BDSM, for those of you who are completely new to it, means several different things, but the most accepted definition is, "Bondage, Domination, Submission, Sado-Masochism." In essence, this niche covers the "darker" side of pornography.
The BDSM niche, in and of itself, is a broad spectrum of different niches all rolled into one. The marketing of such a niche can be a bit disheartening, but only because it's such a huge niche that it really needs to be broken down into smaller sub-niches before it can be very effectively marketed.
There are many sub-niches to BDSM, and each one has its devoted followers. Some of the following are the "Best Sellers" of BDSM:
Fem Dom: This niche consists of one major constant: The Dominant is female. (Mistress/slave is the common fantasy here.)
Bondage: This niche consists of a submissive, (or many subs, depending on the site), being bound, whether in ropes, chains, or other such tools of the bondage trade. This also includes a slightly smaller, more focused sub-niche known as "Japanese Rope Bondage" which uses rope to make beautifully designed "dresses" which bind submissives.
Spanking: This niche is also known as "corporal punishment", and includes paddling, OTK, (over-the-knee), belting, and open-hand spanking. The photos often also include the reddened bottoms of the subs who have been spanked.
Dungeon: This sub-niche includes the activities found in a dungeon setting. Caging, chaining, gagging, cropping, spanking, bondage and humiliation are commonly found here.
Pro Dom(me): This sub-niche is primarily feminine, though there are occasional Male Doms who are professionals. These sites focus on Her and Her profession. Many people who dream about going to a Professional often remain strong members of a particular Dom(me)'s site, both out of desire to attend Her and fear that they wouldn't qualify, and thus need only more photos of Her glorious presence.
Fem Sub/Fem Dom: This sub-niche is involved with a Domina and Her slavegirl(s). Call it "darker lesbianism."
These smaller sub-niches are really where the marketing needs to focus. If you build a bondage site and then market it as just plain BDSM, you'll still get hits, because that's what most surfers expect to see.
However, should you build a spanking site and label it BDSM, then you're not going to get as many hits with it. Spanking is beginning to cross over from the BDSM realm and into more "mainstream" porn, becoming much more acceptable as a sex act. Therefore, you need to market your spanking site effectively as a spanking site, not as a BDSM site.
Rule of thumb here: In the realm of BDSM, always market your site to the correct sub-niche surfer. This also works for any porn site. Make sure that if you have Japanese rope bondage on your bondage site, your meta tags and your title express that. Send it to be linked at bondage sites under both "bondage" headers and "japanese rope bondage" headers.
Do your research first before you try to build and market a BDSM site. Make sure you know what you're talking about in your site's storylines, and be absolutely sure that you know where to market your stuff. Trust me, you won't get much of anything by marketing your Fem Dom site on a gay link list!
Take care of yourselves! ~ Tala
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