So the Traffic Stops Here?
I suppose it was to be expected that, at some point, when the PartyChat feature hit mainstream, I would be seeing a decline in the volume of traffic I’ve grown accustomed to on Streamate. The reality is, that decline way exceeded my expectations. Last night was a pivotal point for me. When I could count on one hand, how many members are in my room at any given time, it’s time to start looking at other options (specifically, other sites). In my experience, when traffic starts to decrease for you on a site, but doesn’t seem to for everyone, that’s hint #1. This considered, curious to see if it was indeed just me, I started poking around (amazing the things you find when you really look). Traffic from room to room, of those prominently featured on the first and second row of the main page listings, seemed sporadic. One room would have 7 members, while the next one would have 108. Both rooms open for some time (meaning noone just coming out of private or exclusive session, waiting for the room to fill again). I just couldn’t make sense of why one had so few and the other, so many. The girls were side by side in the listing, both were from the us, dressed the same way, showing only partial nudity; teasers. Equally as attractive and both attentive to her room. My only conclusion here was that one had traffic driven or pushed toward her, while the other didn’t. It’s also possible that she drives traffic there herself, except that doesn’t make very much sense when you think about it; we only earn 35%. Why bring your own traffic just to give up 65% of it to the site? Is it even worth it, at that point? Hell no! Without any help from the great traffic gods at Streamate, how does one fill up a room with 108 members, while the girls beside her, offering the same thing, obtains a mere handful? Seems to happen a lot that one or two girls have all the traffic, whenever they are on, while others are left fighting for the scraps. So my mind wanders…
AnOld"Friend", 
amanda36c 
Kristina 7:06 pm on October 7, 2011 Permalink |
You should definitely try other sites, even if only for a week. If you have a fun personality and interact regularly with your visitors, you can make a killing on MFC (myfreecams.com). There are girls there making a few hundred a night just through tips on free chat. You also get about 60% of group/private chat so it definitely worth it to bring your own promotion.
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amanda36c 6:41 pm on October 11, 2011 Permalink |
Sent an e-mail to the addy you left here on WordPress. Thanks for responding. 🙂
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JoyKitten 8:05 pm on October 7, 2011 Permalink |
Hi Amanda,
You’re so good at keeping your blog up to date with interesting views and stories. Many times it’s nice to know I’m not alone in what I’m experiencing. This time I’ll share my thoughts on your recent writings.
I too study our biz at Streamate and have concluded that placement is determined by #1 using an encoder (which all the top ranked girls do), #2 revenue generated for the length of time the girls streams. Seems like a logical guide for Streamate to promote those who are the best money makers for them. This is one of the many reasons I have chosen NOT to do Party Shows.
While I know I’m not one of the top entertainers with one hundred men in my room, I regularly have a steady group of people popping in (are half of them other hosts? LOL). Generally I stay pretty busy. I’m no expert, but the following is what I’ve observed.
If a host is doing Party Shows, spending lots of time ‘in the lobby’ advertising the show and doesn’t create revenue, then the show will be pulling down her stats. Setting the timer for 15 minutes, then canceling the show, then doing it all over again equates to 30 minutes of no revenue being generated…and your placement will slip. I believe this is why I’ve seen full fledged cutie-pie porn stars, who regularly broadcast, down on line 3-4, not line one. They have gone to the PC plan, cancelled show after show, bringing no revenue for their time online, so their numbers slip. At least that’s my theory.
I have 3 main reasons for not working PC:
#1. The ‘mood’ in my room must be playful and pleasant, so I don’t want viewers seeing what each other is writing. If someone writes a nasty comment, or goads me, I pay no attention because I know I am the only person who sees it. I may even laugh or make fun of them, but the rest of the room has no idea what they wrote. Because I’m ‘hidden’ from the public home pages, no one there can read it either. Only I see it and I always choose to let it go. Always let it go, it’s bad for business not to. Letting it go, not adding negitive energy to my room always means the heckler will leave, and usually pretty quickly.
#2. I don’t want to wait around entertaining guys for free while waiting them to chip in. The Party Chat system begets beggars and beggars aren’t attractive. Ever. Begging evokes pity and pity doesn’t produce long term followers. Pity possibly creates a one time donation because someone feels sorry for us (think of people on a street corner…you might even cross the street to avoid a beggar). It’s very clear to me the pleasant host who pays personal attention to her guests (using those cool new icons to alert us to who’s been with us before, or, like I do, even keeping notes on the shows I do for guys) no matter her looks, age or body type will always have followers who will spend money. I feel any success I have is due to my flirty-niceness and building a pleasant persona for the viewers. Sure, I’m nice looking for my age, but I’m no starlet, that’s fo’ damn sure! LOL
#3. I don’t want anyone to know how many, or how few, people are in my room with me. Just like any other ‘real life party’, the best ones are usually busy, standing-room only, lots going on, people want to be on the invite list. In my chatroom I can make my room fun and exciting whether I have 2 or 12 in with me. I just don’t want THEM to know there are only 2 in the room. It’s important to maintain the image of being in demand, wanted, desired. People want to have what everyone else is having. We’re basically sheep. I work at keeping the place active, giving an air of excitement. Two people in my room is not seen as exciting, even to me. ha ha ha But I work to make it a party for whomever IS in my room with me. Does that make sense?
If you’ve ever popped into my ‘lobby’ you’ll see me promoting my one-on-one ‘specialty’ shows. This keeps me pleasantly busy in private & exclusive. I attempt to mitigate the damage to my stats by only working when I know my ‘regulars’ tend to be looking for some satisfaction. If it’s slow, and I haven’t had a show for about 10 minutes I tend to sign off for a bit and try again later. I may be off base with my theory of Show to Revenue ratio, but that’s what I’m currently using as my guide.
And in conclusion (it’s about time, eh?) One of the top girls who always has 100 people in her room says she only makes 25% (she must have arrived at SM through a recruiting site like Sharkcams?) Any of us who are making the standard 35% CAN have the other 40% too if we drive our own traffic thru our cammodels page (plus a bit of what they spend with other models….I love it!). Doesn’t that make it worth driving our own traffic? I know I enjoy it when one of ‘my guys’ pops-in and I get double what I’d normally make. Woot! It really makes it worth doing the extra work to get them, and keep them there.
Whew! I’m done. LOL
I share all this, my humble opinion & experiences because I want the BEST for all us struggling camgirls. Maybe my thoughts will spur debate or a few ah-ha moments.
If you know I’m wrong on my theories I’d love to be corrected. k?
All the best, always.
Joy
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amanda36c 6:42 pm on October 8, 2011 Permalink |
Hi Joy,
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. I enjoyed your post as it was very well put together, concise and well thought out. May as well throw in articulate, too. 😉 I always enjoy reading your posts though. Always have, always will. You have so much to offer in the way of advice, experience and of course, wisdom when it comes to this industry. An inspiration for many, I’m sure.
Yes, being listed in hd places us more prominently on the main page. Having a 5-star rating, offering Party Chat/Gold Shows, posting a schedule, are all large contributing factors which determine just how high up on that page our listing is. This is just what I heard, so of course there could be other criteria. What you mentioned (about revenue in accordance with time spent in the room) makes a lot of sense, from a business standpoint. Since traffic is being driven to Streamate through over 800 other sites, we’d have to find the main sites and check those for our listing to be sure the placement is the same, or that we even appear there at all. There are days I wonder about that.
It would make sense (even if noone admits to it) that the site would choose to promote hosts who produce more revenue, in the time that they’re streaming. Have to be careful with that though because if the others slip too far down the page, how long before they start looking for another platform to work on, which treats them more equally? If they told us this is how it is, they’d lose a ton of hosts. To let us figure it out on our own will only slightly prolong that same end result.
I’ve come to a conclusion with Gold Shows and that is to stop just shy of not offering them but doing so only for my good members when I see I have a sufficient number of them in my room to actually support this feature, without fear of losing revenue or sliding down the listings. I was charging $10.00 for 10 minutes with a goal of $100.00 and to do it in 5 minutes. It was great, when there was traffic to support it. Then, when I started to see a decline (the inevitable ‘novelty wearing off’ stage), rather than sell myself short, I lowered the timer to 8 minutes, keeping my rate at an even $10.00, but holding off on clicking to start the timer in favor of being available to members who want to go private or exclusive. I did fine when not relying solely on Party Chat but insisting on keeping my options open to offer this simply because of the economy. Problem is, I was getting members entering private and exclusive with the sole purpose of rating me low. They stay just long enough for the rating to go through and then leave, nary a word in the chat. This happened frequently and eventually, dragged my overall rating down and as a result, my listing went down, as well (subsequently, as did my traffic and revenues). No longer able to support Gold Shows due to lack of volume (it became harder to amass enough members in the room to round up 10 to contribute $10.00 each), so I decided rather than nixing the Gold Shows altogether, in favor of retuning back to basics (privates and exclusives only), I’d keep the Gold Show option, offering a rate lower than that of private but on the a high-end scale for Gold Shows. My new Gold Show rate is $20.00 for 10 minutes with the same goal of $100.00 and to do it in 5 minutes. So far, so good. I only put the timer on when I see enough regulars in the room and they all appear to want it. A simple copy and paste job every now and then in my chat tells members that I do offer Gold Shows. “Anyone interested in a GOLD SHOW, just let me know! I’ll put the timer on! Thanks!”. I hate begging, so this helps me to not have to say it all the time. 😉
I don’t think you’re wrong in any of your points. Your opinion is exactly that; your opinion. I agree with most of what you wrote but take exception to one minor detail and that is letting members see other members’ chat in the room. As often as I get harrassed in my room (which is every shift, at least half my total online time, despite my many blocks on their many handles), I like knowing that members are seeing what I am seeing and when they piss me off, at least members know why. It also helps when they jump in to defend me. It gets tiring, always having to scramble to block that person. A bit of a negative note, yes, but hey, it’s real, it’s happening and I’m not going to pretend it isn’t. This also helps to build a better bond with my members, or in the very least, gives us something to talk about. 😉 I like to think of it as taking those lemons and making lemonade! It usually works out pretty good. We can often find ways to make things work just by altering how we choose to deal with the situation. For me, keeping that behind closed doors doesn’t work. I like everything to be out in the open and the members are absolutely great about that.
Totally agree with you on point #3 about the member count. Really, whose business is it how many people are in one girl’s room? The site chose to implement that feature for whatever reason, so I guess it’s just something we have to live with, if we elect to do Party Chat and Gold Shows.
I’m with you on that theory of Show-to-Revenue ratio. It makes perfect business sense. I don’t believe for a second that the site doesn’t maintain some sort of control over their revenue-generating assets by driving more traffic to its proven producers. 😉
Interesting about the studio that pays 25%. I never knew about that. I knew there were studios but heck, back in 1999 when I worked for one (albeit, for a short time), I was only paid $10.00/hour to start. No bonuses, nothing. I asked for (and received) a raise of $2.00 after working only 2 months. I was off and running on my own after 3. These ones earning 25% must be doing well! I’ve heard a lot about the studios on Streamate but take it all with a grain of salt. Despite all the negativity, when I poke around to see how and what girls on the site are doing (I like to check from time to time to see what the competition is up to … just because I can), the studios don’t appear to be ‘giving it away’. They conduct themselves and their business in a more respectable way than a lot of girls I’m seeing in the ‘home alone’ categories and I hate to say that but when I see a girl showing her boobs, playing with them for an extended period of time, that’s a disgrace to us all and an insult to anyone who is serious about the business aspect of what we do here. The reason, in my opinion, that we’re having so much trouble these days with getting members to pay for shows. I see a lot of them hopping from room to room, looking for the freebies and what pisses me off the most is – they’re getting exactly what they want and not having to pay a cent for it. I could rant about this all day but I won’t. 😉
It’s great to hear other camgirls’ thoughts on these issues.
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AnOld"Friend" 12:58 pm on October 12, 2011 Permalink |
Someone pointed out your blog to me, apparently because we have been saying a lot of the same things lately concerning traffic. After reading some of what you have said, I agree with you and I commend you for being so proactive but, if I may be so bold as to offer a fresh perspective in the sense that I haven’t been around to adjust to all of the changes this industry has endured over the years so as you can imagine, the shock of what has become of this industry is unfathomable to me.
I would like to add to your points that there are two other major driving factors leading to the decline of the camming business, that being #1 traffic has been affected by a new breed of webmasters who are extremely shady and are deliberately send non-converting (pay-per-click) traffic, but also, there is such an overwhelming amount of abuse of the free chat feature. What a waste!! Free chat has killed the soft core and tease markets, the foot fetish markets, the boob fetish markets and the companionship i.e. “I just want to speak to a sexy girl who will give me attention” markets among all of the other niche markets in this business.
Do you remember how much money we used to make from 2 to 3 hour long conversations and how frequently we got them?.. and when is the last time you were paid for a foot fetish, or a smoking show? Granted I do still get the occasional smoke show but they are few and far between. Do you still get paid by someone who is willing to watch you blow a kiss to the cam as your bra strap falls down your shoulder?
I’m tired of seeing a certain studio who notoriously encourages it’s performers to lay on their backs in free chat with their cams zoomed so their pussy is if not partially exposed, then fully exposed, wearing shear and often NO panties. Some of them do lotion shows in free chat, most of them are using their hands, fingers and toys not to HIDE their pussy but to SHOW in free chat what they should be getting paid for in private chat. I’m also tired of seeing them feed the ass fetish guys in the same fashion.
I’m tired of seeing girls in free chat for hours at a time without their tops, many of them pull their panties down to reveal if they have a Brazilian wax or a full garden. They bend over deliberately showing their asshole, I’ve even seen gaping holes in t-backs. Never mind tits for tips (I understand the concept but I’d much rather have them log into pvt chat and convert them into a 10 minute show), what is with the boobs for the entire duration of free chat? What is with all of the dancing suggestively, bending over, showing feet, the teasing… displaying outfits/uniforms and telling the guys how wet, how horny and what she plans to do with them…ooops.. he just creamed his keyboard!! Last time I checked, all of the above mentioned is commonly referred to in our business as, “a show” and is something we USED to be paid for.
How is it these girls who feed the fetishists and perversions in free chat realize that each individual part of their body meets a specific niche market when they are getting paid for it but suddenly they draw a blank in free chat and give it all away right after the paid show?
All I can do is sit here with my mouth wide open, shake my head in absolute disbelief when the same girl goes to the message boards, IM or even her own chat room complaining that she can’t make any money.
Either the site owners need to establish some kind of boundaries or the camgirls need to get it together and set their own. Until then, I foresee times gettin’ tougher.
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amanda36c 1:44 am on October 13, 2011 Permalink |
Well said!
I couldn’t agree more. I’m noticing the same thing with the way girls have stooped to giving it all away and it isn’t only the studio girls doing this but independents, as well. I laughed and shook my head while reading the part about how they dance around, showing body parts in the cam, tell members everything they would do to the members and then “oops, all over the keyboard!” LOL Priceless! Now, that’d be funny as hell if it wasn’t so sadly affecting our bottomline. Unfortunately, I don’t see the site owners imposing any guidelines or enforcable rules where nudity is concerned in the free rooms. At the very least, they must think this is helping to convert non-paying members into paying members (though I strongly disagree with their mindset on this). They could have set a minimum base rate of no less than $1.00/min, letting the host choose her plan based on that. She could go higher or remain at $1.00/min. I’m seeing some that are offering insane bargains, except their ability to perform a simple math equation leaves much to be desired. To reach a goal of $150.00, at $2.00 gold per member, you’d need 75 members to go in! With a steady average of about 6 in your room, that isn’t likely to happen. If she has to set the timer higher, like to 10 minutes, for example, what a waste of time and I hope she’s considering the time it’s taking to reach that goal, along with her tally of the time spent performing. How can that even be worthwhile? I see other girls with realistic goals of $100.00, at an $8.00 buy-in with a timer of 5 minutes. Makes more sense and seems much more attainable. If you can differentiate between the guys just hopping from room to room, looking for whatever free scraps they can get from the PartyChat girls offerings, and the those interested, but leery about entering a Gold Show but with (realistic) reservations that she may end up cancelling the show, then at least give yourself an advantage with sensible parameters.
Amanda36c
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AnOld"Friend" 11:16 am on October 14, 2011 Permalink |
camgirlslive was the first site to offer free chat to my knowledge. Back then nudity of any kind was forbidden (that included boob flashes). We were not allowed to show toys or feet either. It was considered a simple, “meet and greet” because the guys were complaining that too often they would log into private chat based on what they saw in photos (remember when photo’s were all they saw before logging in?) only to find out the girl resembled nothing of what her photo’s showed her to be.
I don’t know what brought on the big change of free show/free chat, pay to push my limits in private. I do know that most webmasters are present at least once a year to networking events & trade shows. I am nowhere close to Vegas but if I were I would be pushing for “less is more” in free chat and take the time to point out that #1 50% of our revenue is being lost on free soft/tease/foot/dancing etc but #2 China (and now parts of the middle east) are becoming bigger than any economy to date. These are the most sexually repressed regions of the world and WILL not hesitate to pay $5/min for a glimpse of boobs, toys and panties.
As for Gold Shows? Great idea to lure in those unwilling to spend $100 or more on a private show, unfortunately, it goes back to the desensitization of the female body and her sexuality. If she’s nude in free chat, dancing around, talking suggestively (and half the time she doesn’t realize she’s actually role playing for these guys) why would they pay to see when she’s already met his needs which is a quick beat off. Guys need nothing but a cool breeze to get a rise. These girls are sending them a damn tornado! It seems to me, the more I see Gold Shows fail, the more I see the same girls working it harder, pushing their limits with the belief that it’s going to make the guys pay. It’s not going to make the guys pay, it’s going to make them expect more for free. period. It’s a simple concept; I’m standing in between two cafe’s and want 1 pint of ice cream. One cafe is offering 1/2 pint for free, the other is charging full price for the full pint. Common sense says I’m going to settle for the 1/2 pint because it’s free which leaves me extra cash to spend, not at the cafe, but at Pier 1 imports buying the fancy bowl I could never afford to put it in.
I admit, I have short changed myself on Gold Shows. 10g/8min with a goal of $150 but I only was sent $100 after two of my regulars chipped in $50 and $30… otherwise I don’t get fed enough traffic (yes I do believe certain girls are fed traffic) and there isn’t enough converting traffic to hit my goal.
In summation, I didn’t intend to stick around long enough to learn as much as I have about camming in 2011, unfortunately, raising the revenue I set out to raise is not coming as easy as it should be so I’ll be sticking around longer than I intended. Perhaps there is a reason above and beyond my original intentions for coming back, maybe there isn’t, but I sure do plan on continuing to be as outspoken and as proactive as I possibly can. I mean it sucks. Here I am (and you are), one of the original internet cam girl entrepreneurs, and we are watching everything we started come to crumble. I think certain girls have not only the right but the obligation to preserve what we started.
Good luck to you.. and nice to see you again by the way. I was in your cam room the other day and said hello without identifying myself. You didn’t respond and I don’t blame you. We have become so intolerant of those who show up in free chat, not because of our own flaws but because of the flaws in the site design and lack luster policies of what can and can’t be done. Just as they are being desensitized to our bodies and our sexuality, we are becoming desensitized to those parked in our chat room begging for a moment of our free attentions.
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Julia Pak 8:40 am on October 20, 2011 Permalink |
Amanda, I have much respect for you. I have only been on streamate for 6 months, but I have been doing webcam for 6 years. I have had times where my room has been filled with 20+ members (and I am usually midway down the first page or at the bottom of the first page) yet I will see girls on the top row with 10 people in their room. I am in the asian category and often times I will be in position #1 or 2 and the girl in position #10 will have more traffic then me. But then again I am not really satisfied with that category as a whole, mainly because most of the girls are from The Philippines and enough of them have their tits and even their crotches in full view in free chat. I usually wear a full dress, bra, panties. Then I get these guys saying, “show ass” or “why do you have so much clothes on?”. I tried their methods of zooming in on my crotch (yeah I know…insert roll eyes here…I am rolling my eyes at myself too) but this just seems pointless to me. Frankly I found it to be degrading.
As for myfreecams, it does work for some people but not for others. I do keep a conversation flowing in my room there and I don’t give freebies or anything of that nature. So that really kills my business over there. What bothers me about the tipping in free chat over there is that essentially 5-10% of one’s room will actually be tippers who want a show, while the rest will be beggars and freebie seekers. I feel very conflicted about this. Say for example one girl will have “2900 tokens till cum show” in her subject line. 2900 tokens is about $145. My issue with doing this type of show is that only a certain small percent of the room will actually tip for that show. The rest will get to see that show for free. So basically a few guys are paying for a show for a whole bunch of other guys to watch for free. You can do privates on there, however that site by and large is based on the concept of tips for free shows. Privates over there are a standard $6/minute (60 tokens a minute) for the guys and not many seem to want to partake in that. What’s even more odd is that I have guys that will say spend 1000 tokens for a public show but tell me they don’t do privates. I guess they like the thrill of everyone else thinking that they are “the man”.
Back to the party chat feature. I rarely use mine these days. I find that I have to resort to begging and constantly reminding them of the normal per minute rate. I don’t like doing that. I find begging to be personally taxing and difficult. That and I don’t like the appearance of being desperate. Its unfortunate that party chat has lead to that in many rooms. I see girls who normally would not get naked with their clothes off, degrading rates (less then $1 a minute) and entertaining/pandering to beggars. At first I thought it was a good idea, mainly for our regular customers. But now that’s clearly not the case. I would like to see them perhaps change the rules on party chat, like say having a rule that states one cannot do less then $1 a minute. So a 10 minute show would have to be $10, 5 minute $5, etc.
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