cost of websites

[spat]

My partner has been working in the industry as a performer for a few years but now wants to have a website with downloadable vids and a web cam. I've been getting a lot of conflicting shit about about how much it'll cost, performance etc etc. Is the sensible idea to pay someone else to stream or set up a server yourself? It's the webcam streaming that's the real issue, but with downloadable vids does one need a licensing server too? She is prepared to invest proper money but we need to know a ball park figure of how many subscribers are needed to break even. thanks for any help I know info is hard earned, appreciated....

[Matt - A-W-D]

Its hard to put a price things. A dedicated server will perform better than a "virtual" host but obviously costs more. The amount of bandwith you use is the biggest expense so having lots of large movie files will eat more bandwith than a few hundred pictures. The more members you get the more bandwith you'll use so whilst you make more money - you also pay out more.
If your using DRM for your movies, then yes that will cost you extra each month for your licences.
I'm not familiar with webcam streaming but there are companies who offer the service free.
Don't forget about the credit card company either - they'll take around 15% of your income... and the piss poor exchange rate. While its cheaper to buy from the US now you'll get less in income

[Joe A]

Matt beat me to it..

Adding to his comments.. If there is going to be more than solo material.. There will be the added cost of paying other models as well as content swaps.

I will say that to have a solo model site a lot of exclusive material is required . Content swaps mean that the material can be found elsewhere and so can lose the site sales. This should be kept to a bare minimum.

To get the site started you will need at least 1000 images and 2 - 3 hrs of video, of which at least 80% must be exclusive... Exclusive being the magic word Having material of the model that they wouldn't do for other people is also a big draw. EG: A model may only work up to g/g in the industry, but for her own site.. She does b/g. Surfers will want to see what they can't find anywhere else.

You need to have good pr before launching the site. You need to ensure that you site is optimised for search engines... The list goes on for ever of what needs to be done before the launch.. And then there is the maintance of keeping the site updated regularly.

I hope between Matts comments and mine we've helped you..

[tas]

I think matt is spot on, dedicated are far superior to virtual hosts but they do cost more, we did have a dedicated server with unlimited bandwidth but the support offered was very poor and we did suffer on numerous occasions, we now have a dedicated server with another host, excellent support and with 100mbps and it is very good most of the time. All of the downloadable movies at uknymphos are our own content so we need no seperate license, the site we offer free to our members is euro-nymphos which contains movies of amateurs from accross europe, these are not are own content but dvd's we have bought the licences to be able to use them on the site.
the exchange rate is a major problem at the moment as most of the money we make is paid in $.
hope this helps in some way

[spat]

Thanks chaps. So, a dedicated server seems best, is that merely a dedicated server from an ISP or do you actually have the server itself? Tas, who is the host you mention?

There is loads of exclusive content but it's not been through BBFC and is extremely explicit, is that likely to be a problem?

thanks again.....SP

[Joe A]

The good thing about the web is .. It doesn't have to be BBFC certified. I would presume that Tas' host is in the States as that's where the cheapest hosting is... Also there are only one or two hosts in the UK who will even allow topless pics...

[tas]

There are many good places to get a dedicated server, if you want more info on the company I use then email me direct, don't worry about the content not going through the bbfc, that is one of the many advantages of hosting the content on websites. Most hosts do not mind you hosting a porn site on a server you have with them as long as the content is not illegal and that you own the rights or a licence to the material. As far as I am aware I think you could get in trouble if your server is within the uk which is why virtually everyone has servers abroad.
I hope this helps

[Matt - A-W-D]

Yeah as the boys say, don't even think of hosting in the UK. The US are more liberal and far cheaper. A dedicated server is basicly your own machine sat in a data centre with no other sites running from it except your own. With a virtual host there is often numerous sites all running from that one machine which often affects performance speeds. With dedicted hosts you tend to buy bandwith buy the MBPS rather gigabyte (1 mbps = approx 320 gigs) and in doing this it works out far cheaper.

[southy]

how much did you say the credit card companies take...15%,that seems a lot,i dont think they take 15% of the price of a pair of jeans if you buy them from Next?

secondly,here is some simple advice for setting up a girl website from a users pov.

1.make it simple to join AND cancel
2.fewer high quality vid's are better than lots of poor quality ones.
3.in the pics....variety,some sites become very repetative.
4.make it cheap

[Joe A]

Southy...

The reason CC processors charge a high % is because the adult industry has a very high charge back rate and not many merchants will accept companies for this reason

As for making a site cheap... What do you call cheap

You don't want to know what getting a site launched from scratch costs. You need a domain name, you need hosting, you need to pay models if you are shooting the content yourself, or you have to buy the content. There are design costs and so much more, which need to be re-couped.