Where's the website Startup button?

November 22, 2009 7:19 PM

I want to create a website and need general and specific guidance. I don't want to give the idea away so the description is a little sketchy. How do I deal with keeping the kids out of the "adult" section? How do I "spread the word"? (to get submissions and readers?; i.e. kickstart)

I am considering a WordPress engine and Nearly Free Speech for hosting (at least at the start). Is that reasonable to use? I have not purchased the domain yet.

The website will mostly deal with user submitted documents; I am not really sure I know how to get the submissions: users scan things and email or upload the files. Should I allow submissions to me snail mailed in and I scan them? (I don't want to be required to return them, I think)

I know that some of these things will end up being the "adults only" type (I'm OK with that), but I want to keep the kiddies out of there. Require a registration for that section? What qualifications do I ask for?

Is it reasonable/acceptable/advisable to accept PayPal donations for upkeep? What about advertising? what's the best way? (I don't want to go with the obnoxious popups and horrific banners if I can help it)

Is it possible to make a buck or two if it is popular? I'm not looking to make a real killing, mostly pay for the effort and costs.

How does one select and "promote" moderators that will keep in line with the original concept of the site?

When do I bust the cherry and put it on MeTa's Projects section?

What have I not covered??

Anyone "volunteer" to answer specific questions after I get started?

posted by Drasher to computers & internet (6 answers total)

A lot of websites just have something like:

"This part of the website is for Adults 18+. By clicking the button to access this content you are verifying that you are 18 years of age of older."

Obviously, some kids will click on that button anyway and not care. What you might want to do is make registration for the whole site and ask for birthdate. For people less than 18 automatically can't access those parts of the site. Of course, smart kids will just make a new account. There's really no way to stop a kid who wants to get in. But both of these ideas will help.
posted by kylej at 7:43 PM on November 22, 2009

If you want visitors and user-submitted content then you're going to have to prime the pump by first regularly creating a steady stream of good content that others will want to read. You will also have to do it until your site develops some credibility and a following. Once that happens you'll have a better chance of getting your visitors to help by contributing content.

I don't want to discourage you, but it takes a lot of work and perseverance to turn out good content yourself. Either that or a chunk of money to pay someone else to do it.

SEO techniques will help your site get found, but if your content's lame it they won't help much.

As far as making money - there's money to be made by putting ads from or Google or others on your site. It's easy, but it also doesn't pay much and you'll have to work pretty hard to make even $100/month, unless of course you have an absolutely brilliant idea (which everyone else will promptly copy) or great content.

You might want to Google for "Blogging" and "money" to learn more, even if you site isn't going to be a blog.
posted by 14580 at 8:28 PM on November 22, 2009 [2 favorites]

You don't share one key piece of info...your level of programming experience. Based on your description and your apparent lack of familiarity with these things, I'm going to assume you are not a coder. That said, with Wordpress you have a couple options that vary in the degrees they protect things. You may need to learn a bit more about code to properly implement the second solution.

How to Password Protect a Wordpress Post

How to password protect part of a Wordpress post

Also, as a jaded internet marketer myself, I'd like to offer a couple free pieces of advice...

First, no matter how unique you think your idea is, if it is related to adult content on the internet, its been done by someone and then everybody else cloned it already. Period. That doesn't mean there isn't money to be made but the odds of you having a unique idea are slim to none--no offense, just how it is.

Second, steer clear of PayPal, especially if you are going the adult route. Look into adult affiliate programs and banner ads. Depending on how targeted the offers are to your content, affiliate programs have the potential to make you a lot more.

At the end of the day though, you won't be making a single cent without users, which means getting traffic to drive sign-ups which means either you need to be really creative or willing to spend money to drive traffic. And buying traffic for adult sites isn't exactly risk-free. Basically you're looking at a dark and dangerous path down a dirt road paved with landmines. The things you need to do to succeed will likely cost you some startup capital and can be risky if you don't know what you're doing.

Apologies if this comes off sounding like I'm shooting down your idea or being negative...its just that I've encountered a lot of people who are new (as you appear to be) to the game and come in with all these grand visions, only to have them dashed to pieces when they learn the realities of how things work, usually after dropping a few grand on major mistakes and scams. Feel free to shoot me a MeMail if you have specific questions though.
posted by Elminster24 at 8:34 PM on November 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

Oh, and do not listen to 14580 about googling for "blogging" and "money." There is indeed some useful advice in there, but if you don't know what you're looking for you'll just be fleeced by all of the "gurus" selling their ghost-written ebooks and hacked together video series subscription programs on "how you too can be an internet bajillionaire!"

Seriously...network, meet some people who know what they are doing and have the earnings to back it up and do whatever you can to learn from them.
posted by Elminster24 at 8:36 PM on November 22, 2009

Elminster24: No offense taken whatsoever, I take any and all advice as it is meant.
I have a high level of coding experience, except that it is not in the Internet realm of things. I am a C programmer, I am learning web, PHP, WordPress as things progress. I therefore will take any and all suggestions.
The site is not supposed to be an adult site per se, but some of the content will, by its very nature, have "adult only" properties. It will be "adult" in the sense that I don't expect children to be genuinely interested.

Oh, and I be switched if I get fleeced (again) by those "information" sellers... never again.
posted by Drasher at 10:11 PM on November 22, 2009

Good to hear you have your bullshit detector on high alert.

Since you are a developer, web languages should come fairly easy to you. I'd definitely recommend throwing MySQL in with PHP as that will let you do fairly complex database work.

Most sites that have adult content simply have an age verification wall where people pick their birthday from a drop down menu (and have it set as a session cookie) to self-verify their age. You should also include some disclaimer to protect yourself there--take a look at what other sites say and just copy it.

You might want to lurk on the wickedfire.com forum and check to see if there is an affiliate/internet marketing Meetup.com group in your area. I met some great people at my local one in Chicago and have learned a lot for sure.
posted by Elminster24 at 11:01 PM on November 22, 2009