AMATEUR CHATTER

Speakers on the Saturday, noon Cybernet Expo seminar “The Basics and Marketing of an Amateur Site” were Farrell Timlake of Homegrown Video, who has been in the adult industry for ten years, originally as an amateur perfomer, and Billy Hoe from Wild Rose Productions.

Despite the fact that the amateur niche is the fastest growing and hottest niche in the adult Internet marketplace, the seminar wasn’t very well-attended.AMATEUR CHATTER

Speakers on the Saturday, noon Cybernet Expo seminar “The Basics and Marketing of an Amateur Site” were Farrell Timlake of Homegrown Video, who has been in the adult industry for ten years, originally as an amateur perfomer, and Billy Hoe from Wild Rose Productions.

Despite the fact that the amateur niche is the fastest growing and hottest niche in the adult Internet marketplace, the seminar wasn’t very well-attended. Blame it on all night partying or whatever, things started out slowly with this particular seminar, but once the questions started rolling, plenty of helpful information to aspiring and even established amateur webmasters ensued.

Farrell opened up by stating that amateurs tend to follow the trends of other amateurs, whether a good example is being set or not. Many amateur site tours require the surfer to scroll the page, which isn’t a good thing. “You want to appeal to the ‘strokeability factor.’ Make your tour easy and obvious – your ‘enter’ button should be at the top.” He also added that once the surfer is in, that you “should not give away free hardcore. Let the visitor know what is in store for them by showing them what they can expect, but have it ‘covered.’ This will also protect you legally. A lot of amateurs are not taking legal risks seriously. Since a lot of amateurs work out of their homes, they don’t want to post their § 2257 records and home address on their site.”

Since amateur sites appeal specifically to their ‘fans’, it is important that you appeal to your fan on a personal level. And since there is a fan out there for every type of amateur, it is especially important that you always be yourself. Billy agreed, stating, “You don’t want to put across the feeling that you just want the surfer’s money. They are buying into a fantasy. Bios are read, so your word selection is crucial.” Both panelists felt that the word “member” carries a negative connotation. Better to use “fan” or “fan club.” As well, whether you are marketing a male amateur site or a female amateur site, your potential fans are looking for sincerity. Make sure the talent gives it to them.

Bright color selection and a uniform font for your amateur site is also critical in the overall look of your site and how you shape up your tour. Billy warned, “You could lose potential customers if you push them to go through the tour with straight pages, especially if they have to look at a page that they don’t like.” Basically you should lay out your tour for the surfer to view what they want to, but with all pages eventually leading to a ‘join’ page. As well, amateur webmasters need to have their sites load quickly, and keep things as simple as possible.

When the conversation shifted to what type of amateur content is hot nowadays, Farrell suggested that hairy bush, cream pie, interracial and the BBW niches are growing. “A top seller with Homegrown for over five years is our ‘Overweight, Over-sexed and Over-40 category.” In addition to amateur sites having live cams, Billy added, “make sure that your cam is not on a rigorous schedule. Being too routine takes the fun out of sex.”

Another thing to take into consideration is that there may very well be surfers who check out your free tour every day and decide to join your site at a much later date. Billy claimed that some surfers have checked out Carol Cox’s tour for two years before finally joining, and the site has actually enjoyed member retention for up to three years in some instances. In short, you should always be updating your free tour and content on a daily basis. Potential fans will be more apt to join if they see that the site is being updated regularly.

When it comes to site promotion and traffic Billy stated, “Spread yourself out to get more traffic. Don’t rely on one or two cam networks.” Farrell added that it would be wise to redirect your visitors to marketing pages, and give away a free password for a day to increase your chances of return visitors joining. Also be sure that you are selling yourself. Your potential fans want to see you in all your glory. While it’s important to trade traffic with other amateurs using ‘friends’ pages, Farrell stated, “Don’t dilute your presence.”

Jay “LAJ” Kopita is the Executive Editor for YNOTNews and the Communications Director for YNOTMasters and can be reached at editor@ynotnews.com and jay@ynotmasters.com.