YNOT – Many of us have heard the business axiom “in niches are riches.” I’ve come to realize there is one even better rule when deciding what to promote and develop in the adult online industry:

Follow the crowd … just don’t get lost in it.

Why develop a new, untested genre or a micro-niche when you can create a promotion in a niche that already contains plenty of consumers looking for what you plan to offer? Pick a crowded genre and create a promotion or content designed to feed the starving crowd, even if you think the genre is saturated.

Why do you think there are so many sites for fans of celebrities or blowjobs? Millions of potential customers want to get their jerk on to what may seem quite vanilla to some of us. More extreme, uncommon or bizarre doesn’t necessarily mean more profitable.

In the past I have recommended new webmasters or those wanting to expand their current online empires find a little niche they can completely own. That way, you can avoid the copycat syndrome: As soon as competitors figure out you’re making money in a new micro-niche, everyone will hasten to clone your content … and suddenly you’re just one small fish in a gigantic, overstocked swamp.

Instead of playing that game, move out of the “get rich quick” realm and live in a reality where the solid, ethical business practices you adopt today will carry you forward for the next three to five years, regardless the product you offer.

With few exceptions, developing a new micro-niche not only sets a limitation on how large your business can grow but also binds you to what can be a less-than-optimal business plan. Pioneers don’t follow established trails — they create new ones. Creating anything takes time and usually lots of money. Setting your sights on the creation of a potentially profitable micro-niche means putting together lots of feeder traffic sources in order to make the financial picture work. This makes it hard to develop any kind of real relationship with your customer, and in the end leads to the sleaze-and-squeeze get-rich-quick business plan under which you shake your new customer hard and hope for cross-sales, or you sell your mailing list, or you find other, even more questionable ways to stay afloat.

Carefully examine your new genre
These days it’s very hard to stand out in the search engines even with paid placement. You can score a top page ranking for an obscure term, but it’s nearly impossible — and very expensive — to get a Page One ranking for “sex” or “porn.”

Instead of being a big fish in a small pond, become a small-but-evolved and rare “standout fish” in a great big pond.

Develop a unique angle on an old favorite, and watch what happens.

If it’s not working, get weirder
The key to success is to be relatively on-topic but have a standout offering among a massive schools of guppies. Keep evolving, changing little bits of your marketing plan or your content or your website, until you hit a formula that works for you and your customers.

Jim “GonZo” McAnally is marketing consultant and a veteran of the adult online industry. For more about him, visit GonZoConsulting.com.