HOUSTON—YNOT Group has announced the launch of the all-new YNOT.com. Dubbed "YNOT v4" by the staff, the website launched less than three months after the company announced its new ownership group. With an entirely new software engine, countless new social networking features and a slick new layout and navigation system, YNOT v4 represents a significant leap forward for the internet's original adult business portal.
"This is a completely new design, and it's powered by an entirely new software engine that many people in the adult industry will find familiar," said Connor Young, president of YNOT Group, LLC. "YNOT is now powered by a suite of tools that makes it much more than just a message board website, but a feature-rich online community for businesses, professionals and independent contractors who work in the adult entertainment industry. It's a unique mixture of original B2B news and business articles, plus Facebook-like social networking tools and online forums that are friendly to the adult industry."
The new YNOT v4 updates the YNOT navigation system to make it easy for members to move from news and business articles to social networking tools, forums and blogs. The home page also places a much stronger emphasis on the website's original business articles, as opposed to just news stories.
In terms of new networking tools, YNOT v4 allows members to have the option to keep a "friends" list. Members have their own "wall," where they can post status updates or read comments posted by friends. They can also add picture albums to share with other members, and make use of free blog space to be heard and generate one-way links.
Also revamped was the classic YNOT Directory. In addition to cleaning up the listings to remove old entries, users can now rank listings in the Directory and sort them by a variety of criteria. Standard listings are free, as always, and Premiere listings are available with YNOT sponsorship packages.
"When we announced that YNOT.com had been acquired by the newly formed YNOT Group, I said at the time that we intended to be very aggressive in 2010 and into 2011," said Young. "Since then we have launched YNOT Europe, kicked off the YNOT Grand Prix in Barcelona, hired Jerry Halford to lead our European division and hired Mo Aguiari as Director of Business Development. Now we can add the launch of the all-new YNOT.com to our list. That's a great start but there's a lot more to come. Looking ahead to the rest of 2010 and into 2011, expect YNOT to be adding more new faces to our staff while introducing more new services to the adult entertainment industry."
AVN contacted Young to follow up on the launch of the new YNOT.com. Young, who started at the company in 2003, said the biggest addition to the new site is social networking. “Or in the case of YNOT, maybe ‘business networking’ is the better term,” he said.
“The old YNOT site was sadly deficient when it came to the features and tools that could help our members network and interact,” he added. “So the biggest change with the new YNOT, other than the fact that it looks a whole lot better, is the addition of a variety of social networking tools. These tools let our users interact with friends and contacts, to share pictures, and form their own groups—amongst other things. But these new features on YNOT are just the tip of the iceberg, and as we move forward toward and through 2011, we will be looking to add new tools that will help our members interact, collaborate and plan interactions with other companies.”
We also wondered whether the new site and its enhanced features reflect a morphing business model at YNOT, and if so whether the company’s editorial focus will also evolve.
“In terms of the information that we offer on YNOT, it may not be immediately apparent but we have decided that our future will be directed more strongly toward developing unique business articles as opposed to just covering the news,” Young replied. “We still plan to offer original news stories, as we always have, but you may notice the news is now in its own column on the home page, while business articles have a more prominent placement.
“Now that the groundwork is in place with the launch of YNOT v4,” he continued, “our readers can expect to see a much higher volume of business articles than we have produced in the past. The recent ownership change has given us the resources we needed to talk to professional writers, and we plan to announce additions to the writing staff very soon. In other words, we're going back to our roots as a resource that provides adult businesses with helpful information on how they can improve their online operations—everything from marketing and traffic generation to website design tips and analysis of emerging trends in adult.”
For more information, visit Ynot.com.
