Posted by Sun Karma: 
What makes a paysite successful?

Hot naked chicks.

Posted by * Visual Mindscapes *: 

Posted by Sun Karma: 
What makes a paysite successful?

Hot naked chicks.

Surprisingly, he is right for once.....

Posted by XtremeArtists ®: 
Surprisingly, he is right for once.....

I'm ALWAYS RIGHT!  You bastard!

Posted by * Visual Mindscapes *: 

Posted by XtremeArtists ®: 
Surprisingly, he is right for once.....

I'm ALWAYS RIGHT!  You bastard!

There you go being wrong again....

Posted by George Caban: 

Nice first post!

Posted by XtremeArtists ®: 
There you go being wrong again....

About which one?  Me being always right or you being a bastard?

lol

Posted by * Visual Mindscapes *: 

Posted by XtremeArtists ®: 
There you go being wrong again....

About which one?  Me being always right or you being a bastard?

lol

3 out of 2...

Posted by David James: 
I've shot photos for several models with paysites & have run one. The amount of money you can make varies a lot (from a couple hundred a month to several thousand or more). Generally, the most important factors are your content and marketing the site. I think one of the main reasons many model paysites don't do too well is that the model believes it'll be easy money & underestimates the amount of work involved. However, there are some that take it seriously & make a good living running paysites.

You have a very unique & exotic look & I think if you keep marketing that uniqueness, you have a good chance of building a solid fan base.

Btw, I'd love to shoot with you sometime.

Best of luck!

Thanks!
I have a pretty large fanbase already...I've been featured in mags, in movies, blah blah blah...but I don't like to toot my own horn too much.

Let me know when you want to shoot, and I'm there.

sun

Posted by Sun Karma: 
What makes a paysite successful?

Do You have a paysite?

How much do you make a month (general...you don't have to disclose all the details)


How do you market?


Should (SHOULD) a model (regular..fashion...etc) have a paysite?


I wonder...I have my own experiences..but I'll wait until you share first.


Sun

Sun, there are almost as many answers to the question of "what makes something (a paysite) successful?"  The obvious answer would have to be treating it as a business. A paysite can make you a nice second income, or it can even become your primary income. I'm excited that you are interested in doing a website like that because I've seen that you do have a large fanbase.

You find a area that you like, and build from there. The success will come from you working harder at doing what you enjoy and from the research you are doing previous to launching your website.

Don't trip out over what others claim they make or don't make because you are not them ... and your site will be different from all others. A "ballpark" figure of how much money you make can be figured out with you making a business plan and doing estimates. Things like how many people you have in your yahoo group can be a good start.

I will write you a personal e-mail about the subject of marketing when I have time to go into more depth. I do have my own credit card network and something about to launch that will help models. It's not something I'm ready to disclose here quite yet!

I do not think it hurts for a model who does traditional or commercial work to have her own website too. It only makes sense that if you have a look that "sells" then why limit yourself to the traditional modeling? The agencies will tell you different because they can no longer control your career, YOU DO!

Posted by Brent Burzycki: 
Let me just add......

IT IS A TON OF WORK ON THE PART OF THE MODEL AND THE WEBMASTER.....


You would not think it - but just getting content shot is a chore..

Yes! Very true. Also I think you need a team, or at least a couple other "helpers" in areas that you are weakest. For example a model with webmaster skills working with a photographer with graphic art skills. Actually it maybe best if it's three people on the team because it is nearly impossible for one person to do it all! (Although I've seen a few try!)

Those that think it's "easy" to put a successful website together and start drawing huge profits right away are in for a major shock!

Posted by Sun Karma: 
What makes a paysite successful?

Promotion and content. In THAT order. I have seen poorly designed sites with crappy content, and a model who in my opinion isn't very attractive do very well because of promtional wizardry. And I have seen models who are well known in yahoo groups and videos who can't make their sites work because they have no idea what they are doing.

Posted by Sun Karma: Do You have a paysite?

About 200 of them. Been doing it for 9 years. It wasn't until 2004 that I actually hired on a full time staff to handle stuff so I could just shoot stills and vids. Nice to have nothing else to do sometimes. Though I taught them everything they know about it.

Posted by Sun Karma: How much do you make a month (general...you don't have to disclose all the details)

Last years reported income was a little over $800k

Posted by Sun Karma: How do you market?

Any and everyway you could possibly think of.

Posted by Sun Karma: Should (SHOULD) a model (regular..fashion...etc) have a paysite?

If she wants to make money while not actively working on paying gigs sure. Non nude sites can generate a lot of money. But as Brent said it is a LOT of work. More for the webmaster than the model. I can shoot two or more months worth of content in a day. But it's the 18 hours a day spent marketing that is the REAL work.

Posted by DJ Foothill: 

Posted by Sun Karma: 
What makes a paysite successful?

Promotion and content. In THAT order. I have seen poorly designed sites with crappy content, and a model who in my opinion isn't very attractive do very well because of promtional wizardry. And I have seen models who are well known in yahoo groups and videos who can't make their sites work because they have no idea what they are doing.

Posted by Sun Karma: Do You have a paysite?

About 200 of them. Been doing it for 9 years

Posted by Sun Karma: How much do you make a month (general...you don't have to disclose all the details)

Last years reported income was a little over $800k

Posted by Sun Karma: How do you market?

Any and everyway you could possibly think of.

Posted by Sun Karma: Should (SHOULD) a model (regular..fashion...etc) have a paysite?

If she wants to make money while not actively working on paying gigs sure. Non nude sites can generate a lot of money. But as Brent said it is a LOT of work. More for the webmaster than the model. I can shoot two or more months worth of content in a day. But it's the 18 hours a day spent marketing that is the REAL work.

-sigh- DJ knows what he is talking about! Not very many have been in this business as long as he has.

Now if he would only stop sending that tribe of 200 Amazon women over to kick my butt and take my money! Oh oh! It's the 200 websites that are doing that to me! ROFLMAO!

Posted by Patrick Walberg: 
-sigh- DJ knows what he is talking about! Not very many have been in this business as long as he has.

Now if he would only stop sending that tribe of 200 Amazon women over to kick my butt and take my money! Oh oh! It's the 200 websites that are doing that to me! ROFLMAO!

Patrick you KNOW you like it when they come by to collect. I just gotta teach em to keep their clothes on while doing it. Productivity is lower cuz of it. Never hire Nymphos as collectors... sheesh.

Actually we plan on introducing another 150 new models to the net in August. Been shooting our asses off for the last year and a half.

Posted by Patrick Walberg: 

Posted by Brent Burzycki: 
Let me just add......

IT IS A TON OF WORK ON THE PART OF THE MODEL AND THE WEBMASTER.....


You would not think it - but just getting content shot is a chore..

Yes! Very true. Also I think you need a team, or at least a couple other "helpers" in areas that you are weakest. For example a model with webmaster skills working with a photographer with graphic art skills. Actually it maybe best if it's three people on the team because it is nearly impossible for one person to do it all! (Although I've seen a few try!)

Those that think it's "easy" to put a successful website together and start drawing huge profits right away are in for a major shock!

Posted by DJ Foothill: 

Posted by Patrick Walberg: 
-sigh- DJ knows what he is talking about! Not very many have been in this business as long as he has.

Now if he would only stop sending that tribe of 200 Amazon women over to kick my butt and take my money! Oh oh! It's the 200 websites that are doing that to me! ROFLMAO!

Patrick you KNOW you like it when they come by to collect. I just gotta teach em to keep their clothes on while doing it. Productivity is lower cuz of it. Never hire Nymphos as collectors... sheesh.

Actually we plan on introducing another 150 new models to the net in August. Been shooting our asses off for the last year and a half.

Posted by Brent Burzycki: 

Well lets just say this...

If you think as a photogrpaher you will shoot all the content - edit all the photos and do the webmastering...

You are f-ing nuts..... becasue it is all you will be doing.. and if you have multiple sites and want to maintain 100% quality - it is damn hard..

But not impossible. I pretty much did it for the first 7 years.

And yeah I did start early in the golden age of the internet. Funny how 99% of the sites that were around when I started are now gone.

People don't realize the average lifespan of a site on the net today is only 3 months. Not good averages. People sometimes think they'll do a site and watch the money pour in. The days of build it an they will come never really existed on the net.

For the last year I had been shooting 7 days a week. Finally taking some time off before going on my 10 city tour over the next 5 months.

Posted by Brent Burzycki: 

Well lets just say this...

If you think as a photogrpaher you will shoot all the content - edit all the photos and do the webmastering...

You are f-ing nuts..... becasue it is all you will be doing.. and if you have multiple sites and want to maintain 100% quality - it is damn hard..

Posted by Patrick Walberg: 

Posted by Brent Burzycki: 
Let me just add......

IT IS A TON OF WORK ON THE PART OF THE MODEL AND THE WEBMASTER.....


You would not think it - but just getting content shot is a chore..

Yes! Very true. Also I think you need a team, or at least a couple other "helpers" in areas that you are weakest. For example a model with webmaster skills working with a photographer with graphic art skills. Actually it maybe best if it's three people on the team because it is nearly impossible for one person to do it all! (Although I've seen a few try!)

Those that think it's "easy" to put a successful website together and start drawing huge profits right away are in for a major shock!

Of course! That's why I suggested a "team" because unless you have a death wish or never sleep, there is no way one can do it all! No argument here ... it's a lot of work!

The more you know, the better you'll be at delegation of the work load to others. I've had many people try to fool me because they didn't think I understood what they were doing. It's so hard to find people you can trust to work with you as a team too. But it is 100% necessary!

Well, DJ ... you did it, so it is not impossible! It is interesting that the majority of sites don't last 3 months!

Posted by Patrick Walberg: 
Of course! That's why I suggested a "team" because unless you have a death wish or never sleep, there is no way one can do it all! No argument here ... it's a lot of work!

The more you know, the better you'll be at delegation of the work load to others. I've had many people try to fool me because they didn't think I understood what they were doing. It's so hard to find people you can trust to work with you as a team too. But it is 100% necessary!

Well, DJ ... you did it, so it is not impossible! It is interesting that the majority of sites don't last 3 months!

Very right Patrick. Most people I know function as a husband/wife boyfriend/girlfriend team. And yeah it's funny how many people tell me oh this and that can't be done and Im like it CAN be done. Because I have done it!

Also I have a death wish and I don't sleep but 2 - 4 hours a night anyway. LOL

But it is nice to have others to handle the day to day operations. I love coming in from a day of shooting and drop 10 8GB cards on the "art director and let her sort through it all." And then stroll down to the editor's office and drop off all the video tapes for her to go through.

But I am still a pain in the ass to them. Looking over their sholders all the time. So they get the V.P. to keep me busy... LOL