Note: Strongly consider the fact that your images will be online forever, whether you delete them from your server or not. If you’re worrying about a future employer finding your website, don’t do it. Also, it is not easy money! Gaining traffic is incredibly difficult. In other words, don’t quit your day job until you have a steady stream of income. Also, revenue will vary greatly month to month… member’s get bored, lose their job, are satisfied, etc. So keep an emergency fund just in case you have a bad month!
If you’re looking to start an adult themed website I suggest you peruse through the articles on these sites. Some of the articles may have nothing to do with your idea but it’s important to know what kind of competition you’re going to have and what sort of niche you want to associate your website with.
www.cozyfrog.com/listings/index.asp
All of those websites have tons of links for newbies and web designers. The three basic things every website needs to function (no matter what type) is a server for your data (available through web hosting companies all over), a domain name (try GoDaddy.com), and FTP access of some sort. For hosting I recommend a plan that includes cPanel (it’s a lifesaver). My current hosting company sucks and you really need to be VERY careful where you invest your money. Customer support is about the number one most important thing you will need, so find the best you can for your budget. (There will always be SOMETHING that will go wrong occasionally, and a tech support email at 2AM may be an emergency you need help with. Invaluable resource!) And you’ll need to register your website address or domain name. I recommend getting a .com because they’re easiest to remember and available everywhere. To register all of my domain names I went to www.godaddy.com. Their hosting sucks, but they have real cheap domain names. Also you NEED to get some form of WHOIS identity protection. This is an absolute MUST! GoDaddy offers it. It adds a bit each year to your registration fee but you need to have it. If not someone can go to sites like www.whois.net and see your billing address, your phone number, your full name, etc. Using an alias of some sort is always a good idea online. It’s just another way to separate personal affairs with business ones. Keep in mind, you’ll be running a business and you’ll need to keep records of all your income for tax purposes.
If you’re just starting out in the industry I might suggest that you start out simply by modeling for a site like godsgirls.com, suicidegirls.com, or ishotmyself.com. They handle all the money and confusing web design aspects and all you need to do is get the pictures taken. But also READ the contracts on these sites. They may be taking the rights to your image/brand/alias/identity/photos/etc and you won’t be able to use them in the future for portfolio purposes or, for instance, on a personal website. Usually when you get paid, they’re buying those images and the rights to use them however they wish. So be careful. It’s nice to run your own website because you’re in total control. But it also means there’s no one to turn to for customer support or help. You’re the boss, the employee, the photographer, the marketer, the secretary, the CPA, the mail dude, etc. This is just a very general overview of stuff you need to know for starting a website.
As far as design goes… if you’ve already got knowledge of HTML, great, go for it. You probably know where to start. Look at other paysites and use them as inspiration (don’t copy it though). If you don’t know what HTML, CSS, or Java is you might need to hire help. Or find a web savvy friend with some extra free time on their hands. I’ve found that a lot of my website members are total computer and web GURUS, so I give them extended memberships and such to help me out with design and tech support. Unless you went to school for design or something you’re going to hit a road block at some point and you’ll probably need help getting out. So keep these smart people around. For specific questions you can email me, but as you know, my main focus is on running my own website, and I’m not computer genius either. I ask for help all the time! But I’m happy to guide you in the right direction. I’ve done A LOT of research in web marketing, web design, photography, finances, etc and I still feel like an amateur. So, please know that you’ll be undertaking quite a bit of responsibility with a website. And anyone who says it’s not a “real” job, has NO IDEA what they’re talking about. It’s probably more work than you can imagine.
Personally I cannot assist you in setting up a site for yourself, but hopefully these links will help you start yourself!
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