I'm thinking about making a web site that will sell videos. The videos will be adult in nature, but not pornographic, and there will not necessarily be any nudity. Any recommendations for hosting and/or shopping cart systems?
Thanks,
Lena
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I'm thinking about making a web site that will sell videos. The videos will be adult in nature, but not pornographic, and there will not necessarily be any nudity. Any recommendations for hosting and/or shopping cart systems?
Thanks,
Lena
tangible video's or downloadable?
Setting up shopping carts is quite simple. Dealing with credit card purchases is a little more difficult in an adult type business. You should consult with a 1st amendment/adult experienced attorney. I know the name of one in Orlando that has a good reputation. These professionals tend to be expensive but worth it. You have copyright and decency standards to deal with and you need to know your risks - in order to avoid them.
Regards,
Dan Morris
If the merchandise you intend to sell is considered to be 'adult' merchandise, as opposed to adult content (which only involves access to web pages, video streams etc) then life gets very complicated. First off, none of the online credit card processing services will allow you to operate under their 'blanket' merchant account if the sale of merchandise is involved, meaning that you must obtain your own credit card merchant account from a commercial bank. This for the most part means that your (adult) business must be legally registered ... and must have a brick and mortar storefront address which is different from your home address ... in order for a commercial bank to take you seriously.
Try a net search for Credit Card Merchant Account Adult to get a taste of what you're likely to be in for.
If you can avoid having your business / merchandise being classified as 'adult', things get a bit easier. However, commercial banks and online credit card processors are extremely leery of 'web-based' businesses in general, and of adult 'web-based' businesses in particular, compared to businesses with a brick and mortar storefront at some location.
Okay, merchant account done.
The videos will be digital, and I need advice on doing those - borrow a good webcam and make my own, or pay someone who knows what they're doing? Also, is there a way to make it pay-per-view, rather than pay and download and watch repeatedly for free?
Hosting ideas?
you'll need to hook up with an adult web host who already has streaming video software and will let you use it for free ... otherwise you'll have to shell out a couple of grand for your own copy !
http://www.webgemshosting.com/ is a hosting company that allows adult content. I use them for adult and mainstream stuff
Pay Per view is very common. Surf around www.adultwebmasterhangout.com
Thanks Lee, that site has a lot of information.
What kind of bandwidth should I plan for? It's a niche sort of market, so I don't expect huge amounts of traffic, but I do expect a lot of it...
How much are you looking to spend on a website. If you want to set up an extremely professional website, check out www.tiltedhalo.com or www.screechingcatstudios.com. I want to set up a website through screechingcat. These companies specialize in adult websites, and are used by many feature dancers. They can be more expensive than basic websites (depending on what you want set up for you), but they are very high quality.
That's an extremely difficult question to answer until your content is up and you see how much bandwidth your new website starts pulling. In the case of my own former website which was also aimed at a niche market (admittedly a different niche from yours) my site bandwidth averaged about 3 gigs a day = 90 to 100 gigs a month. Usually 'shared' hosting services like the WebGems link will allow you to get started with a small inexpensive plan and then 'bump you up' if your bandwidth exceeds their thresholds between account classes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lena
Many 'shared' hosting services also allow you to specify whether you want your total monthly bandwidth capped to stay within your account class (and monthly hosting fee), or whether you want them to let your bandwidth grow to whatever actual demand takes it to (with your monthly fee rising along with your bandwidth). The only technical concern with the latter approach is if somebody posts a password on a pirate site, which could in turn result in huge bandwidth usage and a huge monthly hosting bill unless some other form of web server security intervenes.
Call Linda @eden2000 (eden2000 specializes in adult sites as well but have tremendous experience with actual reatiling of merchandise as well including my webstore which has been profitable for over 5 years) or just visit their site to start with. They will build your site from the ground up including securing your shopping cart. They are my webmasters host and gurus! (in an effort not to cross the line I will not post my website here but if you would like to check t out dig just a little deeper into my profile) we use e-z cart for a million reasons. there are definitely some pitfalls and the first is undercapitalization, the second is undercapitalization and the third is undercapitalization!!! Anyone can build your site or perhaps you can for all that I know!! Anyone can host and offer tech support but ultimately, even if you are planning on using a drop shipper and not stocking product or only offering streaming video you MUST account for a ridiculously well financed marketing plan. Put ALL of your energy into HOW and WHERE you will generate business. Pay Per Click marketing campaigns can be SOOOOO expensive, especialy for adult sites and titles. Ultimately you need someone that understands how to make sure that you get exposure through the construction of your front page and whole site. You need o make sure that either YOU or someone on your side of the fence understands how to max out your search engine ranking with appropriate CONTENT for searches and meta-rich features that will up your ranking...Keywords!!! Can be the giant sucking sound of your marketing count if you are too general or competing with higher financed marketeers! Trust me I have spent the worth of several dances in ONE day with improper PPC campaign strategies Melonie makes a very important point about how you will get PAID I use net1 financial and have a few other numbers you can call. GOOD LUCK and if this sounds pessimistic it's not it's my sharing of my litle dose of reality because noone did so for us in the beginning and that sucked then but we love our online business now!!!!