Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium
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Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium
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Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium
#2I've always mused with the idea of creating a user-submitted-content based porn website.
The base code can be whipped out in a few days, and getting traffic for that kind of thing seems to be super easy. The goal would then be to make minor money through smart advertising (most porn websites today are usability hell, with every single white space covered in ads; i'm sure one could do some smart conversion optimizations there), and major money through acquisition when the brand is built.
I feel that this might be a "low hanging fruit" kind of venture because of the social stigma associated with it ("I'm CEO for a social cupcake sharing app" is so much more cooler than "I'm CEO for a porn site"), but I might just be naive about the whole thing.
Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium
#3I've always mused with the idea of creating a user-submitted-content based porn website. The base code can be whipped out in a few days, and getting traffic for that kind of thing seems to be super easy. The goal would then be to make minor money through smart advertising (most porn websites today are usability hell, with every single white space covered in ads; i'm sure one could do some smart conversion optimizatio…
porn is a low hanging fruit? it's a tough market.
Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium
#4I've always mused with the idea of creating a user-submitted-content based porn website. The base code can be whipped out in a few days, and getting traffic for that kind of thing seems to be super easy. The goal would then be to make minor money through smart advertising (most porn websites today are usability hell, with every single white space covered in ads; i'm sure one could do some smart conversion optimizatio…
If I were to do it, I'd just run a porn site and a non porn site with the same code base. Then I could make money from porn while talking about the non porn side of the technology at parties or whatever.
Also, I think there was a bit of a land grab in porn before; it has really consolidated to a few big players, with margins otherwise in decline. Manwin/youporn is one of those big players, from the article.
The other bad thing about porn is that even if you have high revenues (and earnings), companies often sell for something like 1x earnings, which is crap.
Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium
#5I've always mused with the idea of creating a user-submitted-content based porn website. The base code can be whipped out in a few days, and getting traffic for that kind of thing seems to be super easy. The goal would then be to make minor money through smart advertising (most porn websites today are usability hell, with every single white space covered in ads; i'm sure one could do some smart conversion optimizatio…
Creating your own porn site looks much easier then it is. You'll need a lot of traffic before you earn some bucks, and all competition is fighting for the traffic. But it's a fun thing to do!
If you want to start out, I suggest to get yourself a domain name and use http://www.smutnode.com to setup a tube site in minutes.
Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium
#6I've always mused with the idea of creating a user-submitted-content based porn website. The base code can be whipped out in a few days, and getting traffic for that kind of thing seems to be super easy. The goal would then be to make minor money through smart advertising (most porn websites today are usability hell, with every single white space covered in ads; i'm sure one could do some smart conversion optimizatio…
If I were to do it, I'd just run a porn site and a non porn site with the same code base. Then I could make money from porn while talking about the non porn side of the technology at parties or whatever. Also, I think there was a bit of a land grab in porn before; it has really consolidated to a few big players, with margins otherwise in decline. Manwin/youporn is one of those big players, from the article. The other…
>run a porn site and a non porn site with the same code base
so like reddit then
Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium
#7I've always mused with the idea of creating a user-submitted-content based porn website. The base code can be whipped out in a few days, and getting traffic for that kind of thing seems to be super easy. The goal would then be to make minor money through smart advertising (most porn websites today are usability hell, with every single white space covered in ads; i'm sure one could do some smart conversion optimizatio…
I've been out of the loop for too long, but back in the day (when Tube sites were just starting up), it was getting harder and harder to make money. So many people were starting up, and Visa was cracking down hard on charge backs.
The biggest issue back in the day was Content licencing, which with today's whole DMCA crap, I would expect it to be far worse on a user-generated content site. If you licensed images for a specific domain and they appeared on another domain you owned, you would have legal representatives sending you emails (most of the time you would just do a deal with the owners and extend the license). This wasn't the result of the content being found by the owner, this was from organised firms that were hired just to scan images and videos looking for specific sets that they represented. When I hear about user-generated content sites these days, I think of one giant nightmare when it comes to content.
It's easy enough to throw something together and try to make some money from advertising, but to be successful in that industry boils down to 3 things. Traffic, Quality and Retention.
- You won't get subscribers without Traffic (fairly simple). If you think that you can get organic traffic off the bat, think twice. You'll need to set up some deals with guys who own key domains to have them funnel traffic through to you. (I don't know if this sort of market still exists, but I can't see that it would have died off)
- To convert the subscribers you need Quality or unique content (which the successful sites will usually do in-house or through companies that will work with them to produce unique content). If you're going to throw up a few galleries of cheap $5 content sets that everyone has seen before, you're not going to get the conversion.
- Retention, is a tricky one. Back in the day you used to count on the subscriber, doing a one off then forgetting stinging them with a re-bill or two, or three. Then when they got their bill they were too embarrassed to challenge they usually silently cancelled. As I said before, around the time I left, Visa was starting to really crack down on charge backs as subscribers had actually grown a pair and started wanting their money back. The only way to fight this is to offer what you advertise and more. You won't keep everyone happy, but you'll see a nicer charge-back rate.
For the record, I was a coder, I wasn't the guy behind the camera, or even the guy that designed the sites. I dealt with the systems, and kept them running. It's not a glamorous title to throw around at dinner parties, but it does bring up some interesting conversations when you start talking about the things that you seen in the industry.
Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium
#8I've always mused with the idea of creating a user-submitted-content based porn website. The base code can be whipped out in a few days, and getting traffic for that kind of thing seems to be super easy. The goal would then be to make minor money through smart advertising (most porn websites today are usability hell, with every single white space covered in ads; i'm sure one could do some smart conversion optimizatio…
> user-submitted-content based porn website
If you think about it, there's no real difference between the code base for a user submitted porn-site and a user submiitted site for videos and pictures. The only change is the template used on the frontend, and the nature of what you allow to be uploaded.
So a user-submitted content site can be created with a turn-key script that can be had for less than $1000.
Now, in my experience with ad-based content.... advertising rates vary by a pretty sharp degree from month to month if you go through a 3rd party agency. You can make 6 months at X rate, then see a sudden unexpected 30% decline on the same traffic. Couple that with the fact that adult-based ads pay less. For example, Facebook makes $1.00 Desktop CPC, but adult ads regularly sell for $0.01 CPC---1% of mainstream!
Because of that, I can see why sites will have 8 or 10 ads per page in order to get enough margin to cover unexpected rate losses.
I do think you are 100% right about one thing. Smart conversion optimization would be a huge boon in the adult market. Currently, none of the major CPA firms take adult content so its a green-field market. The schelp factor is that you'd have to work with 100s of independent accounts, all with minimum payout floors, but its doable with the right team and lots of traffic.
Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium
#9The guy has to be making crazy bank. Wonder why he didnt just pay his taxes. When you are bringing in a likely 100m a year, what difference will another 10m make? I think the guys behind huge sites like this just have weird personality's that make them like to hack every system they can which obviously ends up in situations like this.
Re: Programmer behind YouPorn empire arrested in Belgium
#10I've always mused with the idea of creating a user-submitted-content based porn website. The base code can be whipped out in a few days, and getting traffic for that kind of thing seems to be super easy. The goal would then be to make minor money through smart advertising (most porn websites today are usability hell, with every single white space covered in ads; i'm sure one could do some smart conversion optimizatio…
Creating your own porn site looks much easier then it is. You'll need a lot of traffic before you earn some bucks, and all competition is fighting for the traffic. But it's a fun thing to do! If you want to start out, I suggest to get yourself a domain name and use http://www.smutnode.com to setup a tube site in minutes.
Another tutorial for new people to the industry can be found on http://startapornsite.smutnode.com