A newbie finds his way to the adult entertainment business. His plan? Get rich making adult Web sites. Simple. He does his research and learns that there are a number of legal ways to obtain adult pictures for his Web site project.A newbie finds his way to the adult entertainment business. His plan? Get rich making adult Web sites. Simple. He does his research and learns that there are a number of legal ways to obtain adult pictures for his Web site project. He chooses to license a few sets from a content broker for the purpose of building an “AVS” site – in other words, surfers need to pay to join the AVS network in order to gain access to the uncensored pictures that he will offer. That’s how he’ll make his money – off commissions for that AVS network. After sifting through a bunch of picture sets, he finally picks a few that feature models that he finds especially attractive. Using these sets, he builds his first Web site. For a newbie, his design skills are impressive – the site looks pretty good.

Next comes traffic. He follows the advice that he found on a number of adult Webmaster resource sites. He submits his free site to link lists and search engines, and in less than a month he has a few hundred people per day checking out his opus. But nobody signs up. Why? What went wrong?

Have you ever called the doctor’s office to explain a vague ailment only to be told that you’d have to come in before the doctor could venture a guess as to what’s wrong with you? Well, diagnosing unsuccessful Web sites is a lot like that. There are so many variables that could lead to poor sales that, frankly, no one article could ever hope to cover them all. However, over the years there is one mistake that newbies are prone to make a majority of the time.

A good adult Web site should never fail to provide some kind of backstory for its content. Put another way, you have to offer more than just pictures or videos. You need to sell a complete fantasy.

The good news is that when it comes to sexual fantasies, there is no shortage of ideas. If you can tie it into sex then there’s probably a group of people out there who are interested. If your sales pitch sounds like a laundry list of features then your site is in trouble – you aren’t selling washing machines. If, on the other hand, your sales pitch sounds like you’re inviting surfers to participate in some taboo sexual fantasy then you’re on the right path. Taboo isn’t the only way to sell adult content, but it’s one way that is proven to work.

Before I go on, I probably should explain what I mean by “taboo” here. This is, after all, a highly subjective term these days. What’s taboo? What’s forbidden? That’s going to depend a lot on your audience. For some people, the sexually liberal, taboo might mean some rather extreme fetish. For older surfers, the “barely legal” niche is almost always taboo. For most grandpas, it’s strictly “hands off” the coeds. Sorry. And of course just sex in general is taboo for the majority of the population. You could play up the “premarital sex” angle, or better, the “unfaithful spouse” angle. For married individuals – or at least most of them – just straight sex with anyone other than their spouse is taboo. The point is, you have a lot of angles to work from depending on the audience that you’re targeting.

One more issue to get out of the way before we look at examples. Political correctness. Some of you may find this offensive, but politically correct porn rarely sells – especially not to straight men. The porn that does sell usually plays to some small element of human nature that we’re ashamed of under normal circumstances. For example, selfishness. For most people, sexual fantasies involve mostly selfish scenarios. That’s why they’re so specific… it’s all about what that person wants to do. If fantasies weren’t often selfish then there would be few details. We’d just say, “I want what the other person wants,” and that would be the end of it. So porn that caters to a specific audience’s fantasies usually involves addressing one parties wants, the audience, at the expense of another part’s wants, in this case, the models. But that’s okay because most models are in it for the money, not sexual gratification. They can take it.

So taboo and politically incorrect – that’s a formula for a successful site.

Here’s an example of a sales pitch for an AVS site that probably isn’t going to work too well:

“When you join this Web site you’ll get access to hundreds of pictures of hot, naked girls. Categories include blondes and brunette. You’ll also get access to our live video shows, and access to our hot chat network. We add new pictures all the time. And when you join our site, you also get access to thousands of other Web sites that use our AVS network. See everything from bondage to blowjobs. So join today and never run out of porn.”

Okay, that doesn’t sound too bad, does it? So what’s the problem? The problem is that there’s no excitement, no stimulation, and definitely no backstory. What’s taboo about this site? What shocks me about it? And if naked girls are all you have to offer, why shouldn’t I just get that for free off of my favorite P2P network? Can you imagine if action movies were marketed that way?

“Come buy a ticket to “Access Denied” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. You’ll see car chases and shootouts, plus plenty of funny one-liners. We have a pretty co-star who almost gets naked, plus all kinds of stunts and explosions. Get your action fix and see “Access Denied” today!”

Boooorrrriiiinnng. Sounds like everything else you’ve seen, right? Movie studios don’t market entertainment that way. They hook you with a glimpse at the story.

Now using the exact same content as was used in our boring adult site example, here’s an approach to selling that site that might catch a little more attention:

“Some call it an obsession, I call it a quest, but either way, it’s a lot of fun. I have the fortune of living about a mile away from one of the country’s biggest Catholic universities, which means access to a whole bunch of naughty Catholic schoolgirls. Virgins? I don’t think so… and I have proof. Haha. The girls on this Web site are Catholic coeds working their way through college and trying to have a bit of fun in the process. So if you have a thing for Catholic girls then you’re in the right place. But be warned, you’ll never look at Catholic girls the same way again!”

To reiterate, there’s no need to find special content for a Web site like this one. I mean seriously, just what does a “Catholic coed” look like anyway? You’re talking college girls, so there are no uniforms – you’re pretty much free to use any model who’s in the right age group. You might want to Photoshop out any tattoos, star away from surgically enhanced models, and maybe find sets where the girls start off in plainer, ordinary clothes – but content like this is a dime a dozen.

By using the “Catholic coeds” story you’re creating a fantasy for your audience by giving your content a backstory. If you succeed in tapping into some deep-seeded sexual desire then you’re almost guaranteed to score a sale. Those surfers with P2P clients might have a hard time finding pictures of “authentic” Catholic coeds on Kazaa. Now you’re offering something that’s a bit more unique than the site that merely offers pictures of “naked girls” as a key selling point. What’s taboo about this? Catholic girls definitely aren’t supposed to be posing naked or having sex for money! Just imagine what will happen when Father Chuparod finds out!

To increase your profits, partner up with an affiliate program that offers a complimentary site for you to promote. For example, Naughty America offers a site called “BookWormBitches.com” that you could easily promote on your Catholic coeds site. That’s just one example, but the point is you need to promote and support the fantasy that you’re trying to create. You’ll do a lot better that way than trying to get rich selling ice cubes to Eskimos. Surfers don’t need to buy porn, but they do need to buy fantasies.

So what should you take from all of this? If you don’t have the means to make unique content then turn stock content into something unique by giving it a backstory. Target a sexual fantasy and then fulfill it in a way that P2P networks can’t. For small Webmasters and newbies, that’s the trick to surviving in a digital sea of free adult content.

Connor Young is Editor-in-Chief of YNOT News. He has been involved with the online adult entertainment business since 1997, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Internet Freedom Association (i-freedom.org); He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of The ADULTWEBMASTER Magazine.