Every day, new porn sites hit the Web, adding more competition to an already-saturated marketplace. But established adult-site operators can hold onto the subscribers they've already got by getting up close and personal with them, giving them interactive content they can't get anywhere else.
Vicky Vette
"To keep people around, you have to make an effort to connect with them after they have gotten off," said Vicky Vette, the busty, blonde MILF star of VickyAtHome.com.
Vette takes an up-close-and-personal approach every chance she gets. For instance, she regularly emails current and past subscribers to let them know about website updates, personal appearances and promotional giveaways. "Live interactive shows!" her latest message says, pointing out there are toll-free numbers for callers in the United States and Canada. "Join my site or email me to get a free $10-tryout coupon. Want more free porn? Here's 15 minutes on me! Click on the banner below!"
Vette is so fan-focused partly because she runs VickyAtHome.com herself. "I do all the work personally, so members that join know that they are connecting with me personally," she said. "If there is a typo in the diary, it is because I can't spell!"
A second reason for her focus is her solid business background. Before she got into porn, she made her living in corporate America, eventually working as general manager for several large corporations and overseeing a staff of 50. Now that she's doing porn for a living, as well as buying and selling investment properties, Vette approaches it with a keen eye for any advantage she can find. That's where her focus on fans comes into play: In a universe of anonymous porn, fans are eager to find real sex stars willing to connect with them.
To make sure people know who she is and what she can offer, Vette sends free galleries to thumbnail gallery post sites on a constant basis. "I am all over the Internet with watermarked photos," she said. "Fans can see me with every guy and girl in every position, with the promise of seeing much more on my website."
After surfers have found her site and signed up, the seduction begins. "I respond to all member emails myself, post on my personal message board with members, private-message back and forth and give members something they cannot get anywhere else: live cam shows with me personally. My members also get member-only chats with me, which are only available inside my site. I think they enjoy just having a regular chance to chat with me. It may sound corny, but if you are a member and you can chat with me and I remember that member's name, members realize it is not just a site about porn [and it also is about] relationships.
"Letting a couple of my longstanding members have their own sections on my members-only board has led to them feeling part of a community, [not] just one of many members. I try my best to make sure Vicky at Home is more of a community than just a place to download porn and quit."
To add more punch to her up-close-and-personal style, she said, "I also try to get out on the road to feature-dance and tell fans and members to come see me."
Vette said it all seems to make quite a difference. "Membership for VickyAtHome.com has never been higher, so I think being consistent with my board, cam shows and responses to member inquiries has all helped the site grow," she said. "I have had lots of members who leave for a while who end up returning just to catch up on the latest news. ... The newsletters have also worked well because it reminds a member that they are getting something on the site and should stay around.
"You have to give people a reason to stay on a site once they have downloaded all the porn that is there. I think we do that."
Gia Darling
With her full-boobed body and sparkling personality, shemale Gia Darling has made herself a fan favorite. However, as a successful film star and producer whose Transsexual Heartbreakers series is a consistent moneymaker, she has learned the power of personal fan contact.
Darling uses email to connect with her fans. "I offer my email address to them, with their messages coming directly to me from GiaDarling.com," she said. "Fans can email me questions, fantasies or anything that they might want to see in my films." In a nod to Hollywood tradition, she even sends autographed 8-by-10s to fans who send self-addressed stamped envelopes to her office in Northridge, Calif.
"I try to keep my site as interactive as possible," she said. "I know that, thanks to my loyal fan base, I've been around for over 10 years."
She said there definitely is a payoff. "I've noticed that if I stay in touch with those fans who email me, eventually they will join the site," Darling said. "If they are already members, they will maintain their memberships in order to get VIP treatment."
Crazy Slutty
Barely legal brunette Crazy Slutty is a newcomer to the online-porn world, but the solo-girl host of CrazySlutty.com quickly became committed to boosting business through fan contact. "I shot my first set with one of my fans this weekend," she said.
To keep her fans coming back, Slutty uses a range of interactive tools. "I have my LiveJournal community, where I post photo and video teasers of all my new updates, I've got message boards on my site, and I use chat clients like AIM and Yahoo! IM to chat with my fans as often as I possibly can," she said. "I try to find time to get on at least once a week to chat with my fans for a few hours."
The result, she said, is memberships. "I've seen people signing up for the website as a direct result of talking to me and finding out that I'm a real person and not just a persona created by some huge corporation," Slutty said. "I think it's a lot hotter when you know the person in the porn and it's not just Random Internet Porn Girl 183."
Wendy Williams
"My success is largely due to my hands-on approach with my fans," said shemale star Wendy Williams, operator of HotWendyWilliams.com. "I run and maintain my own Yahoo! group, MySpace page, xPeeps page, CollarMe page, AdultFriendFinder [profile], forum [and] blogs, and I visit and chat on several large transsexual-based forums. I also do a monthly mass mailer with my appearances, polls, suggestions [and] new movie releases or just to ask a question.
"Fans are fans for a reason. They want to feel as if they could be your friend [and] possibly more or to indulge a fantasy. Without the above-mentioned type of programs, I would not be one of the top transsexual porn stars, period."
Personal contact matters
The message is clear: If you want to keep your subscribers, connect with them personally. For solo performers, this kind of contact comes with the territory. But site operators who feature multiple models also can provide personal contact by offering live webcam chats with their featured performers and providing a way for subscribers to communicate with these stars by email.
