As a writer, I’m not usually at a loss for words. As an English Lit. major, in college (don’t laugh) I used to love hunting through the dictionary to find those obscure words that would stump my teachers and send them flipping through their own dictionaries.As a writer, I’m not usually at a loss for words. As an English Lit. major, in college (don’t laugh) I used to love hunting through the dictionary to find those obscure words that would stump my teachers and send them flipping through their own dictionaries. That little tactic would usually bump my mark by at least half a grade point, and it also provided me with a great vocabulary over the years. Or, so I thought.

But, when I came across this post on an adult board a little while ago, I was stumped:

“So, you finally built that anime gallery and you’re about to start writing your sales pitch but are your images manga scans or anime captures? Do you have a lemony page filled with doujinshi or are all your images original june?”

Huh? Almost all of those words were English, but some of them, the obviously important ones, were completely foreign to me. So much for my fancy vocabulary!

The language of niche

The porn world has a much larger and more diverse range of words than most people use in their everyday life or conversations, and sometimes it can be hard to keep up, even for a word-hound like me.

Each niche and fetish has its own set of words, its own special “niche terminology” that may or may not exist or even mean the same thing in another niche.

If you’re thinking of trying to market to a niche you’re not familiar with, you may as well resolve yourself to learning a new language. There’s more to a niche or fetish than the right pics and videos. It has to be obvious to surfers that the site understands their desires. That means knowing and understanding the language of their world, whether they have a thing for “full fashioned seamed stockings,” “pony-riding” or “balloon popping.”

The right words will have a dramatic impact on your surfer’s experience at your site, which means an impact on your bottom line. But you have to know what you’re trying to sell, and know which words are the right words.

To be effective – that is, attractive to consumers – you have to be speaking their language.

I recently came across a “porn for women” site that offered this promise on the join page: “More hot dirty sluts inside!” I could only shake my head and laugh. I doubt their female traffic is converting very well. And why would it? The average woman doesn’t think of herself as a slut, and she’s not going to spend her money to be insulted.

Stroking the consumer’s ego

Think about it… when was the last time you gave a sale to a salesperson who insulted you? Most of us balk at spending money when we’ve been made to feel uncomfortable. Porn consumers are no different. They want to feel good about making that purchase. Especially when the money they’re spending is on porn, which is, in the end, all about feeling good.

That saying “a little flattery goes a long way” is very understated, but incredibly effective, even when it comes to selling porn, regardless of whether you’re selling to men or women. After all, what is flattery except a way to elicit a positive reaction from someone with a few simple words?

The same reasoning applies to marketing niche and fetish content. When it comes to balloons, for example, not all balloon fetishists want to be referred to as “looners” or, even worse, “loonies.” Knowing these intricacies is essential to successfully marketing your content.

If you insult or disrespect your surfers, even unintentionally, you won’t get a second chance to make that sale.

A newbie webmaster, or someone new to a niche or fetish, must be willing to do the proper research in order to understand the consumer group being targeted. Niche or fetish consumers are looking for more than the typical porn experience; they’re particular and choosy about their tastes, and about the labels their favorite content is presented with.

The problem with bad words

Misleading your surfers into thinking you have the content they want will only frustrate them and send your conversions into a nosedive.

One of the problems with mislabeled content and deceptively labeled sites is the dilution of traffic that occurs across the board. Consumers are offered the choice between numerous sites of the same genre; some of them are true niche sites, while many are simply cookie-cutter type sites with possibly some of the right content, but without any of the understanding that comes from truly knowing the niche.

Consumers may often be disappointed after buying into such a site, which of course results in harder sales down the road. They become wary of opening their wallets after they’ve been duped once into paying for a membership at a site that failed to live up to its promises.

Avoiding mistakes

I’ve included a short list of easily misunderstood porn words as a quick example of how words can lead to consumer confusion and popular misconceptions:

Water Sports do not involve naked water-skiers.

A Golden Shower is not something you get at an expensive spa.

Trampling does not involved trampolines.

Facials are not about aloe or mud packs.

BBW is not a misspelling of BMW.

Skat does not refer to music.

Lesbian content does involve women faking it with other women.

SexyScribe is a freelance writer, editor, translator, and enthusiastic purveyor of written smut, as well as erotica publisher at SexyScribe.com. She is a member of the YNOT News writing team, and can be reached at scribe@sexyscribe.com.