Hello, everyone. I would like to start a tube site , but I have absolutely no idea exactly where to start. It would be great if any of you could point me in the direction of some good resources. Thanks! 
Re: Tube Site: Where do I start?
Hello OGChristopher, nice to see you on the GayDemon forum. Setting up a tube site pretty much means:
- buying a domain
- getting hosting
- install a tube script or use wordpress with a tubesite plugin
- signup with sponsors that have hosted tube videos and add their material via a csv dump or feed
Now the complicated stuff … are you just wanting a tube with videos that you make the sales from as an affiliate, or are you wanting to have surfers and/or sponsors upload videos to it? Do you plan to run what we call a “legal” tube … ? Legal means the videos would be Sponsor approved, and no full length videos are given away for free, with links to the sponsor below each video.
Do you have any prior experience with running a website (of any kind), and doing affiliate sales?
What is prompting the desire to do a tube site? Do you want to show specific gay niche type videos or just all gay videos in general? Have you seen a particular tube that is a good example of what you want for yourself?
I’ll stop there, and let you fill in some data so we have some idea of how to assist you!
Re: Tube Site: Where do I start?
Thank you very much for your response. Steps 1 and 2 are no-brainers. I own OneGaytion.com (hence the letters O and G in my screen name) and I’m launching a bear-related website within the next couple of days.
The tube script thing seems extremely complicated to me. My coding skills with JavaScript aren’t really up to par and I’m not quite ready to pay out of the ass for someone who may or may not be able to put things to my exact specifications to do it for me. I looked all over for a tutorial, but found nothing.
I definitely want to run a “legal” tube site with absolutely no full-length videos whatsoever. Only my sponsors and I would upload videos. I’d take care of the marketing on my end. This one would feature muscular/athletic men on cam.
As for why I would like to build a tube site, things are changing. Blogs don’t don’t seem to get the traffic that they used to. Tube-style websites are “in” now and I don’t see that changing without strengthened digital media sharing laws with much stricter enforcement and heavier penalties.
P.S. If there is a way I can build a tube-blog hybrid, that would be even better.
Re: Tube Site: Where do I start?
Ok great! You aren’t a total newbie! I can provide some resource links and let you browse through for whatever options appeal to you.
Themes - free shareware video and tgp themes in multiple colors available from www.adultsiteskins.com
Pro Themes - Adult Templates Evolution
www.wordpressvideotube.com – unlimited license is $29.95 but they also require you purchase the script version without their branding for any adult site, which adds another $25 one time fee.
I’m not totally clear if this works out of the box or if you need the Videoswiper, which is a monthly fee item. I’d check a faq page or contact them for presales questions before buying. I mention it because it has this feature “Separate blog / video blocks so you can create full video sites away from your articles”, which should satisfy the blog/tube combination you were hoping for.
WPBase Plugin - free download on the Wordpress site. Scroll down first page for links to the themes he has for it.
Tubepress is a free plugin … there is also a Tubepress Express which gets hosted for you on a cloud server for a fee.
Non-Wordpress Options
At one point in time I would of suggested the Nubiles Free Tube Script, but it really isn’t supported and I think you’d have more headaches trying to work with it than some other options. But it might work well enough for you to decide if you really want to run a tube site. You can use it for gay, but must leave 2 specific links in the script that goes to Nubiles.
TubeAce - This is actively supported and updated and I see the owner on the forums on a pretty regular basis.
Another script is TubeX, which is now free, and you may or may not get some support from the guys on Github. This is one of the JMBSoft scripts that is/was quite popular. You’ll see download links for all of his scripts, including TGPX, LinkX, a toplist and a trade script among others.
So start with those and hopefully other GD members will have other suggestions for you as well.
Re: Tube Site: Where do I start?
Hello Christopher,
Do you ever make it down to Atlanta? Chatanooga isn’t too far away from me. If you do make it down this direction, message me and we can try to meet up for a drink. I’ll let you pick my brain and be happy to help you out as much as I can.
Best,
Bryce
Rockettube.com • JustUsBoys.com • BrokeStraightBoys.com • CollegeDudes.com
EmptyClosets.org • HSBoys.com • and many many more …
Re: Tube Site: Where do I start?
welcome , and good luck with your tube site!
- jim
Re: Tube Site: Where do I start?
@Bec, These are really good suggestions.I especially like what I see on tubeace.com. I will review them in greater detail over the weekend.
@Rocket_Bryce, I’m actually from the Atlanta area and am there at least once a month. I’ll let you know something.
@nycjim, Thanks!
Re: Tube Site: Where do I start?
I wouldn’t mind helping you as well and lives in ATL. I visited your site. Does your site feature men of color?
Re: Tube Site: Where do I start?
Of course, but I tend to shy away from updates that fetishize or otherwise put unnecessary emphasis on race and most paysites do that whenever their content features non-White men.
Re: Tube Site: Where do I start?
I understand. Well I look forward with working with you. Keep us updated.
Re: Tube Site: Where do I start?
FYI: WordPress Video Tube also lists “Separate blog / video blocks so you can create full video sites away from your articles” as one of its features.
BTW, this theme/plugin looks great except that its not responsive.
Anyhow, these tube solutions that are based off the idea of building a site completely around YouTube embeds are a potential problem since the YouTube TOS prohibits that type of use.