three days or all seven. If something new is added 3 times a week, the site updates 3 times a week.

Updates are merely NEW items that weren't there before. Least in my blond pee brain. whistle

[dzinerbear]

I quess it depends on if you are promoting yourself as a video site or a photo site or a mix of both.

I bill Butch Dixon as a masculine man site. Photos, videos, and whatever else, it's all a part of the package.

I guess it's a losing battle because we now have four or five different opinions, so I guess my question is moot.

An update is considered as something different by every different review site, and there's really no consensus. And since there's four or five different opinions in this thread alone, I guess there's no right answer.

Michael

[rawTOP]

I bill Butch Dixon as a masculine man site. Photos, videos, and whatever else, it's all a part of the package.

In the case of Butch Dixon, I know I as an affiliate want to know if it's a photos-only update. I don't want to promise or imply there's a video when there isn't, 'cause some people DO assume there's a video unless you say otherwise.

[AnthonyDeAngelo]

yeah well, I don't know who made up the "rules" but we were told in no uncertain terms from all of our consultants that in order to be taken seriously and to have a successful site, our updates had to include videos in 3 different sizes both whole and in 6 parts and vidcaps from that set as well as and any hi-rez photos from that shoot - those would be an "bonus" for that update

so...

in keeping with the governing forces, we have always put up a video and vidcaps and hi-rez (when we have them), each and every week since we went live on January 1, 2007 and that's a lot of complete and total updates

I don't question the powers that be (that often)

[Maryflixxx]

Paysites have two sets of customers - the consumer and the webmaster.

These two customers see things very differently. Webmasters get bored much faster.

At the end of the day, the consumers will tell you what they want and they should be our first priority. Neither an owner nor an affiliate has anything without a customer... especially a happy one.

As a very clever program owner said to me the other day - "Gay men love to collect porn and aren't afraid to have it on their computers. The want to download their pictures and save them in files and group them and go through them and enjoy the ownership of them."

So if he thinks that images are valuable to his consumers, I'd tend to agree. His success is all the proof I need to trust his opinion.

[abostonboy]

But a lot of review sites will only consider an "update" if there's a video. And since there's no governing body of porn sites establishing the rules where does this one come from?



I guess that the reason that some review sites only consider an update and update if there is a video is that they need common ground for comparison. Site XYZ updates 3 times a week. Site ZYX updates 5 times a week. Based on what criteria?

Here is the best example that I can give. Broke Straight Boys updates twice a week with a video, high res photos, and vidcaps. Is that two updates or could it be...

six? we could spread the content out. Photoset one day. Video next. Vidcaps next. Photoset next day. Video next. vidcaps next.

Now, what if another site put up the same amount of content we did, but did it the second way? Would it be two updates or six? Same content just spread out.

I think review sites are just trying to have a reference point to judge each site on.

As Mary pointed out what a review site might think an update is and what your customers may think an update is are two different things. This is one of the reasons that I never really cared what a review site thought. It's what my customers care about that matters to me. While review sites have good traffic and make sales, they are not our best affiliates by far.

[basschick]

your members will let you know. 2 full updates per week with videos and pics will retain better than 3 weekly updates that is 2 pic sets and 1 video UNLESS you are billed on your tour as a pics site so that members are people looking specifically for pics. i'm basing this statement on a number of bothy gay and straight review site clients and my own retention.

it takes me far less time to look at a set of pics than to watch a video unless the video is very short. unless it's just the bestest pics set ever, with over 100 non-repetitious pics, going through a set of pics is fast. most pic sets have pics that are very close together in motion. i don't need to click every pic if pic 1 and pic 2 show one guy moved his hand up as the only change. heck, most pic sets i see are very repetitious - and i see a lot of pic sets. many of the pics look like the pics before them.

[rawTOP]

we could spread the content out. Photoset one day. Video next. Vidcaps next. Photoset next day. Video next. vidcaps next.

I would HATE any sponsor who did that...