OdysseyCam a Place to start your own webcam business...

New to all this?

Trying to get into the adult cam industry? Don't know who to talk to? Basically you are lost in a world of the unknown, you want to get into this but just haven't a clue where to start.  That's where we come in, we try to makes things simple with 24/7 support.  There is always someone to ask a question to about your adult business.  We are professionals in the industry, we have helped many just like yourself understand how to do all this. 

Will you answer some questions for me?

Do I have to purchase something to get all the cool info?  Well we would like you to purchase one of our products, sure... Will we answer questions for you if you don't purchase something from us, sure. We may not spend all day with you like we would with one of our clients, but we understand how it is starting out.  Our experience ranges in many fields in the adult industry, from membership websites, to webcam sites (our specialty), to cam studios to photo shoots, there is not much you can ask us that we don't have an answer for. 

So How do I get started?

Well first you need to look at your budget, yes like all businesses it takes money to make money, trying to do things free in the real world isn't a reality.  Think of your adult business like any other retail business, you need customers coming and purchasing whatever it is you are selling, and this is much harder than making a newspaper ad or local advertising in your area, you are dealing with the entire world.  As to how much advertising, well you can never go overboard, but the complete key to marketing your adult website is time, money, and knowledge and don't go looking for the fast dollar, not going to happen, this is all going to take time and patients. The idea that because this is the porn industry and the ".COM" its instant riches, put a page up and whamo you are running to make deposits is all a bunch of total bullshit!  Hard work, and a lot of time, also if your html skills are good that's a positive plus. What you can do yourself is going to save you a lot of time and money for sure.

Don't Be Afraid To Call Us With Questions!

If you are preparing to do a porn website, cam site, or whatever type of adult website, don't hesitate to at least give us a call.   Who knows maybe we will save you a dollar or two just from talking to us.  Now we do get busy but usually have a few minutes to answer a few questions, just hate to see people make some really simple mistakes that could cost them. Never know you might even want us to do your website for you, we do have a full team of professional designers and marketing staff on hand 24/7 as well.  So yes if you call us, we hope that you let us do your project for you, but it's not a requirement for you calling us for some answers.

What are the Biggest Mistakes We See All The Time?

When someone builds an adult pay site, once they are Live and online they are super disappointed when they are making 0 money. The idea that because your porn website is online its  going to make big money just like that .... Wrong thinking! Anything without proper planning and marketing just isn't going to work, bottom line.  Adding a few banners here and there, telling some people is going to make you 0 dollars I cannot stress this enough!  More people spend so much time on their website design, picking at every little nitch of every corner, getting the look and feel just the way they want it.  Problem is it's just that, just the way "You like it", doesn't mean it's the way other surfers view your website.  Talking to an adult design specialist is first suggestion, that will save you a lot of headache initially.  Concentrate most of your efforts into your marketing strategies.  Plan on spending a few thousand dollars for a quality website, but remember to have a monthly budget for your advertising, maybe start around $500 a month.  Thinking that your monthly sales will cover your advertising costs for the first 12+ months is just ridiculous.

I am still lost, and have no clue where to start, what do I do?

Most people have an idea about what area of the adult business they want to jump into, its the initial where do I start issue.  If you are starting a content related website (Membership paysite) remember you will need to update your content regularly (like once a week).  This means uploading new image or video sets every Monday.  You will need a sizeable upload internet connection unless you plan on sitting at your computer all day.  Sure you could hire someone to do all this for you, but again things you can do yourself will save you money.  Adding new content to a pay site is what keeps your members happy and resigning up. There are a number of resources for fantastic content available like Hustler (http://www.flyntdigital.com/)  at a monthly charge.  If you are looking to get into the adult web cam porn chat business, that's our specialty.  There are a few things to consider first, one is do you want to host your own software on your own servers? Or do you want a managed service where all the management of the technical items are taken care of so you can concentrate on the also important issues, like making money.  We usually suggest to newcomers to start with a managed service because of the time and money involved in development of a new chat system.  Time to develop a chat system is usually a long and expensive process I don't wish upon anyone, unless you like stomach pains and major stress from all the money you keep spending and you still are not online.  Then the part of debugging a new adult chat system can also be costly.  There are a number of turnkey systems online for sale some good some not so good, of course we prefer you look at OdysseyCam, but you really should look around and be happy with what you are purchasing. 

What actually does "Turnkey" mean?

This means out of the box and ready to go, configurability with most turnkey systems is limited to the way it was created.  Usually not a whole lot of changes can be made in how it works.  If you want a system exactly the way you want it, then we are right back to the develop your own headache, see you in a few years when it's done type project. For porn chat websites take a look at the OdysseyCam™ Website Configurability page.

Adult Credit Card Processors

Over the years we have worked with quite a few different adult credit card processors, in the past the rates for a third party adult biller were actually quite high (adult oriented websites are considered a HighRisk for chargebacks).  We have been in partnership with MyVirtualCard for some time now and have to say are very pleased with their billing services.  Our chargeback's have been considerably less than with various other processors, with an average processing rate between 11 to 11.5% (but if you purchase a system from us we can most likely improve upon that amount to approx 10.5% processing fee.  You will have to pay out a reserve fee of 10% from your sales which the first month is refunded to you by the 6th month and second month by the seventh month and so on, depending if you had any chargeback's of course.  Integration into your pay site should be pretty straight forward, API Scripts, nice support that can help you also.  If you have a live video chat website or content site, you will need to do a post back for information.  This information is stored in your database, when the user signs up and uses his credit card, this information is sent back from the credit card processor to your database, allowing him access. Remember there are many adult credit card processors out there, like all things read the fine print, you will find that support can be hard to come by and lengthy signup forms as bad as when you are trying to buy a new home.  Use a well known company, and make sure their system will integrate with the system you are using it for and its purpose.  When you are first starting your new online adult business your percentage rate will always be higher until you can show "Positive Processing History" for a minimum of 6 months, unless of course you are working directly through us with MyVirtualCard.  No Signup Fee, No lengthy signup forms (2 minutes) usual time for website compliance check 24 hours (excluding weekends) and no $750 Visa Registration Fee.  Any adult credit card processor located in the united states will charge you a $750 non refundable registration fee + usually $375 per year there after.  Adult credit card processors in Europe do not have this Registration fee.

Hosting of your Adult Website:

When starting an Adult Business you need a good server.  Whether you use a windows or a Linux based server is up to you, there are strong points for each.  I won't go into which is better or worse, because different applications depend on what your needs are, but to clarify you can run a basic (html) web page that was on windows the same if it was on a Linux box. When it comes to Live video chat software, the software manufacturer will tell you the proper server setup.  A number of hosting companies are on the net, you will find just as many hosting companies as their are lawyers in your home town!  Finding the right one can be an all day job and then some.  There are two things to look for, one is managed service and non managed service. We don't recommend a un managed server for the web novice. When you see an incredibly low price for a server per month which you have been seeing at a considerably higher cost with same features, usually means the difference between a server that has phone or 24/7 support and one that only offers email support and possibly only at certain hours. Also the amount of "Bandwidth" or Transfer you are allocated. Look at that long terms of service page, you will probably see a line stating their support charges. If we were to recommend a hosting company would have to be Rackco.com . Fantastic 24/7 Live support and competitive rates, and they are good ole boys, the old fashion way of taking care of customer.  They are always happy to work with you on finding the right combination for your project.

Our Managed Service:

We go one step further in Hosted services for a Live Adult Porn website, we actually host your website for you, not only taking the burden of running your servers but also offer a dual layer of 24/7 support.  Our Servers are on the N.A.C. Backbone, running super fast Dual XEON Intel servers.  Your hosting costs are considerably less starting at $200 per month for hosting and enough bandwidth for your startup adult website.

All About The Model Performers:

This is a very lengthy subject because this is a good part of your web cam business, (yes the website and software are apart also but these go hand in hand, cant have one without the other). I get alot of questions not only pertaining to marketing but also about the models, how do I get them, how do I pay them, etc etc. Will try to cover some basic points of consideration here.  There are quite a few forms of payout processes you can use like bank wires, western union, checks (for USA and Canada) but most you will find prefer in Europe epassporte or our favorite funds2go.  Works exceptionally nice if you have a website that is using MyVirtualCard, then from your show sales you can payout your model performers by sending the payments directly from your account to the models card which you can offer to mail them a card (at a charge of course) if they don't have one already.  You should be looking at the simplest, cheapest form of money transfer available.  Be aware of outside charges from less reputable companies, they will get you with every withdrawl, high sending fees and usually lack of support when needed.

As for the model performers like all businesses most model will prefer to work on a Live website that has some customers (Only makes sense) instead of sitting there all day waiting to make some money.  This is where the hand in hand with performer to marketing issue comes in.  There are some tricks of the trade that can help you retain some good employees while building your traffic areas. One way  and you will find that this is fairly common amongst performers is working multiple websites at the same time by use of a stream replicator or stream splitter.  This allows a model to work multiple websites at the same time with one computer and webcam. The OdysseyCam software has a built in Virtual Driver™  that allows this, but there are also some other companies like the most common is SplitCam - Freeware Video Clone Software.  Now there is still a few drawbacks to this idea, one is the models internet connection.  Using a stream replicator to work multiple websites yes will work but every website the model works on is going to utilize some of the models connection, thus slowing down her internet speeds each website that is added and to clarify that not all websites you can work with a stream replicator.  Due to the rules of the website or it is not supported by the websites software, but the models will most likely already know this. So to summarize this if a model is going to use your website thus using her internet connection up she is going to want to make some money, bottom line, unless of course you are a "Pay to Play" website not offering any free chat, this will take no connection speed away from the model unless she is in a show.. thus making money.

You can find models the easiest if you have traffic, where there is traffic the models will follow, fairly simple to find them once you have your marketing set and is producing a nice steady stream of guests and hopefully signed up members.

More to follow soon....

What area has screwed up the market:

Free websites to put it bluntly have basically screwed it up for the paysites.  People trying to create traffic for affiliates to send the traffic to them (will cover affiliates in next section).  Just think if you couldn't see free porn anywhere I guess you would have to purchase a membership to see things.  Because of the ever growing free porn content on the market makes it harder and harder for the adult pay webmaster to make a living. 

Starting any new adult business can be time consuming, having the proper guidance can definitely save you time and headaches and most defiantly some dollars!  Guidance and answers you can depend on for your new startup online adult business... OdysseyCam Live Adult Video Chat Solutions!

The opinions that are expressed here are solely from the author.  Any affiliates mentioned in this article may or may not agree with the authors opinions and or statements.

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