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Thread: internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

  1. #1
    mermaidnz
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    Default internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

    i want to start a website.... the one i have in mind, MAY be really big tho? i dont have a clue about any of thie internet stuff, i know what i want, but dont know how to do it, or who i ACTUALLY need to speak to.

    just to give you an idea,

    i want to have a general area, consisting of a few pages ( intro, small gallery, calendar of events ,bio, and this other pay area thing-too hard to explain that bit)

    and a members only paid area ( consisting of a forum, contact details, the same extra pay area thing as above, more photos, extra info)

    and ALSO, this is where it MAY get tricky ( i dont know, cos i dont know anyting about all this, maybe its not that difficult) i want to have another area of the site which is an online store,selling costumes and shoes etc. does this all sound like a big site, or is it pretty average??

    can anyone give me a rough idea on how much this kind of thing would cost? i want it to be linked to search engines like google, and have a.com address if possibal ( or .com.au ) and it will need ot be updated at least daily, weekly at worst)

    also, does anyone have any tips on making money via these types of sites?

    thanks heaps

  2. #2
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re:internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

    Well, for starters, all internet businesses which are adult oriented and which do not have a brick and mortar actual place of business will NOT be granted a credit card merchant account by a commercial bank. Having a credit card merchant account is what allows businesses to charge customer/member credit cards for a reasonably low fee.

    Adult websites which do not have their own merchant account must use an online credit card processing service to collect money from customers' credit cards - they basically substitutes their own merchant account for all of the sub-account websites they process credit card charges for. In order for my own website to be able to process MasterCard and Visa online charges (for my monthly membership fees and video sales), I had to pay $750.00 up front to cover the costs of getting set up by the credit card processing service (I-Bill). Then besides this up front fee, for every $100 in membership money that the processing service collects on my behalf they keep $20 or so as a processing fee and as a reserve against non-paying credit card customers.

    There are lower cost online processing services. However, last year one of these really screwed the websites it was processing credit card charges for. This processing service collected a month's worth of credit card charges, did NOT pay the money back out to the websites on whose behalf they were collected, and then the processing service went bankrupt. As a result, websites using this service not only didn't receive ANY money from any of their members for a month, but they were legally obligated to pay the web server bandwidth bill to continue to provide content to the members ... who in fact had paid for the month's membership (but the processing service stole their money instead of passing it on to the websites). A girl I know who used this particular processing service not only got stiffed for about $1000 in membership fees, but she also had to pay out about $400 from her own pocket for bandwidth and web hosting charges to keep her website from being shut down and to keep from being sued by members who had in fact paid for their monthly membership.

    The most popular low cost processing service, PayPal, now refuses to handle transactions for any adult business. Also, an increasing number of web hosting services now either refuse to host adult websites, or charge 2 arms and 3 legs for doing so.

    There are quite a number of hosting companies which specialize in hosting adult websites, but they aren't cheap. The hosting company can also help you with the other things you'll need i.e. access to a secure server for financial transactions, transparent linking to the processing company's server etc.

    All in all, I'd guess that between an adult web host, an online credit card processing service, and technical help with the transparent linking, you're looking at an initial investment in the $1,000 range at least - providing that you're able to create all of the web pages and do all of the website administration and updates yourself. If you need professional programming help to create your web pages, figure on another $1,000+ If you need help doing website administration and updates, figure on perhaps another $100 per month.

    To be honest, I can earn at least 3 times as much money for a given amount of hours spent dancing live than I can through my website. If I had not started my own website way back in 1995 when the internet was much simpler (and much cheaper), and if I had not built up a significant fan base over those years, I would not continue to operate an adult website today. I certainly wouldn't consider starting one from scratch.

    Basically the only independent single girl web enterprises making significant money today are XXX webcams and XXX fetish websites. My own website only nets perhaps 1/3 as much as it did 5 years ago even though I have more website members now - because of the much higher credit card processing fees, the much higher bandwidth and hosting charges, the much larger number of 'deadbeat' credit card customers etc.

  3. #3
    mermaidnz
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    Default Re:internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

    wow, thanks for all that melonie,
    its given me more to think about, i guess i was thinking too much,too fast.

    im not entirely doing it for the money,as the main selling point on the website is the costume selling web bit ( tonyshoesinc product) and maybe expand with other wholesale costume places. and the bit about me, i thought would only be a few pages, plus a pay area with not to much more going on, and an optional exta thing ( which i dont know if it will work, but i wanna see)

    hmmm the pay bit sounds like it could be a problem. would the clothing side of it be considered "adult" ??

    i dont want an xxx website...just clean "sexy" nude pics etc...not pornish. maybe thatsnot gonna sell anyways....ha guys can get free porn anyways, why would they want to pay for it?!!
    ok bad idea !! lol

    maybe ill just stick to the costume side, and have a small cheap 2 or 3 page website about me,no pay area?

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re:internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

    hmmm the pay bit sounds like it could be a problem. would the clothing side of it be considered "adult" ??

    i dont want an xxx website...just clean "sexy" nude pics etc...not pornish. maybe thatsnot gonna sell anyways....ha guys can get free porn anyways, why would they want to pay for it?!!
    ok bad idea !! lol maybe ill just stick to the costume side, and have a small cheap 2 or 3 page website about me,no pay area?
    Generally, the one fact that differentiates "regular business" websites from "adult business" websites is the existence of nudity on the web pages. Clean and sexy nude pics versus close up gang bang shots make no difference at all to non-adult web hosts or commercial banks who issue credit card merchant accounts. As long as you do not post any nude or topless pictures, you will not be considered an adult business and can avoid lots of the resulting financial obstacles.

    However, going the non-adult route involves trade-offs of its own in regard to publicising your website, because there are 10 times as many non-adult websites and because search engines often lock you into a category. For example your dresses may show up next to Versace or baby clothes instead of being next to strip club costumes, making it much harder for exotic dancers to find your website.

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    Default Re:internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

    mermaidnz

    Due to costs, I have put my own website idea on the back burner. I was going to start out with a site promoting myself (photos, online diary, art, etc)... then basically to help with costs ask for others to join me at my site... they'll be "friends".

    I can cut costs by designing the site myself (I've designed whole sites from scratch before incl. graphics. and flash). I've got the knowledge and skills to run my own business... so the admin. side wouldn't bother me too much too.

    It was the lack of a forseeable profit that has held me back. It would involve alot of time investment not so much on the money side (since I'll be able to design and maintain the site).... and well.. I was going to do it later on down the track when I can free up more time (because I've passive income not just earned income).

    In the end, I decided to stick with my Yahoo Group... it allows me to post photos, files, set a calendar, etc. It is the cheaper option (as starting/operating a Yahoo Group is free)... yet not a very profitable one.




    enter: E3167322D9 for your 10% discount

  6. #6
    mermaidnz
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    Default Re:internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

    hmmm yeah its all sounding like a HUGE idea now tho,and probably a bit too big for me to figure out now

    i DID find this thing.place/guy who can help in what you wanna do tho...( i thikn) check it out, i might still do a site with him.


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    i thoguht it look ok. worth a shot , nothing to lose i spose

  7. #7
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re:internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

    i DID find this thing.place/guy who can help in what you wanna do tho...( i thikn) check it out, i might still do a site with him.
    Two things of note ...

    #1 they collect 50% of your member's monthly website payments

    #2 because it is THEY who are processing the charges in their name, they can only sell access to web pages. This means that you selling dresses, videos or any sort of merchandise is out of the question.

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    Featured Member discretedancer's Avatar
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    Default Re:internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

    I'd like to suggest we develop all these ideas on www.makeitsexy.com - a new domain I'm toying with how to use. My company has experience developing adult and mature content (non porn but still erotic) content sites....and all the coding, payment schemes, etc

    Our fees are way below 50% - that's highway robbery unless you are getting all your coding work for frree - and we work to build you a custom page under the makeitsexy.com domain.

    If you want your own domain www.yourname.com) we can do that - and point it to your page.

    Everything is included - message boards, chat, shopping cart, etc.

    email me at [email protected] if you want more info

    Keep in mind the content on Makeitsexy.com isn't real - that's what was there when I took the site over and haven't reloaded it - actually, that's why your idea intrigued me, I would love a partner in developing the site.

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re:internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

    the key question is whether or not you were also able to take over a credit card merchant account to go along with the website ? Having a credit card merchant account is the only way that you can process online credit card charges for merchandise sales without having to pay a processing service through the nose in processing fees and percentages !

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    Featured Member discretedancer's Avatar
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    Default Re:internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

    I don't have my own merch account (would be glad to get one if those involved wanted it) But I work with several services that charge on the order of 4-15%, not 50, That's where my advantage comes in -

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    Default Re:internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

    i was too tired to read through all of this, but maybe you could set up a merchant accound for another "front" business like selling sweaters or music cd's or whatever, and use that account for your adult business. As long as you pay taxes on the income you are okay.

    for example
    I personally know of a "massage parlor" that tells the credit card company that they are in the business of selling "skin lotion". They have been doing this for many years and have had no problems.

    There are "creative" ways around many of these little problems, and i-bill sounds like a really shitty deal to me

  12. #12
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re:internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

    I personally know of a "massage parlor" that tells the credit card company that they are in the business of selling "skin lotion". They have been doing this for many years and have had no problems.

    There are "creative" ways around many of these little problems, and i-bill sounds like a really shitty deal to me
    I agree that IBill, CCBill and other online processing services are a s#!tty deal - but the reason that they are in a position of being able to "extort" 15-20% of every transaction is that qualifying for a credit card merchant account is not easy. The first criteria is that the business applying for the merchant account must have a brick and mortar place of business (with a different address from the person applying for the merchant account on behalf of the business) - which your massage parlor does have but which the vast majority of websites do not have. The second criteria is that the business must be registered, and have tax ID numbers, which your massage parlor does have but which the vast majority of websites do not have since they do not collect sales tax or pay employees. The brick and mortar storefront, the business registration, and the tax ID all indicate that a business is stable and successful (and also constitute an asset which the bank could place a lein on)

    Basically, being allowed to open a credit card merchant account by a commercial bank means that the bank agrees to advance your business credit the moment a charge is made against a customer's credit card, with the further assumption that in the event of any customer chargebacks, refunds, or disputed charges, that your stable business will make good in "paying back" money the bank advanced to the business but did not actually receive from the customer. Along with the fact that in a worst case scenario the bank could place a lein on assets of the business to recover any losses, this is the reason that the credit card processing fees associated with merchant accounts are very low. Many banks also simply refuse to grant accounts to adult businesses on general principles, even if they otherwise meet the criteria, which is the reason that your massage parlor is on record as a non-adult oriented skin care product business.

    However, with a processing service like IBill or CCBill, there is a basic assumption that businesses which must use these services are not stable - and that any money paid out to the business by the processing service, but which must be "paid back" later due to chargebacks, refunds, or disputed charges, WON'T be paid back. It is also assumed that a business which uses a processing service does not have physical assets which the bank could place a lein against in the event the bank is left holding the bag on disputed charges etc. In the event that the business is adult oriented, the odds of losses are even higher ! This is the reason that the credit card processing fees associated with processing services are so much higher than with merchant accounts, to cover the processing services' expected losses when 'shady' businesses make shady transactions, inspire a lot of requests for refunds or cause a lot of charges to be disputed by customers, and then quickly disappear.

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    Default Re:internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

    try , they will host your adult website for free as long as you subscribe to their paysite @$25.00 a year & they got some good pics to!!! they have their own adult verification system, which is costly for adult business also. just a thought?

  14. #14
    Featured Member discretedancer's Avatar
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    Default Re:internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

    Voyeurweb.com is nice, but as I understand it it's only for models...if you ever want to branch out, that's not possible on VW.

    Please consider makeitsexy.com...


  15. #15
    Featured Member discretedancer's Avatar
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    Default Re:internet sites ( yep another thread about this :) )

    http://www.makeitsexy.com is a new playhouse / PROFIT CENTER for adult entertainers..now looking for good talent to fill us in

    right now there's just a home page up, going "live" june 15 and building from there

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