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Softcore and Psychology: Know Your Audience
by Connor Young


If you ask around you'll run into a lot of adult Webmasters who will insist that softcore doesn't sell. They'll swear to this with such conviction that you'll be tempted to believe them. After all, it seems to make sense. Hardcore sites offer it all, yet softcore sites are lacking the Internet's most popular search term. No sex would mean no sales, right? Not really.

Most adult Webmasters tend to think of porn in a rather two-dimensional manner. What do I mean by that? Well, it has to do with categorizing porn by pre-determined niche labels. When you build a site featuring Asian models, for example, do you consider that to be an "Asian" site, or is your site concept much more involved than that simple label? Most of the larger Asian pay sites run by large companies with affiliate programs offer only a two dimensional experience. They have Asians, they have quantity and that's all that matters. As a small pay site operator, you can do better that that with just a little thought and care. If you're wondering how softcore fits into all this, be patient I'm getting to that.

Porn isn't two-dimensional, it's multi-dimensional, and understanding this fact will help you design and market your pay sites. It's not just a matter of hardcore versus softcore there are many sides to softcore that you can exploit. Not many surfers are going to get excited over a site that merely promises "softcore teens naked," for example... but change that to "sexy sorority sweethearts caught getting naughty during spring break" and you're on your way. I am of course alluding to the "Girls Gone Wild" video that you have probably seen being sold on popular cable TV channels. For those of you who haven't seen this video advertised, it features college girls flashing at events like Mardis Gras and during spring break parties, along with some choreographed nude strip shows to fill out the tape. But the people who marketed this video knew better than to focus on the choreographed nude video scenes they focused on the college girls flashing, and as a result the demand created by this simple softcore video was incredible. Overture reports over 60,000 searches for "girls gone wild" in the month of November alone, and the video is hardly new news at this point. Does it sound like softcore doesn't sell? Of course it sells, and understanding WHY it sells WHEN it sells is very important.

Being an adult Webmaster requires that you also act somewhat as a psychologist. Most surfers don't care why certain things turn them on, they just know what they like when they see it. Sometimes they don't even know they're turned on by something until they come across it by accident. As a Webmaster, you have to find out why something causes a positive reaction in your surfers, and then use that to your advantage. It sounds sneaky and underhanded, but all industries do it. In fact, most large American companies offering products to consumers employ psychologists in an effort to better understand - and thus manipulate - the urges and impulses of their customer base. You can bet Campbell's Soup knows what most people find attractive about their soup. They could just say "Hey, we have some soup over here and it tastes good," but they go far beyond that. They know most people have fond memories of their mothers serving them warm soup when they're home sick in bed thus the constant images of the loving mother smiling with care as she serves her oblivious five year old some Campbell's soup. Campbell's knows that people are far more likely to break out the soup on a cold, rainy day than in the middle of a blazing hot summer - thus the images of rainy days and bad weather in many of their commercials. Campbell's knows that most Americans consider soup to be a healthy lunch selection, thus the drive to get you thinking of soup as an alternative to the gym. You need to understand more about your product before you design your site, and then you'll know what to say and what to subtly suggest.

Take softcore in general. What do I mean by softcore? Well, for the purpose of this article softcore porn refers to images with nudity but no penetration. The focus of softcore is on the models and not on sexual acts. Whether or not you can sell this type of material to your site's visitors depends on what they had in mind when they started to search for porn. Were they thinking of a blonde on her back with her legs wide open and a giant cock being shoved into her pussy while she screamed with pleasure? If so then you're probably not going to sell them on your softcore site. Were they thinking of that nice girl they met at a bar last night? If so, softcore might be just what they're looking for. If you're selling naked girls then you want to lure the surfers who are thinking of girls in general not the surfers who are thinking how good it would feel to get a blowjob.

As with almost any type of encounter, our earliest sexual encounters are likely to be the most intense sexual encounters of our lives. Hey guys, do you remember the first time a girl let you put your hand up her shirt, unhook her bra and feel her breasts? Of course you do. Do you remember the fifty-third time a girl let you do it? Probably not. That's not to say that you didn't enjoy the fifty-third time, but the experience isn't likely to have had the impact on your life that the first time did. Most people will spend the rest of their lives trying to seek out that feeling again. If done right, pornography can help someone get in touch with that intensity once more. If you put someone in touch with it, then you could charge $10, $20, or even $50 for the effort. Cost won't be an issue. They'll pay it.

Let's get back to the girl who let you feel her up that first time. Do you remember how old you were? How old was she? Do you remember what she looked like? How her body looked? Her hair color? What she felt like? Do you have any memory of what she wore? Did she smile sweetly, or scowl and call you a worm? Was it in her bedroom, in the woods, or in the back seat of a car? Why does any of this matter?

Have you ever wondered why "barely legal" porn sites sell so well? The anti-porn crowd would probably just accuse "barely legal" porn fans of being child molesters and criminals, but I believe that barely legal porn is popular because the models depicted in said porn remind the audience of those early sexual encounters that were so intense. If your site features thirty year old models in pig-tails, then you're limiting your chance for a sale. Most surfers aren't going to relate to that when they come looking for someone that reminds them of their first real girlfriend. Some will, but most will not.

Now back to that "Girls Gone Wild" video that's so popular. Is there something there that ties in with early sexual encounters? You bet. College is sexually liberating for many Americans, both men and women. Prior to college girls aren't likely to run around flashing cameras in public places. That does happen in college, however. So for a male audience consisting of men who attended college, video's like "Girls Gone Wild" put them in touch with that rush they felt at that first college fraternity party when AC/DC was blaring on the radio, the beer was flowing freely and the sorority girls were whipping off tops faster than Madonna can change her hairstyle. Yeah, I know your mother said that parties like that are a myth, but I'm here to say that shit does happen.

How about ethnic porn? Your approach for marketing ethic porn should largely depends on who is your primary audience. Are you targeting people who have actually dated Asian girls, or are you targeting men who have never been with an Asian girl but have always found them attractive? In the former case, your goal is more complicated. You have to find a way to connect your audience with any positive memories they might have about the Asian girls they have been with in the past. If you yourself have never dated an Asian girl but find them attractive, then you're probably not going to figure this audience out and would be better off going after the second audience, which is the inexperienced audience. For the inexperienced audience, you're targeting individuals who have had no direct experience into which you can tap, so your goal is to target any pre-conceived notions the audience may have about Asian girls. That's not too hard. For example, which of the following would sell better to an inexperienced audience? Submissive Petite Japanese Dolls from Tokyo Tied Up Naked with Rope or Naked Asian Biker Bitches from Sacramento, California? If you chose the Biker Bitches then you might want to consider staying out of the Asian softcore niche and trying the fetish niche instead!

For female Webmasters who are targeting a male audience, you have a more difficult task. You can't simply think back to your first big turn-on and build a site around that experience. That doesn't mean you can't build a kick-ass site for men. Instead of asking what turned you on throughout your life, try asking what you have done that has turned on the opposite sex. Have you noticed that men pay more attention to you when you dress a certain way? Will the guy across the table from you put on a shit-eating grin when you pout? Somewhere in your mind you probably have a list titled "Things That Work With Guys When I Want Their Attention." Use that list when you design your next Web site. That's valuable information you're carrying. But remember, just because your last boyfriend wanted to see you blow six guys dressed up in clown suits while a midget played "God Save the Queen" on a tuba doesn't mean that ALL guys are into that. You're looking for those little things that you do that seem to get a reaction out of the most guys possible, not just the leering hairy guy in the corner.

If you build a site around a niche that you don't understand then you're setting yourself up to fail. You don't have to actually enjoy a niche - although that helps - but you do need to understand what those people who DO enjoy that niche find irresistible about it. If you're clueless then you'll be penniless too.





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