Site Marketing Success: If You Build It, They Will Come
by Susanna Strandberg
The composer of this famous motto was speaking of having faith in ones idea, knowing that it is a sound concept, and building it. This rarely works as a motto for an Internet start-up company, and cannot work for an adult erotica site.
There have been many sites built on the concept that if it was there people would find it, but an idea is only as good as its marketing. You must market your site and market it well. The most commonly used marketing model is to produce a net and bring in all of the surfers to your site. Your site sits on an island in the middle of the ocean, with all those "surfers" riding on the waves. Without extensive marketing 99.9% of all surfers would surf past your island and never know about it.
How can you be sure that all surfers in the general area will surely see your island? Put up very big flashing lights and make the beach look so inviting that no one could pass by. Have beautiful naked gals flashing their private parts, and have big "enter here" signs to tell everyone that comes ashore what they can find on your island.
Soon there will be boatloads of people stopping by. The people will get to your beach and see all of the beautiful naked girls and be excited by your lights and all your moving signs, and they will want to check things out a while.
You see the parallel of this island to a brand new adult paysite design. New sites are being built every day. Designers are perfecting "the look" of the professional paysite tour, and these designers are able to command a nice price for their skills. Over time, and with the right net set out in the ocean gathering surfers, you can see a profit with these paysites. Every day there are new surfers coming on the 'Net that will be very impressed by the flashy tours and big promises.
Lets think about "Fantasy Island" for a moment. Remember that television show that provided visitors to "Fantasy Island" a chance to live out their favorite fantasies? What would a horny surfer's fantasy be? Would it be to find and pay for a site just like the last site he was in? Or would it be to find a site that made promises that it kept and provided him/her with a unique experience?
I have had the pleasure recently of previewing www.pantyhoseline.com, and I marveled at the uniqueness of this site. One step on their "beach" and you will be looking around wondering why there are no flashing signs and why there is a simple picture on center stage...Everyone knows you have approximately six seconds to grab the attention of the surfer and let them know what they can find and how easy it is to get. Looking at PantyhoseLine.com you will see an unusual and yet professional tour. You will be instantly intrigued by the tour, and impressed with one of its daily updated pictures, even if girls or guys in pantyhose are not something that has ever excited you before.
I have seen the back end of this site as well, and it delivers a unique product to a unique audience. The site has personality, is fast paced, and there is not even one plug-in module for videos, stories or chat. I call this site the "Disney World" of adult sites.
Disney World is recognized worldwide as an incredible place to visit. Although Disney advertises, its greatest marketing strategy is to have a great product and to always surpass visitors' expectations. Disney does not tell you how pleasantly surprised you will be with your experience. The most effective marketing strategy that Disney employs is to ensure that no one walks away feeling ripped off or disappointed. PantyhoseLine uses the same strategy.
The PantyhoseLine.Com site thinks on its own. It is not a clone of other sites. The designer does not produce a tour like the flashy island that I referred to above. The content on the site is not a duplication of any other site on the 'Net. Total uniqueness, just like Disney World. If a surfer joins a site like PantyhoseLine.Com, they will stay a while, will always come back to see what is new, and will tell their friends about the experience!
A revised motto should be, "if they come, we will do more than deliver on our promises, we will surpass their expectations." Sites that are spending more time on their membership area and customer support are going to make a much bigger impression on the surfer. These sites are quietly keeping their members for one or two years and reaping in the profits in recurring billing.
Consider eclectic and dynamically changing tours. Make sure you have used your first six seconds effectively, allowing a surfer to instantly get the feel for the site they will consider joining.
Impress a member inside the site with unique content. You do not have to have every feed and plugin that the other sites have, but you do need a unique experience for the member.
Retain the customers you have, and you will find them to be your most valued marketing tools. If each member tells just one friend how great your site is, you will be making twice as much as the "tour heavy" sites out there. Build your site on the viral marketing concept: "if they see it and like it, they will tell everyone about it."
Susanna hails from Canada and operates Thunder Entertainment Network. She and her staff are involved in many projects on the Web, and she is the founder of Adult-Temp-Staff.com and Couples-Sex.com. Susanna searches for the unusual opportunities in the adult entertainment arena, and always takes the unique approach.
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