Get Rich Selling Adult Products?
         Maybe, and Maybe Not- Learn What It Really Takes

We sometimes receive requests from our online visitors to provide advice on how to sell their Amateur videos on the Internet. We also get those who want us to buy their company or adult videos or products. As I am a collaborative person rather than a competitive one, I am always happy to answer questions and consider offers as there is always the possibility of quality partnering as well as it being flattering that others wish to seek advice or do business with us. I wanted to write this article to provide those of you who are thinking about selling adult content on the Internet some tools and insights that you may not have had before.

That is a very big question and has a complex answer. I would say there are a few major areas that you should examine-

Do You Have An Entrepreneur's Personality?

That adds up to some stressful days and sleepless nights, especially when you first start your own business. Once your company is more successful it can be easier in some regard but harder in other ways. It is like your baby, and for those of you who have children, you know that even when you are not with your child you are always concerned and thinking about them even when they are not with you. The same applies to your own business.

I began my first web site CounselingSource.com after I had my son in 1999. Mind you, I was the one in my Masters Degree program telling everyone that I liked using a typewriter, because as a therapist... when was I really ever going to use a computer? Hee, hee... that still makes me laugh. So, flash-forward a few years later and there I am trying to figure out how to offer therapy sessions by phone via the Internet so that I could work from home. I did what most people do and hired a company that seemed really professional to build a web site for me.

They were a holistic health web design company especially geared toward health practitioners and I thought it was a perfect match! I paid $2,500 for a little site and agreed to wait three months for it to be built. Six months passed and still I did not have a completed web site. I could write a book about all the stress that company put me through from constantly making promises they did not keep to having them suddenly disappear because they were going bankrupt and failed to mention it to their customers. Nice, huh?

Not getting what you paid for happens to people every day through unethical web site designers, eCommerce companies, web hosts, and merchant account providers and is something that you will need to keep in mind when selecting companies to work with.

After I tracked down the owner of the company that left me with an unfinished web site, I was able to get my money back with some legal intimidation and the backing of my credit card company. From that day onward I swore that I would learn it all myself and never be put in a situation like that again. I spent over a year teaching myself web design, eCommerce marketing and search engine optimization to create the sites much like this one.

I know I sound highly driven... in fact, I joke that sometimes I feel like my "intense drive" runs me over! I am not suggesting you become a web designer like I did, but you will need to become educated on what it really takes to run an Internet business in order to make good choices.

If you look at any successful entrepreneur... you will find that they have a high level of determination and willingness to learn what it takes to be successful. Also they have a willingness to work hard for no guarantee of pay, no benefits, risk of losing money and no days off. I know this does not sound like the kind of job most people look for when they search the want ads... but that is what an entrepreneur starts off with at least at the beginning when you are building your eBusiness.

That is why if you see anyone telling you that you can make lots of money from working at home via the Internet with no effort... you should question their true motives because it sounds just as truthful as "No new taxes."

Search Engine Optimization & Promotion-

One thing to keep in mind is that in eCommerce if you have a 1% conversion rate in sales (meaning 1 out of 100 web site visitors will buy your products) then you are doing well. The adult industry typically has less than a 1% conversion rate because there are a lot of what I call "Looky Lou's," meaning people like to look at the pics, etc. and not purchase anything. This is why targeted web site traffic is soooooooooooo important!

I am not suggesting that you can't become successful, but I will tell you that you need to get educated about the search engines even if you want to hire a company to help you get ranked well, because there are a lot of companies out there that will just take your money and submit your site (which you can do for free in most cases in about 5 minutes) and nothing will happen.

Simply submitting your site to the search engines is not going to get you ranked well. You need to know about key word density, link popularity, and other important factors in getting ranked well on the net. If you don't know about at least the concepts, how in the world are you going to know if the company you are hiring can help you make a difference in getting your site seen on the web? How will you know if they are going to do what it takes?

Trust me when I say that even the really good web site optimization companies that submit sites to the Internet and optimize sites can fail at promoting your site well. It's just that complicated and nobody except those lucky bastards at the Search Engine companies know everything you need to be ranked well because they guard their secret criteria and change it often. Again, it is about staying informed on the latest trends of the search engines and knowing what will get your site ranked highly.

The Google "Scroogle"

Let me share a quick example of what I mean. As you may know Google is the leader in search engines right now (although considering the recent split with Yahoo! and with Microsoft announcing they are going to compete; Google is going to have to really work to stay competitive).

Google, like all search engines, are always changing and updating their algorithms and search criteria to attempt to better their service to the consumer who wants to find quality listings when they do a search. In November 2003 Google launched what many in the Internet industry refer to as "Florida" because the changes Google made felt like a hurricane to web site owners (including us). The changes they made were to try and get rid of search engine spammers; those companies that submit hundreds of web sites to flood the listings for the same company or affiliates who were only linking to others sites and had no real products that they were selling.

They ended up making some listings worse and the quality sites that they were hoping their changes would make list higher on their search engine ended up getting deleted under various key search terms. We were temporarily one of them. For months you would not be able to find us under one of our major terms "Female Ejaculation." When you consider that the night that Google made these changes we were on page one and then we disappeared... you can imagine our sales dropped dramatically. Bottom line in eCommerce. is: No traffic to your site = no sales.

Everybody in eCommerce were struggling to come up with theories as to what happened and how to regain their listings... but many to no avail have not made it back and some are now out of business. This is the risk game you play in eCommerce. and some days it makes the idea of working for someone with a paycheck, vacation time, etc. actually seem appealing!

Google realized that it had made some mistakes and is trying to correct them, but we along with many web site owners are still suffering... if you go to the web and look us up on Google we are only on page six [update- we are now on page one, I finally got us ranked on that term by some new approaches]... and when you look at the companies that are listed before us... well, some of them are only one web page compared to our massive amount of pages dedicated to female ejaculation! You would think that when a consumers put in the term female ejaculation they would want to see sites that have information about it, offer pictures or products like female ejaculation toys or movies as we do up front.

I know I may sound like I am complaining right now more than educating... but I am saying all of this to make a point. Getting ranked well on specific key terms on a major search engines can be very hard to do.

To get you started on resources that I have used or found helpful check out my adult webmaster resources that I provide for our affiliates-

What Do I Need To Know To Sell Adult Content?

Selling Adult Content

If you are already exhausted, bored or overwhelmed with the idea of learning eCommerce then you may want to take your sexy adult content (videos, pics, etc.) and sell them to adult sites (primarily content providers: companies that buy content and whom then resell it to many adult sites). Female ejaculation content tends to sell well in addition to other niche content.

Many people are naïve about how much competition there is and providing content that is unique is the best way to go. Most content providers do not produce their own material. They either have photographers they subcontract or they find one of many freelance photographers or videographers wanting to sell their images.

Components of Good Content

Many content providers going into the business without any experience make a mistake by not going niche specific. That means they start by filming anything. Things like BBW (Big Beautiful Women), fetishes and others sell well. Having niche content allows you to have an edge over the thousands of other people trying to sell their content.

Make sure to have samples available via a web site download, CDROM or DVD to send to interested parties. You don't have to send them everything, but you will want to be able to provide them a sample of what you have.

Adult Content Laws

Remember to abide by adult content laws or you could get into big trouble! A lot of people have heard about the enormous profits that adult webmasters can make and say "I want to get on that bandwagon". So they go out and put up a site and have no clue of the peril they are putting themselves in. Most new webmasters and existing webmasters have underestimated the risk of this business.

Laws that you absolutely have to know and comply with:

The site that I really love to stay informed with is called AdultSiteLaw.com. When you are ready to pursue this business you should make sure to check out their site.

Good Luck!

One thing to keep in mind is that while many adult web masters make a lot of money the majority of them don't make as much as you think. It is important to make realistic goals, study what the competition is doing and learn from them. No matter what you choose to do, there are always opportunities for hard working, creative people to succeed and I am sure if you put your mind to it, you can achieve the level of success you desire.

Lisa S. Lawless, Ph.D., CEO