At The Rub PR, we work with performers, studios and adult-oriented companies. All three of these types of clients have websites, and all three of these types of clients can make similar mistakes with their websites. If you’re a client, we will advise you of changes you could make to better your sites, increase your traffic and hopefully increase your bottom line, putting more cash in your pockets. And the ones who aren’t clients…this blog is for you.
Make Sure It Works
Nothing is worse than going to a site that’s not fully functional, has broken links, won’t properly load or has too many technical issues to name. I know I don’t want to stay on a site that isn’t working–no one does. Make sure your site works and check or test it often for bugs. And lastly, make sure the site works and is compatible in all the top web browsers—Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera.
Navigation
Make sure your site is easy to navigate. Make it simple—when people are given too many options, they lose interest. Group similar items together and separate them into sections that make sense.
Another thing to keep in mind are links—most visitors to a site are comfortable with the old-fashioned blue underlined text style indicating a link. If you want to use a different color, avoid light colors like yellow. Additionally, make it clear what the person clicking on the link should expect before they click the link (i.e. this link will take you to the contact page, etc.). And one last tip…links should open in the same window and not open a new window.
Aesthetic & Copy
Make sure your site looks good—that alone will make people want to visit and potentially stay on it longer. Spend the money and hire a designer and make sure you let them know the look you’re trying to achieve. If you’re not sure, look at other sites for ideas to see what works and what doesn’t.
A few key points to keep in mind about aesthetic would be readability and how you use images. Use contrasting colors for text, but make sure it’s not too high contrast because people who are colorblind will have problems reading it. Make sure the font and the size of the font are easy to read—Tahoma is great, but Impact can be hard on the eyes. A picture is worth a thousand words, but don’t overuse images and make sure to provide text descriptions for all images.
You might want to hire a writer to make sure the copy is engaging and that the grammar and spelling are correct. A poorly written site is just as bad as a site that’s not pleasing to the eye. If you wrote the copy yourself, have someone look it over and edit it, if needed. A site riddled with horrible grammar and filled with misspelled words is extremely unprofessional and won’t be taken seriously. Another thing to keep in mind is the amount of copy—it’s a slippery slope of just enough. You want just enough for people to get the idea, but not too much, because people won’t read most of it, or potentially none at all. Go for concise and in as few words as possible.
Keep It Fresh
Fresh content is the most important thing you can do for your site. If you’re a performer, have weekly updates of photos and/or scenes. When you do an update, let your fans know. Send out an email, use social media like Twitter to get the word out or even include in a press release that your site has something new every week. If you can do multiple updates, that would be even better. Post photos of your daily life from your phone if you want to add small updates. Blogs are also a great idea to keep their fans in the loop and give them some not-so-personal insights into your daily life.
Companies need to keep their sites extra fresh too. A weekly blog will draw traffic to your site and keep their attention—use the blog to introduce new products or features, what your clients are up to or even highlight an employee or client (depending on your business). Use SEO keywords that can attract even more traffic to your site, and potential business. If you’re unfamiliar with SEO keywords, ask your Webmaster. At some point, businesses also might want to consider redoing their site—this would not be a re-branding per se, but polishing up the existing brand with a spin on the current look. If your branding is working for you, there’s absolutely no reason to change it. Make sure to let the public know about changes to your site using social media, press releases or even word of mouth.
Banners & Advertising
If you can afford advertising, it’s money worth spending and a tax write-off—just make sure you pick a site with a lot of traffic that will give your ad good placement. Some sites will trade banners with you and this can be an effective way to get your site more exposure without having to come up with the cash. Make sure your banner is clean/simple and when it’s up on another site that it links to your site when you click on it. If you put ads or banners on your site, make sure to limit the amount and put them all in one area or one page.
Those are the Top 5 things to keep in mind. I was lucky enough to have an excellent designed/webmaster, x over r studio visual, which not only designed my site the way I wanted it, but took into to account my logo and image. He also helped with the copy and was a pleasure to work with. If you’re a company looking to do or redo your website, you definitely want to look him up at http://www.xoverr.net/. For girls looking to have pay sites and be connected with networks, I recommend Porn Star Platinum http://www.pornstarplatinum.com/ and PUBA http://www.puba.com/. Their sites look great and as networks, they’re amazing to work with and get a lot of traffic.