Starting your own paid website?

[RubyTS]

Im thinking about starting my own wesbite with videos, pics, blog, faq, all that good stuff. Is it really hard work to get it going? I know i would have to get a photographer, designer and someone to run the site. But i know before anything else i should gather content. I've done shoots before, and i remember having to sign forms and so on. Would i have to make the guys i shoot with sign legal documents also? In that case i do i need to hire a lawer to handle all that stuff? I don't know the first thing about running a professional website. All i know is lots of people have been suggesting that i do for a while now, and i think its about time i get the ball rolling on a new project.

[Solitary Brother]

I would ask Wendy Williams(the porn star)

[SexyCollegeGuy88]

Id pay, that shemale strokers video u had was really hot :wink:

[RubyTS]

omg i hate that video i was soooo skinnnnyyyy. would u believe i spent $400 shopping with melania the day before and i wound up not wearing any of the sexy stuff i purchased. i dunno what i was thinking.. SMH i need to do another video. i was so nervous my mouth was all cottony lol.

[blckhaze]

ask all the ladies here who have one already. Learn from their successes (and failures) and go from there.

GL.

[ed_jaxon]

Haze I gotta give it to you
dat babe in you avatar is fine

[blckhaze]

Haze I gotta give it to you
dat babe in you avatar is fine


Aurora Jolie
nuff said

[ed_jaxon]

Very Cool

I did not recognize her.

You can't really appreciate her body from that angle but her face is beautiful.

[blckhaze]

Very Cool

I did not recognize her.

You can't really appreciate her body from that angle but her face is beautiful.


Ill have to make another one of her performing her other talent.

[SexyCollegeGuy88]

omg i hate that video i was soooo skinnnnyyyy. would u believe i spent $400 shopping with melania the day before and i wound up not wearing any of the sexy stuff i purchased. i dunno what i was thinking.. SMH i need to do another video. i was so nervous my mouth was all cottony lol.

lol pleassssse, you know u looked good

[flabbybody]

I'm thinking you have a large enough fan base that someone would be willing to put up the start- up cash. I've always wondered what kind of money it takes to start a pay site and then how the profits (hopefully) are split between the backer and the girl who is actually the star generating the hits. (who geneally puts up none of her own dough)

My other concern is the economic enviornment. using myself as an example, I'm a little less reluctant whipping out the old credit card everytime I see a hot new site, given current state of stock and job market.
I hope someone has some ballpark figures

[RubyTS]

yeah me too... looks like no one is wiling to share though... bummer

[MrsKellyPierce]

Wendy would be the best to give advice on this or Steven (grooby)

[RubyTS]

Wendy would be the best to give advice on this or Steven (grooby)

kelly, your website looks pretty good, any advice you could offer? And btw who is that guy with the tattoos, i noticed him in kimber James's video also. Is he the new go-to guy for tranny porn? He's hot lol

[Niccolo]

Hiya,

Setting up a website is not as straightforward as you might think, if you rely on others to write the software et cetera. You could approach an established TS website, and maybe they could put together a website for you. I happen to know someone who did just that, and they are now "partners" with that other website. Any subscription fees for their new website are split right down the middle, 50-50.

And it becomes even less lucrative when anyone clicks through to the new website from a banner on an affiliate website. If they then subscribe to the new site, the affiliate website where they saw the banner can (and will) claim up to 50% of the subscription fee that's just been charged to their credit card. The partner website who wrote the software will get their percentage too. So the girl who's name is at the top of the new website will only get a quarter of the total subscription fee.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with any of that. If someone has the skill set needed to create websites, or to do anything else for that matter, and they get a financial return for any work they've done, that's just fine and dandy. But if you're thinking of putting together a website, then it might be prudent to keep your "partners" to a minimum (zero would be the ideal number) and so keep as much of the subscription fees to yourself as you can. I mean you want to have a bit of fun with a new website, but it'd be nice to turn a profit too, know what I mean?

[MrsKellyPierce]

Wendy would be the best to give advice on this or Steven (grooby)

kelly, your website looks pretty good, any advice you could offer? And btw who is that guy with the tattoos, i noticed him in kimber James's video also. Is he the new go-to guy for tranny porn? He's hot lolThats Lobo he works primarily for Kink.com. I recruited him for my site lol cause he is an awesome guy. Then Kimber took him on lol But Jesse had him first lol

And my site is done by smcrevenue aka shemale-club the same people that do Jesse and Kimbers site. So I've had major help with mine, all I do is make the movies and pics lol

[RubyTS]

i feel so clueless. i don't want to put myself out there to be taken advantage of

[tsmandy]

Nicollo is right, you should be very careful about who you enter into business with. It might do you better in the long run to front the startup cost yourself; hire a good web-developer who will design a site for $700-2000+, and pay a photographer to shoot your material, find other girls who will do content exchanges, etc.... and keep %100 of your sales. Nothing is more depressing than selling a $1000 a week of memberships and getting a paycheck of $400 after ccbill, affiliates, and your partner take a cut.

Of course, if you have someone you trust, and you can't come up with the money to start it, then having a partner is good too. Making money off of a membership site is just as much work as escorting, and the pay is not nearly as lucrative (in my experience). The cool thing about it though, is that a membership site is a legitimate source of income, which can really come in handy when it comes to buying property and cars and other shit that you need a loan for. Also, I have a lot of fun shooting content, and having my own site is a great excuse to shoot whatever I feel like. Having the freedom to make whatever kind of porn you want is awesome!

Good luck Ruby

[DC]

Id pay to see your site, your a hottie...

[RubyTS]

Nicollo is right, you should be very careful about who you enter into business with. It might do you better in the long run to front the startup cost yourself; hire a good web-developer who will design a site for $700-2000+, and pay a photographer to shoot your material, find other girls who will do content exchanges, etc.... and keep %100 of your sales. Nothing is more depressing than selling a $1000 a week of memberships and getting a paycheck of $400 after ccbill, affiliates, and your partner take a cut.

Of course, if you have someone you trust, and you can't come up with the money to start it, then having a partner is good too. Making money off of a membership site is just as much work as escorting, and the pay is not nearly as lucrative (in my experience). The cool thing about it though, is that a membership site is a legitimate source of income, which can really come in handy when it comes to buying property and cars and other shit that you need a loan for. Also, I have a lot of fun shooting content, and having my own site is a great excuse to shoot whatever I feel like. Having the freedom to make whatever kind of porn you want is awesome!

Good luck Ruby

u sound like you really know your stuff, i make about $1000 a month of my niteflirt videos alone and thats after they take 30% so i figure if i have my own site and professional photos and vids i will do well being that i already have a pretty big fanbase. I just wouldn't know where to start really

[Niccolo]

I guess this month you'll make $1020 from your niteflirt videos, lol ... (just bought one)

[flabbybody]

you must have a lot of unreleased content going back a ways so you wouldn't need to rush out right away and spend money shooting new stuff

that would save on start-up costs

[RubyTS]

I guess this month you'll make $1020 from your niteflirt videos, lol ... (just bought one)

lol :P they're amateur and none are longer than 10 minutes, NF has a issue with size and wont allow uploads more than 20mb. in order to fit something long enough thats worth watching, i have to reduce the size dramatically.

On another note i have all these great ideas about actual storylines and plots for my videos that i think would be great. i can't wait to get started on it. I would just like to research much more before i jump into it

[Niccolo]

On another note i have all these great ideas about actual storylines and plots for my videos that i think would be great. i can't wait to get started on it. I would just like to research much more before i jump into it - Ruby TS

For what it's worth, my advice would be to do as much research as you need to beforehand, even if that takes you a while, until you know exactly what you're getting into - and you know exactly what the outcome of your hard work will be (as in, who will ultimately benefit from it).

Btw I watched one or two of your videos on youtube the other day, that pal of yours is a character, isn't she? I hope you're feeling happy about your surgery, it's quite an ordeal, there's no question about that, but to my eye it's been extremely successful, and you're prettier than ever. So well done to the surgical staff who do such good work, and of course, well done to you, for enduring the procedure!

[RubyTS]

thank u so much :) Which character are u referrign to lol i know lots of them

[Niccolo]

Your friend who went with you to the hospital when you had your surgery, and who also had some surgical work done. I'm afraid I can't recall her name just now. (It is 4.30am here, and I'm not exactly at my sharpest I'm afraid.)

[RubyTS]

o lol asia. yeah i call her mrs potato head! she's very sweet. a lil annoying sometimes, but a good friend lol

[Niccolo]

Great new photo for your avatar btw :)

[GroobySteven]

Hmmm - where to start.

You have two options to start - go into partnership or do it yourself.

Partnership
Go with someone established - not some fan-wannabe. SMC who produces Kimber, Kelly and Jesse's site do a good job and have traffic already. Hungcash (Wendy Williams webmaster) also does an awesome job and another decent one is Redlight. They all have experience in running transgender websites and more importantly have the ability to get the site up and running - and checks to you. However, remember your also splitting the sales with them. and affiliates. As an affiliate, I've been promoting Kimber's site this week (just as HungAngels is doing from the banner at the top). For every $20 sale, I get paid $10. That means $10 goes to the site - minus approx 15% credit card processing fees (from the total $20) ($6 and then split 50/50 to $3 for that sale to the model) - of course, photographer expenses, server fees, advertising etc also have to come out of that. This is the best route if you are already established as a performer and don't have the time or skills to manage and do the site yourself. However, you still need to invest time and energy into the sites - Wendy Williams, Sexy Jade and Kelly all promote their websites themselves (ensuring that they don't have lots of non-affiliates sales and the full $20 (or whatever) goes back to their website.

Doing it Yourself
It's easier than it looks but time consuming. Unlike web companies sites like ours, you don't have to pay for models as you are having yourself shot for free - and you should be able to talk some friends into helping you out. You'll most likely find some decent photographers working cheap or for porfolio (or for fun). Pay somebody to do a decent design on the website and help you set up CCBill - and then figure our how to do the updates yourself. Adding a blog is cheap, easy and provides good marketing - and having a bunch of banners built is cheap.
You are the boss - if you need something doing, hire someone (I can point you in the right direction).
Site's like Krissy Tgirl (http://refer.ccbill.com/cgi-bin/clicks.cgi?CA=926183-0100&PA=1627463) show you don't need an awesome design to be successful, you just need to have good content and a lot of personality.

FACTS:

1. You will need a model release, ID and 2257 compliance notification for every nude model on the site including photographers (ID only) regardless of whether they show their face or not.

2. You will need a good billing company. CCBill is your best bet - they take 15%.

3. You will need an affiliate program (you can set this up through CCBill) that pays 50% to affiliates, nobody will touch less than that.

4. The content is KING. As much content of you, good quality images/video as well as not so good. YOU are selling the site. Take a camera with you everywhere, lifestyle photos at bars, restaurants, shopping, having nails done. A daily diary (blog entry) on what your doing today, free cam show once a week, forum where fans and you can interact. This is the only way a solo girl site can work. Sitting back with little interaction and only being prepared to show solo glamouress shoots - will FAIL.

5. Don't discard promoting other peoples websites - you get 50% of that sale. You sell 1 membership to a site like Shemale Yum or Shemale Strokers which you feature on, and your making $17.50 per sale - and everytime that member rebills, another $17.50 - we have some members who've rebilled over 100 times! Even larger companies like ours cross-sell to other sites to make extra money.

Get a blog up right away using your chosen domain name and start it for free, update daily, get the link our to other girls blogs and swap with them - or blogs like ours (see links in signature) - this way you are building traffic and potential customers already. To make some money while your building get those affiliate links up to our sites, Kelly's site, Kimber's, Wendy's etc. It's very easy to do.

There's enough for you to start on.
Good luck
Grooby Steven

[RubyTS]

you're my new best friend :P thanx so much!

[slinky]

First, understand that having your own solo site is a HUGE commitment, whether you go it totally on your own or partner up with an established web company. If you're not planning on doing this for at least 3 to 5 YEARS of substantial time commitment EVERY WEEK, don't even bother. The vast majority of solo girl sites (even the one's run buy programs with several solo girl sites in their portfolio) fail, and they fail because the girl doesn't live up to the time commitments necessary to make a paysite work. The shops that run lots of solo girls sites often shoot like 3 years of content at the start so that when the girl flakes, they will still be able to make something of the site.

Second, running it by yourself tends to sound like a good idea, but if you go that route, be ready to learn a whole new profession. The girls who do it right, spend an ungodly amount of hours learning about all sorts of stuff they never new existed before. Steven says "content is king", but I disagree: traffic is king. You can have the absolute best solo girl ever on the face of the earth and make not one single cent if you aren't driving traffic to your site. All the guys who make the most money on adult internet sites are guys who control lots and lots of traffic. A lot of times they have very mediocre sites, but their control of traffic makes them more money than people with more interesting/"better" sites. Unless you're willing to spend most of every day for quite a long while learning about the side of the business which most people never see, don't expect to make a lot of money. There are lots of girls who run their own solo sites which look great, but in reality they make so little money that they would have made more shooting the same content on a per diem basis.

But before you even start, talk to some girls who have done what you're thinking of doing and try to get an honest idea of what they are making off of all their efforts. I think you'll find that it is not the wage to which you've become accustomed doing what you do now.

[RubyTS]

well one thing i have to give myself credit for is the fact that i'm very goal oriented and super determined. I set unrealistic goals for myself, and i always manage to accomplish them, and quickly. Aside from that, i love to learn so i think while this task would be unbearable for most, it would be really fun for me. I do plan on doing much more research and talking in as much advice as possible before jumping blind into it.

[MrsKellyPierce]

Mr Steven has spoken :)

Ruby you could also just travel to LA or San Fran and do a few sites before you start up your website. You can usually use this content also for your site, like I use Tsseductions as long as I keep the website name on it.

And if you do something special, like when I start bottoming in films, I'll only do it on my website. Because the guys that want to see me bottom, will have to go to my website for that. It gives you an advantage and more money.

But the main thing is getting your face out there, and I mean everywhere! There may be haters, but I am on every site out there, straight porn sites as well as gay and transsexual porn sites. Why? Because there could be a customer there that you don't know about!

And I am setting up a three part interview with Tony Batman and Xbiz in December that will give me more exposure.

Its all about the marketing and also realizing that once you got them they are what pay your bills so ignoring them, not talking to them, etc isn't in your best interest. I make sure each and everyone knows I am thankful they joined and they can contact me anytime, I don't always respond the fastest but I do respond!


Kisses

Kelly my 2 cents.

[RubyTS]

thanks kelly that was actually on my agenda! Budddy woods has been wanting to film with me for a while now, but i haven't been able to manke it out to the west coast yet. Melania spoke with bob and we played a litle on cam :P He told her to bring me next time so im assuming i'm good for a shoot or two with him. I also contacted several sites a while back. I figure it's best to do it when i am in, or on my way into town.

[Niccolo]

I look forward to seeing you do some more shoots, I have one you did a while ago for the "Strokers" site, but if you do any more, be sure to let everyone know so we can check it out. :D