I love this articale and it helps. you should give it a try….
Over the last 6 years, I’ve constantly met new performers coming in the adult business who, have questions about how to build their name in the adult market and continually growing their fan base during their career.
Most agents in the entertainment business will not make the effort to market their talent, due to the time that has to be invested in public relations. Also, it’s not the job of an agent to market talent. The job of an agent is to get talent legitimate work and make sure talent gets paid for that work. Nothing more.
Now, lets be honest for a minute. The majority of new talent in this business rarely want to put the time and effort into building a career in the entertainment industry. Some talent would rather go do their scene, then go home and call it a day or go out to party.
Also, There is a myth that marketing costs a ton of money (a common tale told by webmasters, to get as much money out of their clients as possible) but, that doesn’t have to be the case. Talent in adult or in any part of the entertainment business, can market themselves at a low cost and with a minimal amount of work per day.
Below are simple ways that talent can market themselves at little or no cost. The most these steps will cost you is a small amount of time.
1. Business e-mail: The very first thing you should set is an e-mail account. If your stage name/performing name is not available, add a “xxx” to the end and try again. For example, if your stage name is “Ashley Exotic”, the e-mail name would be “ashleyexoticxxx@email.com” You can do this for free through many various web based e-mail sites. I recommend using Google’s Gmail at its fast and allows for up to 20MB of file attachments per e-mail.
Use this business e-mail for ALL your dealings in the porn industry. It not only protects you’re real identity but, gives an easy address for people to remember. Also your stage name will be branded into the mind of those you correspond with for business, bookings, etc. Use this e-mail address to set up your Myspace, blog, etc. Avoid using your personal e-mail as much as possible.
2. Build a Myspace, Facebook and Twitter: If you don’t have one set up for your porn stage name, you are missing a huge marketing opportunity for yourself. There are several million potential customers to buy your scenes and market yourself to on Myspace, Facebook and Twitter. Use it to meet them and gain fans! If you have a Myspace, Facebook or Twitter set up for your private life, KEEP THEM SEPARATE. Do not link your industry talent Myspace, Facebook or Twitter to your personal account. Remember, protect your real name and personal information at all costs.
Make sure your Myspace is set up for 18yrs or older only and also set the profile to private/friends only. This will make it harder for Myspace to have a reason to delete you. Keep your pictures PG. Putting stars over your private parts does not mean you will not be deleted. The more R rated and adult your pictures, the higher chance you have of a profile flagged or deleted, due to someone reporting the image or because you violated a terms of service agreement on the website. Facebook should also be marked as private/friends only. Double check Facebook’s account settings to make sure that none of your contact information (real name, cell phone number, home address, etc) are displayed.
Check your Myspace, Twitter and Facebook often, at least twice a week if not more. Respond to comments and e-mails even if it’s with a “thank you for visiting my profile”. It makes you seem personable and will help you build a fan base.
3. Twitter: Currently the hottest of the social networking sites on the internet. Twitter is fast, easy to use and updated constantly.
Once you create a Twitter account, try to follow at least 100-150 twitter members from the adult industry to start. Porn Stars, glamor models and adult companies are recommended. I currently have over 1200 adult related twitter accounts I am following. You can visit my twitter account at twitter.com/powderxxx and browse the “following” list shown on my profile.
When using Twitter, comment or ask questions to twitter posts from the account you follow. This will help followers see your name when you are replied to by that person. This will help your own “followers” list grow over time.
At least twice a week, announce that you are available for work and how you can be booked. If you don’t have an agent, post that anyone interested in booking you for work, contact you through a twitter direct message (DM).
Make sure to check all individuals and companies who contact you online. Ask about past movies that have been shot, adult talent they have used and the web address of their website. Use Google and Yahoo to search/double check the information given to you. If they give you and attitude for asking questions, RUN away fast and hard! They are most likely not a legit company or content shooter.
4. Get a Blog: WordPress.com, Blogger.com or Typepad.com are recommended.
These website give you a free URL (web address) for your blog. It’s a FREE self contained website that easy to use. Until you launch and official website, this will eliminate the need to pay a webmaster and the cost of a monthly fee to a web hosting company. These blog websites are completely free and only take about an hour (depending on how computer literate you are) to learn how to customize and configure. If you are asked “Do you have a website?”, you now will have a web address to give both industry professionals and fans. Another plus, is that you are now in control of the content you post on the internet.
Maintaining a blog is easy and should be updated it at least two to three times a week (if not every day). You won’t need to spend hours and hours typing 500-700 word blog entries. Take 10-15 minutes out of your day and let your readers know when you are up to, what scene you just filmed or a industry party you attended. Its simple and easy plus, allows you to maintain a connection with fans, as well as build new ones. You can also contact other performers in the adult business, for a link exchange to help build visits/traffic to each others blogs or websites.
Once you launch your official website in the future, you will already have an established and dedicated fan base in place from your blog site. The blog will help drive traffic to your new website and lead to possible new membership conversations.
WordPress.com is the blog website I recommend because of the visitor and link tracking shown in the dashboard of the main page. The tracking allows you to see what websites your blog readers are coming from as well as which of your blog posts are the most popular. WordPress also is highly customizable and offers several add-ons for blogs. There is no nudity allowed on WordPress sites. Posting nude pictures will get you’re blog deleted.
Blogger.com has the option to mark a blog as “adult” which allows you to post nude photos of yourself (unlike WordPress.com). However, Blogger does not offer blog stat tracking and does not offer the flexible customization of a WordPress blog.
5. Make Business Cards: Business cards are a MUST. I recommend having two types of business cards. One set of cards for fans and one set for industry people you meet. The cards for fans should include the following: Your name, e-mail address and website.
For the industry professionals you wish to network with, the cards should include: Your name, cell phone number, e-mail address, website, agent/agency (if you have one) and what types of shoots you are available for (B/G, B/B/G, G/G, etc). Also having your picture on both sets of cards is recommended. This way, whomever you give the card to, will be able to put a face and body to your name for possible future projects.
Search the internet for card websites such as, Vistaprint.com or check your local yellow pages for stores to get business cards made. Also, call the local store and make sure the local store will print adult related business information.
6. Youtube: As most people know YouTube.com is a video sharing website, where users can upload, view and share video clips. The site is incredibly popular with millions of people surfing the site at all hours of the day. While no adult or porn clips can be shown, you can use the website build your name and introduce yourself to a new online market.
First, sign up for a Youtube account under your stage name. If your name is taken, just add an “xxx” to the end of your name and try again. Once you’ve created a Youtube channel, you can customize the channel to your liking. Make sure to use your industry e-mail address when signing up. Again, protect your real identity at all costs.
You might be wondering what to put up on your Youtube channel. If you have a video camera or even can do cell phone video, then post behind the scenes clips from a shoot, a night out at an industry party or even yourself in different sexy dresses, asking fans which outfit they like best? Just remember to keep the video content you create, PG rated (no nudity) and Myspace/Facebook.
A good quality and easy to use video camera is the FLIP UltraHD. A point and shoot HD camera that retails for $120-$150. Amazon.com always has good deals on point and shoot HD cameras and webcams.
If you don’t have a video camera, you can always buy a webcam and do some video blogging. Several adult stars video blog or posting videos on Youtube such as, Kerry Louise, Dana DeArmond, Nikki Benz, Trina Michaels, Ruby Violence, Misti Dawn and Julia Bond.
Video blogging is useful in several ways. If you don’t like to type, not only can you post your video blog on Youtube but, then you can post the Youtube of your video blog on your Myspace, as well as on your blogging website. That is three places on the ‘net now that fans can find you and view the videos you post. That is three sites to help you build a fan base.
The videos you create do not have to be 8-10 minutes. For video blogging, between 2 to 4 minutes is a good length to make your videos. Videos can be as simple pointing the camera at yourself and saying “Hi guys, I’m on my way to shoot for (company name) and I get to work with (performer name). I’m really excited and I hear (he/she) are a lot of fun to work with. Oh and make sure to check me out on Twitter at twitter.com/(your twitter account) and on facebook/myspace at myspace.com/(your myspace address). Bye for now!”. That is just a quick example of video blogging.
You can use a simple editing program like Windows Movie Maker to add your name, as well as your Myspace, e-mail and blog website address at the end on the video. Saimply adding websites where people can find you online can help drive traffic to your Myspace and to your blog website.
For a good quality webcam, I recommend a Logitech Quickcam 9000 which is priced between $69-$80 or the Microsoft Lifecam Cinema for $50 from Amazon.com. These webcams should provide a clear picture to video blog through. Remember, you want your audience to see you so make sure when recording, your picture quality is as clear as possible. Also, the better you’re lighting, the better quality of picture you will have when recording.
Webcams can be found at FRYS, Wall-Mart, Best Buy or any local computer store.
Youtube is still an untapped market by most of the adult industry. Few adult stars and companies post on mainstream tube sites due to the restriction of adult material but, with a little time and creativity, you can make a mainstream site like Youtube work for you.
Remember, don’t wait or rely on anyone else to help you build your name in this business. You have all the tools right at your fingertips and you just have to use them.
Thank you for reading and good luck.