We all know that e-commerce today bears little resemblance to what it was as short as a year ago. In particular, changes in the adult industry have been especially dramatic..We all know that e-commerce today bears little resemblance to what it was as short as a year ago. In particular, changes in the adult industry have been especially dramatic.

Most Webmasters know that the good old days are gone, but exactly what can be done with what is left? Will things remain doom and gloom? Is there anything promising just on the horizon for an aspiring adult-oriented Webmaster? The answer, as striking as it may seem, is yes!

It shouldn’t come as any surprise to keen Webmasters that where doors have been closed, new doors will be opened. The shift in adult e-commerce has been one from an unregulated industry where money was made quickly and easily to where marketing skills, content, and knowledge determines success. In short, adult e-commerce is becoming more like the ‘real’ business world, however, it has never been and can never be exactly like it, and this is its greatest asset.

The new and old Webmaster can still take advantage of opportunities online that aren’t readily available offline. For instance, something as essential as networking (meeting with and speaking to others in the field for potential partnership and employment opportunities) is relatively easy to do online compared to networking in the real world. Many successful adult Webmasters frequent popular adult Webmaster bulletin boards where they can be contacted by anybody – newbies or established Webmasters.

Over the next few years, the consolidation in the adult industry will continue as new regulations are enacted to govern the way business is conducted online. That said, the online industry is still a very new and valuable medium with an unparalleled money-making potential for entrepreneurs. There are many ways to make money in the current adult market, and I will discuss but one of those ways here.

Adult Verification Systems (AVS) have been one of the staples of the adult industry for at least the past five years. Essentially, they allow Webmasters who may not have the capital (or don’t want) to invest in things like hosting, merchant accounts, and customer support to set up their businesses. First, as a cost saving method, the AVS is one of the best segues for a burgeoning Webmaster (as well as established Webmasters) to own and operate a successful business. Bandwidth costs associated with web hosting alone can account for thousands of dollars – all of which comes out of the Webmasters’ pockets. An AVS that offers free web hosting is a wise and desirable alternative for a Webmaster interested in saving money.

In the post-dot-com era a large part of obtaining business lies on the shoulders of companies to make their affiliate programs enticing to Webmasters. Therefore, any AVS that wants your business should offer benefits. Free bannerless web hosting as mentioned above is one of those benefits. Another important benefit is an AVS that is willing to help you market your product. If you’re a serious Webmaster with a hot site(s), your AVS company should be prepared to assist you with promotions. If you’ve demonstrated that your content is good and sells well, you can request that the AVS partners with you in initiating and establishing traffic resources. This could mean a variety of things such as acquiring spots on link lists, paid gallery spots on Thumbnail Gallery Posts (TGPs), with the gallery links that click thru to your AVS site, and search engine pay per click (PPC) services. Always keep in mind that if you’re already making good money with your AVS site, a responsible AVS should be happy to provide more methods for you to make the most from your site because it generates money for the AVS too. These types of benefits will likely become more commonplace to gain the best Webmasters to use a particular program. They’re akin to the ‘benefits’ that workers receive in the real world except that online companies can’t provide free dental services for you; instead, they provide free traffic and so on.

All of the above are of little value if the AVS Webmaster is unable to take advantage of it. What do I mean? It’s not unusual to have emails that go unanswered in some AVS services. When your site isn’t listed or is rejected you need to know why. When your free host account is slow or down, you need to know why and when it will be back online. If an AVS doesn’t provide the required support to its own Webmasters, don’t expect that it will be hospitable to the surfers and members that you’ve sent to it. When shopping around for an AVS, only select those that provide a variety of support options such as email, support ticket, and forum support to minimize the potential of support problems.

In this new era, new marketing strategies are just as essential as the end product. By doing something as simple as using words that are new and interesting, you’re bound to make more sales. Our company, AdultsAllowed, is an AVS that encourages uniqueness in the sites that it approves for listing and seeing that it’s the base site for all the others. It has decided to stray from common and overused words (like “pass”, for example), even in it’s very domain name, to catch the eye of the surfer. Surfers browsing our site experience renewed interest in an AVS model that doesn’t rehash tired words and catch phrases that have been all too common in the AVS market. Simply put, AdultsAllowed permits access to, or ‘Allows’ access to interested and unique adults.

Now we come to the last important piece of the marketing puzzle, which is offering surfers lots of good content. The surfer of today holds onto his money tighter than before. He’s likely to be weary of fraud or being disappointed with what he has paid for. Many surfers are disenchanted having been members of fly-by-night sites that took their money months or years before during the dot-com boom, or were dissatisfied with the content they paid for on a site that didn’t keep its promises.

In this type of market it’s one thing to have better marketing skills. It’s another thing to be able to retain a surfer who decides to purchase a membership to your site. The AVS Webmaster depends upon the AVS to provide quality customer care to its members and to provide its own members’ area content that will keep them happy. This relationship between surfer, Webmaster, and AVS is mandatory. The happier the customer, the longer they remain customers and both the Webmaster and AVS benefit from the recurring revenue.

We provide large quantities of exclusive content to our members. Literally, thousands of gigs of content are offered to members, not including the AVS sites using the program which contain plenty of content themselves. Also, adherence to reasonable site requirements so that the surfer is not mislead, redirected, or otherwise taken advantage of, keeps retention at its highest. Most of the revenue generated by an AVS Webmaster will come directly from rebills and over the course of months, this amount can add up to an honorable total. Ensuring that the surfer is not compromised is good for the surfer and for the Webmasters using an AVS.

AdultsAllowed is an example of an AVS that provides the services listed above to its Webmasters. The ideal of AdultsAllowed is to have every serious Webmaster using their AVS to be able to earn a living from it. Providing partnership opportunities such as link spots for their Webmasters is a good start but there is more than that. AdultsAllowed is maintained and supported by Private Voyeur, one of the largest established free sites online today with close to half a million daily viewers (operating since 1999). The staff at Private Voyeur and AdultsAllowed recognize the potential of such a wealth of traffic for Webmasters using an AVS which is why they send traffic from Private Voyeur directly to the AdultsAllowed link list. Webmasters are happy to capitalize on a proven buying traffic base. It’s essential in the new era of AVSs that Webmasters can see clearly that real traffic is sent to the AVS link list and this is one way AdultsAllowed demonstrates it. Check out AdultsAllowed to take part in its lucrative AVS opportunities.

Mike Farber is Managing Director of Sales for AdultsAllowed and consultant for PrivateVoyeur.com. Both of these sites are proponents of Premiere Investments Inc. Under the direction of Mr. Farber, Premiere Invesments Inc. became involved in ecommerce in early 1999 and has continued with a run of non-stop successes ever since. He can be reached at support@adultsallowed.com.