A complete guide to monetization for beginners
After I wrote my full checklist on how to get started & my walkthrough on how to use Reddit to grow your page, I received a ton of requests about monetization for beginners.
Today, I’m here with a comprehensive beginner’s guide on how to make money ❤️
This post will include:
A long list of content & services you can sell
Average industry prices to give you a sense of where you want to price yourself
Think of it as a giant reference ~
Is it better to be a free page or a paid page?
The first thing you have to decide on is what kind of page you want to have. I explained this already in my other post, but I’ll give us a refresher:
Free page = you’ll get more subscribers because the barrier to enter is low (free), but your conversion rate of subscribers who buy things will be much lower. In my opinion, this works well for social media influencers or celebrities who can more easily get tens of thousands of fans, and only need to get 0.1% of them to buy something, in order to make a lot of money.
Paid page = you’ll get less subscribers because the barrier to enter is higher (not free), but your conversion rate of subs who buy things will be higher. This happens because free subscribers will not be there to bring the conversion rate down, and there are plenty of marketing studies that show people who have already spent money are more likely to continue spending money. In my opinion, this works better for people who do not already have a huge social media presence.
A mathematical way to express the above is:
A free page may have 20,000 subscribers, and only 1% of them purchase $20 of ppv each month. That amounts to $4,000 in monthly revenue.
A paid page has 500 subscribers, each paying a $20 subscription fee. That’s $10,000 in monthly revenue.
You’re welcome to adjust the numbers and conversion rates based on what you think your performance and cost would be! Personally, I would rather focus on figuring out how to get 500 paying subscribers, than 20,000 free subscribers.
Paid page subscription costs:
Low end: $~5
Medium end: ~$11
High end: $20+
Everybody has their own strategy for how they decide to price their content, but I'd love to make a suggestion here: when you're just starting, don't price your content so low that you regret it in the future. Many people set a low price for their page when they're new because they don't feel their page is worth their dream price yet. Most likely they don't have enough media so they're not sure if people will even want to subscribe for their dream price, so they price it quite low to make up for it. The idea is "oh I can just raise it in the future". While this is true, you can raise it in the future, you will likely lose 80% of your subscribers when you do so.
Changing your subscription price automatically checks in with ALL of your paying members (even the ones with rebill on), to see if they want to keep subscribing at your new price. This gets sent out in a notification, and it seems on average people lose about 80% of their subscribers. The reason for this isn't necessarily the amount of the price increase but because getting people to opt-in is hard - they might not even see the notification or realize they need to do something.
My suggestion is to do a ton of research and price your page in a way where you won't need to change it in the future. Imo it's better to get potentially slightly fewer followers but you don't risk losing them when you raise your prices, than to potentially get more followers in the short-run but become trapped at a lower price that you're not super happy with.
PPV messages
PPVs, also known as pay-per-view messages or mass messages, are a way for you to directly message a group of people. It’s most common to message all of your current subscribers, but you can also message all of your expired subscribers if you are following them. (Note: If you’re following anybody, they can message you regardless of whether they’re subscribed or not.)
PPVs live within your inbox, and are a one-on-one conversation between you and the customer. You can send messages immediately, or schedule them for the future. Pricing is entirely up to you, but there are a few key things to remember:
You can charge much more for content that is high quality, high in quantity, and long duration (for videos/audio content).
It’s easier to lower your prices in the future, than to raise them. (Existing fans will be bummed if prices go up, but will be happy if they go down).
If you’re a paid page, fans will expect to pay less for content since they’re already paying a monthly fee.
Estimated industry averages
For video ppvs:
Low end: below $1/ minute
Medium end: $1-2/minute
High end: $5+/minute
For photo ppvs:
Low end: below ~$1/photo
Medium end: ~$1/photo
High end: ~$3+/photo
For photoset ppvs:
Low end: $5/photoset
Medium end: $8-15/photoset
High end: $20+/photoset
Weenie ratings
It’s quite common for subscribers to ask you to rate or review their body. You can do this in a variety of ways (text, voice, video). Most often, they’re looking for compliments - but keep in mind that some subscribers want to be humiliated or degraded. If you do end up providing this (or any) service for somebody, make sure to always get paid in full prior. No deposits, nor “I will tip you later”. If you do decide to send the message as a locked PPV, be mindful that the subscriber may not unlock it. So, your safest bet is to ask for payment upfront.
Text (~1 paragraph)
Low end: ~$5
Medium end: ~$7-10
High end: ~$15
Voice (~1 minute)
Low end: below ~$10
Medium end: ~$15
High end: ~$25
Video (~2-3min)
Low end: ~$15
Medium end: ~$35
High end: ~$60+
Custom photosets & videos
This is when a fan loves your content so much, they want to purchase custom content made uniquely for them. I am truly always pleasantly surprised at the random things people want to see, many times it’s a sweet and wholesome request. In the chats, I’ve seen people request content focusing on messy buns, big sweatshirts, unshaven armpits - just to name a few. Other times, it’s a very specific nsfw act or scenario they want to see played out. Often times, they’ll ask for their name to be included.
Custom photosets:
Low end: below $5/photo
Medium end: $5/photo
High end: $10/photo
Custom videos:
Low end: below $5/min
Medium end: $5-9/min
High end: $10+/min
Extra charge for saying their name in the beginning: $0 - $25
Extra charge “for my eyes only”, meaning you won’t repost it publicly for others to see or purchase: $0-$500. To calculate this, I would look at how much your wall posts usually generate and ensure that the fee makes up for the revenue you lose by not being able to share the content with anybody else.
If any additional outfits or props are needed, the customer is responsible for paying. As always, make sure to get payment upfront!
Selling panties
While panties are a common request, you are technically not allowed to sell used clothing according to OF’s Terms of Service- so make sure to proceed with caution. You can imply they are worn without necessarily saying that they are. Panties are expected to be shipped discretely, vacuum sealed or otherwise packaged in a way that preserves your essence. Factor your shipping costs into your prices. I suggest purchasing a pack of inexpensive panties to use just for this, to keep your profit high.
Low end: ~$35/ 1 day wear
Medium end: ~$50-$75/ 1 day wear
High end: ~$90+/ 1 day wear
Day of extra wear: ~$10-$25/day
Audio & video calls
I notice that true fans love talking one on one. These calls can be anything you want, at any price point you want. It’s typically the most hardcore fans who purchase calls, and they’re usually the most willing to spend more money to interact with you. As always, payment upfront. If a customer seems like they need more time and you’re happy to continue the session, let them know that their time is up but you’d love to keep talking if they want to tip more.
You can sell them as a variety of services, I’ve listed the below in what I would personally consider the order of “least expensive” to “most expensive”:
Completely sfw conversations, just chatting like friends
NSFW, phone sex or JOI, chatting only
NSFW, with the customer controlling your toy
NSFW, with you controlling the customer’s toy
NSFW, with you both controlling each other’s toys
Phone call pricing:
Low end: below ~$2/min
Medium end: ~$2-5/min
High end: ~$10+/min
Video call pricing:
Low end: Under $5/minute
Medium end: $5/minute
High end: $10+/minute
In my experience, video calls are done on Discord. Audio calls can be done on Discord or Lovense.
NSFW chatting
Chatting is perfect for subscribers who want a personal interaction but are often too shy to get on a phone or video call. Again, payment upfront.
Low end: ~below $1/min
Medium end: ~$1-$2/min
High end: ~$3+/min
Some pages include photos and videos in these prices, others will add a fee for media to be included: ~$10-$50
Girlfriend experience
GFE is a really sweet service for customers who want to feel what it would be like to have you as a girlfriend. The essence of this service about consistent communication, chatting throughout the day, and overall girlfriend vibes. This is often moved off of any particular platform, and onto a more casual setting like texting (Google Voice), Discord, Snapchat, or Instagram DMs.
What you choose to include is up to you, but some common elements of the service are:
Good morning text
Photos throughout the day, both sfw and nsfw
Chatting throughout the day
Some video element that can be pre-made, but imo should look fairly low production so that it feels like something a girlfriend would take on their phone
Good night text
Pricing:
One day: ~$50-$150
One week: ~$150-$800
One month: ~$500-$3000
Kink content
We love kink content because you can charge anywhere from 20%-2x depending on what it is exactly. A good rule of thumb is the more niche an interest is, the more you can charge for it because there are fewer people who can fulfill that need. This goes for all types of content: photosets, videos, calls, ratings, etc.
Personal experiences with pricing
Right now I’m focusing on a paid page and most of the services I sell are in the “medium” to “high” price category. While it’s reasonable to price things lower under the assumption that lower prices result in more customers (and therefore more revenue), it’s my intentional decision to not do that.
I am not looking to convert a lot of people who are paying a low amount of money - I’m instead looking to price things higher while knowing that the number of people who purchase will likely be lower.
When this is done correctly, you can actually make more revenue with a lower conversion rate! The prices I arrived at are after ~1 year of testing different things and tracking how they converted, but that’s a topic for another day :)
FAQ
What if I’ve seen (or am doing) something at a very different price than what you’ve listed?
That’s totally ok! This post is not the Holy Bible of pricing. This is my best estimation based on what I’ve priced things at myself, and doing research on how other pages price items by either subscribing myself or looking at self-reported data on Reddit. You can likely succeed no matter how you price your services, as long as you’ve thought through your marketing & business strategy!
When it comes to pricing, does it matter how explicit your content is?
I honestly don’t really think so. It seems that a lot of people believe you have to be face out, fully explicit, and working with partners in order to make a lot of money. But despite that stereotype, there are so many pages out there that don’t meet one (or all!) of these requirements. My suggestion is to not compare yourself too much with others - a bg video can sell for $45, and so can a solo faceless video.
What do I say if a subscriber says another page offers the same service for less?
You can politely but firmly let them know that these are the prices that your services are. This is personal preference but, you don’t go to Starbucks and tell the cashier that their coffee is too expensive, do you?
Is the price ever negotiable?
Do you ever negotiate with Starbucks?
Should I make a tip menu?
A tip menu is a graphic that lists out your services & prices (Canva is a free software that makes it pretty easy! Their templates are very cute).
Some people create a separate tip menu for their most popular videos as well. I believe whether or not you decide to create these graphics depends on your page and your vibe. While tip menus are definitely a really easy and digestible way to see services offered, I notice that using a graphic can make a chat feel transactional, which sometimes turns customers off. However, this is just my personal experience and I know many people love using their menus. It’s all personal preference!
Regardless of if you use a tip menu or not, you can also include what services you offer in your bio, welcome message, and/or pinned posts.
(Here are some of the sources I used to help me calculate averages in this post: PPV pricing, Ppv pricing?, How much do you charge for customs?, Do you offer sexting?, Dick rate pricing? Ratings? I’m still getting used to being a creator…, How much can I get for my underwear?, Undies prices, I need yall’s help!!, Phone pricing? , Pricing wiki)