Author - Holly

Webcam Props for cam shows

In several of our getting started becoming a cam model guides, we talked about the necessities that you’ll need to cam. These include a laptop or desktop computer that can smoothly run your camming software, a HD webcam, fast internet, and flattering lighting. But every good cam model knows the importance of props! Certain props can play a huge role in your daily shows on cam. It’s important to have these things close by you at all times so that you’ll always be prepared.

The first thing is toys. If you’re a nude cam model, you’ll most likely play with sex toys during your cam shows. Most models like to have a wide variety of toys. Not only does this allow you to switch things up from time to time, but it gives your fans more options to choose from if they take you into a private show. I recommend having both a caucasian and black flesh-colored dildo. These are good for real-life roleplays where the guy wants to pretend like he’s really in the scenario and that he’s the one fucking you. I also recommend having a Hitachi and/or wand vibrator. You can find cordless, waterproof wand vibrators on Amazon for around $30. They’re great for making sure you cum nice and hard during your shows too! A lot of guys like watching a girl use glass toys. They feel great and are one of the most sanitary sex toys because they aren’t porous. And if you’re into anal, definitely get whatever anal toys you’re comfortable with. If you only like very light anal, a small butt plug is a good option. Lube is something else that you should keep handy. Make sure that whatever kind of lube you get is compatible with the type of toys you use. Some lubes will eat through certain types of toys. If you’re into spanking, keeping a paddle close by can be fun!

Most models play games with their fans while on cam. A few props to consider picking up are cards, dice, Never Have I Ever, raffle tickets, and a prize wheel. All of these can be used for games, which is a great way to interact with your fans. It keeps them interested and is fun for everyone… including you. If you have video deals or other special promotions going on, a white board, chalkboard, or even just poster board can be very helpful. This way you can list your deals and have it displayed behind you during your shows.

Lingerie, accessories, and other clothes are crucial to being a cam model. Some guys like specific colors or certain materials. Some like it when you dress up in a costume, wear heels, or put on yoga pants. If you keep these things nearby, you’ll always be prepared for whatever is asked of you. This way you won’t miss out on any money if someone comes asking for you to change outfits. Keeping hair ties close by is a good idea too in case you’re asked to switch up your hair style.

A few other miscellaneous things to keep nearby are towels in case of clean-up, baby wipes to quickly sanitize your toys in between shows, lip gloss or any other make-up that might need touching up throughout the day, something to drink, little snacks to munch on, blankets and pillows to keep you comfortable, and just anything else that you think will make your work day easier.

Cam Models Guide To Twitter

July 18, 2016

Cam Models Guide to Twitter for marketing

As a cam model, social media is incredibly important for improving your career. When you can’t be live on cam, social media is the main way that your fans can interact with you and see what you have going on. Twitter is one of the best marketing tools for the adult industry. Unlike Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, Twitter is adult friendly. As long as you’re not spamming and as long as you have your content marked as sensitive, you don’t have to worry about getting your account shutdown. The only exception to this rule is in your profile and header pictures. Those cannot contain any nudity.

There are several different ways that you should be utilizing Twitter to market yourself. The first way is just through daily posts. Your fans want to know what you have going on, both in your professional and personal life. Don’t make every single tweet a plug for something you’re selling. Even if you aren’t comfortable sharing a lot of your personal information, there are still little things that you can include to make yourself more relatable to your fans. You can post pictures of your animals, mention when you’re running errands, talk about concerts or events that you attended earlier in the week, etc. Throwing in little things like that in between your ads helps your fans build a real world connection with you and makes them look at you as more than just a sex object or product.

But with that said, tweets that mention your business are also extremely important. Whenever you go live on cam, you should always tweet it out. Include a link to your cam room and maybe even a picture. Tweets with pictures generally get more views that ones with just text. Mention what you’re doing in your cam shows for that day or put in a funny little pun like, “Cum hang out with me on cam!”. Little things like that add personality to your tweets, even though the main message is an technically an ad.

Using hashtags is another great way to get your tweets seen by more people. Use relevant hashtags as often as you can, without overdoing it. If you just put in a short description of the link that you’re posting about, you’ll likely already have keywords in there that you can turn into hashtags. Some good examples are #camgirl #cammodel #livesex #sexy #webcam #porn #naked #sex… just to name a few. I’m sure you can come up with plenty more relevant hashtags to use in your tweets throughout the day. If you have something hashtagged and someone searches for that hashtag on Twitter, they might stumble upon your profile and become a fan.

There are TONS of cam model promotional accounts on Twitter. A lot of them have thousands and thousands of followers. Often times when you start following other cam models or other adult promotional accounts on Twitter, you’ll start to see suggestions for more promo accounts pop-up. Follow as many as you can and make sure you tweet them occasionally. If you include them in a tweet that has a picture attached to it that’s relevant to the kind of things they post, they’re likely to retweet it for you. This can mean lots and lots of extra exposure for you. To help get you started, I made a public list on Twitter with over 160 promo Twitter accounts that you should follow and tweet. Some focus on specific things such as selfies, ass shots, bikinis, etc., so make sure you check out each account so that you tweet them a picture of something they’re most likely to retweet. When you follow all of these promo accounts, it can make your Twitter dashboard very cluttered since they constantly retweet stuff. So to make things easier for yourself, be sure to mute them after you follow. This will just make it so their notifications don’t show up in your main Twitter dashboard feed, and they won’t know you muted them.

To keep your content protected and prevent it from getting shared all over the internet with no link back to your site or cam shows, be sure to watermark all of your content! That’ll also ensure that every time your tweet gets retweeted or quoted, the link that you put on the picture will always be there.

A few other things before we’re done here. Make sure your location service is turned off. If it’s on, you may expose where you live or where you’re currently at. Make sure you’re interacting with your fans. When someone tweets you, tweet them back if you have a spare few seconds. If someone gives you a compliment or shout-out, you can at least like the tweet. Also, if you want your tweet to reach the most amount of people, don’t put someone’s username at the beginning of your tweet unless it’s a reply directly to them. When you put the @username at the beginning of a tweet, only the people who follow both you and the person you mentioned will see that tweet in their timeline. But if you put anything at all before the @username (a word, sentence, hashtag, or even just a period), everyone will see it.

Getting A Gold Show Started On Streamate

July 15, 2016

Webcam Industry

How do I start a Gold show on Streamate

Many models who cam on Streamate do gold shows at some point. A gold show is basically a group show where multiple people contribute to help you reach your goal amount. If the amount is reached, or if you get close enough to your goal, you can choose to do the show and everyone who contributed at least the minimum amount gets to join in and watch. Gold shows are appealing to many members because they usually only have to pay a small one-time amount in order to get a longer show, as opposed to paying per minute for a private show. And gold shows are appealing to cam models because they can raise a large amount of money and only have to do one show. It’s also guaranteed money as opposed to the possibility of someone taking you into private and leaving after only a couple of minutes.

Although the idea of a gold show is appealing, they can sometimes be hard to get started. This can be incredibly frustrating and may even make you want to give up or stop camming for the day. Luckily for you, I’ve been on Streamate for over four years now and can give you some advice on how to get your show started. 🙂 The first thing you need to consider is the time of day that you cam. This is important not only for gold shows, but just in general. You simply aren’t going to get as many customers if you cam while not as many people are online. Play around with different times and see what works for you. I’ve found that I get a lot of traffic when I cam in the afternoon (1-4 pm EST) and then again in the evening (7pm-midnight EST). My room is usually pretty busy during those times, especially when I’m offering gold shows.

When you go to start a gold show, you put in the amount that you want to raise all together, the amount of time your fans have to get you to that goal, how much each person has to contribute in order to watch the show, how long of a show you’re gonna do, and a topic for your show. Every single one of these factors is important and plays a big role in how successful your gold show will be. The amount that you want to raise all together should be realistic and based on how much you’re generally able to pull in during a gold show. If you set it too high, members will be hesitant to tip because they’ll think that you’ll only start the show if you reach that impossible goal. If you’re new to gold shows and having a hard time figuring out what to make your goal be, look at other models on the same line of the homepage as you. Likely they’ll be getting about the same amount of traffic as you, and this can at least help you decide a general range.

The amount each person has to contribute in order to watch the show is also very important. You will always want this number to be less than your per minute rate for private shows, since this is more of a group show without requests. And you’ll generally want it lower than the amount of time your show is gonna last. I’ve found that a 6-7 minute show for $4 works well for me. The topic that you set for your show is also important. You want it to include a general idea of what your fans can expect to see in the show. Don’t be misleading. Make sure you’re offering a show that’s well-rounded… something that a wide variety of people will enjoy. Your topic can also include any special deals you have going on.

Speaking of special deals, that’s another way to raise more money for your gold show. If you offer entries into a raffle, video packages, or something special to the high tipper, you’re more likely to get guys wanting to tip more than the minimum amount. For the high tipper, you can offer to moan their name during the show or even let them direct you. You can also offer different level video packages that your fans can purchase. They’re more likely to purchase these during a gold show than in free chat because then they get the videos plus the gold show as opposed to just the videos. Entries into a raffle are a good idea too. For me, I tell my fans that for every $5 they tip, they get one raffle ticket. So even though my gold shows are only $4 to watch, many will tip that extra $1 to get an entry. It doesn’t sound like much, but it can really add up over time.

Teasing and getting people pumped for your show is also very important. During your gold show countdown, you should never just be sitting there looking bored. Engage with your fans. Chat with them and greet them as they enter your room. Be sure to mention any video deals, games, or raffles that you have going on. Sometimes they’re too lazy or too busy watching you to read your topic or messages. Let them know what you’re gonna do in the show. You might even want to start removing some articles of clothing after you get a certain amount away from your goal. Being enthusiastic and teasing is a great way to get your fans excited for your show.

Feeling Comfortable As A Cam Model

July 11, 2016

Webcam Industry

Feeling Comfortable as a Webcam Model

When first starting out on cam, it’s important to figure out what kind of cam model you want to be. Just because you see the majority of cam models acting a certain way, doesn’t necessarily mean you have to follow in their footsteps. One of the most important factors among successful cam models is that they only do what they’re comfortable with. Doing only what you feel comfortable doing will make you enjoy your job that much more. And if you truly enjoy what you’re doing, it’ll show in your cam shows.

Despite what you might think from watching other models online, not all cam models get naked. Shocking, right? There is an art to teasing, and a lot of guys are really into that. Not all guys frequent cam sites to watch girls masturbating. Some are there simply to chat and make friends with you, for the company of the other fans in the chat room, and because they like your personality and enjoy interacting with you in a way that they might not be able to with other people in person. If you do decide that you want to be a non-nude model, it’s important to make that known to your fans. Misleading them to think that you may eventually take your clothes off if they tip you enough is wrong and could get you in a lot of trouble. Misleading your fans in that way can actually get you banned from cam sites. You may also start to notice bad reviews about yourself online. You won’t have return customers because no one will trust you. So just be sure you’re upfront about how far you go in your shows.

This is your job and you are in complete control. You’re free to switch up your style at any time. Maybe you decided to start non-nude and then decide a few months later that you want to start showing more. Doing this is completely up to you. But again, just be sure you’re doing whatever you feel comfortable doing. Don’t feel pressured into doing something you don’t want to do. If you’re uncomfortable or not enjoying yourself, it’ll show. It may be a turn-off to your fans to see you looking bored or uninterested. You won’t last as a cam model if you’re doing things that make you feel bad about yourself. The same way it’s ok to start doing something you didn’t do before, it’s also ok to stop doing something you used to do. If something you used to offer has started to make you feel uneasy, you don’t have to continue doing it.

Besides just deciding between being a nude or non-nude model, you also need to consider the kinds of things you want to offer and the types of shows you want to do. Do you only want to do live cam shows, Skype shows, premade content, sexting, phone calls, cam2cam, solo shows, boy/girl shows, shows with other cam models, dirty talk, toys, anal… the list goes on and on. Once again I’ll give you the same advice as I did earlier… only do what you’re comfortable with. Always remember that it’s ok to say no and it’s ok to ban someone who’s being a troll or making you feel uncomfortable.

Win Big On ManyVids

July 8, 2016

Making Money

ManyVids Contests

If you aren’t taking advantage of selling stuff on ManyVids, you’re really missing out! ManyVids has quickly become one of the most popular clip and store sites in the camming/adult industry. With their growing popularity comes lots of new and exciting opportunities for models to have some fun while earning extra cash! Over the past few months, ManyVids has announced several new contests and events where you can win big!

WINNING WEDNESDAY
On April 29th, ManyVids launched their first Winning Wednesday contest. The way the contest works is that they pick a theme and members of the site vote for who they think has the best themed picture. Any model or studio account can enter and every member of the site gets one free vote per model/studio. After using their free vote on someone, members can purchase extra votes for that model if they choose to. Since the contest ends up being more about who has the fans willing to spend the most on votes and not so much about the person who has the best themed picture, ManyVids gives out two prizes. The first is $300 to the model or studio that collects the most amount of votes. The second is $100 to the model or studio that the ManyVids staff thinks has the most creative/fun themed photo.

These contests don’t happen every week, but still pretty often. They’re usually announced 1-2 days in advance so you have time to take your photo. They only last for a few hours, usually from 1pm – 5pm EST. Besides displaying your photo on the contest page, you can also put in some text. Most models will offer prizes to the members who purchase votes for them. You can either list your prizes right there below your picture, or tell them where they can find a list of your prizes (public Snapchat account, Twitter, in your photos section on ManyVids, etc.). Another great perk… whenever someone purchases votes for you, you keep the money that they spent on the votes! You keep the same percentage as you do throughout the rest of the site, so 60%. So you’d earn $60 if someone buys $100 in votes for you. If you finish in the top 5-10, they sometimes send you goodies as a way to say congrats.

SUMMER SPLASH
ManyVids Summer Splash event is definitely something to check out! Every month, they already hand out $10,000 to their top earners every month. But for July, they’re doubling it! That means the top 25 models and studios who earn the most in sales throughout the month of July will get double what they normally get! The below chart shows how much you win if you place in the top 25:

MV DAILY GRIND
ManyVids is giving out even more cash throughout the month of July with the MV Daily Grind event. Every day in July, they will be giving out $500 to the top earner. The winner will be announced daily and the cash goes into your account right away. You can check out the leaderboard or visit your profile page to see what place you’re in. On the top of your profile, below your tabs, you can see your rank and also see a drop down menu where fans can donate extra to help you win. You’re free to offer prizes if you want in exchange for tips.

Protecting Yourself On Cam

July 7, 2016

Protecting yourself on Webcam

Protecting yourself while on cam is extremely important. From your real name to where you live, it’s completely up to you what information you decide to share with your fans. Definitely make sure you have a clear plan in action before getting on cam for the first time of what you’re comfortable sharing and what information you want to keep private. I’m gonna go over some different things to consider in this article, but keep in mind that this is the internet and you are being broadcast in front of hundreds or even thousands of people. Even if you do everything that you can to protect your identity, the possibility is always there for family, friends, or potential employers to find out what you do online.

There are lots of different things that you can be doing in order to protect yourself. The first is picking out your stage name. You shouldn’t use your real name on cam. Pick out a name that you like. This is your chance to be called whatever you want! If you decide to cam with a friend, make sure they know not to call you by your real name. It can be easy to slip up, so just watch out.

Some models are comfortable giving out their location, while others are not. This is completely up to you. If you decide not to share your location, there are some extra things to consider. One big give away of where you live could be sports teams that you root for. Even if you tell your fans that you used to live there and now you moved, it could still compromise things. You also have to be careful when posting on social media. Don’t mention events or places that you’re gonna be attending. That could be another sign of where you’re from. You could even end up with a stalker this way that follows you home… who knows.

Most cam and clip sites offer some form of regional blocking. Regional blocking allows you to block certain countries, states, cities, or even zip codes from viewing your cam shows. If you’re worried about friends, family, or just people in your area finding out what you do, you should probably set up regional blocking. Although this sounds like it would completely protect you, it doesn’t. There are hacks around it, such as someone using an IP address from somewhere that you don’t have blocked. Someone watching your shows could also secretly record them and post them on a tube site or somewhere else on the internet. If your content gets pirated and posted somewhere without your knowledge, you won’t be able to block regions on that site and someone you know may stumble upon it.

Keep your personal life and camming life separate. Create a new email address specifically for camming before you start. Never use your personal email or have it attached in any way. You should also make sure you protect your address on your wishlists. Either have it kept hidden from your wishlist or use a PO Box to get your fan mail. One thing that a lot of cam models don’t think about is photo cross-referencing. If you post a photo on one of your personal social media accounts, you should not post that picture on anything related to your camming. Someone could do a Google search of that photo and cross-reference it back to your personal account.

What you decide to share is up to you. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable, but be safe about it. Even if you feel fine with sharing a lot of your personal life, use common sense to know when it’s enough. I hope this article hasn’t scared anyone. It wasn’t meant to scare you, but more to make you aware of things you absolutely need to consider before deciding if this is the right career for you.

Making The Most Out Of Sexting

July 1, 2016

Webcam Models and Sexting

Now that you’re a cam model, what should you do next? Don’t just stop at camming… broaden your horizons! Expanding your business past just camming is what many successful models do. There are lots of different ways to do this: starting your own website, offering custom content, and even sexting! Sexting and phone sex is becoming more and more popular. There are lots of different sites out there that offer an easy way for you to sext your fans without having to give out your phone number or compromise your security.

On all of the sexting and adult phone call sites out there, they keep your personal phone number and the fans who are contacting you personal phone numbers completely private. They are able to do this with a routing system that takes the messages sent back and forth and making them come from an anonymous phone number. This way you can’t be tracked and your fan’s number is also secure. This can be done for both texting messaging and actual phone calls. The only thing you’ll want to do is make sure your voicemail doesn’t mention your actual phone number. That way if a fan calls you and gets sent to voicemail, they’re just hear some kind of generic message and not get your actual number.

Setting yourself up on the various sexting platforms is super easy, and there are lots of different choices out there for the site you decide to stick with. You can even feature yourself on multiple sites to increase your earnings if you want. But more goes into it than just getting approved and setting up your profile. It’s important to follow some pretty simple steps in order to get the most out of sexting and to be successful at it.

All of the various sites have different features, but one of my favorite features is being able to see how many credits on the site each member who’s connected with you has. This makes it easier to decide which members are a waste of time and which ones might actually chat with you. It’s especially useful if you have your phone number set to free and just charge per message they open from you. When your number is free, any member can ‘connect’, but that doesn’t mean they’ll actually chat with you. Some guys don’t understand how the site works and think they’re collecting hundreds of model’s phone numbers for free, not realizing they can’t do anything with them unless they pay per message. So being able to track how much money each user has on the site can really be a time saver. So that’s basically the first tip that I have… check credit amounts before spending too much time continuously messaging everyone who connects with you.

With that said, you should at least send some kind of hello message to everyone when they connect. Even if they don’t have any credits, they might be intrigued by your message and buy credits so that they can see what it says. And once you’ve roped them in, they might just become a repeat customer. Usually what I like to do is send them a short hello message thanking them for connecting and say that I hope I hear from them soon. Then I’ll send some kind of sexy teaser picture. I’ll even sometimes say something after the picture like, “If you like what you see, let me know so I can send more ;)”. If the person doesn’t have any credits on the site, I’ll usually just send the initial hello message. But if they have a decent amount, I’ll do the follow up ones to see if I can really engage them.

It’s also important to hold your customer’s interest without giving too much away at once. Don’t send them your most provocative picture right off the bat. Ease them into it with some flirty messages and pictures first. Make them want to see a little more at a time until they’re totally hooked on you. Make sure you’re engaging. Get to know the person and let them get to know a little about you. Many guys want to do some normal, everyday chat in between sexting. And also make sure you reply to their messages at a timely manner. They might message you on their lunch break or something and if you don’t get back to them until they have to start working again, they might lose interest by the time they can check their messages.

Just have fun with sexting and follow my simple tips. You’ll find that you can make a lot of extra income from it without having to do a lot of work.

Types Of Cam Shows

June 30, 2016

Different types of cam shows for webcam models

Depending on the site that you cam on, there are different types of cam shows you can offer your fans. It’s completely up to you which kind of shows to offer on each site. In most cases, you can set your own price either per minute for different shows or have a flat fee that each fan has to contribute in order to watch the show. So let’s go over the different show types:

FREE CHAT/PUBLIC CHAT
Every cam site has a free or public chat, but they all have different guidelines for what you can and cannot do while in public. Essentially this chat mode is free to any member or guest (although you can turn guests off on some sites, such as Streamate). You can still get tips while in public chat though. So, like I said, the rules for what you can get away with in public chat vary by site. Some sites such as Streamate don’t allow any nudity below the waist in public chat. You can shows your titties, but no pussy or asshole shots allowed! Other sites such as Myfreecams, don’t have restrictions for public chat. On sites like this, most girls will set a goal while in public chat and accept tips until they reach that goal. Once the goal is met, they’ll perform a show for everyone right there in public chat.

PRIVATE SHOW
Despite the name, private shows usually aren’t exactly private. On some sites like Streamate, one member will take you private and pay your per minute price for the whole time he’s in that private session with you. But other members can enter that same private chat and join in on the show. They have full access to everything that original member does. The private ends either when you end it or when all members leave the private. A private show is a little different on Myfreecams. Only one member can take you private and they pay MFC’s set per minute price. Other members can join in, but they only join as spies. This means they can watch the show, but they cannot chat with you or hear anything you’re saying. They pay a lower per minute rate, which is also set by MFC.

EXCLUSIVE/TRUE PRIVATE
Although they have different names depending on the site you’re on (exclusive on Streamate, true private on Myfreecams), these shows are the same thing. When a fan takes you into an exclusive or true private chat session, it’s just the two of you. No one else can enter and no one can spy on the show. MFC sets the per minute price for you, but many models require the member to tip a certain amount before the true private to show they won’t just take them and leave them after a minute or two. You set your own exclusive price per minute on Streamate, and it’s generally higher than your private rate since it’s a one-on-one show. You can also offer block sessions on Streamate for exclusive and private shows. With these, the member pays for a certain block of time in advance (5 minutes, 10, minutes, 20 minutes, etc.). They’re charged the full amount right away and you’re paid that amount as long as you don’t end the session early.

GROUP SHOW
Group shows exist on various sites, including Myfreecams. Basically at least three members have to request a group show from you before you can actually enter a group chat. More members than that can join, but three is the minimum to get things started. Once in group chat, everyone watching the show pays a small per minute price, set by MFC. You can end the show whenever you want, or else it ends automatically once all paying members leave the chat.

GOLD SHOW
A gold show is a special show on Streamate. Similar shows exist on other sites as well, but have different names. With a gold show, you set a topic letting your fans know what you plan on doing in the show, a goal for how much you want to raise in order to do the show, the minimum amount each member has to tip in order to watch the show, how long of a show you’ll do, and how long your members have to collectively get you to your goal. During the countdown process, members tip the minimum or higher to be able to watch the show. Every member that tips will get to see your show if you decide to start it. If you hit your goal or get close enough that you decide you want to start it, all of those members who tipped the minimum or higher get taken into a private chat where they can watch you perform. Even after the show starts, more members are free to tip in and join as well.

Hygiene Tips For Cam Models

June 24, 2016