UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. - Attendees at Webmaster Access Westrounded out Friday morning with the seminars "Content Is King" and "Processing Updated."
Offering advice to novices and veterans, "Content Is King" panelists agreed that quality content is defined by both how scenes are shot and whether the performers are enjoying themselves. Also key, they said, is knowing what niches are popular and what the market is demanding.
"Quality content is in the eye of the beholder," said Robert "The Legacy" Warren, SexDateCash's vice president of operations. "And the beholder, in this case, is your [website] member."
Matrix Content President Stephen Bugbee said he's seen popularity of content styles change over the years, from reality to niche to hardcore glamour.
"I really think any niche is hot; it just depends on your traffic," added Raffi Vartanian, CEO and co-founder of WorldWideContent.com. "If you have foot-fetish traffic and you start an anal site, you're not going to see the conversions. Understand your traffic before you decide on a niche."
Panelists also offered tips to help newbies decide how and where to find content.
"Don't make the mistake of looking at what's popular out there, throwing it all the wall and seeing if it sticks," Warren said. "Find what you like, and market what you enjoy."
Panelists in "Processing Updated" addressed how webmasters can ensure that payment transactions aren't fraudulent. Companies like CCBill, Epoch, Netbilling and others have systems in place to check that charges are legitimate, the panelists said.
Netbilling President Mitch Farber said his company and many others look for "red flags" such as customers using women's names or signing up for sites after just one click.
"We will check logins to sites," he said. "If they try to sign up for five or six sites at once ... nobody does that."
The panelists also discussed the importance of offering consumers options for joining and touched on cascading and chargeback ratios.
"I remember, years ago, when the chargeback rate was 5 percent," said Rand Pate of Epoch. "Then it went to 2 1/2 percent and then 1 percent. Every time they lowered it, people in the adult business said, ‘This is the end.'"
But each time, he noted, quality adult-industry processing companies were able to meet the challenge, often better than their mainstream counterparts.
Webmaster Access West closes Friday night with the second annual "Playboy Mansion PJ and Lingerie Party," a by-invitation-only event.
The next Webmaster Access event is scheduled for February in Lake Tahoe. For more information, visit WebmasterAccess.com.
