The adult Internet is a fast-paced industry. Trends change. Rules change. Business models change. Models change. Everything changes so often and so quickly, that it’s damned hard to keep up the pace much less lead the way. That’s why it might sound funny to you when I suggest that you would be wise to consider the long-term.

"What happened between that moment when they signed up for your site and a month later when they cancelled? Did they stop liking porn or did you stop caring after you took their money?"

As I mentioned, our profession moves at the speed of thought. A good idea can alter our universe. A new idea can cause a revolution. A good, new idea can cause a lot of webmasters to get rich almost overnight. The problem is that after the hubbub and hullabaloo, that new, good idea is overdone and over populated with hungry webmasters. The easy money is forgotten almost as soon as it is made. Then we all go back in search of the next good, new thing and our surfers could care less.

A lot of adult webmasters waste a lot of time pursuing supposedly sure-fire schemes. They’ll jump on a new niche or site concept as soon as word of it is uttered in cyberspace. If you open a unique paysite with any sort of success, expect to see twenty copycat sites within weeks of your launch. We’re all so sure that the big money is just around the corner, we never seem to look back at the path we’re on. We’re so concerned with new signups we completely forget about the best customers any salesman could ever have – repeat customers.

Recurring Members. Love them. Embrace them. Do all that is in your power to keep them. Whether your are the paysite owner or the affiliate webmaster, strive to please these most wondrous customers. A recurring member equals a dependable income. A recurring member is a person that pays for more than one month. A recurring member has more trust in you. A recurring member is more likely to buy your upsells or pay for membership to one of your other sites. A recurring member is like gold in your pocket.

I did an unofficial poll. I have a few friends that have paid for porn site memberships. I also know a few paysite owners. From my unofficial survey of these folks I’ve determined that the average length of time and member remains a member is three months. I suppose that for many paying members the novelty of Internet porn wears off after 90 days. Just the same, I seriously doubt that these paying perverts stop looking for porn cold turkey. Wouldn’t it be great if you could entice that member to keep paying for fourth month or a fifth or a sixth?

Impossible you say? Are you sure? My father kept renewing his subscription to Playboy for almost 40 years. Is the idea of retaining a paysite member for six months that far out of the realm of possibility? The question you have to ask yourself is are your members paying recurring fees at all? Are you sweating for signups because you’re losing your repeat business? Why do you think that is?

If you’re an affiliate webmaster, you tend to make more initial money per primary sign up. Have you looked into switching to a recurring payout option? Most sponsors offer it. Some sponsors payout really well on recurring. If you’ve been successful with a particular sponsor, why not make that success work for you via recurring members? Think of it this way. With a recurring member, you only have to make the sale once, yet the money keeps coming for as long as your surfer pays.

For you paysite owners, recurring members should be your bread and butter. Yes, new members signify growth but not if you’re losing members as fast as you gain them. You’ve got to aim for a base number of monthly members in order to have any sort of dependable income. If you can’t retain a respectable number of members for at least three months then it’s time to take serious stock of your paysite. These people were happy with your tour. They liked your content. They fell for your sales copy. They know they can trust you with their credit card information. What happened between that moment when they signed up for your site and a month later when they cancelled? Did they stop liking porn or did you stop caring after you took their money?

Yes indeed. This is a frenzied profession. It’s also a relatively new profession in a relatively new medium. Sometimes I think we’re so far out on the cutting edge, we’re totally missing the pie. While we make new rules we tend to forget that some things never change. Adults will always be willing to pay for sexual entertainment and the best customer is a repeat customer. It’s one thing to convert signups with shiny promises but it is a better thing to maintain a robust quantity of recurring members. Do yourself a favor; strive for the long run. Think RECURRING!