There is an old saying:
The more you learn, the less you know.
The adult Internet is in constantly evolving. New technologies, niches and marketing trends are developed every day. Today's hot property is tomorrow's over-saturated bore. No matter how skilled you are, there's always the chance that your skills will become obsolete. In this industry, the only sure thing is the product: sex. Everything else is up for grabs.
Yes. We know. You've got enough to learn already. You've got to learn how to make websites, create graphics, find the right content and sponsors, choose the best host and administrate your site. You have to figure out how to market effectively and how to bring traffic to your page. You have to master all these things and once you do, you have to keep learning new stuff? That's bogus!
Like it or not, an adult webmaster's work is never done. It would be nice if this were a profession where nothing ever changes, but it isn't. It would be lovely to be able to depend on one niche or marketing technique forever but you can't. We at Cozy have seen fads and technologies flame large and die out too many times to advise you otherwise.
As an example, consider dialer programs.
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When dialers first hit the scene, a lot of webmasters (and dialer providers) made a lot of money promoting them. Dialers were touted as an alternative way to sell porn to surfers that didn't want to pay for smut with a credit card. Webmasters went crazy promoting dialers and dialer providers went a little crazy too. After a while, the cheaters spoiled it for everyone with auto-installs and dial-up numbers located in far-off locations. Eventually, dialers became an industry taboo and it would take a few years before dialers could regain respectability as an alternative billing method for foreign traffic.
What happened to all those webmasters and sponsors after the dialer craze petered out? Well, the honest, smart ones moved on to other things. The dishonest, foolish ones went the way of the dodo.
Another method of selling smut online is by making galleries for Thumbnail Gallery Post sites. Currently, galleries are still a viable way to make money. However, any veteran gallery submitter will tell you, the money isn't nearly as good as it was two, three or seven years ago. More and more TGP owners are dropping free submissions in favor of paid submissions. In addition, surfers are hip to TGP sites now. They know they can get all the free porn they want and they don't mind sticking you with the bandwidth charges. This doesn't bode well for the future of the TGP webmaster.
Static images aren't dead but broadband is taking over as the primary way the majority connects to the web. That means increasingly, surfers are going to want their porn to move. They'll want video, streaming feeds and Flash animation. The site that offers pics only might soon find itself out of the running.
Cellphones are now able to give a user streaming video and broadcast content. As improbable as it might seem, cellphone customers are looking for porn. The webmaster who ignores this growing market will miss out.
You're riding high on reality sites today, but what will you do when that fad fades? How will you handle things if suddenly, a specific niche becomes illegal? What will you do if new laws are implemented?
The only thing certain about the future is its uncertainty. Learn all you can and keep learning every day!