Simple things work best when looking for sign ups.

[Paul Markham]

I knew that telling surfers about the updates was converting and retaining. What I did not realise was if we step up a notch it would jump like it has.

About 3-4 weeks ago we started to rotate some of the content that had been on the site for over a year. We took them out and put them into the "Updates" program. Holding it back at least a month before re introducing it to the site.

We also started to buy in more content, so long as it was similar to ours. So every day the member got a new video and a 2 new image sets. I'm sure retention worked a bit better.

We then moved up anther step in going to 2 videos and 4 image sets every day, half new half in rotation. Retention definitely upped.

Then inside and outside the tour we told people what they will get in the future next weeks updates and on the tour only what was last weeks updates. This was all completed a week ago, the same day I was telling everyone the World cup was a good thing for sign ups.

Seems it has nothing to do with the WC, it's all about showing the surfer what he's getting and what he's missing.

Conversions on affiliates traffic is up 25%, retention it's tough to tell as it's too early, doubt if it will hurt though. "I'm cancelling my membership because I can't handle all the new porn you keep putting up" :lolup:

Will move to 3 videos and 3 sets a day soon.

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

I knew that telling surfers about the updates was converting and retaining. What I did not realise was if we step up a notch it would jump like it has.

About 3-4 weeks ago we started to rotate some of the content that had been on the site for over a year. We took them out and put them into the "Updates" program. Holding it back at least a month before re introducing it to the site.

We also started to buy in more content, so long as it was similar to ours. So every day the member got a new video and a 2 new image sets. I'm sure retention worked a bit better.

We then moved up anther step in going to 2 videos and 4 image sets every day, half new half in rotation. Retention definitely upped.

Then inside and outside the tour we told people what they will get in the future next weeks updates and on the tour only what was last weeks updates. This was all completed a week ago, the same day I was telling everyone the World cup was a good thing for sign ups.

Seems it has nothing to do with the WC, it's all about showing the surfer what he's getting and what he's missing.

Conversions on affiliates traffic is up 25%, retention it's tough to tell as it's too early, doubt if it will hurt though. "I'm cancelling my membership because I can't handle all the new porn you keep putting up" :lolup:

Will move to 3 videos and 3 sets a day soon.

Traffic is king when it comes to getting signups.

But content is king when it comes to retention.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Hell Puppy

Traffic is king when it comes to getting signups.

But content is king when it comes to retention.

Would you send traffic to a site that converted 1:2000 or a site that converted 1:200 assuming the traffic took the same effort to get?

[Hell Puppy]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

Would you send traffic to a site that converted 1:2000 or a site that converted 1:200 assuming the traffic took the same effort to get?

Obviously 1:200.

But first off not all traffic is created equal. And conversion rates are as much impacted by the proper filtering of the traffic as they are the tour which they are being sent to.

I know MY traffic very well, I can pretty reliably predict what they'll buy and what they wont.

But even with that, a totally blind link will have a very bad conversion rate compared to a link that discloses the type of site you're being sent to and that it is a paysite...

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Hell Puppy

Obviously 1:200.

But first off not all traffic is created equal. And conversion rates are as much impacted by the proper filtering of the traffic as they are the tour which they are being sent to.

I know MY traffic very well, I can pretty reliably predict what they'll buy and what they wont.

But even with that, a totally blind link will have a very bad conversion rate compared to a link that discloses the type of site you're being sent to and that it is a paysite...

All those things are equal for this discussion. Unless you are saying you will work harder for a site that works badly than you will for a site that works well.

You will send your traffic to the guy who makes you the most money for the same effort. Unless you want to go out of business.

Now tell me what makes the difference of converting at 1:200 and 1:2000.

ON EXACTLY THE SAME TRAFFIC.

[Hammer]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

Now tell me what makes the difference of converting at 1:200 and 1:2000.

ON EXACTLY THE SAME TRAFFIC.

The niche
The tour
The quality of the content in the tour
Exclusive content
The uniqueness of the site

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Hammer

The niche
The tour
The quality of the content in the tour
Exclusive content
The uniqueness of the site

Exactly, the thing that the "Traffic is King" band will never accept is.

They send their traffic to the guys that pay them the most. Which normally is the guys with the best content.

But I'm not sure if "The niche" explains it enough. "Understanding the niche" is better IMO.

I totally agree with this "The uniqueness of the site". No idea how many sites are out there but I would say 90% of tours look very similar to a lot of others, to the surfer.

[softball]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

Exactly, the thing that the "Traffic is King" band will never accept is.

They send their traffic to the guys that pay them the most. Which normally is the guys with the best content.

But I'm not sure if "The niche" explains it enough. "Understanding the niche" is better IMO.

I totally agree with this "The uniqueness of the site". No idea how many sites are out there but I would say 90% of tours look very similar to a lot of others, to the surfer.

Traffic is not king. Never make that mistake. The easiest thing in this business to get is traffic. A trained gorilla can move traffic. It takes great content to attract valuable traffic. Junk traffic is worth about as much as a K-car.
GFY is full of traffic rats making a few grand a month thinking they are king of the hill. WTF cares?
So is content or traffic king? The perennial argument. The answer is simple. Content is always king. This is not a chicken or egg argument. No content. No traffic. No argument.

[OldJeff]

Said it a million times before....

Money is King

Great Content with no traffic gives you something nice to look at.

All the traffic in the world with no one to buy it makes for an empty bank account.

Money will get you all the contant and traffic you want, the secret is simply making more than you spend.

[Hammer]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

But I'm not sure if "The niche" explains it enough. "Understanding the niche" is better IMO.

Understanding the niche is very important, but if you promote teens, big tits, porn stars or lesbians, it doesn't really matter how well you understand the niche or how great the site is, you're still competing with way too many other sites. Now, if you pick a smaller niche or come up with a new idea like Bangbus, you'll have it made. At least until everyone catches on and jumps on the bandwagon.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by OldJeff

Said it a million times before....

Money is King

Great Content with no traffic gives you something nice to look at.

All the traffic in the world with no one to buy it makes for an empty bank account.

Money will get you all the contant and traffic you want, the secret is simply making more than you spend.

Well actually in truth none of them is King.

Knowledge is the most important thing, followed by money, followed by skills, followed by talent, then in porn followed by content. If you have all these unless you hide under a rock the traffic will find you.

Money is useless if you do not have the knowledge to use it. If you have the knowledge you can find the money. Unless you're stupid which means you do not have the knowledge.

Now before someone tells me that made $10 mil without know squat, they knew enough to do it before anyone else did.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Hammer

Understanding the niche is very important, but if you promote teens, big tits, porn stars or lesbians, it doesn't really matter how well you understand the niche or how great the site is, you're still competing with way too many other sites. Now, if you pick a smaller niche or come up with a new idea like Bangbus, you'll have it made. At least until everyone catches on and jumps on the bandwagon.

Would a niche site like Bangbus make as much if they started today?

Same "Different niche" porn level, content quality, financial backing etc. would it be a winner?

It's easy to point to a site that made is 7 years ago and say this is the way to do it, do you know how many sites failed because they did not do it right, even though they had an undeveloped niche,

Pointing to a winner of the "Derby" and saying you need a brown horse to win a horse race is only part of the story. And to be frank it's the easy part.

[Hammer]

Coming up with a new Bangbus will hardly be easy and I only use it as an example. The point is that a site with awesome exclusive teen content will do better than most teen sites, but unless it has something to make it really unique, it will never do be a sensation. Now, if you add something to make it standout, like Teen Survivor Island or something, then you'll clean up.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Hammer

Coming up with a new Bangbus will hardly be easy and I only use it as an example. The point is that a site with awesome exclusive teen content will do better than most teen sites, but unless it has something to make it really unique, it will never do be a sensation. Now, if you add something to make it standout, like Teen Survivor Island or something, then you'll clean up.

I agree, but does a site need to be a sensation to succeed?

I know one site that made a profit within 6 months and now provides a very steady income for it's owners and it no sensation.

Waiting for the Bang Bus is going to make people a lot less money.

[spazlabz]

First great post for a sticky.. good Job Oprano

second, I have sent this thread to a number of people, i think the information contained in this thread is very valueable ... Thanks for the killer post Paul Markham


spaz

[Hammer]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

I know one site that made a profit within 6 months and now provides a very steady income for it's owners and it no sensation.

Sure, it's not impossible to make a decent living from a decent site, but my original answer to you was in response to your question asking the difference between a site that converts at 1:2000 and one that converts at 1:200. I seriously doubt that an average site can convert at 1:200 without exclusive content and either extremely good content, or something unusual that grabs someone by the balls and doesn't let go until they pull out their credit card.

[softball]

Originally Posted by Hammer

Sure, it's not impossible to make a decent living from a decent site, but my original answer to you was in response to your question asking the difference between a site that converts at 1:2000 and one that converts at 1:200. I seriously doubt that an average site can convert at 1:200 without exclusive content and either extremely good content, or something unusual that grabs someone by the balls and doesn't let go until they pull out their credit card.

When it comes to converting niche traffic, you gotta know your niche thoroughly. Teen "niche" Big tits "niche" etc. etc. etc. are really mainstream porn and not niche at all. Calling them niche is like calling the porn business a niche in the entertainment business. Niche is something very, very specific. You can be staring it in the face and miss it. When the affcianado of a niche sees it. His credit card slides smoothly out of his wallet because he can't help himself. If you have thousands of people competing for the business, it is hardly a niche.
I think a more appropriate term is boutique. Low traffic volume, large profit margins and great conversions. Marketing niche traffic is best done by someone who is an enthusiast. It is quite simple. In the niche business there are tons of free sites....really free...like they make no money...who will send you focussed traffic at no cost at all. What could be better?
Someone on this board once said if you even use the word mainstream, then you probably are a pornographer. Mainstream webmasters are just...well...webmasters.
In the niche business, the word niche is never used.
Most mainstream porn webmasters do a bad job at niche marketing because they have no idea how to do it. Just throwing huge volumes of traffic at it just doesn't work.

Oh yeah, and this is a great thread.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by spazlabz

First great post for a sticky.. good Job Oprano

second, I have sent this thread to a number of people, i think the information contained in this thread is very valueable ... Thanks for the killer post Paul Markham


spaz

Thank you.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Hammer

Sure, it's not impossible to make a decent living from a decent site, but my original answer to you was in response to your question asking the difference between a site that converts at 1:2000 and one that converts at 1:200. I seriously doubt that an average site can convert at 1:200 without exclusive content and either extremely good content, or something unusual that grabs someone by the balls and doesn't let go until they pull out their credit card.

I doubt if the content was exclusive the surfer would sign up any faster and for us I proved it.

On this page http://www.paulmarkhamteens.com/tour/updates.php we have 9 pieces of exclusive content, it will be exclusive on our site for 2-3 months. Do you think by putting a banner over the content saying "Exclusive" would make the surfer sign up faster? We did it with the original 2 tours and with this one, until we dropped the banner when sign ups rose. It seems the banner took something away from the surfer.

I seriously doubt with all the crap sites out there with "Exclusive" content on them the surfer of today is that impressed with just the word. To him it's porn nothing more and nothing less.

Now if we were to give all the content a twist like I was in every set, I'm sure conversions ratios would climb, but traffic levels would drop. And the more themed you go the more you narrow it's appeal.

However we do have something a bit exclusive, we are one of very few sites offering the membership 180 pieces of added content monthly. 180 pieces that will be mostly exclusive to the members.

Compare that to a site with 180 peices of "Exclusive" content. Well in that this is the only site with this girl on that sofa level of exclusive.

I do agree with you about "TEENS" or 'BIG TITS" not being a niche, it's a section and you need to give members more than that. Just being the only site on the Net with that scene is not enough.

[Hammer]

Yes, Paul, exclusive content will improve signups considerably. You always use yourself as the example, but you produce your own content so you are not a good example.

The average pay site owner does not produce their own content, but buys it and in most cases they do not use exclusive content when they design their tours. I guarantee you that when a surfer that has been looking at porn sites for a while lands on a website with models that they've seen on other websites, they will be far less inclined to join than they will if the've never seen the models before.

You are a perfect example of what I warn many people just getting started in this business about when they say they are thinking of selling the content they are producing to make enough money to start their own pay site. If they wait to start their site until they are ready, and the content on their website is only available on their site and can be seen nowhere else on the net, they will be far better off than if they've been selling their content for a few years and now it's all over the place on countless other websites.

P.S. 'Big tits' and 'teens' have been niches as long as I've been in this business and still are. Chicks with big tits, glasses and and freckles would be a micro niche, which is the main niche broken down into a smaller niche.

Straight and gay are markets. Any subset of either of those markets are niches. Any subsets of those niches are micro niches. 'Teen' is a niche within the straight market, just as 'twink' is a niche within the gay market.

[softball]

Originally Posted by Hammer

Yes, Paul, exclusive content will improve signups considerably. You always use yourself as the example, but you produce your own content so you are not a good example.

The average pay site owner does not produce their own content, but buys it and in most cases they do not use exclusive content when they design their tours. I guarantee you that when a surfer that has been looking at porn sites for a while lands on a website with models that they've seen on other websites, they will be far less inclined to join than they will if the've never seen the models before.

You are a perfect example of what I warn many people just getting started in this business about when they say they are thinking of selling the content they are producing to make enough money to start their own pay site. If they wait to start their site until they are ready, and the content on their website is only available on their site and can be seen nowhere else on the net, they will be far better off than if they've been selling their content for a few years and now it's all over the place on countless other websites.

P.S. 'Big tits' and 'teens' have been niches as long as I've been in this business and still are. Chicks with big tits, glasses and and freckles would be a micro niche, which is the main niche broken down into a smaller niche.

Straight and gay are markets. Any subset of either of those markets are niches. Any subsets of those niches are micro niches. 'Teen' is a niche within the straight market, just as 'twink' is a niche within the gay market.

So red toe nails in nylons are a micro, microniche? My point is that if you treat a real niche like you treat big tits and teens, you miss the point and will probably fail in your promotion. Out of curiosity, what part of porn is not a niche in your opinion? This is what I am trying to figure out. When I go to fetish cash sites I scratch my head in wonder. There are a few who look like they are focussed but mainly they do balloons, leather, twinks, nylons, the gamut of what they think are niches. I think I would be hard pressed to convert any of the non-fetish, fetish sites I see. Content producers are the worst offenders in this area. They hammer out tons of what they think fulfill the market demand, sell it to people who hope it does, and wtf knows? Maybe it sells big. I am not sure. I can only speculate like everyone else.
But I don't ever sell the content I produce for the very reasons you pointed out. That is the kiss of death to a boutique business and good advice for anyone starting out today.

[Hammer]

All of porn is made up of niches. If I wanted to promote the fetish niche and focus on the nylons micro niche, I would build a website to promote nylons and only showing photos of girls wearing nylons on the tour and use a domain name that has the word nylons in it and pack the members area with photos and videos of girls wearing nylons. I don't have to wear nylons to understand how to do that much, but I do agree that there are niches that require an understanding to promote effectively.

Where a webmaster would fail in an attempt to promote a niche, would be to design a site that shows girls in nylons, along with anal sex, lesbians, trannies, asians, teens, MILFs, etc. that are not wearing nylons in an attempt to provide one site that will appeal to everyone. Then, when he puts an ad on Google Adwords about girls in nylons and a surfer that is into that niche clicks and finds a tour that seemingly has nothing to do with nylons but only shows one photo that matches the niche, he's going to leave.

[spazlabz]

Originally Posted by Hammer

I don't have to wear nylons to understand how to do that much,

No, but that would be fun to see!!
g'head! try it LOL


spaz

[Hammer]

The closest I come is wearing spandex when I ride my bike.

[TheEnforcer]

Ahhh.. the age old arguement of traffic vs. content. Always a great arguement to see because much can be said in favor of both sides arguement.

[Jace]

Originally Posted by TheEnforcer

Ahhh.. the age old arguement of traffic vs. content. Always a great arguement to see because much can be said in favor of both sides arguement.

i vote for both equally

[softball]

"All of porn is made up of niches. If I wanted to promote the fetish niche and focus on the nylons micro niche, I would build a website to promote nylons and only showing photos of girls wearing nylons on the tour and use a domain name that has the word nylons in it and pack the members area with photos and videos of girls wearing nylons."

That would be your first mistake. It would fail. It might get a few suckers and you would lose interest very fast because you would make no money.

"I don't have to wear nylons to understand how to do that much,"

What does that have to do with selling product? I was not talking about men in nylons. Unless I have misread you and you are girl.

"Where a webmaster would fail in an attempt to promote a niche, would be to design a site that shows girls in nylons, along with anal sex, lesbians, trannies, asians, teens, MILFs, etc. that are not wearing nylons in an attempt to provide one site that will appeal to everyone. Then, when he puts an ad on Google Adwords about girls in nylons and a surfer that is into that niche clicks and finds a tour that seemingly has nothing to do with nylons but only shows one photo that matches the niche, he's going to leave."

That is just obvious.


The fact is, I am trying to be helpful by pointing out that this kind of marketing plan is not worth your time and effort. Unless you understand what it is you are selling, you are pissing in the wind. Like I said earlier, big tits and teens are not a niche. When you understand that, then you will have a kick at the can in niche marketing.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Hammer

Yes, Paul, exclusive content will improve signups considerably. You always use yourself as the example, but you produce your own content so you are not a good example.

The average pay site owner does not produce their own content, but buys it and in most cases they do not use exclusive content when they design their tours. I guarantee you that when a surfer that has been looking at porn sites for a while lands on a website with models that they've seen on other websites, they will be far less inclined to join than they will if the've never seen the models before.

You are a perfect example of what I warn many people just getting started in this business about when they say they are thinking of selling the content they are producing to make enough money to start their own pay site. If they wait to start their site until they are ready, and the content on their website is only available on their site and can be seen nowhere else on the net, they will be far better off than if they've been selling their content for a few years and now it's all over the place on countless other websites.

P.S. 'Big tits' and 'teens' have been niches as long as I've been in this business and still are. Chicks with big tits, glasses and and freckles would be a micro niche, which is the main niche broken down into a smaller niche.

Straight and gay are markets. Any subset of either of those markets are niches. Any subsets of those niches are micro niches. 'Teen' is a niche within the straight market, just as 'twink' is a niche within the gay market.

The only thing that impresses a surfer enough to sign up is the QUALITY OF THE PORN. He does not care if it's on 1 site or 1,000. And trust me if it were on 1,000 sites I would not be opening a paysite.

I will always stand against the misleading statement od Exclusive is the way to go". Quality is the way to go and if more sites offered quality and value for money we might not be in the situation of losing so many surfer to free porn.

Big tits and teens are a section of porn and if you want to make them work you have to define them more than just that. Except I suppose with big tits if you have enough very very big girls when anything will sell.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by TheEnforcer

Ahhh.. the age old arguement of traffic vs. content. Always a great arguement to see because much can be said in favor of both sides arguement.

The two things go together, what is the most important can depend on your situation. for me traffic is King because I have the content thing solved.

However think along this line for a moment. If we had thought more about what we actually sell on the Internet do you think we would be suffering from "Free Porn" as much or do you think conversion ratios would be better?

[softball]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

The two things go together, what is the most important can depend on your situation. for me traffic is King because I have the content thing solved.

However think along this line for a moment. If we had thought more about what we actually sell on the Internet do you think we would be suffering from "Free Porn" as much or do you think conversion ratios would be better?

The traffic is king school...old school....has created the free porn glut on the net. No other business has so much free stuff. It was done by a bunch of newbies for a quick buck back in the day. Fair enough, but the rest of us have been suffering for it since. Not that I worry that much. It is just the arena we play in. Hell, if you can survive in this environment, it says something about your marketing skills.

[softball]

"The only thing that impresses a surfer enough to sign up is the QUALITY OF THE PORN."
I think this is a very debatable topic. What is quality? My opinion is that high quality images sell very well. But what makes up a high quality image is what is open for discussion. Where I think a lot of sites fall apart is on video quality. Too many guys think that making videos is like taking pictures. It is worlds apart. And today, video is becoming very, very important. If you are not shooting HD right now, then you are pissing up a rope.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by rhetorical

The traffic is king school...old school....has created the free porn glut on the net. No other business has so much free stuff. It was done by a bunch of newbies for a quick buck back in the day. Fair enough, but the rest of us have been suffering for it since. Not that I worry that much. It is just the arena we play in. Hell, if you can survive in this environment, it says something about your marketing skills.

Good point.

No VERY GOOD POINT.

I think we created the free porn sector ourselves, we trained the surfer to look at free porn and now many complain about the threat from the beast we created.

Like you I'm not worried about it. we get a huge chunk of type in traffic to the paysite, a lot of it comes from free porn.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by rhetorical

"The only thing that impresses a surfer enough to sign up is the QUALITY OF THE PORN."
I think this is a very debatable topic. What is quality? My opinion is that high quality images sell very well. But what makes up a high quality image is what is open for discussion. Where I think a lot of sites fall apart is on video quality. Too many guys think that making videos is like taking pictures. It is worlds apart. And today, video is becoming very, very important. If you are not shooting HD right now, then you are pissing up a rope.

The debate over what is quality porn is a tough one because to many it's different things to different people. But on a lot of the porn the difference is not "I would fuck her" it is "She will fuck me"

It's about creating the illusion in the mind of the consumer that the model, who is there to earn money, will fuck for free.

This might vary according to the niche.

And this is the tough part of creating porn, it's not about working a camera and getting the exposure right. It's about working the model.

[softball]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

The debate over what is quality porn is a tough one because to many it's different things to different people. But on a lot of the porn the difference is not "I would fuck her" it is "She will fuck me"

It's about creating the illusion in the mind of the consumer that the model, who is there to earn money, will fuck for free.

This might vary according to the niche.

And this is the tough part of creating porn, it's not about working a camera and getting the exposure right. It's about working the model.

It is very simple. If you can suspend disbelief, you will make money. Lots of it.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by rhetorical

It is very simple. If you can suspend disbelief, you will make money. Lots of it.

Perfect way of putting it.

[Useless]

Originally Posted by rhetorical

It is very simple. If you can suspend disbelief, you will make money. Lots of it.

The suspension of disbelief is what keeps us all coming back to this game every day.

As far as the exclusivity of content goes - as long as the surfer has not seen it before, it's the same as exclusive. I could add graphics proclaiming "100% Exclusive Content" to my site and I'm positive the reaction from most surfers would be a barely audible fart. Of course, my content is far from exclusive. But it doesn't need to be, as long the male penis still reacts to pics of naked women getting banged along with the lies I write about each set. Never under estimate the power of marketing - which is the suspension of disbelief.

[spazlabz]

Originally Posted by Useless

as long the male penis still reacts to pics of naked women getting banged along with the lies I write about each set.

excellent point


spaz

[fusionx]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

I knew that telling surfers about the updates was converting and retaining. What I did not realise was if we step up a notch it would jump like it has.

....

Then inside and outside the tour we told people what they will get in the future next weeks updates and on the tour only what was last weeks updates.

...

Seems it has nothing to do with the WC, it's all about showing the surfer what he's getting and what he's missing.

This, to me, is the entire key. Of course, you need traffic and quality content. But, what you wrote about above is what most sites lack.

Think of the service industry - bars, resturants, etc. Even barbershops. What brings people back? Is the the food quality? Some places that do fantastic business have average or only slightly above average food. In bars and clubs, a budweiser tastes the same pretty much everywhere.

The really successful businesses make the customer feel wanted. They feel informed, and they feel in control. They feel like they are a part of the environment - a very welcome, necessary part. That's what you're doing, Paul, and it borders on genius in this industry

[softball]

A good website should function like a trip to Ikea. The outside should project your image. The quality of the product should ultimately generate its own loyalty if you have planted your seeds well and have patience. When you enter the website, like Ikea, you should be directed down a path that is well thought out from the beginning to the end. You should have a mix of big and small ticket items. Small priced items will break the ice for many and develop trust to spend more money. And finally, the customer should be encouraged to spend more money than he planned, but have a smile on his face while he does it. If your site is welcoming, honest, and easy to navigate your surfers will eventually convert to customers.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Useless

The suspension of disbelief is what keeps us all coming back to this game every day.

As far as the exclusivity of content goes - as long as the surfer has not seen it before, it's the same as exclusive. I could add graphics proclaiming "100% Exclusive Content" to my site and I'm positive the reaction from most surfers would be a barely audible fart. Of course, my content is far from exclusive. But it doesn't need to be, as long the male penis still reacts to pics of naked women getting banged along with the lies I write about each set. Never under estimate the power of marketing - which is the suspension of disbelief.

The problem I see with well over 70% of the "Exclusive" content on the Internet is it's no different from so much of the other contrent out there. Very often it's just another sex scene shot on the cheap by a guy with little skills.

So the owner of the site has paid 10 times more to deliver something the surfer sees as no different to all the other content out there.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by fusionx

This, to me, is the entire key. Of course, you need traffic and quality content. But, what you wrote about above is what most sites lack.

Think of the service industry - bars, resturants, etc. Even barbershops. What brings people back? Is the the food quality? Some places that do fantastic business have average or only slightly above average food. In bars and clubs, a budweiser tastes the same pretty much everywhere.

The really successful businesses make the customer feel wanted. They feel informed, and they feel in control. They feel like they are a part of the environment - a very welcome, necessary part. That's what you're doing, Paul, and it borders on genius in this industry

I feel one of the biggest problems this industry has is it's collective images and service it offers the membership. We complain about the surfer not wanting to pay for porn, then try to extort it.

There are many sites that do it the right way, I just want to stand with them.

But think of it, $30 a day will buy a new piece of non exclusive content. Do you think giving the members 1 piece a day will make 2 more members stay on for another month?

If all sites did it this way how much of a threat would "Free Porn" be to us?

[Grump]

A long standing axiom of sales is that it is easier to keep an existing customer than it is to get a new one. Once they're members the hardest work is done, keeping them is easier than it was to get them but you still have to work at it.

Like Paul I have found that retention increases with frequent updates, daily updates have worked best for me and the more in each update the better. Promoting the updates as much as possible in tours also helpes.

Adding filler content (games, news, silly photos, jokes, etc) to the site content updates showed me a small increase in retention and generated some positive comments with no negatives, as long as the customer doesn't think that the filler is the entire update, make sure they see the new porn added clearly.

Not knocking the importance of traffic, you have to have it. But once you get them signed up it's easier to keep them than it was to get them in the first place, and frequent and frequently mentioned updates seem to do it for me.

[Rox]

Good thread, thanx :-)

I'm an advocate of rotating your own (exclusive) content in and out. Members will download the vids/pics they really like when they first find them, so it's not like they're going to miss that content if it becomes unavailable for a month or two.

And with that, I'll close up the laptop and get to the office... I've got an update to do! ;-)

[Paul Markham]

We are finding the updates page is the most often page last visited before the join page on our stats system. Is it the the page that tips the balance?

Originally Posted by Grump

A long standing axiom of sales is that it is easier to keep an existing customer than it is to get a new one. Once they're members the hardest work is done, keeping them is easier than it was to get them but you still have to work at it.

Like Paul I have found that retention increases with frequent updates, daily updates have worked best for me and the more in each update the better. Promoting the updates as much as possible in tours also helpes.

Adding filler content (games, news, silly photos, jokes, etc) to the site content updates showed me a small increase in retention and generated some positive comments with no negatives, as long as the customer doesn't think that the filler is the entire update, make sure they see the new porn added clearly.

Not knocking the importance of traffic, you have to have it. But once you get them signed up it's easier to keep them than it was to get them in the first place, and frequent and frequently mentioned updates seem to do it for me.