Uk webbies...

[626]

Have not been around here for a looooooong time, but having a quick browse I notice a few Uk webbies, just how many have we got around here now, remember when it was hardly any!

Personally, i'm from rugby, where the rest of ya from?

[blumblumshub]

Sunny Manchester :)

I love being a webmaster in general, and I've found that AB are the most honest and trustworthy company to ally myself with over the last few years. They've never missed a payment and I've never had any problems with them.

My only down side is that the dollar is so weak at the moment, I do sometimes wonder if it's worthwhile being paid in that way. So far I'm sticking with it though.

Nice to meet you, by the way.
Blum

[626]

The dollar situation is a serious drawback for UK webbies, not so much because the dollar is weak, but because the pound is very strong as well against most currencies.

When I started doing this I was getting a conversion rate of about 75p to the dollar, now it's about 49/50p to the dollar, so back then when the checks came in at a few grand a piece, it converted nicely.

It's definately worth sticking with being a webbie, even if you don't make loads, it's the fact of being your own boss, I went from webbie to full time job for the last 3 years and it really did my head in answering to someone else everyday.

Have you got a real world job as well blum?

[blumblumshub]

Well I've never had a cheque above about $400, and these days I only have one member left so I'm starting from scratch.

Your figures were exactly what I was telling a friend of mine though, when he asked how I was managing with the current dollar/pound conversion. 75p to the dollar was excellent. But I suppose on the bright side it's a good time to buy from the US. I just kind of don't buy much!

My business is porn, I'm self employed. But at the moment I have absolutely zero income because the client I get most of my work from has basically stopped sending me work. It's not his fault, he lost several of his clients due to them not paying, so he's not got the work to send me. I've applied for working tax credits and housing benefit but haven't heard anything from them yet. Hopefully that will at least allow me to eat!

This is the main reason I'm starting back with AB with a vengeance. I don't want to rely on clients any more, I want to have my own income from AB sites and sponsors. But I find that most sponsors didn't convert as well as my own AB sites.

If that makes sense :)
Blum

[626]

Yup, there is a flipside to the conversion, it's dirt cheap to buy domains, software and so on...also it helps that UK surfers are more likely to signup for Us paysites as they aren't really paying that much for access, so that's a small bonus.

It's always better to work for yourself than rely on someone to send the work to you, that way the only person you can blame is yourself if you're not making any money, lol! I've done a lot of blaming myself over the last month or so, thinking why didn't I stick with it, why did I have to go off to the real world and try and do something, now i'm back here doing what comes naturally.

Just curious, what do you put on your tax returns, just web design or something like that? Or are you honest about it and say Adult Webmaster, he he!

I've never really used other sponsors apart from AB, I ran a few mgp sites of my own for a couple of months alongside my archive when it was doing well, but never got even close to the sales that AB made for me.

The thing to remember with AB is that it has amazing retention, it took just under 3 years from my last site update to lose my final 2 members, now you've just got to factor in actually doing updates each week and promoting the site a fair bit and you WILL make money, not really down to the new signups, but down to retention, I don't care if I only get 5-10 signups a month because I know that at least half of them will rebill. As each month passes I can add more content to my website and hopefully by this time next year, should have enough quality content to be getting a decent amount of new signups each month, but for the time being, it's about the rebills.

I'm gonna try and get ICQ setup later on this morning blum, having a few probs signing up though, mind if I add you?

[blumblumshub]

I put IT Consultant down on my tax returns, because although I'm in the adult industry, I don't give a flying shit where my money comes from. I have designed sites for mainstream companies too (http://www.telecomapplications.com , http://www.firstdialler.co.uk for example) so really I'm not just a porn webmaster.

And yes, retention is a real factor when it comes to AB. The fact that I've done nothing with them for three years and still have a member is just amazing.

I don't use ICQ much, I tend to stick with MSN and Yahoo, but I do happen to be on ICQ at the moment, for some odd reason. Feel free to add me :)
Blum

[626]

Ah...so you're a really real web designer, he he, I just got lucky, taught myself when I had about 6 months off work, have never done any mainstream work, it's all porn!

I'll add ya to ICQ and i've just installed MSN, addy is in my profile!

[blumblumshub]

I taught myself years ago and there's still a lot I don't know. I learn something new about Photoshop on a daily basis, and I use a mixture of Dreamweaver and Notepad to do the sites. Sometimes I prefer the old school way ;)
Blum

[KathyD]

I'm ok in Photoshop but my skill really lies in Illustrator. I'm trying to do more with Fireworks if I ever get the chance. I do my layout in vector, everything starts in Illustrator and I import it to photoshop for all the pretty effects.

As for the html, I like to do everything in the coding. I just use dreamweaver because I can look at the effects of any change of the code and it checks my spelling and code for mistakes.

[626]

I use a little known program called Namo Webeditor, have used it since I taught myself 8 years back, it's a wysiwyg editor with a code interface if you want to use that as well, the main advantage it has over dreamweaver is that it doesn't add loads of extra code while still being entirely functional for pretty much all your page needs :)

[blumblumshub]

Is it free?

[626]

Not officially, but sure you can find somewhere to get it free ;)

Personally, i've bought every version as it's come out because it's a great piece of software that caters to both experienced and newbie webmasters and well to be honest, I want to support the guys making the software!

[blumblumshub]

I'm a bit weird like that, I actually paid for Dreamweaver. Yep, it was me, I'm one of their three legitimate customers! Haven't upgraded to the latest version yet though. That can wait 'til I'm earning.
Blum

[626]

I have used Dreamweaver on occasion and just find it a bit too overloaded with features...obviously useful stuff but find it a little daunting, I guess that once my skills have improved a bit, I might have another go, but until then, gonna keep it simple, he he!