Devon Hunter

(In the spirit of providing useful information and a place for intelligent dialogue, www.DevonHunter.info accepts well written blog entries about topics of concern to adult entertainment. The views expressed in the following article are not necessarily shared by the operators of the hosting site. Archived guest writers’ articles will be listed under Interviews & Essays.)

“Establishing credibility and visibility go hand in hand and establishing both is critical to your success and your victory over competitors.” – MegaJoin Online Business Blog

If you don’t tell potential fans how great you are, who will?

Writing novels had once been a hobby for me before I made the decision to try to find a publisher. By day, I’m a quiet geeky software developer who loves Star Trek, techy gadgets, and my Xbox 360. In other words, I don’t get out much. When I began to open up my perversions to others and publish my work, I found that the most challenging thing for me was marketing myself. Unfortunately in order to share my wicked imagination with a larger group of people, it’s something that I just have to do.

As part of this post, I wanted to share with you a few very basic things that you can do to build an online presence and hopefully help someone in the industry trying to promote themselves to have an easier time of it. An online presence, even at its most basic, can tell your fans where to find your work. More expansive online activities can also allow you to connect with your fans, inspiring loyalty in a veritable sea of possibilities. As an example of what you can accomplish, I’ll offer up the site that I created for Logan Scott, Hard Friction’s first exclusive model – www.loganscottxxx.com.

This guide is a practical way to set up a basic web presence that’s automated and easy to maintain.

A domain name
The first thing that you need to do is register a domain name. This is the address on the internet where people will find you. I use GoDaddy for all of my domains, because they have an intuitive interface and they have package and comprehensive services. Decide what domain name you want to use, and make sure that it’s consistent across all of the services you’re going to use. For example, you don’t want a Twitter name that says TheBobSmith and a domain of BobSmithXXX – keep them consistent so that you’re easier to find.

Go to www.godaddy.com and look for your domain name to see if it’s been taken. On GoDaddy you can also see if your Twitter name is available. If they are both open, follow the instructions to register your domain. It’s just like buying anything else on the internet. Just enter the information they need and keep hitting “next” until you get to the payment screen. It’s about $10/year to register a domain.

Email
You want to have a way for people interested in your work to contact you – fans, review blogs, etc. The best way to do this is to set up a free email account so that you can give the address out freely and not have to worry about your personal account. I would keep managers, studios, etc. on your primary account because you’ll generally check that more frequently. Go to www.gmail.com and sign up for a new account. You’ll want to keep it as close to your domain/Twitter as possible. For example, if your Twitter name is BobSmithXXX, you can make your email BobSmithXXX@gmail and your domain www.BobSmithXXX.com.

Twitter
One of the fastest way to get information to, or to interact with, your friends and fellow models is on Twitter. Most smartphones have a Twitter application that can be installed, or you can use text messaging. You can also send tweets (Twitter messages) from your computer using any number of applications.

When you registered your domain name, you made sure that the Twitter name you wanted was open. Go to www.twitter.com to register a new account. Use the Gmail account to create the Twitter account, so that the spam from Twitter goes there rather than your normal account.

Blog
Blogspot is one of the easiest online blogging services to use. The templates are easy to implement, and the widgets make popping long term content into place pretty simple. Go to www.blogspot.com and log in with the Gmail account that you created. Create a new blog by following the steps in the wizard.

Facebook
There are two different kinds of Facebook pages that you can set up for yourself, a personal page and a fan page.
Go to www.facebook.com. If you already have a personal page, you can add a fan page at www.facebook.com/pages/create.php?campaign_id=372931622610&placement=pghm&extra_1=0.

TwitterFeed
Maintaining a blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. can be time consuming. One great way to minimize the amount of time you spend getting information to your fans is to make your blog post new content on Facebook and Twitter for you. Go to www.twitterfeed.com and sign up for an account.

Next, add an RSS feed for your blog. The fastest way to find your RSS feed is to go to your blog and use the RSS button on the IE toolbar. Click on it, and you’ll see an option to subscribe to the blog. Copy the URL (that’s your RSS feed link). You can also use the RSS or Atom link on your blog. Paste your feed link into TwitterFeed and select Facebook. Log into Facebook and allow it to connect the link. Select Twitter and log into Twitter, allowing it to connect the link. Make a test blog post, then check Facebook and Twitter to confirm that it worked.

Setting up your online presence isn’t enough, however. Even more than the look and feel of your page, fresh dynamic content is essential so that your fans will subscribe and come back to see the new posts. These posts can be merely functional (such as new shoots that you’re doing and images from your recent releases), or they can be more personal (talking about what is important to you). You may think that your fans really are only interested in one or two of your physical assets, but you’d be surprised how many are just as interested in you as a person.

Wishing you a wonderfully productive new year,

- J. P. Barnaby
www.jpbarnaby.com
Twitter: @JPBarnaby

Erotic fiction is more than just moans, grunts, and physical pleasure. To J. P. Barnaby, erotic fiction consists not only of the mechanics of physical love, but the complex characters and relationships that lead to those all-encompassing feelings of need and longing. Sex without context is merely sex – but sex coupled with attraction, with explosive repercussions – that is good erotic fiction.

Well, after a year I thought it was time to completely redo the site. I hope you enjoy navigating around and getting familiar with the new layout. All the same content is here, just placed better. I’m excited about it, because with each incarnation of the blog I feel it becomes more convenient to explore. The first version of the site (December 2007 – February 2009) was built on a fun, red velvet theme with an animated header bar, but there got to be so many ads for non-profits on it that it would be necessary to scroll past the content of an entry to see all of them. CLUTTER!

It was time to change up.

For the second format (February 2009 – February 2010) the content was always accessible on the sides, but the images, although randomized, were cropped awkwardly, and the content was sometimes hard to read. There was a general darkness to the template that was (at first) calming, but ultimately seemed too austere. I was happy with it for a little while, but I’d been wanting a change for some time. It was a good, simplified template compared to DH.info.1.0, but DH.info.2.0 made me feel a bit claustrophobic. It was intended to be Zen, but it really just seemed scrunched.

And so, here is DH.info.3.0, and I think I’ve gotten the spaciousness of 1.0 with the organization of 2.0, but now everything is just… easier/freer/lighter. When I look at this version of the site I feel like I’ve walked into a large, clean, clear room. I am also glad to get the video interview in a place where more people can be introduced to me. Of course I say all this while viewing it on an immaculate 27-inch iMac. Everything is beautiful on a nice, new Apple.

I hope you enjoy the changes, and that you are having a safe weekend. Happy Valentine’s Day!

PS

Don’t forget to place your vote for Best Escort Blog for the 2010 Hookies by visiting my ad on Rentboy! The check boxes are at the bottom of the righthand sidebar.

Hi there, they say you can’t get the sale if you don’t ask for the sale. I would like to request that you give me your support for an award that is being handed out for the best professionals in the Adult Entertainment Industry. The largest site for male companion advertising is called Rentboy. Each year they hold a series of award ceremonies to recognize excellence in the profession. There is a particular recognition I would like: “Best Blogger/Best Writer.”

If you have enjoyed reading my blog over the last year, please consider going to my profile at http://www.rentboy.com/devonhunter5 and clicking the little box for that award. The entries that I think represent the blog best are located on the page entitled Favorites. If you feel inspired to click some others, well I’m flattered all the more; however, the one I’d like to get is the recognition for the blog. I hope you are getting along well in 2010, and that we will all see happiness and success!