Getting into the Adult Space
Tuesday, July 25th, 2006
That title can certainly sound like its very own innuendo, but in this instance it aptly heads this post on the online Adult genre of sites, pictures, videos and the other variations thereof.
I have read a few bloggers within our community lately that have been toying with getting into this particular area of website design. Indeed this is something that I have thought about giving a go myself over the years.
Now I am at the point where I feel it may be worth taking a step into the arena and seeing what I come out with on the otherside. Money is ripe, so are the users as “sex” sells very well and indeed helps get users to pull out their flexible friend (credit card) and join any number of sites and offers.
There is no doubt that this is an already very crowded market and this leads me to think about this in several ways. Would it perhaps be better to go for an affiliate approach? Less ‘working’ with the images and more marketing / seo for the sites that store the links. Would it be better to create a original site with original content?
The second option throws all manner of issues into the pot including how to get the material, legal rights, massive competition, initial money etc. Short of finding someone I know that fancies making their own site I would think this is out of the question for the time being.
This brings me back to the affiliate side of the adult industry, but many thousands / millions of people are already on top of this which makes it a tough area to crack into. Perhaps the best approach would be to bring something original to the site that is not totally graphic in it’s nature while at the same time offering a “hop” from the site to the affiliate networks?
I ponder this all the time and can’t actually think of what could be offered as a unique angle aside from perhaps a site for user contributions. Not in terms of pictures but perhaps other content.
I have found a couple of domains that let you know the idea of the site while not being explicit. This could help gain trust and quality in order to keep my head above the seedy lake that people ‘imagine’ the industry is. I should probably point out at this time I am not talking about the hard core area of porn, but rather the soft core area or even Erotica as the base of the content.
Perhaps much like the usual way we look for a niche for “public” topics it is worth me focusing on a particular area of the Adult world, much in the same way as you would find a Hip Hop site for the Music world.
What I have to keep telling myself is that this has been done. It has been done well. But there is no reason why I can’t do it better. Google are trying with ‘Base’ to fight against PayPal, why can’t I create a new “brand” for the adult world that people will prefer, especially if it is high quality and free (as in beer).
There is another issue with this area, hosting. If anyone knows of any good and affordable adult hosts I would be glad to hear of them. Site5 have been the best for hosting that I could have hoped for, but they have no allowance for adult content of any kind. Any suggestions are welcome.
I could write for days about the pros, cons, ins and outs, but the final point of this post is that you can succeed in anything if you keep the drive and don’t give up. I always like to refer to a famous alcholohic beverage advert in circumstances such as these…. “Good things come to those who wait”.
