Become Independent Web Cam Model

If you don’t use mailing list on your site or blog you are losing money. The longer you don’t have it the more money you lose. Collecting email addresses of visitors who are interested in your content makes you really independent cam model. Let me show you why.

Here is how it works:

1. You put web form somewhere on your site (in free area) that collects names and email addresses from visitors. You can see such a form on my blog to the right (it says “Subscribe to Newsletter”). Sure not every visitor leaves his email address but those who do most likely are interested in your content.
2. Once visitor fills out the form and clicks the “Submit” button he receives confirmation email that asks to confirm his email address by clicking the link inside.
3. Once visitor clicks the link he’s taken to the “Thank you” page. At this point you are getting email subscriber who is interested in your site/blog since he filled out his info (name and email address) and confirmed his email address.

If you haven’t subscribed to my blog yet you can use the subscribe form on to the right (close to the top) to go through the whole process see how it works. Plus you’ll receive my newsletter

So if you update your site or blog regularly your mailing list will start to grow. In 3-4 months you may have hundreds of email addresses. And it will be growing every day. I know guys who have up to 250,000 email addresses collected this way.

And this is how you can use this mailing list to make money:

1. Set up so that once you publish new article on your blog the automatic email gets sent to all your email subscribers. This email could include a little snippet from the article and link back to your blog to read full article. This way you’ll be getting instant traffic spikes to your blogs when you publish new articles. And more traffic means more money, right?
2. You can announce your cam shows this way. For example once a week you can send out an email about your upcoming show with some teasing pictures, etc. This way you’ll be getting instant buyers of your show. No need to waste yur time in free chats. And if you changed your cam network you can let your fans know about this via email as well.
3. If you sell your picture sets, calendars, lingerie, etc you can email announcements about new stuff for sale.

These are just a couple of ways how you can earn money from mailing list. There are many more, just use your imagination. This is called email marketing. The point is that you have backward communication channel with your fans. You can reach them whenever you want. Email is the most reliable way to reach people. Most people check their emails every day, more regularly than checking their Facebook or Twitter pages.

So if you have your site or blog running and don’t have mailing list set up yet, do so now. It’s not hard to set it up at all and you can easily do it by yourself. There are many services out there that help you manage and grow your mailing list. If you can afford to spend $20 a month I would definitely recommend AWeber. This is the best email subscribers management solution on the market. It provides all you need: customizable web forms, interface to send broadcast emails to your subscribers, integration with your blog, documentation and video tutorials, etc. I use it myself and very happy. And the first month is just $1 so why not to try it?

Update: AWeber is not adult friendly. See my other post for more details.

Have you ever thought about using mailing list for you site or blog?

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I was chatting the other day with one of my cam model friends Ashley Steel and she made the following statement:

“… I will also tell you I have run my own affiliate programs and I think it is best to use the sites and let them bring you traffic. You get higher commissions on your own traffic so self promo is still a great idea but a girl just on her own is NOT going to make any money, trust me. They SHOULD be on the sites using THEIR traffic. I ran my own programs cause I never wanted to pay anyone 50% or more for sites. After 5 yrs and $45,000 lost I would be HAPPY to go back and give them 50% — 50% of $6000 is a hell of a lot more than 100% of nada. Not to mention when you can make $100 an hour on a network, or spend 6 hours making $30 on your own site why on earth wouldn’t you just use their stuff? Also they keep their members cause they have a lot more girls. If you’re not on someone else’s site, and you take a day off you could lose valuable customers you spent weeks earning…”

I’m getting a lot of complains from beginner cam girls who are not happy with cam networks (cam sites) because of the high commission they charge (up to 70%). What Ashley means is if you know how to promote yourself, i.e. get your own traffic, you can get a lot more from cam networks. Some cam networks would pay you up to 40% in addition to what you’re getting if you sign up a new member to buy your show.

For example you may have your own blog where you publish short articles with teasing pictures. This blog is going to attract some traffic from search engines. Once you see that number of visitors to your blog grows you can start announcing your webcam shows linking to cam site you working on. Now let’s say one of your blog fans is eager for the private show with you. He clicks a link in your announcement, gets to the cam site, registers and pays for the show. So, now you are going to get your usual 30% plus additional 40% because you brought a new member to the cam site.

Cam networks pay you such a big commission for bringing a new member because they know that if he’s already spent money for your cam show most likely he will spend money on other models too.

The point of all this is that you need to know how to get your own traffic. Once you have it you can get money for your traffic. Ashley Steel described one of the ways how you can profit from your own traffic. Anyone wants to share other ways they use?

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Every webcam site offers a unique environment to work in and it’s important you find one that suits your personality.  Sites like WebCams.com have large model databases, so if you’re alluringly cute, you could be quite successful on that site.  However, if you enjoy chatting to clients and can sell yourself (or want to learn how to),  LiveJasmin could be a good option for you as it has a free chat program for surfers to increase your exposure and build up your client list. Once you have a base site to work from, you can often work among other webcam sites at the same time to bring in more money.

Having multiple chat programs open simultaneously is the best way to get as many shows into your online time as possible. Many models run 1-3 free chat sites and have 1-3 offline sites open at the same time to earn faster. Using this method of performing, you will do better with some sites some days than others and will get a lot more paid opportunities than if you’d been signed to just one site.

While it’s nice to think of monetizing your time this way, be aware that many sites prohibit their models working with other sites. Check the ToS (Term of Services) agreement with each site. Some ToS agreements don’t allow you to use other sites so to stop having your account closed with them, you may need to be careful and either only use them or not use them during your multiple site sessions. LiveJasmin is the best webcam site to be signed up in if you’re looking to have multiple webcam sites streaming at the same time as it does not prohibit working on other sites. You can juggle more than one chat site by leaving a standard message for the other sites when you go into private chat. Make sure site administrators don’t view this message as it may breach their ToS and you may get your account closed.

Make sure you’re organized before each cam session so you don’t get flustered and remember your priority should be on paying customers rather than the free customers and you will learn over time that many free-goers are there to see what they can get from you for free (not all, but many). Teasing is the best way to get their cards out rather than giving the prize before they buy.

What is your experience with working on multiple webcam sites?

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This review was kindly performed by Bella Bellini in response to my previous post about IPEVO Point 2 View USB webcam. You can watch video review in 2 parts at the  bottom of the post or read the text version below.

I’ve gone through four different webcams and I can tell you that nothing ruins my day online more than dealing with cam problems. The last thing I want is to get frustrated during a show because people will pick up on that and start leaving my chat room, which means less money for me.

From my experience, I need a webcam to do the following things in order for me to enjoy using it and not smash it under my heels in frustration!

1.    It needs to be compatible with my computer and OS (I’m using a Macbook Pro with Snow Leopard)

2.    I need to look fabulous! That means it should work with the lighting set up that I have, which at the moment isn’t as professional as I would like. So I need to look good even under low light conditions.

3.    It needs to be able capture me in different positions without too much fiddling. My shows should seem effortless and nothing disrupts the mood more than stopping everything to fuss over getting the right angle.

4.    I must be able to use it to shoot webcam photos for my profile and promotional material.

5.    It must be able to record videos so that I can make custom videos for members of my site, as well as promotional videos so that I can increase traffic to my chat room.

Up until now, one of my biggest issues was finding a webcam that is compatible with my Mac computer. The built in webcam in my macbook pro doesn’t have the high quality video image that I need to do shows. I’ve tried using a video camera on a tripod, but my mobility was very limited because it  wasn’t able to pan/tilt. I’ve been using the Logitech Pro 9000 for the past few months and it is a very good webcam. Unfortunately, its software isn’t compatible with Mac OS. I can still use it, but I can’t adjust the settings to improve the video quality or use it to take webcam photos. So I’ve been jumping back and forth between using in on the Mac OS and running it in windows XP through boot camp. I can use the software in windows, but I don’t like using windows and it wastes time to switch to boot camp. If I use it in the Mac OS then my skin tone looks very washed out, which doesn’t exactly put a smile on my face.

So I was very excited when I was asked to review the IPEVO Point 2 View USB webcam because I read on the website that it was compatible with Mac OS. I also loved that I had the option of using it on a flexible, compact tripod or clipped to my laptop screen. I’m definitely not a technology expert, but it was very easy to install the software and figure out how to use the cam.

[click to continue…]

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Zombaio is a third party processing service that is easy to use for anyone hoping to branch out and work with their own webcam services or pay site. Just like most services in the adult industry, there are pros and cons that can determine if they are the right service or product for you.

Pros

1. You don’t need a business license if you are an independent worker and will only be required to register your Social Insurance (or Social Security) number with Zombaio to get access to their service.
2. Setting up the system can be quite easy when using the non-recurring payment structure, as you only need to copy and paste the html code into your signup page to get it started. Once your paperwork is in order, you can be set up and operational within one business day, meaning secured payments can start streaming through in next to no time (some third party processors can take up to several weeks before being fully useable)
3. You can opt in for email notifications about payments made to you, supplying you with the username and email of your client, providing an easy and fast reference of payment confirmation at the beginning of each cam show
4. Setting up the system where clients can purchase credits for webcam shows can be difficult and would require extra experience or assistance from a knowledgeable friend to set this up. Zombaio has a preset value for price per credit for clients use which is not changeable, however the preset value is reasonable so you can leave it as is if you want

Cons

1. While Zombaio is overall relatively easy and fast to set up, there are aspects of it that may require a further technical knowledge including setting up your own website, understanding how to use FTP and editing html code. This can be hard to impossible for a model that doesn’t have any experience with these parts of an online business however there are usually techs available to assist with a lot of the set up if you need.
2. Setting up a virtual wallet to enable revolving credit, which is ideal for webcam shows is much more difficult than sticking to the simple one time payment method (which lets your client send you money before the cam show) which can be useful but not quite as convenient
3. If you don’t have much computer experience, it’s best to choose the non-recurring payment structure because it is very easy to set up, however this can cause some confusion between your client and yourself if he pays ahead of time or pays too much/too little for the session. It’s best to contact the client first and arrange a booked appointment time before he pays to save problems

As a whole, the service that Zombaio provides is much better than a lot of the other competitors out there and the only major problems you may find will depend on your level of experience with website building, html and technical set-up.

Have you had any experience with Zombaio? If so, please share.

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I have a brand new webcam from IPEVO ($70 worth) that I can give away for free in exchange for the review. They’re promoting their new webcam product and think that it could be very handy for adult webcam modeling. Since I’m not webcam model myself I decided to give it away to cam girl who could actually try this webcam and give a feedback.

What makes this webcam special is a stand that has 4 movable joints and thus creates big convenience when trying to shoot different stuff/angle while webcamming:

It has 2 megapixel resolution which should result in very clear picture. According to the spec you can film as close as 2 inches of the subject. And you can detach it from the stand. So looks like it could be very handy for close up shooting:

Oh and one more thing. It’s very easy to setup and it’s fully compatible with Mac computers. You simply plug it into USB port and that’s it. No drivers needed.

So if you are interested in getting this webcam for free in exchange for honest review please contact me. If you have any questions please leave a comment below.

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I was shocked with the news about UndressJess’s stroke. I’m following her on Twitter, had some communication with her before, so I feel like I know her close. And now such a bad news

I was thinking about how we can help her as community. I’ve already seen two great posts with support from Trixie and Bella Bellini . They provided some options to support Jess by purchasing her products. These options are good for her fans but we should support her directly with money. She must be facing big medical expenses now and won’t be able to get to work for a while. So money is the only thing she really needs right now.

The easiest way to donate money to her is through PayPal. Most likely she has paypal account, we just need to know her paypal ID. If any of you can get in touch with Jess (I know Trixie did once) please ask her for paypal ID. We can then place “Donate” button on her site or I can create a simple site for this. HelpUndressJess.com domain is available.

Update: Trixie thinks that PayPal is not the best option since Jess is adult oriented model and PayPal is not adult friendly. I personally think that PayPal is Ok, since we donate not for adult oriented service but to help her out with health probles . DiamondJames suggested to tip Jess through her rude profile. I’ve tried to do this but found the whole process very confusing. You need to register in order to be able to tip. And after you register you have to buy chips (minimum $25) that you can use to tip her. It must be the  better option.

Update: In one of her last twits Jess shared her chipin profile info. It’s very easy to donate through it (I just did). Just go to her chipin profile and click “Chip In!” button at the top right. It eventually processes payments through PayPal, what I origianly suggested.

I hope that my post will result in fund raising for Jess. She is the one who’s suffering now so let’s help her out to ease this suffering. If you have other suggestions how we can help Jess please share in comments.

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When it comes to deciding on processing clients credit cards, you can choose between opening your own merchant account or using a third party processor. With merchant accounts, you need to do your own fraud detection, but a third party processor, like Zombaio, will run it all for you, taking an often confusing part of getting your clients’ payments off your hands. This is generally the preferred method among webcam models’ services and pay sites that charge credit cards.

Zombaio is very easy to use and setting up your site with this service will have you able to accept payments within one business day. One of the many convenient aspects of Zombaio includes not needing a business license to purchase their service if you are independent (working for and by yourself). You can simply register your Social Security number and things will get underway.

Once you’ve signed on, you will be required to give them access to your site so they can confirm it provides a members’ area (for your paying clients) as well as an outside page or site (such as a tour or bio page) and you will also need to have an 18 U.S.C Section 2257 compliance notice on your site. In completion of these two fast steps, you can set up either non-recurring buttons or a virtual wallet (for revolving credits for your clients). The non-recurring payment option is much easier to set up than the virtual wallet and is recommended if you don’t have a lot of experience with the technical side of sites or don’t have a friend to help you set it up. If you know how to edit html, this will come in handy as you will be given a code to paste onto your signup page that will show the signup form and button options for your clients to click to make their secured payments.

You can opt in to receive confirmation emails for each payment made by your clients. The emails will include the username and email address of each client so that you can identify instantaneous payments (for webcam shows, etc) and identify their user account if they’d paid in advance for a cam show. This adds to the convenience of using a third party processor such as Zombaio, however it’s a good idea to contact your client before the show if he’s planning on paying in advance to ensure the type of show and time is comfortable and convenient for both of you.

Overall Zombaio is great to use if you’re hoping to have your webcam business working for you without going through a webcam hosting company and without having to deal with a less automatic merchant account. You also get full payments from all of your clients’ cam shows and only need to deal with the low percentage overheads rather than working at a lower rate overall and letting the company you work for make a profit on top of your own earnings.

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One of the major benefits of running your own blog is that you can constantly stay in touch with your fans. Your potential clients can read your blog constantly without even visiting it. You may be wondering how they can do this. Well, there is a feature in every blog that you may not know about. It’s called RSS Feed.

In nova days many people subscribe to different blogs through rss feed to read articles from these blogs whenever they want. And they can read it from their iPhones and other smart phone devices. They don’t have to be in front of the computers.

Let me provide you with example how it works. A guy finds your blog through Google, likes your articles/pictures and subscribes to your blog’s RSS feed. Every blog has RSS feed and it’s usually marked by this  icon. This guy may be subscribed to 10 other blogs of different kinds and now he adds your blog to his list. The next day he may be sitting in a subway on the way to work and browsing through the list of new articles (on blogs he subscribed to) through RSS reader app on his iPhone. He notices that your blog’s got new article and views it right from his iPhone! And he’ll see your article the way it looks like in your blog along with all your pictures and even videos!

So if you are already running your blog make sure that you make it easy to subscribe to your RSS feed. Place RSS feed icon in prominent place so your visitors can easily see it and subscribe. If you don’t have blog yet, start it NOW!

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