Picture types: Gay, Straight, Fetish

Picture sites are just that, sites that provide pictures. Picture sites are by far the most popular sites on the net. They are also the most costly to maintain. The pictures are normally purchased from content providers by can also be from other sources such as pictures of spouses, friends, models, etc.. Things that need an to be considered are that the content is legal (over 18 years of age, writes for distribution are granted, legal model releases are available, etc.), content costs, site design and theme, update schedule, and hosting costs. The bandwidth usage for this type for this type is probably the highest of all the sites.

Your main initial cost is going to be getting content. Plan your site in advance, do you buy a CD with 200 high quality Images or a lower quality one with 2000 images for the same price or do you use some of the free content deals that are around? If you want to get into a niche market is the content available in quantities to maintain the niche? Is the content easily purchased? and is it legal?

Lets take a more in depth look at some of these issues. Public Domain pics or Legal content?
Before we begin lets sort this myth out, there is no such thing as public domain pictures. When you take a pic from someone else's site you are doing a number of things:
1 You are stealing from webmaster who has paid for that pic.
2. You are stealing from the photographer that took that pic
3. You are stealing from the Model that makes her/his living from selling her/his pics.

Having more than 10 stolen pics on your website will get you a jail term if you live in the states. It is now a federal offense. DO NOT DO IT!

Having said that lets look at the options. Firstly Straight or Niche?

Straight sites are probably the easiest to start with, the content is easier to find, its cheaper to get and there are many sources available to get it from.

When you run a site, treat it like a business. If you want to make a living out of this game, then run your site professionally. Set a budget. Don't make 200 bucks today and then go spend it on some toys. You won't have any money left tomorrow to get fresh content or maintain your site.

If you are going for bookmark traffic then you need to provide updated pics as often as possible. Surfers will like your site, but if they cant come each day or week and see new content they have no reason to come back.

So we get to our question do we have 200 high quality pics or 2000 lower ones? Depends what your starting budget is, the benefits to having higher priced content is that it tends to be more exclusive and surfers will have to look a lot harder to find it. If you have the cheaper content, then they can see the same pics as you have on the next 10 sites they go to.

Look for balance in your site, maybe some high quality content as a pic of the day type thing and the general content goes into your galleries and update weekly.

If you cant update pics as much as possible, add new things on your site that you can update, like links. A good link list is also an attraction to a surfer. Updated nightly can mean you can cut back on content.

Do you have lots of content or not much? Many trains of thought on this issue, more content means you probably don't have to update as much and that its a good marketing ploy to attract surfers. If you have tons of content will your traffic convert as well as say a site with 10 real nice pics? If a surfer can go to a site and get as much content as he can from a pay site why does he need to join a pay site? Or if a surfer comes to your site gets so horny and then runs out of content will that tempt him to join a paysite to finish the job?

A niche market is identifying a part of the market that is under exposed and concentrate on that area, like BDSM or fetish. These sites can be profitable. You don't get mainstream surfers and the ones you get are dedicated to their thing and more likely to have money in there pockets to join paysites.

The advantage in niche is that not many people are doing it. Thus you have more surfers per capita to spend money on you site. But is the content available in quantities to maintain the site? That's the main question you have to ask yourself.

Link Site

Link sites provide links to other sites. Most don’t have pictures or other types of content other than links to other sites. In some cases a brief comments or review may be attached to each link. This type of site requires constant maintenance and monitoring to insure the links are current and accurate. The bandwidth usage on a Link Site is not very high as there are not pictures on the site. However, as popularity of the site increases bandwidth usage will increase proportionately. Revenue is typically also generated by advertising.

Review Site

A review site typically reviews other sites and presents the reviews in a way that the surfer can read the review and then easily go to the reviewed site. This is very similar to a Link Site and bandwidth usage and is about the same. Revenue is typically generated by advertising.

Amateur, Self promotion/products (videos, pictures, panties, etc.), Live Cam

These sites are used in primarily to promote products, pictures for sale, and other personal items. The primary source of revenue is from the items being sold and secondary revenue is derived from banner advertising. Bandwidth usage varies depending on the number of graphics on the site.

Pic Post

A picture post is a site that offers pictures from different Web sites. The pictures are typically posted in a daily or even hourly fashion. Other Web sites provide the pictures by linking them into the picture post site. The surfer (at the picture post site) sees pictures from the different sites that have submitted to the picture post and have the option to click on the picture and/or banner and then go to the site that provided at the picture. The advantage to the Web sites that provided the pictures for the picture post is that it gives them increased exposure and a link back from the picture post site. The advantage to the picture post site is that they get content for free. Revenue is typically from advertising banners. Bandwidth usage is low as the sites providing the pictures have the graphics on their servers and the bandwidth used for the pictures is from the site providing the picture. This type of site require (at a minimum) daily maintenance and all pictures should be previewed to ensure they’re not in violation of standards i.e. child porn or bestiality.

Softcore verse Hardcore

There is growing concern about hardcore graphic material being easily accessible to children. In fact, there has been cases of people being prosecuted for being in violation of local ordinances. So, there is a growing trend towards free sites featuring softcore material.

Apart from the legal issues surrounding hard core porn on free sites there are other issues to be thought about. If a surfer sees all the hard-core he wants for free, he has no incentive to join a pay site which pays for the banner advertising. In other words, if a surfer can only get softcore content then he will have to join a paysite at some stage or he just isn't going to be satisfied. For this to work hardcore would need to be totally eliminated from free sites. But softcore can definitely work for you, your fresh traffic is a lot more valuable than old experienced surfers, if they come to your site they may join the paysite right there. Softcore content is also usually cheaper to buy from content providers and/or to get people to pose for. Softcore is typically defined as no penetration or bodily fluids being shown.

Revenue

Revenue is typically generated by advertising. The advertising is normally banner ads (which generate a commission based on people clicking on and following the link to the site advertised on the banner. In standard "click-through" programs each click will generate a small ($0.02 - $0.20) commission. The rate also vary depending on whether in the surfer click was considered a "raw" or "unique" click. A raw click is any click from anyone, regardless of how many times that same surfer has click on that banner. A unique click is considered in to be in the first click from a particular surfer in a given time frame (usually a 24 hour period). For example, if a surfer clicks on a advertising banner (and it pays $0.05 a click) and then returns to your site and 20 minutes later clicks on the same (or another banner going to the same sponsor) you would receive $0.10 is the program was a "raw" one and $0.05 if the program was a "unique" one.

There are other programs that pay based on membership sign ups, i.e. when someone you refer to the site via a link banner signs up for membership in that site you receive a commission ($2.00 - $75.00)