HOLLYWOOD, FLA. - Some of the adult industry's top webmasters gave advice Friday in the Internext seminar "All About Opportunities: Are You Missing Out?"
The panel was moderated by Robert "The Legacy" Warren, an 11-year industry veteran and director of marketing and sales for WebmasterParadise.com. Warren described the panelists as expert webmasters who were there to share their wisdom with those who are interested in starting their own sites.
The panelists were TopBucks President Alison Vivas, who oversees Pink Visual Productions, PlugInFeeds and Yappo; information-technology consultant Charles Hentrich; adult actor and reality-content provider Craig Valentine, who owns and operates the New Porn Order studio with his wife, Summer Haze; Michael H. Klein, president of LFP Inc., the parent company of Hustler; and broadcast veteran Vid Vicious, the creative director of Montreal Studio Multimedia.
Among the discussion topics was how to create an original site. "Know what your end product is," Vicious said. "What is your vision? Know that. Also, be able to describe that to your producer. It also helps to build your character to attain your audience's constant interest. For instance, we follow our girls around and do a whole story on them. We go shopping with them, go to a music festival. Your audience will learn about your character and want to see her more often."
Hentrich recommended studying what's already successful. "It helps to be a user first," he said. "Look at what sites are successful in what affiliate program."
The panelists also discussed how webmasters can make money. They agreed that webmasters must network, learn what has worked and what has failed, create sites about subjects that interest them, get to know their audience and understand the niches they want to deliver.
"Understand your niche," Vivas said. "Do your homework. Listen to your customers. Do data work. What are their needs? Is there a method to your delivery?"
The panelists agreed that the transsexual niche is the most successful one today, but gay sites are prospering the most. "The audience has disposable income," Hentrich said. "Gay couples who live together ... there are only two of them, and most of them do not have children. They are viewing and buying now."
Valentine said he believes that the majority of gay-porn viewers are straight. "The funny thing is that, when I shoot reality porn on a roof out here in Florida, I have tons of swinger couples throwing parties and watching it," he said.
The panelists also covered where webmasters can get traffic. They recommended building pay sites, rather than free sites. People want to know that they are getting something they can't get for free, Hentrich said. He also recommended inquiring about search-engine marketing using niche-specific keywords. For instance, instead of using "sex" as a keyword, Vivas recommended using one that more specifically says what the site features, like "interracial." Warren agreed and recommended that webmasters use search-engine optimization and get to know their surfers.
The panel also advised webmasters to learn about branding and copyright infringement, and keep tabs on 2557.
