TRAINING CAMP

May I have your attention please? The Society for the Purveyance Of Pornography on the Internet (SPOPI) is now closed to all new members. There are enough of us distributing immorality and decadence and there is no room for anyone else.TRAINING CAMP

May I have your attention please? The Society for the Purveyance Of Pornography on the Internet (SPOPI) is now closed to all new members. There are enough of us distributing immorality and decadence and there is no room for anyone else. We have the market cornered. We own Hell and there is no more room for you. Please don’t open another website. You won’t make any money at it – we make all the money. Please, just go away now and save yourself the heartache and grief. There are no new ideas. We have already thought of everything.

How many times have we heard that? I have been in this business since 1996. People were saying it in 1997. They were shouting it in 1998. They were swearing to it in 1999. They were putting it in writing in 2000. Dateline was doing specials about it in 2001. Here we are in 2002 and I am telling you that it is bogus. There is room, so come on in and make yourself comfortable. The Internet, although no longer in its infancy, is still crapping its diapers and there is definitely money to be made for newbies in Internet porn.

Now, that doesn’t mean you are guaranteed to make any money. It still requires a keen mind and some innovation to make your mark in this business. But, we were all newbies at one point or another and we all managed to survive by learning the hard way. Close your mouth and open your ears (metaphorically speaking of course, since one does not read with their ears) and maybe you can avoid some of the common newbie mistakes that your brethren had to experience through trial and error.

1. DON’T GET STUPID:

We all know that pornography is “immoral.” We all know that by distributing it we become eternal members of the part of society that is responsible for all that is bad and evil in the world. However, that being said, just because you are now a pornographer, doesn’t mean that you have to be a moron too. You might find this hard to believe, but there are people in this business that act professionally and responsibly. Become one of those people. You don’t need to wear silk shirts and gold chains and walk through hotel lobbies swearing and acting the fool. This is a business. Treat it as such. Make business decisions. Make decisions using your big head, not your little one. Understand that not everyone likes your business and does not want to be exposed to it. Keep that in mind when attending industry functions at public hotels and meeting places.

2. START SMALL:

One of the most common mistakes that newbies make is that they think they need to be the next great mega porn company and announce their presence with 85 sites. Not true. The top ten Internet porn companies have one thing in common: They all started with just one site. That’s right! ARS, RJB, CE, PMB, INSITE… they all started with one site. Let’s put this in perspective. You don’t know the business yet. You have no idea what you are doing. Open one website, and you will have a few problems at first, lets say three problems. Open 85 sites, and you now have 255 problems. Dealing with three problems is manageable. Dealing with 255 problems is a daunting task that you will not be able to overcome.

3. START WITH A FREE SITE:

The daily tasks involved in running a good pay site are numerous. Believe me when I tell you that they are too numerous for you to handle. Content acquisition and management, daily updating and customer service to mention a few. You do not have the time nor the experience to deal with these issues. Let the big guys handle that. They have the knowledge, experience, and manpower to deal with these things. So, instead of starting with a pay site and disappointing your members who will leave you faster than a burrito leaves the hand of Fat Joe, start with a free site and send your traffic to the big boys. You will be rewarded handsomely and you don’t have to deal with the issues mentioned above.

4. TALK TO A LAWYER:

It’s a fact that at some point in your Internet porn career, you might have to talk to a lawyer. It is much better for you to call the lawyer of your own choosing and get advice BEFORE you start your online porn empire. If you don’t, you will probably end up talking to a lawyer NOT of your own choosing. At that point, you might also get a new title. Instead of John Doe, Internet porn entrepreneur, you might end up becoming John Doe, defendant. Whether it be in a civil proceeding, or a criminal one, the problems are mountainous. Make sure you know what the laws are both federally and locally before you open your doors.

5. DON’T GIVE AWAY THE FARM:

When opening your first free site, TEASE, don’t PLEASE! Let’s face it guys, we only need a few minutes. You know what I am talking about. If you are running a free site, and your goal is to send your surfers to a pay site, then you want to make sure that they NEED to go to that pay site. The proliferation of free hardcore hurts our business. The fact is, there really is no reason to join a pay site because there is so much free hardcore available. Will that ever change? Who knows. There are movements to try and push it that way and hopefully they will become more successful in achieving that goal. Don’t add to the problem. When a guy is done, he is done. If you PLEASE that surfer, there is no reason for him to click on your banners or text links to go to your sponsor site. The porn sites will disappear from that surfer’s browser and they will be on their way to the ESPN site.

6. GET NOTICED:

The best traffic you are going to get is from search engines and link lists. The more places you get listed, the more traffic you will get. The more traffic you get, the more signups you will send to your sponsors. The more signups you send, the more money you make. It is really that simple. This is a numbers game. If your sponsor converts 1 in 1,000, then you need to send him 10,000 surfers to get 10 signups. The way to get traffic is to be visible. The way to be visible is by getting listed and getting linked. Learn the search engines – they will become your best friend.

There are so many mistakes that newbies make that I could go on and on. This is enough for now and hopefully enough to help you understand what you need to do to get your foot in the door. There are hundreds of resource sites and message boards that you should start frequenting. Of course you can’t hit them all so find the ones that best suit your business. Read the articles. Read the chat boards. Listen to what the experienced Webmasters are saying. They aren’t going to jump up and down to help you, but every once in a while they let something slip that can teach you a lot. Find a mentor, they aren’t plentiful, but they are out there.

Remember, act professionally and responsibly. Just because you are in porn, doesn’t mean you have to be a moron. This is a business that can be very lucrative if you approach it with a business attitude. I will leave you with one more piece of advice that may serve you well in your Internet porn career. This is for all the Caucasian males looking to get into this business. Take heed: White guys look stupid in oversized athletic jerseys and Tommy Hilfiger clothing. Enough said. Good luck!

Jeff Miller is President of SunUp Media Group, Inc., a full service design/content/website company at http://www.sunupmedia.com and http://www.content-club.com. SunUp Media has been serving adult webmasters since 1996. Jeff can be reached at jeff@sunupmedia.com.

TRAINING CAMP

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