Editor's note: This is the seventh 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.
Although it's very easy to hire someone to design, build, and maintain a Website, many adult site owners prefer the hands-on approach for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the do-it-yourself approach can be significantly less expensive, even if the finished product is not the eye-poppingly smooth conceptual rendition some professionals can provide. It's generally conceded in the adult Web business that a site doesn't need to be gorgeous - or even nice-looking by any traditional standard - to be successful. What it does have to do is give surfers what they seek, so saving money you otherwise might spend on a professional designer to use toward marketing, promotion, and content can be a very wise investment, depending upon the amount of time and interest you have in developing the site yourself.
Xatia and Inspector Gadget knew from the outset that they wanted to design and build their adult Website themselves. Xatia is an accomplished artist, so she felt comfortable with the design principles that play into the creation of aesthetically pleasing objects. Adding Web functionality might require her to learn some new tricks and reconsider some old ones, she said, but she agreed to approach the task as a learning experience and without preconceived notions.
As it turns out, that attitude is a huge point in a Web designer's favor. Although some principles of good design apply to any setting, the unique qualities of the Web - and the adult Web, in particular - add design challenges that simply don't exist in traditional media. People who have designed advertising and other imagery for print media seem to have a particularly difficult time grasping that some of the techniques they've always used are physically impossible to replicate in the Internet milieu. Even worse: They're often counterproductive.
One of the most important things to keep in mind when designing an adult Website is that it need not be a work of art. The goal of most adult Websites is to make money. Anything that doesn't contribute to that goal is a waste of time. Animation, background images, flashy graphics, whiz-bang technical tricks, and other things that a designer may consider essential to satisfy his or her own ego often are not important to surfers at all - and in truth, sometimes they're downright discouraging, especially if they're slow to load. The best designs are simple ones that entice the surfer, lead him directly to a join page or a sponsor's site, and encourage him to spend money by appealing to whatever sexual fantasy he is trying to satisfy.
In addition to keeping things simple, they also should be kept brief. Studies have shown that the majority of customers placed on hold hang up if the telephone isn't picked up again within 30 seconds. Internet surfers are even less patient. Don't make them wait to get where you want them to go (ideally, your site's sign-up page or your sponsor's site), and for heaven's sake don't hide the path. Make "the one true way" easy to find and follow. Don't give surfers too many options; make one point on each tour page, then send them along to the next point, your sponsor, or your own virtual cash register.
Say what needs to be said and nothing more. Display what needs to be displayed, but don't give away the farm. Lead potential members across a page to the "Next" or "Join" links with tempting prose and teasing images, but doing anything more than hinting at "the really good stuff" in the members-only section only encourages a user to surf on to another site when he's digested all the free content you have to offer. After looking at your sales pitch, if the surfer isn't hungry for more, your design has failed.
Speaking of text and images.... A popular adage holds that "a picture is worth a thousand words." The Web often takes this concept to extremes, and that's a serious mistake for an adult Web designer to make. Images are important, yes, but psychological and marketing research has shown that well-chosen verbiage can have an equal or more profound effect on buyers. A recent study conducted by the Poynter Institute, for example, concluded that text is nearly twice as likely as graphics to capture a visitor's attention upon his or her initial visit to a page. Headlines, captions, and article summaries all ranked above images when it came to getting a surfer's attention. With that in mind, always provide tempting text around banners and graphical links - or better yet, use teasing, titillating text links instead whenever possible.
For the artistically challenged, a few other points bear mentioning:
* Plain backgrounds are better than patterns. Patterned backgrounds make text hard to read.
* Ensure sufficient contrast between background and foreground. White or yellow text shows up well against a black background, for example; red does not. Conversely, yellow is a poor choice for text on a white background.
* Beware of clutter. It's much better to have too little on a page than to confuse a surfer's eyes by offering too much. Remember an old advertising rule of thumb: "(White) space sells."
* Web pages needn't pay homage to the visible spectrum. Choose one or two colors that don't clash and are easily visible, and leave the rest of them on the pallet.
* Consistency counts. Unless there is a good reason for things to be otherwise, every page in a site should seem to be related thematically to every other page. Don't arbitrarily change colors, typefaces, and basic layout.
* Use basic, easy-to-read fonts. Typefaces are not always seen the same way by every computer, so using unusual ones can cause your designs to take on some interesting, unexpected appearances.
* Avoid using large chunks of type as part of a graphic. It usually looks fuzzy and amateurish.
Trends come and go in adult Web site design. Your first design most likely won't be your last, so don't obsess about it. Most designers reinvent their sites two to four times a year to keep them fresh and inviting, improve conversion ratios, and keep up with new trends. If your first attempt isn't exactly what you hoped it would be, don't despair. Surf other adult sites to get ideas and keep working on your own, and eventually you'll develop a moneymaker of which you can be proud. Approached with an adventuresome attitude, designing a Website can be a great deal of fun!
Next: Help is where you find it.
Previously: Tools of the trade.
