Editor's note: This is the second in a 12-part, "hands-on" series about the wonderful world of adult-Website building. The resulting site will have been built by real people who have no Web-building experience and no inside experience in the adult industry. Their names have been changed to protect their real identities and their mainstream business interests.
Inspector Gadget and Xatia are healthy, happily married and sexually active. They've spent some time in the past two years browsing adult Internet sites, and in that time they claim to have seen the good, the bad and the incredibly ugly.
"It's like they always say," Inspector Gadget said, paraphrasing a former Supreme Court Justice. "I can't define good porn, but I know it when I see it."
Their research led the couple to the realization that the sites that attracted them most were the ones that were artistically erotic.
"I'm really not interested in creating another ?fuck-and-suck' site," said Xatia, a petite, soft-spoken woman in her mid-30s with a directness of manner and gaze that can be unnerving. Her roots lie in the backwoods of Kentucky, and her no-nonsense manner attests to her pioneer heritage.
In her vocalization, Xatia unintentionally hit upon one of the primary tenets of building any Website: Determine things that interest - and conversely, don't interest - you and narrow that list until the remaining item embodies a topic you think not only will hold your own interest long enough to create a compelling Web presence, but also will attract others with similar interests. Building your first adult Website will be a much more enjoyable experience if you are sincerely interested in the subject matter, and if the experience is enjoyable, you'll be much more likely to stick with it through any setbacks that might occur along the way.
After some discussion, the couple settled on a name for their site-to-be: sexart.com. Among the points contributing to their decision were the name's ability to convey the intent and content of their site, its brevity and easy-to-remember nature and - not the least important - its availability for registration.
Although Website names and their corresponding domain names don't have to match, most people agree that locating a site is easier for surfers if the two are at least similar.
"I really want to stick with ?dot-com' if we can," Inspector Gadget said during the discussion and name search. "I think it's still the most common extension. If someone can only remember the name of the site and not the extension, aren't they going to try ?dot-com' first?"
Intuitively, that makes sense. According to the Dot Com Directory (www.dotcom.com), 80 percent of all Web addresses are dot-coms. Dot-net addresses are the next most often registered, with 12 percent of URLs falling into that category. Only 8 percent of all URLs end in dot-org.
The hierarchy is due, in large part, to the way addresses were administered when the Web was young. Initially, at least, dot-org addresses were reserved for non-profit groups and certain other organizations, and dot-net addresses were awarded to network and infrastructure companies like ISPs and communication companies. Although anyone could register a dot-com - which initially was intended to imply a commercial operation - those who wanted dot-net or dot-org addresses were required to submit their reasons for requesting those extensions, though any guidelines maintained for granting them were enforced haphazardly, if at all.
When interNIC, the pseudo-governmental agency originally anointed sole registrar of URLs internationally, was forced to relinquish its monopoly on domain registration services in 1998, any pretense of reserving domain extensions other than .edu, .gov, .mil and country codes (like .us, .uk, .au, etc.) disappeared, too. But the cachet of the dot-com URL remains.
Freedom
Once a site name has been determined and a domain name registered, the next big step is finding content. The type of content sought will be determined not only by the theme of the site, but also by the site's business model.
In the adult Web world, sites fall into three basic categories: free, premium and combination. Each category encompasses an almost unlimited number of subsets, and there are pros and cons inherent in each model.
Free sites may be the simplest to establish and maintain, simply because they require the least from the Webmaster. Essentially, free-site Webmasters define a theme, build a site that's at least moderately attractive, and populate it with images, video clips, chat, fiction, advice or any of hundreds of other types of licensed content available free of charge from sponsors. In exchange for the content, the Webmaster agrees to link to the sponsor's revenue-generating programs via banners, text links or by making the content itself a link. Generally, this type of content represents a "teaser" for the sponsor's programs; more often than not the sponsor also splits any income derived via "click-through" traffic from the free site with the free site's Webmaster. Free sites can feature one or several sponsors.
The drawback to this model is that the free site's owner is completely dependent upon someone else's - the sponsor's - honesty and prompt payment in order for his or her site to be a financial success.
Premium sites are quite a bit more complex and expensive to establish and maintain than are free sites, and that's their major drawback. Websites developed in this model usually have a free section - generally called a tour - within which the site owner attempts to convince casual surfers to part with some of their hard-earned cash in exchange for membership. The members-only area of the site usually is much more expansive, and at the best sites it encompasses material not available anywhere else that is added to frequently. Sponsor sites are examples of this business model.
The third type of adult Website, the "mixed-model" or combination site, incorporates the benefits and drawbacks of both the other two. Consisting on the surface of a large free area replete with sponsors' banners and content, it also includes a members-only area that offers unique content produced by the site's owner and/or content purchased (or "licensed") from a content provider. The idea here, according to those who own and operate this type of site, is not only to use the free area as a sort of gigantic tour to promote membership sales, but also to generate income from surfers who actively seek only free content by encouraging them to click sponsors' banners.
In the early days of the adult Web, premium sites were the norm, and completely free sites were hard to find. Today, that ratio is reversed. When someone discovered that he or she could tag along on a premium site's coattails without investing the time and money to create a premium site of his or her own, the free site model took off like a rocket. The vast majority of new adult Webmasters today get their feet wet in the industry by creating a free site as their first effort. In fact, those who have made careers of owning and operating premium adult Websites say if they were starting over again in today's economy, they would begin with a free site.
"I strongly recommend starting with a free site," said Oz, president of sponsor True Cash. "If you're in a free site now, stay there."
Oz said he built his first premium site in 1997, and learned through experience that owning and operating an adult Website is a great way to make a small fortune - out of a much larger one.
"There are two major problems with (the premium site model): expense and risk," Oz said. "You want to preserve your financial resources, so start small. A free site is a great way to get your feet wet and see if this really is a business you want to be in."
Cyber Synergism co-founder Mike Rick built his first adult Website in 1996: a premium site fueled by hundreds of thousands of images he had obtained from professional photographers he represented during 16 years of publishing adult magazines. Rick said the sheer volume of that content helped him earn about $1,600 from his site in its first six months of operation - and having that volume of unique, original content is the only thing that should convince potential adult Webmasters today to even think about starting their adult Web adventure with anything but a free site.
"Use your own special resources," Rick advised. "Whether you're a designer, techie, lawyer, marketer or content owner or producer, find the model that you think will work for you. But unless you've got lots of content people can't get anywhere else, don't even think about creating a (premium site) - and even then you might do better to sell or lease your content to someone else who'll use it in their site or syndicate it to others."
Rick also suggested that a subset of the premium site model might be appropriate for some new Webmasters: Obtain content from a "back-end" provider and split the profits 50/50. Content providers who will agree to work under this sort of arrangement are scarce, but they do exist.
A similar option is to make an agreement with a relatively unknown artist of your acquaintance: The artist will provide the content, you'll build the site, and the two of you will share the profits.
Struggle
Regardless the type of site you decide to build and the content you decide to have, make sure the content is legitimate and licensed and the site stays well within guidelines generally considered to be legally "safe." One of the wisest investments a new adult Webmaster can make, according to anyone who has worked in the industry for any period of time, is consultation with an attorney well-versed in First Amendment law in general, and adult and Internet law in particular.
This article is not intended to replace the guidance of legal counsel, but the importance of a few issues facing adult Webmasters cannot be stressed too strongly or too often:
* Ensure all purchased or leased content is licensed and legal. Insist the seller or lessor provide you with a warranty stating they have a right to sell or lease the material and they will defend you in case of prosecution for copyright infringement. "Get it in writing," advised attorney Greg Geelan, and ask for an indemnity clause that requires the content provider to pay your legal fees and any damages assessed if you're sued.
* If you produce your own image content, make sure you obtain and keep model releases for every person who appears in every photograph and every video. Every time you shoot new content, get a new model release - even if the subject is someone you've used over and over again. Title 18 ?2257 of the United States Code, the so-called Child Protection Labeling and Record-keeping Act, is very specific about the types of documentation that must be collected in order to make model releases acceptable (see the sidebar "Making it legal").
* Keep good records, and adhere to the letter to the requirements of 18 USC ?2257 - and make sure everyone you deal with does, too. "Look closely at who you're doing business with," Geelan said. "Educate yourself before you ?jumpin,' and protect yourself."
* Devise a defensible plan for how you will keep minors from accessing any content that might be deemed "harmful" to them. Although courts have yet to declare nudity obscene, Oz said he advised against including nude imagery in unprotected areas of adult sites - tour pages, for example - because of the possibility it might be challenged as "harmful to minors" under some conservative community standards. The printed word, like erotic fiction, generally is considered immune from prosecution because of First Amendment protections - but even that could be challenged if access to it is easily available to people younger than 18.
* Certain types of content have been targeted for prosecution as "obscene" more often than others, according to the Florida-based law firm Wasserman & Walters, which specializes in First Amendment issues. Among those are child pornography, bestiality, interracial sex, gay male sex, fisting and "golden showers" (urinating on another person for sexual gratification). Child pornography is a definite no-no. Count on spending a lengthy period of time behind bars if it's found on your site or in your possession, period. Consult a reputable attorney before even considering including depictions of the others on your Website.
* If you're unwilling or unable to defend some content or design elements, don't use them.
Contentment
Admitting they were fairly well daunted and quite a bit surprised by all the rules, regulations and caveats facing would-be adult Webmasters, Inspector Gadget and Xatia remained determined to pursue their dream of owning and operating an adult Website. After considerable deliberation, they decided the best model for their site would be the combination or "mixed-model" type, because they had created quite a bit of amateur imagery themselves and they have access to the unpublished works of others - especially fiction.
In keeping with the advice of their attorney and their desire to minimize cash outlay, the couple decided the site should include an extensive free area composed primarily of erotic fiction and artistic erotic imagery obtained from a reputable sponsor. They decided they'd also include links to sexual advice columns and other alternative, sexually oriented but not sexually explicit media reports and opinions. Appropriately cited links to material of unquestionable literary, artistic, political or scientific value, their attorney said, could be valuable in defending against an obscenity charge, should one be presented.
Now the really big questions began to loom before Xatia and Inspector Gadget: Where would they find a reputable sponsor with the content they desired, and how would they locate "non-explicit" sites with which to link?
Next: The hosting connection.
Previously: An overview of the industry.
