Special Feature: Resource Pool - The Adult Webmaster Metamorphosis
- By YNOT.com
So why did you get involved with the adult entertainment business? Sure, there's money to be made, but you can make money selling dental floss too...
The internet makes it possible for almost anyone to compete with Larry Flynt and Hugh Hefner - not that either man is likely to sweat your arrival. But in a few years, who knows? You could be bigger than Steven Tyler's lips. And it doesn't cost a small fortune to publish an adult website. The frugal new webmaster can get started for less than fifty bucks. Anyone can get in on the game. If you got involved with the online adult entertainment business - if you're now operating as an adult webmaster and lovin' it - then there's a pretty good chance you were attracted to the industry for reasons that go beyond the mere financial opportunities that exist on the adult internet. Admit it, you like sex, you think prudes like Jerry Falwell are full of shit, and you like to have a good time!
Sex sells, and it probably did its part to sell you on becoming an adult webmaster. It's a chance to work with pictures of beautiful naked people all day - or if you like to get freaky, maybe the people in the pictures you publish aren't so beautiful to the rest of us, but they're beautiful to you. The idea of working with porn just turned you on. Your friends are all jealous. You attend industry parties. You hang out in industry social circles - or at least you want to. You're a player. It's more than a job, it's a lifestyle.
If this is you, then congrats - it's a great thing when one enjoys what one does for a living. Hell, even if this is just your hobby, knock yourself out and have a good time. Get your freak on. Play that funky music. Menace that pound of flesh.
But someday, eventually, if you stay in the adult business long enough, a funny thing will happen. First, you'll find yourself ditching large industry parties in favor of smaller gatherings with friends. Then you'll find that you'll start to spend more time looking at your websites' stats and less time thinking about their content. Plans to get laid will turn into plans to make more sales. It creeps right up on you. But one day you'll wake up and the adult industry will suddenly seem like a business.
Guess what? That's because it is.
Does reaching this conclusion mean that you've gotten old? Nah, it just means you've 'been there and done that' with the party scene. It just means you're comfortable there's always a party when you want one, always a good time to be had - but consistently making good money is somewhat more elusive. That time you spent bullshitting on your favorite gossip board will suddenly turn into time spent learning to run your business more effectively and more efficiently. You'll even start eyeballing those nice suits at the local department store - but don't go for that Waldo look, this is still the adult business man!
The bad news is that learning to be successful in business is not easy. Many people fail while trying to discover that secret formula for success. The good news is that it's possible - clever businesspeople have proven that again and again. You can succeed; you just need your own angle. You need your own unique approach to a business that has seen almost everything. Everything but what you're about to show it.
So how do you develop that unique product? How do you know what to sell? If you've just stepped off the party boat and decided to join the professional community, then ironically it helps to keep that party boat in sight at all times. Don't stray too far. Why? Just because you've been there and done that doesn't mean your market has - the very reasons why you were attracted to the adult market in the first place is why others are buying porn today. Sex sells. People want to be a part of something fun. They want to be shocked by 'not bashful' models. They want to be part of the party. It's your job to remember that and make it happen - or at least make your customers feel that you made it happen for them.
The porn business isn't about pictures and videos and Internet connections. The porn business is about people wanting to connect sexually with other people. It's about good times, the shedding of clothes and inhibitions, and the ability to experiment and try out those kinky thoughts that float around in peoples' brains while they're sitting in some boring professor's lecture class, trying to get through another slow day at work, or sitting up late at night wondering if they'll ever meet someone who will help cure their loneliness.
You've been to the parties. You've seen the naked women. You've had a few lap dances, and maybe you've even paid for a blowjob in the back seat of a car. You've photographed naked people, and you've told a beautiful woman just how far she ought to spread her legs for the camera. Now make your audience feel like you did when you first started doing these things and you'll know what it means to be a successful professional in the adult entertainment business.
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