This may sound strange but working in porn has done quite a lot for my self-esteem.

Considering the current fad of underfed starlets and terminally thin models in mainstream, I have to wonder who is setting the standards for the ideal of starvation as beauty? I find it unbelievable that regular people are demanding that women show their bones.

"If you want to avoid both the competition and the risk involved in promoting teen-based adult entertainment, avoid it completely by switching to the MATURE niche."

As someone involved in an industry that deals with the general buying public, I know that people’s tastes run the gamut. Working in porn I have learned that there is an audience for almost any body type. There are millions of men that love to see women with big butts and healthy curves. There are millions more that are turned off by the airbrushed fembots, plastered all over the gossip rags. I see real money being made by webmasters selling access to content featuring perfectly ordinary amateur housewives and college students.

Let’s get down to some simple realities.

The Teen niche is huge. In case you aren’t clear on the term, a niche is an industry term for a specialized market. Many adult webmasters prefer to promote content and sponsors for a targeted audience instead of general-purpose porn. Some niches are small with maybe hundreds of thousands of potential fans. Others are medium-sized and niches like Teen, appeal to hundreds of millions of Internet sex searchers. The Teen niche covers models between the ages of 18-21. Ask a group of ten adult webmasters what niche they promote and at least three of them will tell you they promote the Teen niche.

Here’s a couple of problems with the Teen niche:

1. Over saturation

It may be true that more surfers search for teen content than they do for other types of content. It may also true that the Teen niche is the most successful niche in the adult Internet. The problem lies in the absolute fact that there are thousands of adult webmasters out there already promoting the hell out of the Teen niche, maybe tens of thousands. The webmaster that enters the Teen niche as a newbie will be traveling an extremely difficult path. The competition is massive and fierce. No matter how hard you work, or how brilliant you are, there are countless webmasters already working as hard and just as brilliantly as you, to target the Teen audience. Competition is fine but in the Teen niche, it can be overwhelming.

2. TITLE 18: 2257

TITLE 18: 2257 is a section of US CODE that covers the record-keeping requirements for producers and models involved in the creation of sexually explicit content. Known as the Traci Lord’s Law, the intent of the legislation is to make sure that all models that pose for porn are over the age of 18. Used to be, the language of TITLE 18/2257 was simple and straightforward. The photographer kept a copy of the model’s ID and would provide a copy of that information to those purchasing the content. Then, a few years ago, the folks at the US DOJ decided to turn a three-page set of record-keeping requirements into an incomprehensible nightmare for everyone, models, sponsors, webmasters and content producers alike. Now, even the lowly affiliate webmaster is responsible for keeping 2257 info. This makes marketing Teen content risky. Not only will you have to fight for prominence in a highly competitive field; you’ll have Federal agents watching your every move.

What’s an adult webmaster to do? How about, grow up? At least, content-wise.

If you go to Google and type in the term "MILF", you will get 1,080,000 results. For "horny housewives" you get 1,320,000. With "amateur housewives" you get 1,410,000. Type in "older babes" and you see 1,700,000 search results for the term. The fact is content featuring older models is less expensive and less chancy than teen content. If you want to avoid both the competition and the risk involved in promoting teen-based adult entertainment, avoid it completely by switching to the MATURE niche.

The sweetest part of marketing for MATURE is that the niche is wide open to interpretation. Babes are 21-26. MILFs can be any age from 25-50. Hell, there’s even an audience for GRANNIES. With the MATURE niche, you can go ethnic, lesbian, softcore, hardcore, gangbang, etc. Surfers that go for MATURE sites tend to be more thoughtful about their online purchases. MATURE members are solid and looking for content. You can fill that need and at the same time, lose a bit of the pressure that comes from swimming with sharks in the teen pool.

Be warned. Selling MATURE content does not mean you don’t have to follow TITLE 18/2257 record-keeping requirements. You still need those model IDs. However, when you promote models that are obviously older than 21, you’re less likely to use troublesome keywords like "young" or "teen". You‘ll find it easier to get you site or gallery listed. You’ll discover that billers and designers are more willing to deal with your business because your content is less controversial.

Teen content is great but MATURE content is grown up. Visit Cozy Frog for listings of sponsors and content providers that deal in MATURE. Hop over to Cozy Academy for a Nichology lesson on MATURE. Ask about the MATURE niche at Cozy Campus. You’ll be glad you did!