Re: Help with starting a new site
I agree completely with these statements. The quickest way to fail in porn is to take on a task you don’t understand and don’t enjoy.
Team up with someone who’s in the business of being a sponsor. Pick the sponsor carefully to make sure it’s a good match. Then spend time doing what you love and leave all the other stuff to the sponsor.
Re: Help with starting a new site
I have a great deal of affection respect towards the members and posters on this board, however without taking the time beyond this quote to hear the other replies, I will toss in my two cents.
The posters here have been kind in their response, I also want to kind so please don’t take this the wrong way, however your best option is to kill this idea right now and find other avenues of interests. The current landscape of paysites or memberships sites is such that the only new sites that hit the market, come from companies that are established and are adding to their existing portfolios.
Your list of queries is far too extensive and when you asked “what is a webmaster”, that’s when I felt the need to respond.
The list is far too long to mention here, however in your case my friend a simple answer would be, every problem imaginable. Now if you have a bankroll to flush down the toilet, that is certainly your choice, however there are far more better charities to donate to than this.
I’m never one to stand in front of anyone’s dreams or desires, however this is a venture of great proportions that would suck up every moment of your life, and with zero knowledge in this field, the learning curve alone would take you close to a year to imbibe.
Just to address some of your concerns, you would need at a bare minimum or 6 month’s worth of content to launch with, and that’s being very liberal. You could probably get away with one update per week, but would not have much success in retention or re-bills. Plus, the same free tube sites that inspired you to consider this, are the same sites you will see the content from your paysite running in its entirety, thus giving those same members who have been watching your stuff for free from the start, no interest in going to your site and paying for it.
Just a very few things about your query, if you decide to move forward with this idea, more power to you and I would wish you the best, I would also help you with any questions you may have as you go. However this is a very risky business venture for even season veterans of this industry, let alone someone like yourself who’s looking at a blank piece of paper.
So please don’t view my negativity as negative for the sake of being negative. I should point out that after over a decade into this, I’m still stupid enough to entertain opening another paysite of my own, buyer beware.
Re: Help with starting a new site
I must admit that I was tempted to post the exact same thing Housekeeper did when I first read this thread. The “What is a webmaster” question was a big warning sign, sort of like wanting to start a restaurant and asking “What is a chef?”. But I guess I gave the OP the benefit of the doubt and assumed he meant to ask what is a webmaster in relation to starting and running a gay porn site.
In any event I would also like to suggest to the OP that perhaps he just sell his clips on Clips4Sale or sites like that as a way to determine what kind of interest there would be for his niche and videos. As it was said, free sites probably are not a good gauge for this. It’s only when people pay actual money for your work that you will know if you have a business.
Do a search here for Clips4Sale, there are a few threads about it that show mixed opinions on its value. But for some people it might be a good way to start.
Re: Help with starting a new site
I wouldn’t think Clips4Sale is going to get him a big draw in the webmaster department because their affiliate program kind of blows and most affiliates aren’t going to be happy making a buck or two per sale, if that. I’d still think looking at CJXXX, Indie Bucks, or Zbuckz wouldn’t be a bad idea because they’ll do most of the back-end stuff leaving him to produce the videos.
I echo the eyebrow-raising question about webmasters, but at the same time, the guy has been selling his videos on Xtube, so why would he need to know what a webmaster is? It’s a totally different business model that completely cuts out the traditional webmaster / affiliate.
Re: Help with starting a new site
I know what a webmaster is now. All the people in this forum didnt pop out of the womb knowing what one is. It’s like when I was in nursing school. All the BURNT out nurses hated being assigned to have us follow them. They expected us to know everything since they knew everything but forgot they were once in my shoes. I WILL start a website and it will be GREAT
Re: Help with starting a new site
I tend not to go to tubes sites of that nature, so I wouldn’t know how things are run, except that it’s generally a good mixture of pirated content along with some major studios who are running full length video at their blessing for whatever promotional or monetary gain they may see fit. However, I had no idea one could sell their content.at a site like xtube.
This post is more emblematic of a larger problem. I’ve seen posts of this nature many, many times across different boards, where people only have tubes as a reference to what a porn site is. They upload their content there and after all the views (of course without knowing what traffic is or how it’s gotten), they think to themselves, ‘gee, maybe I could make $ on this’.
My guess is the OP will be gone as quick as the year 2015 when he either quickly looses interest in pursuing this, or does not like the valuable and realistic replies he receives from veteran industry people. Wish I had a nickel for how many times I’ve seen these type of posts.
Anyone entertaining the notion of starting a paysite, and I mean a legitimate ongoing membership based site, without having a penny less than 50k at a bare minimum in start up costs, is fooling themselves. Elevated X alone last I checked is charging about $150-200 per month license fees. A VPS or Dedicated Server is going to be pushing the $200 mark per month as a vague estimate. Not to mention the fact you’ll need cdn or some other streaming software installed. And that’s just a snippet of the basic groundwork that needs to be laid. Sure you can hire a designer for $1500-2000 for a nifty design, but even the best CMS will encounter a code glitch or mis-configuration that would require a programmer at some point (good luck finding one of those guys at a reasonable cost, at least $100 per hour if you’ve lucky), and down time on a paysite is a big problem.
I won’t even get into the time and effort it takes to produce content, not to mention the ongoing costs of paying models. Factor in being responsible for weekly updates and all the time checking mail, stats, customer service, chargebacks, security issues, oh yeah, you’ll have to pay for a good security script too. And after all that hard work you’ve put in and invested in, the next thing you come to find out is your videos are either playing in full length at a tube site somewhere, or available for free download at some file sharing portal. Time to get the DMCA notices ready, you’ll have time for that I’m sure, or would it be better to pay a company like pornguardian for example to help scour the internet to find you stolen content. Surely with the windfall you have from the first month of launch will be able to cover those costs. </ end of sarcasm>
The reality here is with major companies that add or launch new sites to their networks, it takes anywhere from 3-5 years before any actual profit can be seen. Now, are there people out there schlepping their amateur home movies on line, whether at a clips store or through a self hosted company? Absolutely, there are tons and many are well know porn actors or small site owners. Are they making enough per month to pay a mortgage, or car insurance, or college tuition, eh, probably not…
Again, I fully support anyone willing to take the plunge, that’s what makes this Country great, freedom of choice.
Re: Help with starting a new site
I’m just going to say WELCOME STR8MADETOCUM! 
Re: Help with starting a new site
I want you to give me a catheter…
Re: Help with starting a new site
Not exactly a catheter, but I do love to play a proctologist 
Re: Help with staring a new site
[QUOTE=Gaystoryman;164634]Welcome Str8madetocum
There are a ton of helpful people and people who know how to get it right, like the guy at Spunkworthy, like the guy at GayHoopla, BoysHalfwayHourse, FrenchTwinks, and others. Ask them, go to various sites and ask them their opinions. The more people you ask, the more you will learn. Plus, you know the old adage, “put two people in a room, ask them a question, and get three answers, or more”. So ask and keep on asking, then you have to decide, but at least you will be deciding based on some intelligent insights. BUT ONLY IF YOU ASK A LOT OF QUESTIONS.
[/QUOTE]
I’m just now dipping into this conversation-- I think this (Str8MadeToCum) is the person who emailed me a couple weeks ago asking about web design and cameras and stuff?? If so, I’m glad you took my advice and jumped onto the board to get other opinions and answers to your questions!
Re: Help with starting a new site
While the intentions of everyone here are good (believe me, a lot of guys here would love to try promoting your site when it’s up and running) I do think it’s unfair to tell you to quit.
While there is a lot of experience on this forum, not one of them knows whether your site will fail or be the next massive hit. The fact that you’ve been running already on Xtube and you have a following is a great starting point that pretty much none of the other big studios out there had. When they all started out there was no Xtube, no Twitter, no Tumblr. It’s a completely different landscape and getting an audience for what you do is far easier and cheaper now than ever before.
You’ve hit the ground running already, you have the audience there, now you just need to find the perfect balance of pricing, content and promotion to get those fans into your site.
It might not be easy, but you clearly have the passion and the willingness to learn. There is absolutely no reason why your site can’t become the next big thing and there’s absolutely no reason why you should feel embarrassed for asking questions.
I’ve seen sites come and go over the last few years, and some of them had a following before they started the actual site, but from what I know about those individuals they didn’t fail because they couldn’t get the members, they failed for the same reason most new businesses fail - lack of common sense and owners using the revenue to fund a lifestyle they thought they ought to have within 6 months.
As long as you’re prepared to work, and prepared to treat it like a growing business rather than just an opportunity to make a lot of money, there is no reason you can’t succeed.
Just my opinion of course, others here are far more experienced than me in creating and running sites.
Re: Help with staring a new site
Also, I don’t know how far down the process you are, but have you thought about buying that domain, sticking up a newsletter registration and making a video for your channel asking them to go and check it out? That might give you a better idea (without risk or cost) of how many of those viewers might actually be willing to pay a membership for that new site.
Just thought I’d throw that out there, it might be a good way to gauge interest before you start investing thousands of $'s.
Re: Help with starting a new site
I guess I’m not aware of how that translates, I don’t frequent tubes or file sharing platforms except to help out those who are diligent in trying to remove their pilfered content. I guess my question would be how many surfers will leave a tube site to go pay for a membership? Even if you’re seeing a thousand hits per day, how would that filter down to conversions, not curiosity hits. Obviously I think much of this would be niche specific in some instances, but the current landscape that I’ve seen is that the surfers who are getting their content for free, will only get it for free.
Also, I sense based on research that there are not simply freeloaders, but those who are porn aficionados who will scour the free sites and free cam sites yet still buy a membership occasionally. Then there are those who are freeloaders and do it as there is a certain thrill in knowing their getting the goods for free, most of which I’ve seen to be assholes.
As we’ve not seen the OP for quite some time, I suspect this was a drive by, if he has embarked on his project I’d be curious to learn of his progress. Additionally, as I’ve said before, I’d be more than willing to offer whatever I could to someone starting out, as I’ve always done. My only suggestion at this point would be the obvious one, which is to start small and work your way up. However as I’ve seen time and time again with newbies who see the sky as the limit, they simply don’t want to take to time required to develop and stay the course, the quick buck with an easy approach is generally the mindset.
Re: Help with starting a new site
Firstly Welcome Pal hope everything works out!
Setting up a paysite = massive job and say goodbye to the next “XYZ” years of your life on the journey to becoming successful… I have no idea what LOMBO cash means but I assume it means loads, I can assure you that initially you will pay out a lot more than you see come in, and you will also work manic hours for those said years for diddly squat… although in the long run it is a good and profitable venture that can do really well, you just have to be prepared to realise that if there are 24 hours in a day you need to fit 48 hours of work into the 18 your awake and learn to eat/drink/wank/sleep all within 1 foot of a computer screen… For me working attached to a computer for ridiculous hours comming up with new concepts and ideas and talking to the crazy yet supportive people you meet, including many here is what I love, others loathe!
Make a go of it if you like, I know another sole model has started a site recently, and seeing his adverts EVERYWHERE gives me a little confidence that his site has taken off, just remember each of those ads is costing him constantly, but it is do-able.
But as micheal has said its a big job, and to make money it cant be the “weekend job” most people want it to be unless you have “Big Moolah” to throw at advertising and assistants 
Hope it goes well!
Re: Help with starting a new site
Well, that’s why I was initially skeptical of the suggestion made that he had so many viewers, and I made that point in my initial post. But the format is different to what you might be used to on other tube sites.
While most tube sites rely on banner ads for revenue, and while YouTube pays content creators for the views they get on their videos (from the ad revenue they make on those videos) Xtube allows you to sell access to a video. So technically he’s talking about people who are already paying for his content. They’re just paying for it on a per-video basis, or pay per view.
From what he’s said, his channel sells access to that content, Xtube takes a % of that, but he’s making money from those fans watching the videos.
If this is the case, and if he’s making money from that, there’s a good chance he can convert those fans into members of his own site.
I personally think he would be wise to keep those Xtube fans happy with a 30% content delivery while using that to also promote his site where they can get everything for a monthly fee. This would be like a YouTuber making money off their channel while also promoting their own website where they can then sell their latest book or their merch or whatever.
[QUOTE=housekeeper;164997]
As we’ve not seen the OP for quite some time, I suspect this was a drive by, if he has embarked on his project I’d be curious to learn of his progress. Additionally, as I’ve said before, I’d be more than willing to offer whatever I could to someone starting out, as I’ve always done. My only suggestion at this point would be the obvious one, which is to start small and work your way up. However as I’ve seen time and time again with newbies who see the sky as the limit, they simply don’t want to take to time required to develop and stay the course, the quick buck with an easy approach is generally the mindset.[/QUOTE]
I think he was probably discouraged and felt as though he was being humiliated for asking a reasonable question, unfortunately. We might think it’s ridiculous that he wouldn’t know what a webmaster is, but if someone has been making a nice living selling porn on Xtube then why would we just assume that they should know terminology that is generally not used any more by the younger generation of content creators?
If anything this suggests we might all be the ones out of touch. Social media and tube sites have changed the business radically, the old terms we use are just not that relevant to those focusing on social media. Most of those making a shit ton of money on the internet these days don’t run websites, they run channels and social media accounts. They are not webmasters in the way us old-school site builders think.
And I agree that if someone is coming into this business hoping their site will make them thousands for a “lifestyle” they want they will not succeed. I saw this happen a few times in the last couple of years, sites that started off amazingly well and then just vanished because the owner was basically just spending every $ he earned that month partying.
This is a business and it requires hard work and investment. The days of putting up a site, making ten videos and earning a few grand from it in a week are LONG gone.
Re: Help with starting a new site
I agree, while I’m not suggesting we sugar coat the truth or reality, we could have handled this situation better.
I hope we didn’t chase him away.
Re: Help with starting a new site
Well it just appears that everyone “jumped all over him”. Seems to be a motivated individual. Wish him all the best.
Re: Help with starting a new site
Thanks conran for breaking down how that tube site works, I didn’t know and certainly not surprised that is the platform, and sounds like a very good one. Given that, it is quite probable that he could sway that specific targeted traffic to his own site, and would more than likely convert.
I don’t feel as though any of us ‘jumped all over him’ necessarily, tough love is what it is and I wasn’t given the red carpet treatment when I entered this business, but given the moxie he’s shown it’s takes tough people to survive in any industry. That being said, a wise person will dodge criticism and at the behest of being defensive, embrace the comments and point it towards a positive approach. The first thing he would be wise to recognize is he has landed in the right place, a learned group of experienced webmasters who have years of knowledge and expertise to offer.
The other point being made is yes, we’re in a new age of everything, and new people coming into the business have a different perspective (and rightfully so) to what the business is and how it works. Certainly these forums still serve as a place where we can all learn, and I feel confident everyone here welcomes newbies and the need to share, that’s what it’s all about.
However getting back to the reality of things, still a tantamount effort to sell exclusive content, especially in this day and age. For old timers like myself (don’t say it GSM), we didn’t have to compete with ourselves, in other words, surfers didn’t have the option to pay for a membership or go download it for free. And as I’ve ended all my replies to this thread, I’d be more than happy to help out, but that help still requires the X’s and O’s of it all.
Would ideally be a good topic for a new thread, what options are available to start and sell exclusive content, there are several to discuss and I’m seeing a lot of people with new pay sites, though the majority (99% at least), come with hosting and to a lesser degree likens itself to a clips store, except with all the ‘fund me’, ‘wishlist’ crap you see.
Re: Help with starting a new site
Guys I’m still here. Not discouraged at all. This isnt a drive by. I’m here to stay. Been super busy with reaching my video goal for the site and working with my excellent web developer/designer.
Re: Help with starting a new site
Glad to hear back from you. Please let us know how things go, and many of us are always looking for new sites to promote.