Promoting Your Services With Social Media and Other Free Sites

Free marketing is the best form of marketing for sex workers, but also something that sex workers (cam models primarily) seem to fear. Free marketing is as follows: social media (usually Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat), either ran by yourself or by what is commonly referred to as a “promoter”, which is someone who runs an account specifically targeting your field of work and “free” video hosting sites (Pornhub, YouPorn) or paid sites with free previews (ManyVids, Clips4Sale).

Twitter: The Sex-Worker Friendly Social Media Outlet

We currently live in a technology-driven generation so you can guess why social media plays such an important role in free marketing. Twitter seems to be the trendy sex-worker friendly social outlet that allows nudity, porn clips, and pretty much anything as long as it isn’t extremely taboo or openly posted in the profile or header photo. It’s a great form of free marketing because it is a direct line to your (followers) fans.

Instagram and TopDolls (The NSFW Instagram Alternative!)

Another important social media source is Instagram, which allows the user to share photos with captions directly to their following. There is a downfall to Instagram specifically related to sex work which is it is a non-nude app.

Snapchat: Marketing + Money From Premium Subscriptions

Yet another important social media source for marketing is Snapchat. Although Snapchat does not allow the sale of their services, or nudity, many sex workers have “loopholed” this by only offering nude Snapchat to paying or “premium” members. Why would someone report something they paid for, you know? Don’t let the premium Snapchat idea completely encompass your life though, because it is just as important to run a free one.

Every sex worker cringes at the word free, but they shouldn’t. I recently just made the leap into running a free and paid Snapchat and my paid Snapchat sales have increased from about one purchase a week to between five and ten a week. The key to your free Snapchat is incentive, do not give away ANYTHING that’s worth paying for. Free Snapchats are great for promoting sales, posting cute selfies, posting censored images to entice the viewer, and for keeping in contact with customers who are “testing the waters.”

Money and Traffic From “Free” Tube Sites

Next I will tackle the “free” tube sites. Notice how I put free in quotation marks? Well that is because if the clip creator actually creates an account and uploads the content themselves they can sign up for a program run by PornHub and YouPorn called the Amateur Program which is a paid program which pays for views and advertisements run on the videos you upload.

So while the viewer gets the “free” content (which if you watermark with your website or social media can actually become a paying customer) you are also making money and showing good examples of the quality of your content to a new pool of viewers. Side note: if someone uploads your content without your permission on tube sites, you can get it taken down. Do not blame the sites themselves for people on the internet who steal your material, these sites are building their business just like many of us are.

Free previews on clip sites are also important. This is what entices viewers to actually buy the content! My biggest suggestion is to ALWAYS watermark your content, so even if your free videos are stolen they will still direct the traffic back to you (more free marketing) and it’ll be easier to get taken down in the future!

Don’t Knock Free Marketing! It’s Worth The Effort!

Don’t knock free marketing! You may sometimes feel like it is exhausting and takes a lot of effort, which is a great time to take a break from it because those customers are non-paying! I hope this gives you a little insight into better ways to market your material!

For more marketing tips, check out the marketing section of this site.

Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) For Webcam Models

Open Broadcaster Software (often referred to as OBS) is an open source broadcasting encoder system which is free to download and available for use across many adult webcamming platforms as well as game streaming platforms. OBS is an external program which you will have to download from their website. This program is great because it allows the users to stream in amazing HD quality that sites may limit otherwise, it is also great because it has convenient features for cam models that most sites do not provide. This program can also record your streams which is convenient for resale of explicit shows.

Setting Up Scenes and Sources

Before you stream you should set your “scene” and sources. Your scene will be a selection that you can chose which will default all your settings, so you won’t have to keep setting it up when you use it. First you will want to select your video source and audio source,. You will be able to name these sources to make it easier if you use multiple devices. Once you set these up, you should see a preview of your stream. If it looks distorted make sure to set it to fill the screen so you can see it as it will be broadcasted.

Configuring The Output Settings

There should now be options to fill in to control your output by going to settings and clicking “Video.” Depending on what device you are using your settings will differ. You can check your webcam information to determine which output will work for you camera. You do have the ability to push that limit but it may make your stream choppy or blurry. We suggest that you stay within the range of your webcam (generally 1280×720 works just fine!) You can also set your FPS (Frames Per Second) on this screen. Generally, a healthy FPS is between 30-60. Setting it to 60 will require faster internet, so keep that in mind. OBS can crash, so do not push your technology beyond limits (computer and webcam included) try to keep your CPU below 50% for a healthy stream.

Setting Hot Keys To Record Shows

You may also find it convenient to set some “hot keys” before beginning your stream, in case you find you’re in a hot show and want to record it. This can also be found it settings, try to make sure you set your hot keys to something you wouldn’t normally press.

Configuring OBS For Different Camming Sites

Depending on what site you use, there will be different kinds of recommended settings. For example, Chaturbate suggests these settings: Codec: H.264 Video, AAC Audio. Aspect ratio: 4:3 or 16:9 only. Resolution: From a height of 240 pixels up to 4k (2160 pixels). Frame Rate: Up to 30 fps, between 24-30 fps is reasonable. Bitrate: Up to 20 Mbps (20 000 Kbps) Video, 192 Kbps Audio – CBR Preferred. Key Frame Interval: Any reasonable value; between 2-5s is good. H.264 Profile: Main or High preferred; baseline is acceptable.

While OBS is also used on Streamate (along with SM Broadcast and Adobe FMLE) it is not suggested since the errors that occur on it can’t be tracked as easily as they can be on the encoder the site created themselves: SM Broadcast. It is also said that using SM Broadcast will give a placement boost as opposed to using OBS but some veteran cam models have stated there is no difference in placement. Streamate supports much higher streaming settings than most other sites, so your settings for OBS on Streamate should be as good as you can get them to improve your placement.

How To Get The OBS Stream Started

The part that trips most people up about encoders, including OBS, is getting their stream started. In order to do this there should be a button from your broadcast window that says “external encoder” or “external source.” There should be a prompt or a button to get more information which will include a streaming key. Once you retrieve this key, go to your settings and go to “Stream” and from there you will find the options streaming services or custom streaming server.

If the site you cam on includes a custom streaming URL, you will select the custom streaming server. But most sites will be listed in the generic streaming services. The adult sites are filtered at first but once you select “show all services” the adult sites will be listed. Once you select your site, copy and paste your stream key in and apply your changes. From there you should be able to start your stream!

Additional OBS Tips For Camgirls

Auto-Delay: While most sites already delay your live stream, you also have the option to delay your stream from your end, in case something is to happen like a person calling your name etc. if you set this setting to about 7 seconds, you will be able to quickly disconnect the stream without broadcasting a potential doxxing situation.

Auto-Reconnect: If you do not have strong internet, setting up auto-reconnect will also be helpful in case you experience drops in connection.

Different Formats: If you don’t like the format of OBS you can change it by going to general under settings, and make it more pleasing to the eye! (My personal favorite is Acri.)

Auto-Record: You can also go to general settings and set it to always record your streams, just in case you’re forgetful about it!

Using Webcams and OBS For Filming Clips

For models who don’t have a good camera, and film clips using their webcams, it is also possible to record using OBS. You can make your settings how you’d like them visibly and preview it beforehand and record directly from OBS and save the recording from there. It will generally provide better quality than most recording applications.

Camgirls: Using Photos For Social Media Marketing

Social media within the porn industry is designed to be eye-catching and to “sell customers” on your brand.

Message / Branding of Shared Photos

When it comes to posting photos on social media, the first thing you should think about is the kind of content that you are posting and how that conveys your brand. For example, a model who posts a selfie with a headset on and controller in her hand will draw in customers who like “gamer girls.” Does this model know that she is attracting that kind of viewer, and is that the kind of viewer that she wants? That’s a very general example, because I’m sure any model wouldn’t mind that type of audience, but now think a little bit deeper into it.

If that same model posted a photo in her “I Voted” sticker, it may draw some of her customers to engage with her in political discussion, which depending on her political views and the potential customers political views could end either very well or very negatively. My main point here is: stay on brand! Anything you post is up to interpretation and discussion by the viewer. You can easily decide what “kind of model” you are by what you decide to post, and limiting personal posts can open up your brand to more general acceptance and customer traffic.

Quality of Photos Being Shared

Next in our photo tips is the quality, and what customers will assume based on it. Constantly posting photos that are poor quality will lead customers to think that any custom content or photosets they purchase will be in the same quality. The quality you sell in should be the quality that you’re advertising in. Posting only “duds” to social media can sometimes creative a negative idea in the potential customers minds that you don’t care about how you appear to others and that your content isn’t worth buying. While you obviously shouldn’t be giving away anything for free that is worth buying, you can creatively avoid that while advertising your good quality content still through censoring, watermarking, taking SFW versions of the photos, etc.

Layout of Photos Being Posted

The layout of your photos is a very important factor in advertising as well (specifically on Twitter.) The way that Twitter sorts your photos when you post them can sometime focus in on things that aren’t meant to be the primary focus of the photo. When it comes to posting photos the most eye-catching and aesthetically pleasing ways are to post one photo in landscape, two photos in portrait, or one photo in portrait and two in landscape. When organized in that way specifically, it is more visually appealing, and will not awkwardly crop the photos.

Adding Text / Messages To Photos

Marketing messages directly on the photos can also be very eye-catching, but many models make the mistake of putting all of the writing over their photos rather than as a caption/description. Words that are on top of photos are harder to read, and if you don’t contrast colors correctly it can be sore on the eyes. The best way to market your deals with photos is to put most of the deal within the caption, or create a separate graphic that isn’t cluttered to advertise it. (For example: on Twitter, pair a portrait style selfie with a portrait style graphic with the background the same color as your shirt in the selfie, and the writing in a contrasting color.) Even if you create a separate graphic for your marketing, you should still put the main points within the caption (especially website links so they will be clickable.)

Sharing Photos Vs GIFs

A lot of people assume that with photo marketing that it only has to be still photos, but with GIFs you can still promote the best parts of videos without giving away some of the things that video previews can (sound, mostly.) GIFs are a great eye-catching way to market videos, and can usually be easily created within your video editor or by using GIF creating websites like ezgif.com!

GIFs are a great way to catch attention when marketing

GIFs are the special in-between of picture and video, while GIFs are technically image files they are really like a tiny video that repeats over and over again. They have all of the eye catching benefits of a video with the benefit of being a photo which means the file is smaller, and platforms that don’t allow video previews will sometimes allow GIFs.

So… what is a gif? “Animated GIFs are several images or frames combined into a single file. They are displayed in succession with varying frame rates to create short low-file-size animations. GIFs, by default, end on the last frame, though they are now more commonly seen looping.”

How do I create a GIF?

Creating a GIF isn’t hard, don’t get discouraged! Some key things to remember when making GIFs is to use a video file that doesn’t have too many colors, because GIFs often degrade the color value when they are converted from video.

1. EZ Gif – EZGif.com is a free online GIF creator that can be used in most browsers, they allow you to convert photos or videos to GIF format. Their video to animated GIF creator allows you to select up to 30 seconds of footage for your GIF and also allows you to edit the GIF once it is rendered.
2. Filmora Wondershare – Filmora Wondershare is a pretty common video editor many performers use, but you can also use it for creating GIFs! Simply export your project as a GIF and boom, you’re done!
3. Most Video Editors – A majority of high end video editors will have an option to export your project as a GIF, just look for it under your export settings.
4. IMGPlay (Phone App) – This app is great for turning videos on your phone into a GIF, you can even overlay stickers and text onto the GIF.

Where can I market using GIFs?

Marketing with GIFs is very common on blogs and various social media, Twitter is one of the biggest markets for GIF marketing. There are also ample marketing opportunities on other social media platforms, for example Reddit has communities that are specifically dedicated to porn GIFs! You can also market with GIFs on your Pornhub profile stream or your ManyVids MV Social page, pretty much anywhere that allows image files allows GIFs and they convert much better than photos especially when promoting clip content!

Clip sites are a great traffic source, but do you have a “home base” for your clips?

Having your own website is very important as an independent porn creator due to the fact that oftentimes sites can be unreliable. Whether they go down due to tech issues or disappear permanently, no site that isn’t under your control and being hosted by you will ever be a completely safe bet. Outside of having your own website for the SEO value and to help bring yourself more traffic as a performer, it can also be beneficial to have your own clip and tip store on your website. If you are a performer who has a large customer base already it can be worth the investment longterm. You will generate a higher percentage on each individual sale and you will generate your own dedicated fan base that knows they can purchase your content directly from you rather than paying a middleman. It can also be a great way to take orders for custom content, sell photo sets, or sell tangibles.

What should I use to set up my website?

This guide will be covering a self hosted WordPress website (with an adult friendly host) utilizing the WooCommerce Plugin. If you aren’t at the step where you have your website and hosting set up, you will need to do that first.

How do I create my store?

First things first, you will need to download the WooCommerce plugin on WordPress. You can do this under the Plugins sections of your WordPress Admin. You will need a “sample store” to submit to CCBill for approval in order to pass through their compliance review as well as the Visa and MasterCard compliance review. You will need to set up a few example products to show you have a working store, you will additionally need to add information to your website in order to pass the compliance review from CCBill. CCBill will assign a representative to you that will help you throughout your set up process, don’t hesitate to ask questions!

Make sure you’re ready to request CCBill processing:

• Company or sole proprietor info (including a DBA if you do not have a registered business)
• Two forms of identification
• The URL for the site where you wish to accept payments
• Visa and MasterCard high risk annual registration fee ($1,000)

What does your site need to be CCBill compliant?

• A terms and conditions page
• A refund policy that allows refunds
• Contact information for your business
• Contact information for billing support
• All offsite links should open in a new tab

Ask your CCBill representative for the CCBill WooCommerce Plugin, in order to use it you will go to Plugins within your WordPress admin and go to “Add New.” You will upload the file they provide to you and it will automatically put CCBill as a payment option under your WooCommerce Settings. From there, once your CCBill account is approved and passes CCBill compliance you will get the information that you will enter within your payment settings on WooCommerce.

Once your account passes the CCBill compliance review it will be sent off for Visa review, the whole process should take no longer than 2 weeks if you stay on top of it and communicate with your CCBill representative.

How much does a WooCommerce / CCBill store cost to start?

The cost of running your site will include site hosting, content hosting, any theme you may purchase for your site, and the Visa/MasterCard high risk annual fee of $1,000. You can expect to keep 88%-92% of your income after high risk card processing fees. If you are someone who creates a lot of custom content and wants a place to take payments for custom content where you keep a large percentage, this is a great option and will usually pay itself off rather quickly. When you factor in the extra 8%-12% you will receive rather than using a site that pays 80% for tips (or sometimes even lower) if you make at least $100 a month for the entire year you will make your money back on the fee.

How will I deliver my content?

WooCommerce is equipped to handle digital goods if you provide them with a link. Personally I use Muse.ai because their support confirmed that they are adult friendly and it only costs $8 a month for 500GB of storage. I have the option to link to video only and only allow those with the link to access, which is perfect for these types of sales. I also use them as an adult friendly alternative to sites like Google Drive or DropBox which are not adult friendly.

How do I know if this is a good option for me?

If you don’t have your brand built up and don’t get many custom content requests, this may not be a good option for you. You will be responsible for driving any traffic to the page which is something you don’t have to worry about with most existing clip sites. Having your own clip store interface on your own website is a great option for established models who want to invest in building their brand further and have some money to spare because it is “risky” and may not have the return that you would expect.

How do I get traffic to my own store?

Getting traffic to your own store can seem overwhelming but if you set up with self hosted WordPress you are already a step ahead of the game because you have blogging capability which is super important for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and by utilizing SEO you will be able to get organic web traffic to your website and viewing your clips. There are many other ways to drive traffic to your store, including marketing it on your social media, live on cam (if your cam site allows it) and on your fan clubs, watermarking the link onto your clips that you post to clip stores, buying adult traffic, cross promotion with other models, posting previews with watermarks and links to tube sites, posting extended versions of clips onto it and posting the shortened versions to clip stores with an upsell to visit your website, starring in content with another model and requesting a backlink to your website, and more! It is very similar to how you would market your clip sites but with a little more webmaster work on the backend to get the full potential of traffic.

What do I blog about / post about to bring traffic to my WordPress site?

Blog about your launch, blog when you post a new video and link to it, blog when you are planning a collaboration, blog any time anything happens basically! You can get great keyword reach by blogging about pretty much anything you do, even if it isn’t relevant to your store. You can blog about your live webcam schedule, or if you open up a new storefront on a clip site, every time you post a new clip to a tube site! When creating your blogs think “what would I search for if I was looking for this?” For example: people don’t often search full questions or sentences, if they are looking for a porn clip of a hot blond milf they will probably just search… “hot blond milf porn” so you’ll want to utilize keywords that people will actually search!

What are the benefits of having my own store versus a generic clip site storefront?

• Better customization and personalization options
• Control over the information you require from customers
• Higher payout percentage
• Personal branded websites create a stronger foundation for your business
• Ability to troubleshoot tech or payment issues with customers personally rather than relying on an outside party
• More control over uploads, descriptions, keywords, amount of categories
• Control over how and where the content is displayed
• No signing over rights to your content to a clip site that can use it for free for promotion of their own brand
• No on-site competition
• Ability to further monetize your website with advertisements and upsells
• Decreases the likelihood of data breaches on clip sites impacting you
• Control over minimum/maximum pricing

Are there other ways I can bring traffic to my website?

Utilizing tube websites like Pornhub can be a great way to bring more traffic to your self hosted website. You should also advertise your website on all of your social media platforms as well as any website you sell on that allows you to put outgoing links on your timeline or information. It can also be a great idea to use your website as a watermark so that if your content is ever pirated you will get traffic from the views and it will be easier to get taken down. Essentially market your website like it’s the only website that you have and let other websites you are already on do the work for you with internal traffic that they have. If you have good keywords on your website you will also be able to rank for yourself in the search engines so when people inevitably google you after seeing how hot and amazing you are, they will find out that you have an official website created by you!

Other things you should know before self-hosting your own site

First things first, it is a pain. It isn’t going to have the fancy features that your typical clip site has because they paid a tech wizard to make the cool feature that allows you to grab previews straight out of your videos and automatically do screengrabs for your thumbnail. You are going to need to put in the leg work or hire an assistant to do the legwork for you. Depending on your level of technical skill it can be relatively easy to get started or it can be the most painstakingly difficult thing you’ve ever dealt with, your level of perfectionism will also come into play here.

Additionally, this is not the sole way to self host a site. There are plenty of other things you can use besides WordPress, but in my personal experience WordPress is the most SEO friendly as well as the most customizable. There are thousands of templates at your disposal that you can try (I recommend an e-commerce one for this specifically) and plug-ins and other things that you can use to jazz up your website and make it reflect yourself and your brand.

Lastly, if you take this project on then be prepared to put time into it. You will have to go back and forth with CCBill to sort out your compliance and make sure everything is working, you may need to make changes to your website to stay compliant, and you have to stay on top of things to ensure customers aren’t experiencing any issues on the site. You will be handling everything except for payment processing. That includes content delivery, communications, technical support, etc. With the right mindset and the desire to grow, designing and building your own “home base” can be a fantastic way to improve your brand!

Selecting a good Domain Name / URL for your website can help improve your traffic and income

When you make the decision to purchase a domain for your brand, you want to make sure that the one you select will help positively influence your income and brand awareness. As an adult performer you will need to take many factors into consideration when selecting your domain name to ensure that you are taking full advantage of all the possibilities with your URL. The traffic to your domain name should ideally be a combination of multiple forms of traffic: including your own traffic from your promotions, organic traffic driven from search engines, traffic generated from watermarks on your content, (unfortunately) traffic driven from pirated content which is why the watermarked content is important, traffic from social media, and more. In order to generate all of these forms of traffic, we have some important recommendations for selecting your domain.

Selecting your domain name when you select your alias / brand name will be helpful in the future

Our tips for selecting a good domain name will partially rely on the usefulness of your alias / brand name. The default “best domain name” you can select will be your stage name, but if your stage name is too long, too vague, overused, non-specific, non-human, misleading, or already taken then you may face some hardships in securing a domain name that will meet the criteria to bring in good traffic. If you’ve already selected a stage name and you are finding yourself having a hard time with it due to the overuse, lack of uniqueness, or confusing nature of it then you may want to consider rebranding. A good way to decide on if rebranding is necessary for you is to consider the following questions:

• Is your name too confusing? For example, are there numbers or symbols in the name that could cause confusion in the vocal relaying of it.
• Is your name too long? If your name is so long that it becomes hard to remember then you can lose a significant amount of traffic.
• Is your name overused? Will people find YOU when they search for you on Google (or any other search engine?)
• Is your name human? Generally, people will remember names the more “regular” and “human-like” they are.
• Is your name too simple? If you only go by “Kate” and your username on everything is “SexyKate” that may not be unique enough to drive traffic.

If you have found yourself answering yes to a lot of the questions above, you may find more success in rebranding. If you haven’t chosen your stage name yet then you are in luck! It’s a great time to put a lot of consideration into deciding what your stage name will be.

The best name is YOUR name

The best domain name that you can pick is your name, so long as it meets all of the criteria previously discussed. If it is easy to remember, short, easy to spell, has non-repeating letters, and is at least vaguely human then that will probably be your best choice! It will be your best choice because when people find you on various platforms they are going to search for you by name, this will include your username or the name you tell them. Let’s hope that those are the same! A great way to drive traffic to you domain when it is your name is to make sure you register for every website you use with your name, keeping it consistent across all platforms will eliminate confusion. It is a common adult industry practice to “hold” your name on new sites when they launch to help avoid running into issues with your name being taken. On sites that allow watermarks, you can also put your watermark on all of your content, this will help direct your own internal traffic to your website (where I imagine you’ll list your preferred websites) and it will help customers find you if they happen to come across content of yours that is pirated.

.com names are the best domains to pick

.com (short for commercial) is highly regarded as the standard for top level domains (TLD.) A top level domain is the last part of your domain name, the part after the last dot. Since it is considered the standard, it is the TLD which is most commonly used and generally the first option someone will type in when they search for you. If you are rocking a TLD that is not the standard you may encounter problems with people assuming that your website is a .com instead of a .tv or .live or whatever TLD you decided on. Don’t fret! If your .com is still available, you can simply forward your alternative TLD to your .com, and we actually suggest grabbing all of your TLDs down the line when you’ve got enough income and brand recognition for it. It helps prevent pirating and catfish accounts, and then no matter what a customer types in they’ll probably find you.

Domains that are easily spoken will be better to use

The adult industry relies on speaking almost as much as typing, especially within the camming industry vertical. A domain name that can be easily told to someone will be a better domain name to have, especially if it does not have repeating letters or alternative TLDs. Bonus points if it is the same as your cam site username, because you can say “if the spelling is confusing, just look at my username!”

What if my preferred domain is already taken?

If you run into the unfortunate instance where you didn’t buy your domain name at the same time you created your stage name, you may find your domain name that is a direct match for your stage name is already taken. If you are hard set against rebranding it may be time to get creative with your name. A simple solution to this can be adding “The” in the beginning or “Official” at the end of your domain. For example: if your stage name is Viola Sparks and that domain is taken you can opt for “TheViolaSparks.com” or “ViolaSparksOfficial.com” but this may be difficult to remember or too long so you can also opt for something a bit shorter like “Viola-Sparks.com” or something with more keyword value like “PornstarViola.com.” When your direct name is taken, keywords with your first or last name (whichever is most identifiable and unique to you) are your second best option!

Your domain is important but not as important as what it points to

If it’s too late to rebrand, your preferred name is taken, and for whatever reason you can not find a decent alternative… it is important to remember that while a domain name is special and important it is nowhere near as important as what the domain points to. If you are simply redirecting your domain to one of your clip or cam sites, the search value may already be impacted by this due to the search engine optimization that the site you’re redirecting to offers. Models looking to build their domain while forwarding it should utilize a domain registrar that allows them to add keywords for their domain, so they won’t lose search engine optimization value when forwarding. Models that are looking to attach their domain to their own website should utilize search engine optimization research and knowledge to ensure that they get the most from their domain, while it is important whether or not you get your preferred name, models who are unable to obtain their preferred name can make a drastic difference in traffic and search value by researching and applying SEO tips.

Is a domain name / URL necessary as a webcam model or video seller?

Domains aren’t necessary for success and there are many models who have found success without them, but it does make advertising easier. If you are someone who has spread out your brand to ensure the most recognition for your content, you may lose track of all of the different site names and URLs, which you can easily structure with sub-domains if you have your own domain name. Domain names become more crucial with the creation of your own website, but in the early stages they are certainly not make or break and rely more on your personal preference.

What is Cryptocurrency? Why is it suddenly popular in porn?

Back in my day, you entered your card number into the porn sites to get access to your favorite porn videos and the sites you bought them on withdrew your funds in your local currency (USD, CAD, etc) and paid a part of them to the performer. Easy peasy but it comes with some flaws, one of the biggest of them being the lack of privacy that comes with purchases made directly from your bank account in your local currency. Cryptocurrency is a form of currency that is digital and helps to rectify the privacy issue created by using personal cards and bank accounts by simplifying the transfer of currency to a blockchain style system. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is, so let’s break it down.

You know how when you go grocery shopping (if anyone still does that in person these days) items all have a bar code that is scanned that identifies what the item is? That is almost like a cryptocurrency wallet. Each type of cryptocurrency has it’s own identifying wallet number in your wallet, it allows you to receive that specific type of cryptocurrency to your wallet. It is a unique sequence (like a barcode) that identifies that the wallet is yours and the type of cryptocurrency being transferred to you. Your wallet code for receiving Bitcoin will be different than Ethereum, etc. You also need to remember that wallets all have different types of cryptocurrency that they support, so before you decide to accept cryptocurrency directly for payments you will want to ensure you sign up for a wallet that allows you to accept the type that you want.

What kind of cryptocurrency should I accept for payments?

Deciding your preferred cryptocurrency type will depend on if you are looking for something that can potentially grow over time if left in your wallet, or if you are looking for a quick transfer to your local currency and cash out. Stable-coins will work much better for quick cashouts because the likelihood of losing money is not high, that comes with the unfortunate side effect of also not potentially gaining money. One of the biggest benefits of cryptocurrency (but also drawback if not planned correctly) is that nearly all cryptocurrency outside of your standard stable-coins are fairly volatile. This means that throughout the day the value of the currency changes (when compared to your preferred currency.) When you go to the store and buy a carton of eggs, you can typically count on it to come out to around $1 USD. That is because the value of a dollar is pretty steady when it comes to the value of goods and services. The value of the dollar also doesn’t fluctuate dramatically because money is being continuously printed which means the possibility of a shortage of dollar bills isn’t high. Compare this to cryptocurrency, and you’ll be mind boggled.

To simplify it: the value is in a unique sequence that you purchase with other unique sequences or with your local currency. The value of the amount of cryptocurrency you hold is determined by a few things: demand, supply, and usability. Major cryptocurrencies that nearly everyone has heard of like Bitcoin or Ethereum are so highly valued because they are in demand, there is a limited supply, and many major businesses accept them as payment methods. Since a majority of cryptocurrency has a limited supply, this can drive up the value of the cryptocurrency. If a rare limited edition baseball card came out and there were only 10 printed, that would drive up the desire for the baseball card because it is rare. If someone decided they wanted to buy the baseball card for “$x” that would become the new value of that card if the offer was accepted by the current card holder. If a card holder holds half of the cards, then they are even rarer than before and the price can be fluctuated entirely by that majority holder of the cards. The only value behind the cards is the desire for the cards, if the market for the cards decides that they are too expensive or not worth the money then the price once again will change. That is how volatile cryptocurrency works.

Stable-coins are a little different because their main functionality is holding a specific value. Some good stable-coin options for performers new to cryptocurrency are Tether (USDT) or USD Coin (USDC.) The main benefit of these coins is that they are fully collateralized by the US Dollar, meaning the value will always remain around $1 because it is traded on exchange with actual backing assets. Any cryptocurrency that you accept that isn’t a stable-coin will put you at risk of losing money, but can also put you in a position to gain money.

How can I decide what cryptocurrency to accept if I don’t want to use a stable-coin?

When you are looking at cryptocurrency to accept you need to look at the performance of the coin first and foremost, while it may be tempting to jump into cryptocurrency by taking the largely discussed crypto coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, since both of these are very public coins that are reported on constantly and in the forefront of many crypto conversations, you may actually shoot yourself in the foot if you accept these coins when they are on the rise and not during a dip.

So… what’s a dip? Besides something delicious to have on chips, a dip is when a cryptocurrency is holding a steady rise or plateau and suddenly drops. Since cryptocurrency is largely based on the demand for it, dips often scare crypto holders into selling out in order to minimize their loses. For example: recently Bitcoin fell from the value of $59,000 USD to $37,885 USD. This happened in a span of only about 12 days, meaning if 12 days ago someone accepted a Bitcoin payment for 1 Bitcoin (a high amount, but crypto math isn’t fun) they would have “lost” $21,115. This scares people who invest in cryptocurrency and can sometimes lead to a phenomenon called “paper hands” when a person sells their cryptocurrency to avoid any more loss, or if for instance someone bought Bitcoin back when it was valued at $100, they may try to sell when they see the dip happening so they don’t lose out on potential profit. But hear me out here… if you do decide to get into cryptocurrency and accept volatile coins, DO NOT SELL THE DIP.

You don’t actually lose value in your currency until you sell or trade it, while it is in your possession you still have the capability to gain back that profit. But again, this is a double edged sword because you also don’t reap the profits until you sell. 1 Bitcoin will always equal 1 Bitcoin, 1 Ethereum will always equal 1 Ethereum, and 1 Doge will always equal 1 Doge. If you sell your 1 coin, you are losing the future profitability of that coin.

With that in mind, pick out your coin by finding one that shows consistency in patterns. While it may not necessarily be a stable-coin, if it is showing consistent growth, if it is gaining popularity, or if it has already had it’s “bubble pop” and has a consistent “floor” (the value it very rarely ever drops below) then it is probably a great option for accepting payments. If you are looking for something to accept as tips for the long-term investment potential, getting large amounts of alt-coins that are cheap can be a great way to turn a significant profit. A cryptocurrency worth $0.01 going to $0.02 will give you 100% profit and is much easier to achieve then a $50 coin getting to $100 with the same profitability, you will also be able to hold much more of the cheap coin since the value to buy it is so low.

Avoid using “hype coins” as a payment method for serious content, only take it for tips

If you aren’t familiar with hype coins, it’s coins that are pumped by the public for holders of large quantities to turn over a profit by doing microtransactions. If you’ve heard of Dogecoin, you know what a hype coin is. Dogecoin was a joke cryptocurrency with an (almost) unlimited supply that suddenly jumped from being valued at under a penny in the beginning of 2021 to breaking new $0.10 barriers almost on a weekly basis, before dipping and having it’s “bubble pop” due to Elon Musk getting on Saturday Night Live and calling it a hustle. Hype coins will be swayed heavily by the public (like Elon Musk, who somehow became the king of cryptocurrency) and can face unexpected and highly risky volatile dips just because of a tweet. While it is dangerous because of the dips, it is also highly profitable if you get in before the bubble pops. This once again comes down to researching, looking at patterns, tracking growth, looking at long-term supply and usability, as well as market demand. Dogecoin did amazing during it’s sprint to a high of $0.70 but the growth potential beyond that is low due to the fact that a majority of the owned supply is held by a small group of people and because new Dogecoin is being produced rapidly, meaning it’ll most likely never “run out.” The danger of selling content or providing services in exchange for payments with “hype coins” is that you can potentially be impacted by the high volatility of the coin and end up losing profit for your product if you aren’t willing to hold the coins in your wallet until it goes back up, IF it goes back up. (As someone sitting here with -$2,200 in Dogecoin right now, I will assure you that holding cryptocurrency when it is dipping and spiraling is in my top 10 most stressful feelings.)

Find a wallet that does everything that you need

Finding a wallet that works for you and does everything that you need will help make your life easier, and help prevent money loss from transferring from wallet to wallet looking for the right fit for you. This is important because many wallets do charge fees for transfers, so limiting your outgoing transfers will help you to keep as much of your profit as possible!

Personally (being US based) I use the Crypto.com App, mainly because it has a fiat wallet attached which allows me to sell my cryptocurrency in exchange for USD and transfer it out to my bank account. The app allows me to accept transfers in over 25 different types of coins, and has the benefit of allowing users to use my phone number to send me cryptocurrency so there is no stress and hassle with ensuring I send the proper wallet code for the correct cryptocurrency and risking losing it if they input my wallet code incorrectly.

While that works best for me, some performers prefer using Kraken, Kucoin, Coinbase, Webull, Exodus, and more. The most important thing is to make sure that it supports the cryptocurrency you are looking to accept, that you can sell that cryptocurrency at some point if necessary, that transfer fees are low, and that it is user friendly enough for you to utilize based on your skill set. I’ve heard great things about Kucoin, but that sh*t is way too complicated for me.

Do I have to pay taxes on cryptocurrency?

When you exchange cryptocurrency for your local currency, yes you will pay taxes on it. This is what makes the usability of cryptocurrency so attractive and why popular coins dominate the crypto discussion, because they are accepted as actual payment for goods and services. I’m not telling you to evade your taxes, but cryptocurrency is digital money that isn’t tracked until you exchange it for a different currency. You should also read your preferred wallets terms and conditions to see if they report your capital gains or not. The taxes you pay on cryptocurrency profits are actually most likely higher than what you pay on income tax, it’s called a “capital gains” tax. There are long-term and short-term capital gains taxes that range from 20%-37% (in America.)

Wallet… too… stressful… Can I still crypto?

Thankfully, many websites have realized that dealing with cryptocurrency can be a lot for people just getting started in cryptocurrency trading. Our top recommendation for an adult friendly “mediator” website to handle your crypto transactions is SpankPay. SpankPay is a link based crypto wallet that allows your customers to send you a variety of different cryptocurrencies to your wallet where you hold it in your preferred currency. It is a great option for performers who want to give customers the ability to pay in cryptocurrency but to receive it in USD, for performers looking for a low fee tipping or payment option because the fee charged is only 0.5%, and for performers looking to avoid chargebacks because cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible.

SpankPay is also integrated with other adult performers like SkyPrivate and JustForFans to allow fans to pay in cryptocurrency for many different websites.

Having an eye catching profile on Chaturbate will help you earn more money and fans

Chaturbate allows their streamers to add HTML code to their profiles in order to create a totally custom and interactive profile that will draw attention to your profile and also help give your viewers information. The most common features of a Chaturbate profile include an “About Me” section, room rules, a tip menu, social media links, and a DMCA notice. Some performers will regularly update their profiles and include things like monthly or weekly high tippers, banners for upcoming streams, a stream schedule, upcoming clip releases, and more. It’s all a matter of preference but whatever you decide to with your profile will help you gain more followers than having a generic blank profile. Your profile allows you to show your fans your personality!

Free Chaturbate Profile Builder Websites

Building a profile on your own can be challenging, and not everyone is an HTML expert. Luckily there are some amazing free tools available online to create your own Chaturbate profile without pulling your own hair out trying to figure out coding!

• • Rulta – Rulta provides a drag and drop profile builder with customizable backgrounds, multiple sections that you can customize, and they even offer a floating icon builder tool as well! This is one of the more comprehensive and user friendly free tools available because it does not require you to do any tinkering with the actual code and allows you to visually edit your profile.
  • CB Hours – This is another visual editor that allows you to edit a profile visually rather than working with a code template. It is a little less user friendly than Rulta due to the fact you will need to host your own images to add them to your profile as CB Hours does not support direct uploads. Hosting your own images is easy to do using sites like imgbb.com and you just copy and paste the direct image link into the appropriate box!
  • CGC Dan – This is a generic template that you will need to edit the code to use. It is a free sample from the Camgirl Live Editor / Camgirl Cloud tool. In order to customize it to your own preference you’ll need to replace the parts with href=”#” to your relevant links and change the text to reflect your own personal brand. You will also need to host your own images in order to use this template.

Starting a podcast can be a great way to connect with your fans and community

Starting an adult industry oriented podcast can be a great way to connect with your current fans and new fans or to connect with the adult community on a larger scale. When you’re hit with the idea for an adult podcast it can seem like a great idea to jump right in, but before you get your microphone set up and press record, let’s go through a few things that can help ensure your podcast will be successful and worthwhile.

Decide what kind of podcast you will be hosting

The first question you should ask yourself is what kind of podcast you are interested in hosting, and for starters will it be a video or audio podcast? Video podcasts have the benefit of luring more attention because adult industry podcasts usually feature adult industry creators and entertainers which customers love to look at. Audio podcasts have the benefit of requiring less editing, less storage space required, and more options for posting because when you talk about the adult industry through audio you don’t have to worry about getting flagged or reported for things like cleavage or inappropriate gestures. When you come to the decision of video or audio the next thing you should consider will be if you will be hosting your podcast solo, with a set group of people each time, or rotating guests. Your needs for a platform will greatly vary by the amount of participants and if you are doing audio or video.

Where to host and post video podcasts

Video podcasts can take place on many various platforms, if you’re looking for a podcast that you record and edit before publishing then you will most likely be comfortable with using something like Zoom or Skype. You can record your session and easily edit it in your preferred editor after the show, you don’t have to worry about rule breaking as you can edit out infringing topics or words, and you can record them at your own pace and cancel releases if they become no longer relevant. If you’re looking to host a live video podcast, Streamyard might be a great fit for you. Streamyard allows up to 6 participants and allows you customization options like changing your background, including banners, intro videos or photos, and more. Streamyard allows you to stream to YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and more.

Posting adult industry podcasts can be tricky because there is a large stigma around the adult industry as a whole, while posting to typical video platforms like YouTube might get you lots of views initially, they are constantly updating their flagging system to censor topics that are adult oriented. Recently YouTube has begun banning creators from using the names of adult sites in their descriptions or links, even if the description or link does not lead to an adult platform. You may find success on YouTube as a “story time” podcast where you leave out specific names from descriptions, but anything that is specifically made to address the industry in any way that requires specific name usage can leave you vulnerable for flags and potential suspension/bans. XBIZ TV is a great adult friendly video hosting platform that was made specifically for the adult industry, it can serve as a good home base for your video podcast and you can syndicate your posts to many different video sites (YouTube, Vimeo, Pornhub, and more) while having the ease of mind your collection will always be available directly on XBIZ TV. Another great alternative would be to start your own dedicated site for your podcast but we would highly recommend trying podcasting and building an audience before taking on a major investment.

Where to host and post audio podcasts

Audio podcasts are definitely much easier to share online even when they are adult industry oriented, if you are running a video podcast we highly recommend also turning your recordings into audio and posting them as an audio podcast. Audio podcasts require less active focus because the viewer knows they aren’t missing anything by not having their eyes glued to the screen, which allows your podcast to be listened to more often in scenarios where generally people wouldn’t think to pull up a video podcast (like in the car.) You can host audio podcasts anywhere you host video, and simply pull out the audio. Skype and Zoom both allow for audio only for those who don’t want to do a live podcast, and Streamyard also allows audio only for live streams.

You can host your audio podcast on BluBrry which is a podcasting platform where you can request to syndicate your podcast across all podcasting networks like iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and more. If you have your own dedicated website you can also use the BluBrry PowerPress plugin to host your podcast on your website as well as automatically take the information from your website to fill out the podcast page information on BluBrry. Audio podcasts can also be posted to video platforms if converted into a video with an image as the video placeholder, which can be the name of the podcast episode or the podcast name/logo.

Consider a fan website / membership site for a paid podcast

Depending on how adult your podcast will be, considering a paid fanclub website or membership site for your podcast can be a great option to make your podcast financially sustainable. Whether the topic of discussion will be super explicit or you just want to do some casual flashing or “nude discussions” you can turn your podcasting experience into a money making opportunity by hosting your podcast on a subscription site. Some fanclub websites will allow you to post free to view content in conjunction with paid content so you can also do partial podcasts that are SFW that you post for free with the upsell of unlockable explicit content for the subscription fee.

Make your podcast profitable by seeking sponsorship

If you already have a large following then you will likely have a lot of eyes and ears on your podcast which leaves you in an incredible position to seek out sponsorships. Companies will often work with podcast hosts for paid opportunities or free items in return for a mention on the podcast or for allowing a representative from their company to guest star on the podcast. If you are someone who is uncomfortable promoting companies for direct payment you can also place advertisements into your podcast for products or sites that you know and trust and utilize their referral programs to make it profitable for you.

Adult or not: get a model release

If you will be hosting guests it is very important that your guests complete a model release document because your podcast will contain either their voice, image, or both. Friendships can end but model releases are forever. This is especially important if your podcast will be a “series style” with documented episode numbers, needing to delete an episode because a guest no longer wants it hosted can be inconvenient for consistency as well as a loss of traffic.

Get comfortable promoting

If you podcast but no one listens, do you actually podcast? Get comfortable marketing your podcast on social media and consider joining adult industry groups on Reddit and Facebook to spread the word about new podcast episodes. If you do mention specific websites, tag them in your podcast posts for the potential traffic boost if they re-post.

Interesting podcasts triumph over high quality audio / video podcasts

Listeners would rather listen to something interesting in lower quality audio than something absolutely boring in high quality. While having good equipment can definitely help the legitimacy of your podcast, if you are just starting out then you should be fine with a basic webcam and microphone set up which is something most adult performers usually have already. Once your podcast becomes profitable, investing in a high quality microphone can make the listener experience better, but don’t sweat it if you’re just starting out!

Use link shorteners to track clicks and avoid flags/bans

Using a link shortener like Bitly can help you to not only track your traffic but also avoid bans on sites that flag for keywords. You can use this tool to see what topics get the most interest and outgoing clicks to decide what topics to cover in future podcast episodes, and you can also use this to link out to news articles or guides where flagged words are in the URL.

Aerie Saunders demonstrates video walkthrough of buying domain and setting up hosting

The recent concerns in the adult industry over payment processors dropping support and performers spreading out to new sites in an effort to find a platform that allows for their content to be sold has created a mass exodus from OnlyFans after they planned to ban pornography before rescinding the ban a few days later. Amidst the chaos of leaving a platform and directing customers to a new platform, many adult performers have displayed concern over the most efficient way to direct customers to their new preferred platforms. There is no better time than now to buy a personalized domain to make yourself more likely to show up in search engine results and to provide a quick and efficient link for sending customers and fans that will direct them to all of your new preferred platforms.

Aerie Saunders walks you through the process of buying a domain on GoDaddy, setting up your adult friendly hosting on HostGator, and installing WordPress onto the website.