BE NICE TO AMATEURS: Adult Webmaster & Amateur Model Sites
- by Chris Roger
Everyone has their own definition of amateur, but it
often comes down to a simple personality match...
When Klixxx asked me to write an article for them, I jumped on the
opportunity. Klixxx is an excellent up-and-coming magazine. It's dedicated
to helping the adult webmaster make and keep money, and one of my
personal missions is to bring the best possible information to light
for webmasters, and in particular, webmasters who own and operate
amateur sites. I do this because of my own experiences on the web,
with regard to online adult business. I've worked closely with Wild
Rose Productions since their inception in 1994, and in tandem with
Carol Cox and her husband Danny, helped pave the way for the thousands
of "girls next door" who wanted to get on the Web, and continue to
do so.
The first time I heard mentioned, the term "amateur," in relation
to an adult Web site, was sometime in 1994 when Carol Cox first started
her own Web site. Around this same period of time, the folks at Webpower
had introduced a neat click-through program, and "Amateur Hardcore"
was born. Many of the early amateur ladies of this time (Carol Cox
included), paid for their bandwidth entirely, by using Webpower's
groundbreaking program.
Now, it's not an easy thing to define what an "amateur" on the Web
is these days. In fact, it's never been easy to define this loosely
used term. There are people who still assume that if you run amateur
sites, you're doing it off your back porch, with grainy photography,
in dimly lit rooms. This couldn't be further from reality. Amateur
is a niche, similar to other types of Web sites you might think of
when you hear the word "niche," but with huge differences.
AMATEUR = PERSONALITY
Don't go looking up the word "amateur" in the dictionary, to find
out what an amateur site is all about. You won't find your answer
there. A true amateur site is one that deals specifically with a woman,
man, or couple. Call it a lifestyle choice. Beside the fact that these
folks appear exclusively within the pages of their sites, they also
set up the hosting, the billing, and in most cases, perform all of
the necessary webmaster duties. These people are not hired models.
They model for their own sites, out of their own homes, because the
primary thing they're selling is their own personality and likeness,
online. When a surfer joins an amateur site, it isn't just to see
explicit photos of the amateur, but to interact and become a "friend"
to the amateur. The surfer isn't just purchasing images. The surfer
is buying into the personality of the site.
When these types of business-people go to the many different tradeshows
offered to the adult community, they (like everyone else) conduct
business, speculate with others, do traffic deals, and of course,
shop for content - not unlike most others, who attend shows such as
Cybernet Expo or InterNext. One of the things they do differently
at these gatherings, however, is a lot of content swapping. The amateur
women take advantage of the time they have with other amateurs, to
set up photo sessions with one another, and this makes up the bulk
of the content you see on their pages. Members of their Web sites
want to see how their trip to New Orleans or Las Vegas went, what
they did, and whom they partied with. Amateurs' Web sites are a huge
personal photo album of their lives.
A LIFESTYLE CHOICE
Most women, men, and couples, who create and maintain their own Web
sites, are considered amateur. Initially, they create their pages
as an outlet for their exhibitionism, or possibly their swinging lifestyles.
In a lot of cases, the woman on the webpage is a mother, a student,
and more often than not a regular person who maybe just enjoys doing
erotic things in front of her webcam for others to see and participate
in with her. These pages, these "amateur" webpages, usually initially
begin, based on the person's curiosity and adventurous sexuality.
Some never graduate past the level of simply having some fun on the
Web, but a lot of them transcend into a means of making a living.
Take, for example, Jennicam. Jennifer Ringley was a student, who in
1996, decided to set up a webcam in her dorm room. It's unclear what
her intentions were at that time (if any), or if she even had a clue
how her idea to broadcast herself studying in her dorm room would
affect the rest of her life. Now she indeed makes a tidy profit from
her efforts.
There are also "pro-am" sites in the mix, which feature a vast array
of women who don't have a lot to do with the sites they appear on,
apart from the photos taken of them. This isn't to say that these
"pro-am" sites are not of good quality. There certainly is a market
for them. Even though these types of sites are marketed as amateur,
they aren't, really. They come much closer to mainstream commercial
porn Web sites, but do have a certain amateur appeal based on the
content, which is made up mostly of many different amateur models.
TRAFFIC TRENDS... AND A LOOK AHEAD
One of the best ways for amateurs to bring attention to themselves
and get some traffic, is through good linking practices with other,
like-minded people. The days of "you link me, and I'll link you" are
over, in terms of this being the principal way of attracting traffic
to your website. These types of traffic deals are now done on a grander
scale, involving much larger amounts of traffic. The present trend
in the amateur world is to set yourself up with your own personal
"top-list", whereby you can track the exact amount of hits you're
receiving from all of the other amateurs who participate on your list,
and ultimately adjust the out-traffic accordingly for a fair trade
for both sides.
This is a practice which will certainly become less important in time,
considering how easy it has become to set up your own personal referral
program through a third party billing company. Amateurs can now pay
for sign-ups sent to them, even by other amateurs (especially by other
amateurs). So if you look at this from a slight distance, you'll notice
that where once upon a time amateurs simply traded traffic for free,
they may now pay each other for that same traffic, both sides getting
exactly their money's worth. This will be a test for a lot of amateurs,
and will prove who's got the best converting traffic.
A STRONG PRESENCE
Amateur websites came on the scene very early, and they'll always
be around. Collectively, they're an independent, yet strong presence
on the Internet. As long as there are people who want to show themselves
and be exhibitionists, there will always be amateur Web sites. Like
anything in this business, today's small-timer might be tomorrow's
Carol Cox. So be nice to amateurs!
|
Printer
Friendly Version