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Ideas
Chances are you have an idea for a really cool website. Now you have to transform it into a reality. First you have to think about who your target audience is, and begin to hone your idea to suit that audience. Think about what is going to get them interested and keep them coming back. The other way of creating a website from scratch is to target your audience first by selecting a fetish or niche area, and then think of what content you want to use. A vital part of attracting an audience is a good title. Most of the time, the title is all a surfer sees of your site, so it has to be eye-catching, or out of the ordinary, or too good to resist. Your text is important. Surfers can ignore banners, but they can't help but naturally read through what you've got on offer, so it's a good idea to have some well written content. Keep a sense of humour, and use your spell check. Be daring and different. Don't be afraid to add new things to a site; make lists, write articles, tell jokes. EVERYBODY has a gallery and an erotic story. Add something else to that formula to make your site more attractive. Surf. Look at what other people are doing. Visit a link site like Green Guy and check out the free sites on offer. Decide what appeals to you. 2. Planning and Layout Shape your ideas into a concrete structure using a few sheets of paper, and basic flowchart diagrams. Web pages aren't linear; rather they start at a single point and branch out into different, interlinked pages. You need to know which page is going to be linked to which, and flowcharts are the best way to do this Here's a screen print of the flowchart diagram that Front Page uses to help you organise the hierarchical structure of your site. It's relatively easy to do this on a scrap of paper. Start with a home page which leads to a main page, then spread out. Decide what things are going to go on what pages, and how they will be linked together.. An average adult web site features a number of standard pages. They are: The Index Page (or home page). This is the first page the surfer comes to on your site and is a "gateway" into the wonders within. You need to make the index page as alluring as possible, by providing "teasers" and some information about what is inside. It's a good idea to put a couple of tame ads on the index page, in the hope that your surfer will click on the sponsor straight away. It is VITAL that you have a legal warning on your index page, to prevent minors and easily offended people from going inside. The warning cannot actually stop them from getting in, but if it's there you wash your hands of responsibility. You should have both an enter and exit button on the index page. Scroll down for an example of a warning. I try and make my index pages as tame and softcore as possible. This is because anyone, including children, can open that page, and you're trying to keep your nose clean - at least until the surfer gets inside. Unfortunately, two things can spoil your lovely softcore, kid-friendly front page, and they are freehosts and counters. Both make use of hardcore pics to steal traffic, and you cannot control what goes on your index page. The best you can do here is find a tamer freehost, or just apologize in small print. Your index page is also the page you submit to search engines, so it must have a clear title and give an indication of what's inside. You need to include good metatags on it as well. The Main Page is where you list what's inside the site, and provide links to each page. It's also your best shot at making a sale, so put your best ads on this page. Gallery Page/s are where you feature thumbnails of your porn photos. It's a good idea to have at least 10 pics in each gallery. You can probably put some of your most hardcore ads on this page, as this is where your surfer gets seriously turned on and eager for more. Sex Stories. Not everyone features these, but if you've got an artistic flair, they make for good, cheap content. You don't have to make them very long, but try and write the hottest stuff you can think of. Again, you want to get your surfer turned on and ready to pay money for more. A number of paysites now offer regularly updated free sex stories for your site. The Link Page is usually the "back page" of a site, and considered to be the least visited. Nonetheless, it's a good idea to have one. Here you can list in text form large amounts of sponsors, and give each its own spiel and ranking if necessary. Try to include some other interesting sites so it's worth the surfer's while to visit. 3. Design The most important thing to remember with design is KISS: keep it simple stupid! You're a free site, probably on a free host. This means it may take some time for your site to load up. The simpler the layout is i.e. lots of fast-loading text, not too many pictures, no animations etc, the less likely your impatient, horny surfer will hit the back button. THIS IS VITALLY IMPORTANT! Remember: they're not professional web designers. They just want smut, not whiz-bang graphics, so cater to their needs. At the same time, try and design a good-looking page. Keep the background to a flat colour - black is an industry standard, because it implies "black label sexuality". White is recommended because its easiest on the eye - everyone is used to reading black text on a white background. Avoid lary or busy backgrounds, as they distract the surfer and make text difficult to read. Try and keep the text, ads and pictures neat as well. It suggests you care about your surfer and you're a professional. Some sites deliberately don't set things out in order, so that the surfer confusedly clicks on an ad thinking it's something else. They also make the actual site links smaller than the ads. Whether you employ this strategy is up to you. 4. Actually Building the Site You're going to need web-building software. There are quite a few of these on the market now, and I recommend getting something that's easy and quick to learn - that way you spend your time creating sites instead of learning software. WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) web editors are considered by the pros to be a pain in the ass, but for a newbie they are perfect. I use Microsoft Front Page, and I've been told I was an idiot to buy it, but the fact remains that I learned to use it in an hour and got on with building simple sites that make money. Once you've got the hang of creating the basics, then you can think about heading upmarket. Here's an article comparing different WYSIWYG web editors. FrontPage offers a number of snazzy things, like themes, automatic FTP, forms and stuff. I've found that it's not a good idea to use these things if you're using a freehost. Most don't offer FrontPage extensions (a program on their server which is required for the snazzy stuff to work). Once again, KISS. (A small warning about FrontPage. It can shift things around on you, and change the size of tables and fonts, which is a right bastard, and I have no idea why it happens. They give you a "preview button" so you can see how it will look on the web, and you constantly need to check that what you're looking at is what will eventually appear.) Making the site may take a while. Be patient. Step by Step: Consoles. Have you ever entered or exited a site where a pop-up window or console appeared? Did it get your attention or annoy you? Industry wisdom says that consoles make sales, especially if they offer other options that the surfer previously hadn't considered. At the same time, they piss surfers off, and an increasing number of link lists don't allow them. Creating a console takes some knowledge of HTML, and WYSIWYG editors may not be capable of making them for you. Some sponsors have their own ready-made console code that you simply copy, and you may wish to take this option. On the other hand, you can use this simple bit of code. Legal Warnings, 18USC 2287, Obscenity and Copyright Your warning page is a way of covering your ass, albeit in a flimsy way. At present, there are many different laws concerning what sort of porn is illegal in different countries, however, the vast majority of porn originates from the USA. There porn is covered by freedom of speech laws, although there is uncertainty over what will happen in the future. The new conservative US government is threatening to unleash obscenity laws, which has many webmasters toning things down in anticipation. Index page legal warnings haven't been tested in court, so no-one is exactly sure of how much "legal" standing they really have, but the important thing is that you made the attempt to prevent minors from accessing your material. Below is an example of an index page warning, as used on several of my own free sites.
ICRA is the Internet Content Rating Association. These people help parents to control what sites their kids see by putting code onto the top of "offensive" pages. ICRA software then detects the code and blocks your site from young eyes. You don't automatically get this code. You have to visit RSAC and officially list your site, detailing what sort of sex and nudity it portrays. They then give you the code to paste onto your index page. RSAC isn't compulsory, but it's another good way of protecting yourself against prosecution. Some suggest that the best way to avoid legal problems is to only feature softcore stuff on your site, although this may affect your traffic. It's hard to stay softcore when other less scrupulous webmasters have "Free live baseball bat fucking" on their site. It's a matter of choice. It is, however, important to remember that the more softcore your material, the more frustrated your surfer will be, and thus, the more likely he or she will want to pay money for hardcore stuff. I can vouch for this theory. My earlier sites contained a lot of free hardcore and I didn't get many signups. As soon as I toned things down, my sales increased dramatically. Obscenity is defined as that which appeals to the prurient interest, and has no artistic, political or social value. Webmasters have begun to create sites with poetry, articles or social comments, in order to add the required "value" necessary to avoid censorship. You may wish to consider including "value added" content on your own sites, as a legal backup. The other important legal issue to remember is copyright. You MUST have a licence to display the photos, videos or stories that appear on your site. DO NOT simply right click on photos you find and "save as" - this is illegal. Be prepared to pay for your content, even if you're only buying small zip files, because that way you are authorised to display it. Make sure you fill out and return the photo licenses, and read all terms and conditions. Free content is provided
to you under licence from your sponsor, so you don't have to worry about
that side of things. Please note: this is NOT official legal advice. If you are concerned about this, see a lawyer, or visit the YNOT Legal Centre for more detailed information. Privacy, Companies and Email. Do you need to keep your name private? It's a personal decision. Most webmasters have their own nickname which they use on the chat boards, and some use pseudonyms when they sign up with sponsors. Others create a company name with which to do all their trading. If you are going to seriously get into the adult industry, creating a company might be a good idea. If, however, you are just doing this as a "hobby" or as a bit of money on the side, you may just want to use your own name - it's what appears on the cheques after all. I've basically used my own name with sponsors, because I figured that people could track me down using my domain names, my IP address, or anything, if they were determined to find out who I was. It is important to keep your personal details OFF your website, naturally. Porn surfers can be weird people, and you don't want to create a situation where you're vulnerable to them (see below). To aid this, it's often good to get a free email address in the name of your site. Go to Yahoo and sign up, it doesn't take long. You'll also need an email address when signing up to affiliates, as they send your account information via email. Do note that some sponsors and link lists won't accept freemail accounts like Yahoo or Hotmail, so have a proper one handy for these occasions. |
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