By Peter Berton

INDIANAPOLIS – Elli is a vivacious, flirtatious redhead who, despite her amateur status, is a veteran of the online adult entertainment scene. In fact, her web presence dates into the last millennium, and technically she’s considered a MILF — although that’s hard to believe based on Elli’s photos.

YNOT.com was charmed when we perused her website, so we asked Elli to answer a few questions.

YNOT.com: Tell us about yourself.

Elli: I’ve run ElliNude.com since 1998. It’s part of the Dreamnet network of amateur MILF sites. My specialty is homemade amateur sexy material, but I do love to experiment with glamour and pinup styles, too.

Most of my content is solo, but there are some more explicit sets and videos that sneak in when a male costar joins me on my side of the lens. I used to post mostly photos, but with the evolution of the internet, ElliNude.com has moved more toward [high-definition] video updates.

I also run a blog at TheReluctantPornstar.com. If you want to delve deeper “behind the curtain,” then this is the place to satisfy your curiosity.

You look quite young. Did you start working in adult as soon as you reached legal age?

Ha ha, no! I look young, but I was 22 when I started my website.

What attracted you to working in adult?

I have always been a very sexual and sensual person. At the same time, I was still shocked and dismayed when I found my boyfriend at the time had been surfing porn websites. When he showed me that he was ogling real-looking women, not airbrushed bunnies, I was intrigued. The site he was hooked on was Dreamnet.com.

I was so interested that I got him to take some photos of me to send to the webmaster. The webmaster loved my submissions and offered to build me a website.

It was very exciting, and seemed to take forever, but really it was only a few months. During that time we worked on our photo skills and bought my first digital camera: an Epson PhotoPC Plus. It had 4MB of built-in memory.

When the website finally went live, the emails flooded in. I was so excited! It was a very busy time, as I was still in college, but I loved it. It’s still my labor of love.

How has your career progressed over the years?

At first my website was built for me, but because I’m a bit of a control freak, I taught myself HTML so I could take over. That way, I was able to change the design to my own liking.

Because of that I’ve always had a different-looking site that doesn’t fit in with the rest, but I’m okay with that. Fitting in has never really been my “thing.”

I don’t know about progressing in my career. I still run the same site, and I still have the same boundaries. I never went pro or shot for other sites, other than as a content or traffic trade. Various people have offered over the years, but I prefer to do my own thing.

What are some of the best and worst experiences you’ve had in your career?

I love to meet new people, and some of the best friends I’ve made have been because of my site. People from all walks of life have amateur sites. The most “normal” folks can be BDSM swingers, and you would never suspect.

As for worst experiences? Honestly not too much bad has happened to me. Sometimes my days have too much work in them, and sometimes vacations can turn into working trips far too easily and often. But overall you’re supposed to love what you do, and I do.

How has the online world changed since you joined it?

The amateur world in particular has changed quite a lot since the late 1990s. People used to actually send in a lot of cash in the mail for their memberships. It was difficult to convince people that using credit cards online was safe.

I’ve already mentioned the trend from photos to videos. Cheap bandwidth has enabled a lot more wholesale theft than was previously practical. It used to be that people shared my archives on the newsgroups, but now I find entire site rips on torrent and tube sites. That makes for frustrating days, where I spend entire afternoons sending out DMCA notices.

What keeps you going? Are you still having fun?

Every day brings a new challenge. I love chatting with folks via Twitter, posting to Flickr and tumblr and answering my emails. Shooting the content is a creative and fun challenge. And what woman doesn’t love to buy new sexy clothing and lingerie when she has half a chance? And shoes! Oy, my shoe collection!

Yes, I am still having fun. I have always maintained that when I stop having fun, I will close up shop. That hasn’t happened yet.

What do few people know about you?

That’s a great question! Because of my site, lots of people make assumptions. One interesting factoid: I have only had sex with three men. I’ve given a handful more some other kind of sexual attention. This includes on- and off-camera.

As for playing around with women…. I think I lost count! I actually won a “Slut of the Year” award once from a strange group of people.

What advice would give a newbie?

Have a plan. If you want to make money, you’re going to have to admit your site is a business. Don’t start it until you have a solid business plan for three months, one year, two years in the future.

If you are not interested in making money, then keep posting to tumblr or wherever you like and enjoy your fun. That said, if you don’t enjoy it, don’t do it. People can tell instantly if you are genuinely having a good time or not, and a sad porn person makes for a sad audience.

And remember: The internet is forever. Even if you take down your site when you’re old and grey, somebody can go onto the Wayback Machine or dig into an old newsgroup server to find your sexy self.

You have to be able to sleep well at night, knowing that your past can crop back up at any time. Depressing, yes, but that’s one of the risks we take.

What are your future plans?

I want to add my sexy erotica stories back into my site and write some new ones. My site underwent a major redesign last year, so I’m still ironing out wrinkles and tweaking it to my liking. Other than that, who knows what the future brings? I can’t give away all my secrets in one article. [She laughs.]