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How to Gain Memberships by Touting Your Credentials

In past XBIZ Premiere articles I’ve touched on the fact that many of adult’s major producers aren’t making the most use of their brand power. When a web surfer is clicking around, be it on a tube site, Google or typing in names of video companies, production companies have a tremendous advantage over nearly all other sites out there: instant recognition and credibility.

Unlike other sites, a potential pay-site customer already identifies with a studio site before they hit the warning page. This creates a big opportunity for an easy sale but a lot of studio sites work against themselves and create obstacles for what should be an almost guaranteed instant sale.

Don’t shy away from blowing your own horn on your tour pages and also on your join page. Use phrases like “Award-Winning” to convey quality and build trust.

I visited 10 studio websites that are among the most well known brands in porn. Out of 10 sites, six of them hit you with a trial offer or some other offer via a pop-up ad right when the site loads. Four of the 10 make mention of the number of awards they’ve won and just one site makes mention of the length of time they’ve been in business. I think most sites can benefit on a bit less focus on a direct-sales push and more focus on their accolades.

My company’s CMS software (Elevated X) powers a number of studio brands. Something I would love to see all studios (especially my own customers) doing is more horn blowing. If you’ve paid your dues over the years, gained the recognition and won the awards, why not brag about it?

Here are five suggestions for using accolades to your advantage

1. List the number of awards won in a prominent location. This shouldn’t be a tiny badge in the site corner. It’s something to be proud of and it gives your site more credibility in the mind of a potential member. If you’ve won awards you’re specifically proud of, list them separately, for example: 5 Awards for Best Actress, 8 Awards for Best Series, etc.

2. Use recognition in your calls to action. Saying “Click for instant access to all our videos” doesn’t have as much power as “Click for instant access to all our award-winning titles and hundreds more.”

3. Instead of just dumping titles and thumbnails of scenes (aka site updates) on a page, split your site into sections so tour visitors and members can browse the site by clicking top navigation links for Video Scenes, DVDs, Porn stars, Award-Winners and if possible, a Categories link leading to a page that lists all available keyword tags.

4. If you have a number of awards, showcase your award winning titles separately by adding them to their own section or category so they can be browsed separately. Often, the award-winners are popular titles and/or feature popular performers. These may be scenes or titles potential customers are searching for or that they’ll recognize and this will lead to instant sales. If your site is streaming only, consider offering the award-winning titles for download as well as a membership bonus and also to encourage sign ups from people who are outside your primary demographic. The idea of being able to “Download our collection of award-winning titles for private viewing at any time” will be especially appealing to women and couples as well as men who may be looking for videos to watch with a partner.

5. Don’t shy away from blowing your own horn on your tour pages and also on your join page. Use phrases like “Award-Winning” to convey quality and build trust. Mention the length of time you’ve been around e.g. “Bringing you creative, high-quality adult entertainment for 15 years.” Many sites can go as far as to say “The Award-Winning Video Brand You Know and Trust” and have it be fitting and accurate.

By using your accolades in these ways you can remove hesitation and give potential members one more reason to join your site.

AJ Hall is a 14-year adult industry veteran and CEO of Elevated X Inc., a provider of popular adult site CMS software. Hall has spoken at industry trade shows and is a contributing writer for several trade publications. Elevated X software powers more than 2,000 leading adult sites, has been nominated for more than a dozen industry awards and won the 2012 and 2014 XBIZ Award for Software Company of the Year.

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