When Did Sex Become So Much Work?
Miscellaneous Whining From A Start-up, Gay Adult Web site Producer
by Bruce Trono
Ahhh, the life of a big time, adult gay, Web site producer. This is
how I picture it in my dreams. I am sitting at a large desk in a sumptuous
office, gazing out over the city below through my large picture window.
A knock comes at my door. An eager young clerk enters and breathlessly
reports, "Sir, one of the main site servers went down. Subscribers
don't have access to three of our biggest sites."
I look at him calmly. I pronounce, without hesitation, "Tell Thompson
in the systems engineering department to get that fixed right away.
We don't pay him $100,000. per year to sit on his ass. And while you
are down on the 14th floor, tell Carmichael, from marketing, that
I want him to have sales on the Videoboys site up 10% by the end of
the month. He can take the money for advertising out of petty cash."
The clerk leaves and the intercom on my desk squawks, "Mr. Trono,
the 3 o'clock video shoot has been cancelled. The two models had a
fight and now they won't do their duo scene." I press the intercom
button, "Well that's fine. Just fire them and get the casting agent
to pick two new ones from the talent pool." I lean back in my chair.
Maybe golf this afternoon?
That is the fantasy. The reality for my business partner Ian, and
I, as owners of a start-up gay adult Web site, is that we have to
fill the roles of all the people in my fantasy. We have no systems
engineers, no marketing director, no network administrator, no secretaries,
no graphic design specialists, and no talent agents. Ian and I shuffle
these hats between us on a daily basis. It is stressful and tiring
at times, but somehow it seems to come together day-to-day.
How did we ever end up in such a burdensome occupation? Let me start
with some background info. A few years ago, while I was getting a
post-graduate degree in Social Anthropology, Ian, was busy learning
HTML just for fun. His first personal web site, a sort-of online scrapbook
and photo album, generated some interest. So Ian thought it would
be fun to put up a hidden link to some nude photos of him, to satisfy
a mild exhibitionist streak. His ISP wasn't terribly happy with the
resulting spike in traffic, but Internet viewers certainly were. And
if that many people were jumping through hoops just to see 10 erotic
photos of sweet young Ian, we thought that perhaps there might be
a bunch of gay men out there who were hungry for pictures of naked
men!! Our marketing savvy was apparent, even then.
So, with a little encouragement from friends, Ian put together a small
gay adult site, leasing some live video feeds, video libraries and
picture galleries. As the site matured, content and services were
added, bringing the site to its current incarnation. It wasn't long
before the company was producing content of its own, adding a whole
new dimension to our gay adult, Web site production experience.
Somewhere in this process, I was drawn into the operation, bringing
all the useful skills that 7 years of university had given me; in
other words, NONE. Like Ian, I had computer experience, but certainly
no idea of servers and networks. I had only the most vague idea of
how to keep books or operate a business. And my only experience with
adult entertainment was as a consumer.
But with reckless abandon, we plunged into the task at hand. Putting
Web sites together was Ian's area of expertise, so I tried to focus
on keeping the books and marketing. "Seat-of-the-pants" is an apt
description of my approach to setting up bookkeeping, but eventually,
with some patient accountants, a system, of sorts, evolved. For adult
Web site marketing, I read what I could about search engines, experimented
with newsgroup postings and even ventured to place an ad or two on
some high volume Web sites. For our site, and for our level of ambition
at the time, this seemed to be enough.
Along with our foray into content production, came a whole new set
of challenges. Challenges we are still grappling with. For me, it
has been the constant struggle to get a handle on the technology.
Apache servers, video-steaming servers, and network administration
have fallen onto my plate. My exploration into these technologies
is on an absolute, need-to-know basis. Ian has taken-on the world
of Flash animation and java scripts, to enhance the Web site experience.
We have both adopted the roles of digital photographer, and digital
videographer. Needless to say, if we intend to grow, we will certainly
have to enhance our understanding of these technologies, or at least
latch on to some people who already possess this knowledge.
In general, I feel relatively happy with how we have adapted to the
technological challenges. When it comes to marketing, however, I am
at an absolute loss. There are so many different programs and schemes
out there, it is impossible to know where to invest your time and
money. There are Affiliate programs, Banner exchange, search engine
submissions, e-mail lists, exit consoles, paid advertising and dozens
of other marketing strategies that I haven't mentioned or don't know
about. And one of the great frustrations that comes with experimenting
with various marketing strategies is that it is often difficult to
get any accurate information about whether the strategy worked. And,
if not, why not? I suppose if I had time to fiddle with, and test,
our log analysis software, I could zero-in on how effective our marketing
efforts have been, but then some other equally vital task would be
left off my list.
Another problem for us, when it comes to marketing, is that, in general,
we HATE the industry standard. Take exit consoles, for example. If
you owned a retail store, would you wait until a customer wanted to
leave, then block the exit and force him to have a look at another
product? Well, that's what exit consoles seem like to me. And then
there are sites that are so full of flashing banners and animated
ads that navigation around the site is impossible, assuming that one
can even tell the site content from the advertising!! As consumers,
Ian and I both find these strategies so offensive that we have taken
the other extreme on our sites, and have virtually no other banners
or advertising inside our site. But I often wonder, "Do customers
even care?" Is the lack of advertising a selling point, or are people
willing to put up with it to some degree, in order to access content
at a lower price? I don't know the answer, and the sites that are
engaged in those strategies won't let me look at their books.
Sometimes I wish that an adult, Web site genie would just pop out
of a bottle and say, "You need to use this software, that hardware,
and the following marketing strategies and you will be set." Obviously
there are people out there who have answers for all of the problems
I have been whining about here. I do make an effort to find these
people. But if there is such a thing as an inner circle for the adult
Web site industry, 'we ain't in it.' My friends and associates have
"normal" occupations. They are university students, accountants, retail
sales people, flight attendants, schoolteachers, all those respectable
occupations, one of which Mom always thought I would enter one day
(thankfully, she still doesn't know what I do).
My straight friends and family don't really know how to approach the
whole topic of my business and, for the most part, just avoid the
topic except for the occasional attempt at humor. The support of my
gay friends, on the other hand, has been unflagging. These friends
are like a great cheering section who act as though we are living
out one of their deepest fantasies. While this support has been most
heartening, it only rarely proves to be helpful in grappling with
the problems we face.
Sometimes I do encounter a fellow adult, Web site producer. Invariably,
five minutes into our conversation about the state of the industry,
he or she has me convinced that we are using all the wrong software
and hardware, we are with the wrong billing company, we are missing
out on all the best marketing schemes and we are paying WAY to much
for just about everything. Of course about 20 minutes further into
the conversation, it dawns on me that he or she is just full of shit.
At the very least, I realize that there are quite a few things that
I know that he or she doesn't.
Now when I do encounter the real deal, the bona fide "insider", I
don't fair much better in getting useful information. Asking advice
from an e-business expert is often like asking my garage mechanic,
"What's wrong with my car?" He wants to tell me the history of the
combustion engine and all I want to hear is, "The fan belt's broke,
I'm gonna replace it." Those e-business specialists probably do have
some of the answers I am looking for, so I just listen patiently,
nod my head and when I hear something that sounds like I needed to
understand it better, I make the humiliating gesture of asking something
like, "Ummm, what does 'wysiswyg' stand for again?"
Well, I guess that's enough whining and complaining for one article.
I suspect that some readers will recognize many of the experiences
I have touched on here. If, during the process of producing our Web
sites, I come across the "Secret" to success, I will be sure to write
another article and tell you all about it. If there is anyone who
doesn't identify with any of the experiences I have mentioned, you
are probably one of those Web producers of my fantasies that I mentioned
in the first few paragraphs. Maybe I will see you at the top one day.
About the Author:
Bruce Trono holds a graduate degree in Cultural Anthropology and currently
resides in Montreal, Canada. With his business partner, Ian Duncan,
he runs two gay adult sites, www.videoboys.com
and www.videoboyslive.com,
where he endeavors to offer subscribers a unique, adult Web site experience.
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