TRAINING CAMP

The most commonly asked question that I receive is, “What tips or tricks do you use to make your designs work?” Well as you probably guessed, there is no single answer to that question.TRAINING CAMP

The most commonly asked question that I receive is, “What tips or tricks do you use to make your designs work?” Well as you probably guessed, there is no single answer to that question. In fact, there are several key factors to be considered when creating a paysite design that is going to convert AND retain members. In the follow sections, you’ll get an inside look at my personal plan of attack and the theory behind it, when I approach an adult paysite design. For the purpose of this article, I won’t be addressing any specific Photoshop or drawing techinques, only the theory behind the design process that I use.

In my time on the ‘net I’ve probably seen thousands of paysite tours, and a handful of them, I would actually sign up for myself if I were a surfer … but most of them I would not … solely based on what I see on the very front page. They say you only get one chance to make a first impression, well that statement could not be more true in the online adult paysite game. My theory is that a design needs to hit hard, hit fast and hit ’em with everything you got, right from the first page … then continue this momentum as you kindly guide your surfer through the tour, building their trust and hopefully getting him/her horny enough to get out their credit card by the time they arrive at the join page.

Sounds easy enough, right? Well as many sponsors have found out, that is a task much easier said then done. Thus our journey begins …

Please keep in mind what you are about to read is only my opinion on what makes a paysite work and is based entirely on my experience from building over 430 adult paysites combined with the knowledge gained from working side by side with sponsors to optimize existing site’s profitability.

The Essentials:

These questions might seem like utter common sense, but you would be surprised by the number of sites out there that have not addressed even these most basic areas:

Who? – What’s the name of the site/domain? Is the logo nice, clear, concise and catchy? Is it appealing to the eye? Is it positioned nicely on the page, etc? And most importantly, is it original and creative and not a cheap take on another site?

What? – What’s the purpose of this site? Is there a ‘slogan’ or ‘sales pitch’ somewhere close to the logo or top of the page that quickly states why your site is different than others, or, what your site specializes in?

Where? – Where am I? Is the URL of the site visible or stated somewhere OTHER than the browser bar so that surfer might remember it or at least think to bookmark the site if he/she likes it? Remember, think ‘brand identity’ .. you want to BURN this site into their brain so they COME BACK, even if they don’t join on this visit. Besides, those are the best kind of sign ups. They don’t cost you a single cent … no webmaster to pay for a bookmark or type-in join.

Once you’ve covered those bases, you are well on your way to coming up with a good design and it will actually make your job easier down the road. The next area you need to address is the content and images. What pictures are you going to use? Do you have a special model or pose for this site? Are your photographs available in high-resolution, uncompressed TIFF format or at least uncompressed JPG? Once you’ve selected images appropriate for the theme or niche of your site, then you are ready to proceed to the next step.

The layout and photo placement on your main page is important and is an integral part of the site design process, but at the same time it’s the most subjective and flexible. This is where the creativity, skill and salesmanship of your designer starts to play a major role. All the tips and tricks in the world won’t help you in this stage of the process unless your designer can put together an attractive and seductive collage of sexual imagery. There is an art to this that I don’t believe can be taught … it’s just something that comes from within the designer.

Next up is navigation. Where do you want your surfer to go? Where do returning members get access? Is it blatantly obvious how to get to the join page with just one click? Simple common sense right? Again … many designers overlook this simple yet crucial piece of functionality required for every site.

In my experience I have found that the straight line, from left to right across the bottom (or top) works best. Why? Probably because that’s how we read everything else… left to right, then top to bottom. Is the navigation visible on a 800×600 browser without having to scroll down (or worse yet sideways)? Are the buttons large, clear and ledgible? Not sure? Well ask yourself a simple question … will someone know exactly WHERE they are going if they click the button? The navigation of your site builds trust. If the surfer feels ‘safe’ using the navagation, you’ve won a part of the battle already because they will be more inclined to take your entire tour all the way through to see everything you have to offer them.

The Grand Tour

The purpose of your tour is failry simple. It’s your billboard. It’s your space to show the surfer everything you’ve got and to give them the best sales pitch you can as to why they should join your site rather than stand on the back button.

After receiving the client’s approval on the main page, I proceed to the tour and try to re-use as many elements as possible such as the logo and/or button shapes and framework. Why? Not because I’m lazy, but because it’s the glue that holds the site together. These are sliced elements that you can re-use on the tour to save on overall load times and page weight. Having those pieces already in the browser’s cache will give you more room to make nice clean tour pages without squashing your JPG’s like grapes. Additionally, it makes the look of the site consistent and even throughout. Which in my opinion adds to building the surfers’ trust even more. They know they are still at the same site and are in control and don’t feel as though they have been wisked away to some other place they never intended to go. Again, seems like common sense, but I’ve seen many sites where the tour looks as if it belongs to another site and is not part of anything that was shown on the main splash page.

Throughout the tour you will need to determine which order you want to highlight your content in, and what you want to say about it. This is another one of those areas where the creativity and salesmanship of your designer plays a crucial role. Just as we did on the main page, you will need to create a collage of visual imagery that stimulates the surfers’ senses, yet drives home your sales pitch AND safely guides them, getting them excited about seeing what’s on the next page.

This can all be accomplished many ways and from many different angles and is what seperates the men from the boys when it comes to designers. It’s a combination of technical prowess, creative ability, imagination and salesmanship. And in order to make a tour work well, you need to have all of those elements working hand in hand.

In the process of creating the tour pages you will inevitibly run into a few problems with image placement, model/pose selection and other things that are limited to the content that you can use for the design. So with that in mind, the following are a few of the things that I look for when choosing images for the tour.

1) Clear, uncompressed, quality images of models with few or no imperfections such as dust or scratchs or fibers on the scans and noticible things on the models like birthmarks, large scars, freckles, tattoos, etc.

2) Eye contact! Is the model seductively looking into the camera with her best FUCK ME look? Or does she look like a deer caught in the headlights? I can’t stress this enough, but it should be obvious to you guys that this is a very important factor. The lonely guys surfing your tour are looking for something more than just a ‘nut’ they are looking to feel good and to feel good about themselves. And a sexy woman looking them straight in the eyes from a sexy pose sure helps and gives it a more ‘personal’ touch as if the girl is speaking directly to them.

3) Variety. Use lots of different girls, lots of imagery and try not to use the same model twice unless of course she is your virtual ‘tour guide’.

4) Censor without censoring. Sounds strange, but if you are making a site that requires hardcore penetration or gaping pink to be ‘censored’, then try to pick images that you can use in places where the precise ‘spot’ that needs to be censored gets hidden behind another image, or slides behind a navagation button or the descriptive text goes across it. Something where you don’t need to put lots of stars or lens flares to cover up the spot. I realize that this can’t be avoided because I still use plenty of censor marks myself, but it’s something that I try to consider more in my designing now because so many tours need to be censored, so I try to make it more of a ‘tease’ where the hot spot is hidden ‘just out of view’ or you think you can see the action but not really, etc. … rather than just using a blatant ‘censor’ mark.

5) Missing Limbs. Why can’t photographers ever take a picture without dismembering their subject? I see SO MANY images that would be the ‘money shot’ only if the girl wasn’t missing the top of her head and her left leg from the knee down, etc. So as a designer I try to take those images and place them on the page so the missing pieces aren’t noticeable. For example if a girl is missing her left arm but I want that shot on the tour, she gets placed right up against the left border so what’s missing appears as if it’s outside the framework of the interface. Thus it’s not ‘missing’ it just appears to be not in the picture. Sometimes I find myself really desperate to use a certain pose so I get to play God (this is the fun part of my job). I find a similar image or pose of the model (or even a different model) that has the body part that I need, positioned in the right way and using photoshop, surgically remove it from one picture and place it into my design and fuse it onto my model paying close attention to detail such that the repair job is not noticeable.

Close the Sale

The join page is an area that I consider to be a ‘jumpstation’. It’s only purpose is to allow the surfer to make a choice as to how he/she wants to join the site but it is also an area that you can put a small and fast loading ‘re-cap’ of the sites’ content or highlighted areas to re-inforce what you’ve shown them to drive home the fact that they are making the right decision by choosing to join your site. So BE KIND TO THEM. Tell them thanks, or congratulate them on a job well done, etc… make them feel important and feel good about the process. After all, these are the very people who pay your bills.

At this time I’m not really going to get into specifics about join page design because that alone is another article and is also the subject of alot of controversy. For the record, I personally prefer very short one page join ‘jumpstation’ where the surfer chooses only a payment method, then on the next page, they see the actual payment form where billing/access information is entered. So regardless of how you layout the join page, just make it easy for someone to choose their method and join. Eliminate as many unecessary steps as possible because those are only places where you could potentially lose a customer along the way.

My design process isn’t exactly rocket science, I mean after all this is porno we’re talking about here. But there is structure to it and by following those guidelines I am able to consistently create unique and original sites that despite their different appearence are all built upon a proven, money making foundation and system.