This fantastic video
The site itself is a great example of what mainstream can learn from the adult industry. The site uses ‘traditional’ adult internet marketing tools, to produce an innovative mainstream offering.
This includes a warning page with age verification, the equivalent of a Free Hosted Gallery (FHG), sample movie etc. the only thing missing was a join page link.
FGHLink is a windows based tool to make HTML code out of the data from sponsors in the adult business. If your sponsor provides free hosted galleries with descriptions or thumbnails (small pictures) you can make HTML links with this tool.
Working for AVN in the Adult Entertainment Industry teaches you the value of relationships. The AVN media network spans magazines, tradeshows, and websites. IMHO the following quote applies to all of them:
“The relationship the magazine has with readers — and, more important, that readers have with readers — is at least as valuable as the magazine’s content. That’s a lesson.”
Originally
by Jeff from BuzzMachine
at September 1, 2005, 16:58
The impetus for this started a little while ago at Cybernet Expo.. I was lucky enough to win the top spot on Sleazydream during the traffic seminar. (Thanks Sleazy!)
Prompted by Sagi from Adult Friend Finder I started thinking about what sponsor to use. He being the good rep that he is suggested that I use AFF, and even suggested a specific approach that he thought would work best. A conversation with Sleazy on a bus in Mexico (trust me it’s slightly less odd than it sounds) sprang to mind reminding me that Sleazy promotes AFF heavily on his site. I started thinking about his traffic being already exposed to AFF vs the great conversions, and spun off into an internal debate.
As I considered it more, 2257 concerns vs effective galleries, which sponsor is best to use for the traffic, what sort of template to use, and many other questions came to mind. For some adult webmasters this would be just another gallery spot. I on the other hand don’t submit to TGPs. I primarily do organic SEO because it allows me to spend as little or as much time as I have available. It also means that I haven’t had to deal with some of these issues before.
Working for AVN has brought me a network of contacts at the top of the industry. Naturally, I thought to consult with them and get their advice, especially those who focus on TGP. Then I started thinking how useful their advice, and the results would be for everyone in the industry. I decided that I should document the process, and blog about it. I brought up the idea to a couple of people and got very positive feedback. However, like so many “good ideas†it kept slipping in my todo list.
During a conversation with Jack from ProfitLab we decided to synergize my TGP Case study and his “Impoverished Noobs†showcase project. We agreed to follow this rough outline:
* The Catch. I get the data & publishing rights. The entire process is documented every step of the way. Advisor discussions, gallery submissions, sponsor submissions, traffic stats, sales stats, screen shots – the whole shebang. Of course I’m not planning on keeping this to myself, hence the case study.
With the time and energy of the Noobs, the advice/resources of the advisors, and help from the sponsors I think this could turn out to be a very interesting project.
Some comments
“Gamers approach the business world a bit more like a game. They see the different companies—and maybe the people they work with—as “players.” They’re way more competitive and are very passionate about “winning.” They are both more optimistic and more determined about solving any kind of problem you can imagine; they think there’s always going to be some combination of moves that will result in success. That drives them to be incredibly creative.” – Harvard BSWK
When I think about where I find examples of the gamer archetype outside of the obvious (playing games) I think of adult webmasters.
This article almost perfectly describes many of the type of people that you find in the online adult entertainment industry. Why is there such an overlay of gamers and adult webmasters?
Well for one it’s what gamers called min/max.
Min/max is gamer shorthand for a strategy or even a mindset. Most games try to be balanced. So for every advantage/shortcut/strength etc that you choose, there is some compensatory drawback/resource required/flaw/weakness etc. However, when you focus on ‘winning’ ie achieving X goal, there are often places that the drawback isn’t relevant. So if being able to bring a gun to a knifefight means that your character smells bad, walks with a limp and mumbles therefore isn’t well liked (+special weapon / -charisma, -movement speed) it doesn’t matter if X = win the knifefight.
When it comes to applying this theory to life, I imagine a subconscious calculation that goes something like this:
Let X = Have the best life possible.
Best life = Happiness x Good Times
Good Times = (fun-work+ sleep) x Quality of Life
Quality of Life = (Social interaction x Satisfaction) – Drawbacks
The drawback for adult webmasters usually is found in Social Interaction.
There is a certain segment of society that will not want to openly associate with adult webmasters. However webmasters don’t particularly like to hang around with your average reactionary either so that aspect of the drawback is minimized. The isolated nature of webmastering is overcome through adult industry networking – both using the internet (message boards, IM, blogs etc) as well as industry events.
The work itself is frequently enjoyable.
When the work becomes fun the drawback (have to do) isn’t relevant in the equation because it overlaps recreation (want to do). For some it’s the fact that in essence they get paid to surf the web for porn. Further along the same axis for others it’s because their sex life/love life can overlap their career. For many going to conferences & events to network & party is a recreation or vacation. Sometimes their product or service itself is an adult game.
Many choose or fall into it because it’s one of the least life cost (work from anywhere & high returns vs time) ways to achieve their goals, and it has relatively low barriers to entry.
For those like myself, the work itself becomes a game.
What we call ‘The New Media Game’ (product/service/content/traffic development & monetization) is an incredibly rich, complex, ever evolving, real time game for high stakes. Since I have started playing it has gradually replaced MMORGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games), CCGs (Collectible Card Games), and online no limit Texas Hold ‘em poker as my recreation of choice.
There are many subgames that all combine to make the metagame.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization), TGP (Thumbnail Galley Pages), SEM/CPCM (Search Engine Marketing/Cost Per Click Marketing), social networking, business development, marketing and even industry politics can be fun to play.
A gamer mindset means you never lack for inspiration or variety in your challenges.
A gamer mindset allows you to see opportunities, and have competitive advantages that others miss. This mindset is what can drive guerilla entrepreneurism while your product/service is evolving, adapting and integrating along the way. Metagame is another bit of gamer shorthand that is also a mindset. I won’t try to summarize it here, there are plenty of articles about it floating around the web. I mention it because learning to see the metagame is a strength that ‘gamers’ bring that is often overlooked. Learning how to see the metagame allows you to take skills, knowledge, memes, strategies etc from games and apply them to your life. This both helps you to ‘play’ better, as well as enjoy your life more. By making it a game you spend more time doing what you want.