If you want to build an adult site then you’ll need to decide what type of adult site you’ll build. While there are all kinds of clever formats for adult sites, most fit under one of three categories: free sites, age verification system sites and pay sites.If you want to build an adult site then you’ll need to decide what type of adult site you’ll build. While there are all kinds of clever formats for adult sites, most fit under one of three categories: free sites, age verification system sites and pay sites. To start off this series on adult site categories, Lopix begins by talking about pay sites and the issues that relate to their construction and operation.

One of the first questions newbies ask when they enter the adult industry is what sort of site they should start with. While that is not such an easy question to answer, there are some basic guidelines one can use to help decide what is the best direction to start off in. The type of site to begin with depends a lot on your budget, hosting arrangements, content and access to content, available time, and other factors.

For those who do not know what the different types of adult sites are, and the factors associated with each, I am going to discuss the three main types of sites. While this is not the definitive guide to adult sites, there are some general categories into which most sites fall. Of course, there are variations and permutations of all of them, but this is an easy and general list you can get started with.

PAY SITES CAN MAKE YOU PAY TOO

Starting from the top of the expense ladder, we have the pay site. Pay sites are those that you have to pay a monthly fee (or short trial cost for a few days) to access the protected content of the site. Most of the biggest and best-known adult sites are pay sites, such as Kara’s, Smutland or Cybererotica. This pay-for-access model has even started to take off in the mainstream world, with a lot of sites, such as the New York Times for example, charging people to see their content. This type of site is one of the mainstays of the adult world.

If you are thinking that you might want to start off with a pay site, then you are going to need a number of things – and serious money. First and foremost is the content that surfers are going to be paying to see. You will need anything from around 10,000 images and up from there. Generally, the more exclusive the content you have, the less you are going to need. But if you are going to be going with the same tired old crap that is on every single site out there, then you had better have a lot of the stuff to offer your members. You are also going to want to think about still pictures and video content, live streaming versus canned downloads, and leasing versus buying the rights outright. There is quite a lot for you to consider when dealing with content.

You are also going to have to make sure that your content matches your niche. If you are planning on building a teen-oriented pay site then there better not be any scraggly old pros in there or you are going to lose your members real quick. They paid to see teen content so you had better give them teen content if you want them to stick around. Your content is your key to member retention. Your ultimate goal is to build a stable base of loyal customers who will pay you every month and stay with you for a long time. You don’t want to have to be out there hustling for traffic every day just to get a few sales to pay the rent. The more members that you can retain, the better the income base that you will have and the more money you will have available for marketing your pay site and buying more content.

You should also remember to never use your good content for TGPs – that is a very important lesson to know. If you have anything that is exclusive, keep it protected within your members area, because as soon as it gets out there into the public domain, people will start to use and abuse it so fast that the value will go through the floor. The last you want is to see your high-priced custom content being pimped around in other people’s galleries. It will take away any incentive people have to sign up for your site, since they can see your content for free all over the Web.

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR, AND SO DO YOUR USERS!

The reason that pay sites are the most expensive sites to build is mainly because of the content. You could reasonably be looking at up to $5,000 per month (or more) to get the main bulk of your content as well as updates for your site. You are also going to have a lot of traffic, hopefully, so your hosting and bandwidth costs will likely be high, possibly up to $1,000 per month. So, while a pay site usually has the highest membership fees and payouts, it generally has more content and hosting costs that need to be paid for. Income-wise, a pay site is by far the most profitable – if you can generate 1,000 paying subscribers at $35 a month, you will have a gross profit of $35,000. But to earn those big profits, you would have to put up the big money to begin with, and keep putting money into it.

Next time we’ll look at sites that use age verification systems to make money, so make sure to check back later for Part II of this newbie’s guide to adult site categories.

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Lopix is a regular contributor to The ADULTWEBMASTER Magazine.