New website "Hot Doods"

Webmaster Discussion
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#1

Hi

I have just now, in fact about 3 minutes ago, put up a preview of my new website Hot Doods.

This includes four 30 second clips of what will be the first four videos available at the site when it starts accepting members, in about a week to 10 day from now.

I’m pretty sure that the site will use CCBill transactions service and I will be looking for affiliates soon.

In the meantime I’d be very grateful if you would visit the site and tell me if there are any problems with it.

I have done all the coding myself, and the design, in fact everything, so I’m hoping it is okay.

Thank you.

#2

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

I’m know you’re excited, but I’m going to be brutally honest with you because I don’t want you wasting the next six months figuring out why your site isn’t selling.

The very first thing I’d do is remove the cartoon characters. When I first landed on the site, I said out loud, “Ewwwww … creepy.” Those drawings are not very good and they’re not the least bit sexy. They did not make me want to go any further. They made me want to run in the other direction.

I’m not fond of the leopard print either.

In place of the cartoon guys, I’d try putting some of your real guys up there.

Brown is a hard colour to do right. I’d maybe try for blacks, greys, and some red since the guys are kind of alternative looking that colour scheme would fit.

You don’t have a proper 2257 statement on your homepage, by law it has to say this: 18 U.S.C. 2257 Record Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement with the entire statement linking to your 2257 page.

Get rid of the link list banners, there’s no place for them on a paysite. The link lists will promote you when they sign up for your affiliate program.

You don’t have a join button on your homepage.

If a guy doesn’t have a pretty asshole, don’t show it. Charming Al’s butt isn’t nice to look at.

A bit more description text about the guy would help a lot. “Alex lights a ciggy and gets excited.” is not going to sell memberships.

You’re wasting a lot of space around the video, I’d try and think of a different layout.

I’m sorry, but I really think you have to go back to the drawing board here, maybe hire a designer who can help you. This site as it stands, I’d be awfully surprised if you sold one membership before year’s end.

#3

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

Thank you for your thoughts.

I’ve removed the advertising banners and I agree that they are not right now that you say so.

I thought the cartoon characters are fun but if people think they are creepy I will remove them. I’ll wait and see what the others think, it is very good to have second, opinions.

The colour scheme can be changed very easily of course so it is good to know if you feel it is not good, once again, I’ll see if others feel the same way.

There is no “Join” button at the moment because you can’t actually join, but when I have finished editing the videos for this the “Join” button will appear.

I am interested in your comment about the 2257 statement. In fact this doesn’t apply in the UK where the site is based, however people seem to use it even if they are not in the US, presumably to provide some form of reassurance or something like that to US customers. I’ll see about setting it up as you say.

#4

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

I know the blog is not finished yet, but you need to make it so we can get back to the main site somehow, and not just by using the back button.

#5

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

Thanks for that Huey.

This is a problem with the standard WordPress blog software, but I’m going to do some searching the WordPress.org site and see if there are any good solutions.

#6

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

Hi Andrew,

  • Good to see you have removed the link list banners. Such things are major traffic leaks and affiliates will not send traffic your way.

  • In Wordpress you can easily adjust the file called header.php - and add the same header and same menu bar to make the blog look like the other pages.

  • I agree with Michael that the toons are kind of freaky. Maybe you can put up photos of the real models and let them rotate.

  • Dark colours combined with red or purple would fit much better

  • Indeed, the scene descriptions should be a longer. Maybe you can even add some model stats, like age, height, cock size, sexual preference.

  • Your sales pitch should be longer as well. Just let people know what they can expect if they join your site (HD movies, set of pictures, weekly updates, maybe explain what DRM-free means, because not every surfer knows what this means: “Download movies and keep them even after your membership ends” or something like that says everything they need to know without getting to technical about it.

  • Even though you’re not located in the USA - you should try to comply with the 2257 regulations. US affiliates are not able to promote your site if it has no 2257 info. I believe CCbill expects your site to be 2257 compliant as well.

Good luck with the launch !

#7

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

Congratulations on starting your site!

I do agree with Micheal on his points, specially the cartoons… they are bad enough to put people off just by seeing them.

I honestly don’t want to put you off, but I’ve seen so many sites in the last couple of years that are better than yours, with more content and better models fail and shut down. Unfortunately at it’s current state I don’t think your site will sell. If you’re just doing it for fun, then that’s fine… as long as costs don’t mount up for hosting or producing content.

Don’t get me wrong, for a first site it’s a great effort and credit to yourself, but for a site that charges for membership it’s simply not up to scratch. The design is too basic and not terribly inviting. The colours are wrong… there is no branding or recognizable logo or icon, nothing on the pages really stand out.

Another very important point is that your site has no clear theme. I can’t figure out what it’s about and I doubt any surfer will. What does “Hot Doods” offer? The only thing I could find is “breathtakingly sexy young men” which doesn’t really say much. More importantly your models are NOT breathtaking, which is not a problem unless you tell people that they are. You really don’t need very good looking models, everything sells if done correctly and some people will be into these guys. But you will need to target them by deciding on a theme for your site. It’s so very important you have a clear theme from the start or you will not succeed. The more specific the easier it will be to sell. A small general twink site would have to compete with giant’s like Twinks.com, Bel Ami etc… But a a site specializing in “rough but cute younger guys off the streets that jerks off for cash” would probably only have to compete with 1 or 2 other smaller sites.

Bottom line is, if you want to make money and be successful you will need to spend money on the site first by getting a web designer, develop a brand and logo, figure out a clear theme and create more content (probably aim for at least 10 episodes at startup). It still doesn’t have to be extremely expensive but you will have to get it up to a higher standard to make sales.

#8

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

Welcome to GD Andrew.
Ditto to what everyone else has said. Especially the cartoon guys and 2257 stuff. Why are the guys all listening to headphones? If that is going to be a continuing theme of the site explain it.

Like Bjorn said, my little site with average looking amateur guys still sells memberships and rebills but isn’t something I can live off of. The trick is to state the truth about what you offer members on the tour then get a respected review site like Gay Demon to validate your claims and affiliates to send traffic. Most of the experienced people here will be able to provide lots of valuable advise like Bjorn, Michael, and Dennis already have. Michael started Butch Dixon from scratch and is doing well (I believe) but made a number of changes as the site grew. We all learn in time and tweek things as we go, just like you’re doing now. Unless you have something totally hot and unique it will take time to build traffic and start making sales. Don’t get discouraged.

Please keep us up to date on your site’s progress and when it is open for memberships. I’ll be happy to put up a few links for you as others here will too.

#9

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

Well thank you all for your comments.

For now I’ve changed the colour scheme such that the site is now very dark.

Also I’ve changed the header so that my cartoon figures aren’t around any more :slight_smile: I did really like them but that is probably because my tastes are often a bit weird!

I think gaydemon’s suggestions are very good. I should think of a theme and I will give this much consideration along with all the other thoughts mentioned so far.

I will certainly sort out this 2257 business. Poccolo’s comments on this make sense. From the UK perspective it seems a bit odd to be making the site conform to US legislations (which would never apply), but of course the affiliates will be expecting that. I also like a dark look with red and purple :). I’ll have to work on this.

In fact I want to finish editing the first four videos then I think I could open it at a very low introductory price. The videos will be added once per week so after a while the total number will mount up.

I am very pleased that people are making good suggestions. Fortunately I do not get discouraged but I thank Paul for his kind remarks. Of course I will be making many many changes to the site. I am not expecting it to earn a great deal of money, rather I think it is a good hobby really.

Please do add more comments, thank you all very much :slight_smile:

#10

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

The thing about the 2257 stuff is that the billers will likely require it, even though you’re in the UK. And as a non-American (I’m one too) you simply need to go through the motions and appear as though you’re 2257 compliant. Just put up the link and then put your contact information on the 2257 page and you’ll be all set. No one will ever come knocking on your door. But if you want to do business with Americans, that’s what you need to do.

I like the new colour scheme much better.

#11

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

[QUOTE=dzinerbear;92892]The thing about the 2257 stuff is that the billers will likely require it, even though you’re in the UK. And as a non-American (I’m one too) you simply need to go through the motions and appear as though you’re 2257 compliant. Just put up the link and then put your contact information on the 2257 page and you’ll be all set. No one will ever come knocking on your door. But if you want to do business with Americans, that’s what you need to do.

I like the new colour scheme much better.[/QUOTE]

Thank you Michael :slight_smile:

There will be many tweaks and changes over time. Do please feel free to visit and comment as you wish. All suggestions are welcome!

I will indeed make sure the site 100% fulfils the 2257 requirements as it is important that customers are sure that they are not breaking the law. I think these laws are very important and I am keen to make it totally clear that the site is 100% legal.

#12

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

I know its too late now but I would have gone with another name than “Hot Doods”. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the word dudes spelled like “doods”. Makes me think of doody… yech. There are still a lot of good names for porn sites out there, but like I said, you’re probably happy with Hot Doods so best of luck.

#13

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

Oh yeah, I’ve seen “doods” lots of places.

#14

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

Thank you msm for mentioning this. It is not too late for me to change the domain for the website.

The “dood” spelling of this slang word is becoming popularised and the “dude” spelling is I think being gradually deprecated.

To be honest I hadn’t thought of the “doody” connection, I suspect that “doody” is US slang, however it is a concern as the US customers would be important.

I will look into this one because it is a valid issue no doubt.

#15

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

Be careful, dudes, doods…can end up to be “duds”…

#16

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

Gumdrop is right… on the first forum I ever joined (like a hundred years ago) I used the nickname “cyberdude”. Someone disagreed with a post I made and I was called “cyberdud”… and it stuck.

Andrew, if your company name is Dood Films then maybe you should stick with Hot Dudes. I also thought of another name but I’ll IM it to you. If I post it here someone might take it!

#17

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

[QUOTE=msm;93180]Gumdrop is right… on the first forum I ever joined (like a hundred years ago) I used the nickname “cyberdude”. Someone disagreed with a post I made and I was called “cyberdud”… and it stuck.

Andrew, if your company name is Dood Films then maybe you should stick with Hot Dudes. I also thought of another name but I’ll IM it to you. If I post it here someone might take it![/QUOTE]

Thank you for your comment and the excellent suggestion you sent in PM. I’ve responded to that.

My domain name remains changeable up until when the site starts accepting members and that is possibly less than a week from now.

I am aware of the dangers of Hot Doods, the possibility of “Dud” and the connection with “doody” in the US, but equally I like the name “Hot Doods”, there is something simple and strong about it. Also I’m getting the impression that it works well for those who have no English or for whom English is a second language. “hotdoods” in “hotdoods.com” has 8 letters and they are memorable. I have discussed the site in a few other places on the 'net and the name is going down well. I think that the choice of “Doods” as the spelling might be quite sensible, as the “twinky” types who are featured in the site would spell “Doods” that way and so I think that it has a “twinky” association, although I don’t think that is very strong, the association would be be the same perhaps as spelling cool “kool”.

I am mulling all this over and I am certainly grateful for any thoughts about it.

#18

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

When I first read some of the responses here regarding the name “dood” I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. When I first saw your avatar, I seriously thought it read “Poop Films”. I think it’s the font. The "d"s kind of look like "p"s at first glance.

Are you going to feature solo guys only? If yes, that could be a very tough sell. There are only a few sites I know of that do it well and even those aren’t the biggest sellers anymore. We pretty much stopped doing solos a long time ago. We’ve found they’re just not worth the time or effort.

I assume your landing page will have a more direct entrance path than it does now?

Whatever you decide I wish you the best with your new site.

#19

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

[QUOTE=Seth;93192]When I first read some of the responses here regarding the name “dood” I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. When I first saw your avatar, I seriously thought it read “Poop Films”. I think it’s the font. The "d"s kind of look like "p"s at first glance.

Are you going to feature solo guys only? If yes, that could be a very tough sell. There are only a few sites I know of that do it well and even those aren’t the biggest sellers anymore. We pretty much stopped doing solos a long time ago. We’ve found they’re just not worth the time or effort.

I assume your landing page will have a more direct entrance path than it does now?

Whatever you decide I wish you the best with your new site.[/QUOTE]

Now that you mention it the font in Dood Films does make it look a bit like Poop films :slight_smile:

That graphic is going to be superseded at some time when I get a chance.

If you think about it, “dood” is “poop” upside down :slight_smile:

I do have a bunch of solo films at present and so I will start with those. Hot Doods can have duos if need be, although I have other domain names which suggest “duo” as well.

When the site starts adopting members there will be some extra stuff in the preview. Firstly, there will be a “Join” button and a “Members” button. There will be a “Featured Videos” page which will have a handful of featured videos (not surprisingly).

I know that when I go to a porn site (it does happen!) my first port of call is the “updates” page if there is one. I just want to see what has recently been added, and so that is why I give the “updates” page a high priority.

I could also have a “Models” page which I think would make sense. This is easy to do, however at the very beginning when there is only a handful of films it doesn’t make sense.

Although I could be wrong, personally I’m not keen on “Tours” and that kind of thing. When I encounter tours at websites I feel I just want to know what is actually there and not have to go through a tour which can seem like it isn’t really telling me what is there.

My own approach to a porn website is to go straight to the updates page, if they have one, and check that out.

However I may be very unique in my ways :slight_smile:

#20

Re: New website “Hot Doods”

With the domain name problem, is it not possible to create a twin site with a different domain for American audiences and just host everything on the one umbrella site? So effectively you’d have two sites, one for European audience and one for American, with all video and galleries streamed/hosted from one master domain. I’m sure there are some major names who use this method to feed several sites with the same content.
It would also allow you to use different designs for each.

Also, if these are Brit guys, and you’re targeting a US audience, make sure you make a big song and dance about them being uncut. Foreskin is a big niche for American guys and you don’t want to miss out on a share of that.