The three panelists represented companies that provide automation services, including content management systems (CMS), hosting and shopping cart solutions. All of them agreed that automating websites lets webmasters and producers spend less time on updating their websites and more time on marketing, promotion and everything else that makes them money.
Mansion Productions CEO Oystein Wright is one of the people behind applications like MPA3, MAS and Vist, all of which automate billing, members area construction and maintenance, as well as video delivery. Wright said that the industry has come a long way since the early days.
"Eleven years ago, you had to manually send out affiliate codes to each new affiliate who signed up," he said. Mansion Productions application MPA3 lets industry professionals build and maintain their own affiliate programs.
On another note, MojoHost CEO Brad Mitchell said that some webmasters might resist automation because it's so easy to stay in the past.
"It's easy as a business owner to do things that are comfortable and routine," he said, referring to such time-crunching activities as batching thousands of photos or hand-editing video. While on this topic, the panelists mentioned that many fledgling paysite operators make the mistake of only offering one or two payment options.
Wright estimated that for every different payment option offered to a consumer, paysite operators will gain an additional 5 to 15 percent in sales. That includes different credit card processors, a check processor, and an option for European customers. This kind of payment coverage is called cascaded billing.
Wright stressed the importance of being ready from day one.
"If you get into this industry, make sure you're as strong as possible from the start," he said.
Being strong from the start requires webmasters and paysite operators to build sites that are ready for massive growth from day one. For example, Mitchell suggested using subdomains for secondary areas to make it easier to move to a "clustered scenario."
Mitchell also highlighted the importance of choosing a good hosting company. He mentioned his own company, MojoHost.com, but regardless of what company industry professionals go with, Mitchell said that unwanted downtime on a paysite is an unacceptable cost.
Elevated X CEO AJ Hall talked about the utility of a content manager – an online interface from which to easily run a website. Hall's own product costs $4,995, but Hall and the other panelists agreed that the cost of a good CMS is a worthy investment.
They also all came to a consensus that hiring a programmer to build a custom CMS isn’t advisable.
"Consider buying a CMS so you can put your coder guy to better use," Wright said, adding that a good programmer could install and maintain a CMS while also performing other, more valuable tasks.
Mitchell reiterated the theme that industry professionals should spend their time in front of people, not computers.
"You're not going to make money in this industry by sitting around and being a geek," he said.