Promoting the Personality

A Webmaster's Glimpse into the Real World of BDSM

by
Old Tom

OT Scripts

How do you promote a personality, as opposed to a niche? I wrote an answer to SusieS some months ago, showing how to bring her site into My world.

I took a look at your site. This is not a thorough site review; I was looking at it to observe how well you caught the BDSM attitude. You did well, particularly for a first attempt. You took an approach to selling which might work out very well. You did not quite catch the attitude for yourself, but I like what you did.

First, let me point out one aspect as brilliant. You chose a specific sponsor (tamara's site, in this case), and built your entire freesite as a promotion of that sponsor. This is perfect. You also chose a second sponsor (ARS's FemDomination) in extremely plausible fashion. You chose a femdom sponsor and a femsub sponsor - a very good combination, and you found a nice blend in your site. One sponsor is a partnership program, and one is pay per signup. Again, you found a good balance.

Your warning page likewise takes some good shots at sideline sales.

In one sense, tamara's site is what I would call a true Amateur site. That is, the site is original exclusive content, built around a single specific personality. The site is not a site full of amateurs; the site is a site full of tamara.

And, your freesite promotes your sponsor as such. I see this as brilliant. There are other BDSM sites out there - but there is only one tamara. amateurslaves.com is not a BDSM site (well, it is, but let me continue!). amateurslaves.com is a TAMARA site. This is the distinctive; promote TAMARA. Which is precisely what you did.

For Jenna Jameson's site, what you promote is Jenna Jameson. For Danni's Hard Drive, what do you promote? Nude pics? Hardcore? No, of course not - you promote Danni. What do you promote with hustler.com? The name. Or, as someone once suggested, you promote your asshole brother Josh, who is too stupid to figure out that it's cheaper to join online, than to buy the magazine.

For FemDomination, you can't promote a specific personality... so, you promote the attitude, the illusion.

So... I think you did an excellent job of promoting a single-personality site. You did NOT promote BDSM. You promoted tamara.

Thus, I think you are correct.

And, thus, I'm not really sure if you've managed to catch the attitude needed to promote BDSM. Your site does not quite catch that attitude... but in this case, that's okay. You talk about whips, and chains, and submission - but you do not grab the surfer's emotions and manipulate them.

I know your fear. You instinctively know that to enter my world, is to hurt. You become vulnerable, whether you mean to or not. Because, you see, I know.

Your fear hides the truth. You fear that my world will be too much... but you know you really fear that my world won't be enough. Step inside, and fear.

Do you see the difference in those last two paragraphs? Until then, my writing was aimed at your intellect. Without warning, I suddenly targeted your emotions. Those sentences were not really aimed at you of course; and I hope I did not cause offense. I thought it might be a better effect if I dropped into "text link mode" without explaining the transition.

Those two paragraphs target a specific type of person. By mentioning me and you, I am implying a relationship. tamara's site, you will note, portrays a D/s relationship. It's not just the painfully nude pics that keep her members renewing; it's the relationship.

The other thing I targeted, is the idea of "you're not alone" in your hidden desires. I am drawing you to my place (i.e., my sponsor) because I understand. You will be comfortable there, and obviously among others who do understand. This point is unbelievably important to us kinkos.

Now, when you click on through to tamara's tour page, your reaction will be, "I'm home!" One little form to fill out, and you're among friends.

I truly hope I did not cause offense in how I expressed things here. My intent was to portray an attitude. It is exactly as Voltar teaches - paint the illusion. Can you bring them back to their first awareness of whatever your sponsor represents? Can you prime them such that when they hit your sponsor's tour, their immediate reaction is "Yes!" or, "I'm home!"?

Old Tom