Understanding Content for Your Paysite
My first recommendation in choosing good content is to determine the value of what you are getting. There are two ways to purchase content for your site. One way is to purchase a hardcopy, which you own. The second is to lease content on a monthly basis. Both have benefits and neither option is better than the other.If you plan on having a successful site you can never have enough content. You should plan on purchasing hardcopy photo galleries that may be provided on CD-ROM or some sort of digital transfer. You will more than likely be presented with your photo gallery already organized for you and will simply require an upload to your server. By adding photo galleries to your site you are adding content for life with no need to pay monthly fees. You should be careful that the photo gallery you are purchasing is of quality. I have often seen stills from movies organized into thumbnails and sold for upwards of $100.00. I have found that a quality CD will have 500-1000 high quality images and will have a purchase price ranging from$150-300. The most successful sites have hundreds of galleries, but if you are on a budget adding at least one new photo gallery a month will improve your site and over time you will build an impressive gallery. A good content company will let you see a full working demo of the content. Also, be sure to read the license agreement to make sure you will be able to use the galleries on other sites you might own without any extra cost. Do not be afraid to ask for the license agreement. If you are purchasing hard copy content I believe you can never have enough and advise you to purchase what your budget will allow.
The most affordable way to get your site started is to lease content galleries. The way these systems work is that you are supplied with an HTML code that you place in your protected member’s area. Your members click on the link within your member’s area and are given access to the leased galleries. This is normally the way you would provide streaming videos and live feeds to your website.
When you are leasing streaming videos, there is usually a surcharge for bandwidth. This is normal and is usually stated in the price (example $100 for 1-100 members). There is no true way of knowing how many members your site has, but it can be estimated by tracking the bandwidth. For example, a content provider may estimate 100 members to use 10 gigs of transfer. When leasing content galleries you will want to get the most for your money. You can find content galleries that will range from $75/mth – $1000/mth with up to 100,000 images, thousands of videos and live feeds. I don’t believe the price is going to determine the quality. With the market being so competitive you are more than likely going to find content to meet your budget. See if you can change the leased feed’s background color and add banners so you can make the content match your website’s look. It is a benefit to be able to customize your screen to match your paysite. When you are looking to lease your content make sure the content provider is updating it daily. Your members will appreciate the new content and daily updates; this is a benefit to keeping your members longer.
There are hundreds of content companies; you are going to want to research adult resources and search engines to determine which content company is best for you. Also, look for testimonials on content company websites to see if their current clients are happy. Finally, whether leasing or purchasing a content package, make sure you are getting quality content.