How Do I Get Started in Adult?

I get asked this question all the time. I will tell you my honest opinion although many others may disagree depending on their background. Some people are nothing but traffic guys, and work the affiliate and traffic broker game. Others are looking to do their own pay sites, and maybe produce their own content one day. While others do not care about any of that shit and simply want to make money from their home and in their underwear.

In my opinion the easiest way to start in the adult industry is with a clip store. It is low risk, and as long as you follow the routine daily, you should easily get your R.O.I. in a few months and from there you expand. However, before you go head strong into the adult industry you need to keep in mind that your success and failure resides completely on YOU. I can give you all the best advice on the planet, 13 years of experience, what I would recommend you do based on your knowledge, cash, and skill sets. But if you do not listen. There is nothing to keep you from ending up in the shitter. Adult online is the same as any other business. You have to put in the WORK. Obviously, there are some perks. Freedom, and working in your panties from home. That said, let’s get rolling.

This is going to be a basic business outline you would follow assuming your end goal is to develop your own pay sites, and possibly your own content. Before you get to that point, REGARDLESS of how much money you have, you should follow these steps. They obviously are not going to make you millions over night. But you WILL learn the skills you need to make money online.

1. Go to your local county clerk’s office and register a business D.B.A. (doing business as).

2. Go to your local bank and open up a BUSINESS checking account, and get your credit/debit card that goes with it.

3. Research the niche you want to start out in. There is a lot of good content out there you can get for a few thousand dollars that would last you for YEARS of updates. I would recommend you get into something you like personally. You are going to have to look at this stuff daily. So it would make you life more enjoyable if it is something you are passionate about. But you can always go more mainstream hardcore if you like. You may just need to work harder.

4. After you have picked a niche(s), then you need a domain. This will be important for a pay site later, branding, and watermarking your clips. I have written a tutorial on how to find good domain names in that section.

5. I would get a virtual hosting account. This is going to be for your banners, your gallery submits, posting up pictures to forums and other things. Virtual hosting is about as low as you can go, and be dependable. If you use a free host or something similar, they can nuke you and your content at any time. There is nothing more annoying that working for a month, and then have your content killed because you broke some Terms of Service or became high bandwidth. Hosting, in time, will be the life line of your business. You need to invest in a decent one for everything from hosting your site, promotion materials, branded email and DNS/domain management.

6. Next, you need to sign up for your clip stores. There are a number of them out there now a days, but really the only two I have found that make you decent money are Clips4Sale and Clips.com. The terms vary, and I prefer C4S myself, but typically you are looking at a 60/40 or 50/50 type of split. For their end, they are taking care of the billing, hosting, and other b.s. that they take on their end. While not the best deal around, it is a decent deal.

7. Once you get your content, you are going to want to watermark you clips. There is a tutorial to do it with one of the mid range programs I use, and recommend. There are higher and lower end on the market. I also use Premiere and Sorenson Squeeze, depending on if the clip is a re-run, or a 1st release, etc.. But I digress…

So you watermark you FULL LENGTH clips. Once you have done that, you would then want to cut your clips into sections. Some do this, some do not, it’s up to you. I am giving you a very basic overview of what has worked for me. So you do say maybe two week’s worth to start. Watermarking and compressing your FULL LENGTH, and the cutting into sections. I like to do three pieces. So if a clip is 10 minutes long, I do 3 minutes per. You can’t be less that 2 minutes on a Clip Store.

Continued later…

 

You know this is pretty interesting. I actually have talked with both sides of the adult industry. I am officially in LA (home of the adult star) and actually had a connection of 3 to get authentic content, because I figured that would be the way to go. The other is that I spoke to some drop ship toy company that would "make me a site" and would drop ship toy orders for me...but honestly looked way to generic for me and turned me off cause it gave me that "just another one of these attitudes".

Now you are talking about a "clip" site. I think I met the Clips guys at AVN in vegas and wasn't exactly how on point that service is. But have yo made $$$ from small clips? Did you design your own site or did you use a template? I imagine the site is like a "red tube". Did you use a script? Are you scraping others? I mean I am already in a super competitive business so I know about the HARD WORK that is necessary but I am all about trying the adult stuff as I always had a lust for it...lol

 

very helpful, thanks

 

Hi.

Clips4Sale.com is an example of a clip store. Clips.com is another. They provide you the web interface, and software. You upload the clips and descriptions. They do the rest. They also process the billing, and pay you once a month.

Here is a WORKING EXAMPLE and screen shots. I do not have this posted on DP to link to. But you get an idea. It also provides a basic overview of the method. I may have another example in the links on website in sig or profile.

Long story short. You buy/license content, and you use a clip store to make money. If you shoot your own, great. You buy a domain, watermark and cut your clips, write a description, schedule them, and repeat on a daily basis. You can then make easy money.

You do not need exclusive, or original content. I have re-run content for years, and still make money with around 15 minutes worth of work per day, Monday through Friday. Open up more clip stores, repeat the process, and tada. A few grand.

This is a very simple way to make money, and 90% of it is done while you sleep.

 

I might be a little confused here. So basically you are making $$$ from re-ocuring memberships from the site you develop? Or are you making money on ads? I know most of the "clip sharing sites" like Redtube don't charge anything for viewing clips as 99.99% of their revenue is based off of heavy ad investments from the bigger boys. As I just cannot see without the millions of adult sites that just "cutting up clips" and pasting a watermark that you can get that type of revenue from some overused clips. I mean I would love to hear how exactly that pans out. I mean I see your report but that doesn't really show me much as to how you amassed those numbers or even where they are from.

 

No.

A 'clips store' is a store front. You are basically selling your licensed content to consumers/surfers/patrons on a per clip basis (not to be confused with re-licensing to other content providers). For example, if a single scene or clip runs 9 minutes. You would sell it for $9.99 for that ONE SCENE.

It has nothing to do with illegal activity, tubes, or clip sharing sites as referenced.

 

So your telling me that you are making that much loot from people who are "buying overpriced small video clips"?? I mean, hey if it works for you then power to you...but honestly I can't see where people would want to pay for a "clip" when everything is so available on the net for free? And what about the newer "All-access" passes that give you more material than you can shake your stick at?!

Have you owned these site(s) a long time? Have you been grandfathered in by google, because honestly I can't see conversion being that stupendous unless your traffic was through the roof and even then the idea of people "paying for a small clip" just doesn't make much sense in my mind and if you look around the net, it wouldn't make sense to alot of people as my previous injections show what most surfers are patronizing.

 

I have been in the adult industry and making money online for 13 years, and the better part of a decade full time. I have been doing clip stores for 7-8 years now, and it has always worked the same. There is no magic formula, people come to clips4sale to buy and buy they do. Even on re-run content like the screen shots show.

I think the basic problem here is, you think like a webmaster. More over, you are one of these WM who think that no one will pay for anything if they can get the grainy shitty versions for free everywhere. Or that you over-estimate both the time people want to spend trying to "beat the system". I bet I could also guess your age, based on your remarks. No offense meant to you.

The demographics for those who buy are 25-45, at least for my consumers. While I will concede your point that the younger generations think like you. Where they are more than content to waste endless hours to 'beat the system' and not pay for anything. Music, porn, software, video games, movies, cell phone applications, and all the rest. It also requires those who are younger little 'stimulation' to get excited more often then not. Lastly, those younger have less money, and more time on their hands. Which further reinforce the behavior as you describe. That said...

Others, myself included, who are looking for specific fetishes will pay a premium for them, and better quality video. I know myself, I do not have time to screw around trying to save $5.00. I will just pay it, down load my clip, rub one out, and be on with my day. This age group has money to spend, and does so. Including contacting content providers like myself, and paying hundreds of dollars for 10-20 minute custom shoots with their favorite girl. The point being, plenty will still pay for porn.

I guess that is why Clip Stores remain profitable for those who know how to use them, or take the time to use them, and do so consistently. It is easy money. You do not need to invest a lot of time, nor do you need a high skill set to make money. You need some decent content, and follow a routine, and can make money just doing that over and over.

Run out of content? Open a new store and repeat, or just re-render the clips and post to the same store.

 

Not to mention that I was looking at the sales dates on that form and it shows like 2-3 a week. Now those internet stragglers that stumble upon or go directly to your "clip site" and pay an exorbitant amount of money for a clip are they processed by regular shopping cart/cc?

I can feel as if a good handful of those poor chaps are using other peoples credit card info (because at that point it doesn't matter to them because they got what they wanted! ) to make those purchases and maybe the commissions would be subject to potential chargebacks!

 

That whole statement is go laughable, I am not even going to render a detailed reply.

People can ask around on the major adult boards about clip stores, and people's experience with them. Including THIS THREAD and see that it is a good business model that works for many of us. There are many people, producers, and now even major adult studios using this business model and updating their stores on a daily basis making money.

I guess some will continue to make money on this easy clips store sales, and some will continue believing that no one pays for anything. Carry on.

 

Actually I am 32 and am a webmaster/marketer/business owner and doing business online for 8 years previous to brick and mortar scenarios. My last long-term project though not even remotely in the porn business garnered 3 mil annually. So I would say that I am rather good at what I do. (Though lots of hard work as you had mentioned is required)

However I have done a ton of real life re-search into the adult business. In fact I have had friends in the business (though circa 98-2001) so I would say the game has changed a ton since then. However I have done my due diligence in researching the adult industry and many have told me that it's cut throat like any saturated industry without innovation.

So, yes...I look for the big fish. And I put myself in the shoes of the masses because that is where the school of fish swim! So you have a valid point when you say "fetish". Because I can see some hardcore "golden showers" guy paying to get his yellow 10 minute clip. But alas it's super targeted, super niche and pays respectively for it.

Because in your original posting you make it sound like "start this site" make 1000's...well I can guarantee there alot of people that go in the wrong direction with it! And you make it sound simple like "only a few minutes a day"..but based on what you told me..the sales statistics over time..you would have to make a bunch of successful clips sites to make that work as a full time decent paying scenario. And if your doing that, then that 30 minutes a day turns into 30 minutes times 8 sites...which in turn turns out to be alot more of an investment.

 

I believe the thread title is "How to get STARTED in adult".

This guide if for those starting out. This is not a millionaire's guide, nor was it claimed to be. I did not say this would make you millions. This is geared to those with minimal time, and want to learn or enter the industry with minimal risk.

This is a business model that for someone starting out will guarantee them R.O.I. of money and time. With a low barrier of entry and no major skill sets that are going to be required. Knowing how to code HTML/traffic/etc..

Once they learn the basics on a business model like this, they would eventually grow into their own pay sites, shooting content, building a program and whatever else. This is not a be all, end all, for the adult business. Nor was it claimed to be.

Your ASSumptions of my posts, or their meanings, are not my claims.

2cts

 

follow your threads, I think tha soon am going to start an adult video business
I completely agree when you say:

Thanks for share.

 

Join GFY and read their forums for a few weeks, u'll learn a lot

 

I am not making "ASSumptions" but your statement from your original post "I have re-run content for years, and still make money with around 15 minutes worth of work per day, Monday through Friday. Open up more clip stores, repeat the process, and tada. A few grand. "

You sound like some magical wizard that has the secrets to success for someone that wants to sit around on a tropical island and make money. I am not relating it to "millions" but I am relating it to a real life scenario. What is required to "make a living" doing it. Because from the statistics that you showed me, it shows that it can be done by anybody (which it can with enough drive) but with alot more time invested than what you claim.

I know your trying to sell your services but let's be honest buddy, it's more than 15-30 minutes a day on 1 site. I mean after-all if you are more see-through business man then maybe you will get more sales. It's just good business sense.

But I guess dancing around my real business questions scare guys like you and ruin all the "oh great", "thanks for this", "promote me up" nods you get when you attach a modified .jpg of an online sales report.

 

You're welcome.

Now a days you can license some decent DVD content packages for $500-1200 and get 300-1000 scenes. You can start out making your money on clip stores, and later add in a pay site, and from there make your initial investment back in no time. If you never want to expand, just keep doing the same thing over and over. Make more return on your investment. If you want to grow, start a pay site.

I find most people starting out in the adult industry (or online in general) are looking for a low cost, minimal risk, barrier of entry. The majority are also looking for an almost instant return of some kind on their investment of both money and time. This is it. You do not need to know all of the ins and out of the adult industry. You simply have to follow the process, consistently.

No SEO. Nor how to drive traffic. How to convert a sale. Landing pages, tours, or any of the other tricks and tools of the trade are not needed. If you have them, it will help and I suggest you learn them over time. But you can make money without them.

 

Lol, I'm on it..

 

**yawn**

Another self proclaimed millionaire who has all the experience in the world according to himself and his friends. Yet, is 32 and trolling strangers on the internet because he doesn't pay for anything. Nor has he provided any proof, other than his word, he is all these things. I always love these guys.

People do not have to buy anything from me. They can follow the steps posted out, and do it on their own. I do not own Clips4Sale. There are plenty of content brokers out there. I do not own a stake in VideoCharge.

I personally spend 15 minutes, if that, writing a description and scheduling my updates for the day. The compression/watermarking/uploading is done while I sleep and I do not have to sit at a computer to do it. Once you load it into the que, it's fire and forget.

I am sorry that is too complicated for a self proclaimed millionaire like yourself to comprehend. Much like the concept of people not stealing everything on the internet, or that people actually DO still pay for things. But I am sure many others can do it easily enough. It's not rocket science.

 

Generally I do so, starting something even if not perfect, then I work to improve it;
I think it better then wait for the perfect product right away.
Anyway I keep in mind your parameters

About the hosting $150/month, is it correct?

 

Web hosting costs vary based on what you are looking to do.

If you want to do a tube site, for example, then you are going to need a box that has some decent storage and RAM for rendering clips. If you are going to start out doing some blogs or TGP submits. You can then get some shared, or virtual web hosting for that. You do not need dedicated most of the time (depending on traffic).

With hosting, it will come down to what you are looking to do, the resources you need, the bandwidth you are expecting, and what not. Depending on the provider, some shared accounts would not be able to handle a Hun listing for example. For blogs, they are typically going to be low bandwidth. Pay sites... that depends on what type, the amount of traffic and storage.

I would recommend when you get to that stage, talk to a hosting person and give them specifics for what you want to do. Then they can recommend what you need so that you are not paying for what you don't.