Complete Guide To OnlyFans
Eluvers Talent / 2020-05-10 / 14min read

OnlyFans has been called the Uber of porn and for good reasons. When I started in this business, selling content was a pain in the ass. Sure, camming platforms have existing for over a decade now but selling your nudes privately meant dealing with payment providers like PayPal who don’t like sex workers, awkwardly run multiple Snapchat accounts or plain old Dropbox folders with private keys. OnlyFans made it all simple.

Recently, I am seeing a huge surge in popularity of OnlyFans. Since it is so easy to make and operate an account everyone and their mom is now signing up but do these accounts even make money?

Despite stories of women becoming self-made millionaires and celebrities like Maitland Ward signing up to the platform after suddenly switching from acting to porn, the answer to the question is...not really. OnlyFans is just a tool but creating a business around it is a whole other story and a lot of new models seem to miss this point.

Rethink what OnlyFans really is and where your value comes from

One of the biggest mistakes I have seen models make over and over again is believing that their photo or video has any value. Generally, sex workers who are used to getting paid for time like strippers and escorts are the ones guilty of having this mentality. Boudoir models who are again used to getting paid for a time arrangement also suffer from this mindset.

In reality, your content by itself has absolutely zero value. An endless amount of porn is available on the Internet for free so why would anyone even pay for nudes.

The answer is you, ‘the entertainer’. When I am coaching models, the example I like to give is that of Casey Neistat; despite there being all these high budget productions from Hollywood, people watch a dude filming himself talking about mundane things in life. He is entertaining just like a high budget movie is but he makes the experience more personal. He feels within reach, just like a friend you hang out with. When you watch him, it doesn’t feel like a business transaction but a relationship.

As an OnlyFans model you are not just selling nudes, but getting guys to pay for you like they would on a date. Successful models all have one thing in common; they genuinely love making porn and cherish the attention they get from fans and you will often find them constantly engaging with their fans through DMs and retweets. They are entertainers and there is nothing else they would rather be doing.

If you are looking to start OnlyFans, think long and hard before getting into it because this is a bit of a commitment. Your nudes will be out there for everyone to see forever; the internet never gets deleted! You will have to make content regularly and frequently. You will have to be your own customer service and deal with scams, time wasters, trolls and still be able to find and build a connection with genuine people who are willing to pay.

Set Up Your Account Properly

Pick the right username

If you haven’t already signed up for an account, think about what your identity will be. I usually recommend picking a username with these characteristics:

  1. Make it memorable and professional looking

No numbers and characters in the username. Make it a combination of memorable words and try to make it capture what you are about.

  1. Google it to make sure there aren’t a lot of other results

If your chosen username already has a lot searches you will get eclipsed all the noise when people try to search for you

  1. Make it similar to your other social media usernames

This makes sure that when your fans search your Instagram account name on Google, your OnlyFans also shows up.

Spend some time completing your profile

Head over to the profile page and add these details:

  1. Display Name - This should be your stage name and not your username. Real sounding names do the best.
  2. About Me - Use this as a way to introduce yourself and what you offer. Since OnlyFans is completely private and doesn’t have previews, when fans come to this page they will read this to quickly check what you offer. Mention what kind of content you post, how often you post and whether you offer customs.
  3. Wishlist - This is optional but it can give your account a personality if you fill it up properly. Not to mention, it's free stuff!
  4. Website - Add it if you have one but it doesn't matter too much

Add a welcome message

This is a new feature that OnlyFans added recently. Basically what it does is that it allows a message to be sent automatically to your new subscribers and I personally love it.

You should use it as an opportunity to welcome your subscribers, make them feel at home and tell them how you can make this a good experience for them. I particularly like this feature because it serves as an opportunity to tell them that you are a real person who is open to engaging with fans which is the reason they subscribed in the first place.

In terms of the content of this message, you can either send some text or add some media to this message. I HIGHLY recommend adding a short video if you can because it lets your fans know that you are real, confident and not afraid to engage them. Freebies are highly encouraged and will set you apart from other girls.

Pick a Sales Model

There are basically two ways to run OnlyFans

  1. Have a Subscription Only Account- This is the most common way to run an OnlyFans. You make your account completely private and charge people a monthly subscription to access your account.
  2. Have a Free Account And Upsell With Messages- Your account will be completely Free and you can make money through Pay-To-Unlock posts.

Which one is better?

I like to use a mix of both with our models. They have both a subscription account and a free account.

The free account is an excellent way to get your fan’s foot in the door because it is such low investment. It shows them you are a real person who posts regularly and this is important because if they are spending money they need to be assured they will be getting something back for it. Once they subscribe, now you can engage with them through messages.

Here is how engagement though messages looks like for our models:

  1. Periodically send them a free nude and initiate a conversation. Just a simple message will be enough to get things rolling. You can send mass messages to all your subscribers much like a mailing list.
  2. If you have some interesting clips from your subscription account send it to them at a low cost. This again shows them what you do and a low cost gets them used to the idea of spending.
  3. Use those messages as an opportunity to remind them that you have a subscription account as well and that you offer other things like customs.
  4. You can also use this to keep your account active. For example, you can incentivize liking or commenting on your posts by offering a free nude to anyone who does that.

Outside of message keep posting free (usually semi-nude) teasers much like Twitter. This again tells them what you are active and also opens up opportunity for people to give you tips.

Your subscription account is where your top fans will end up. These people are precious and should be treated well. Respect their investment by posting high quality content regularly (more on this later). Keep your DMs open, post the best quality content and again keep engaging with them.

Setting Prices

I don’t like copying prices from anyone else and am cautious about recommending what you should charge as well.

Every case is different; some models make more money selling a few high priced subscriptions with a focus on one on one interactions. Others may be more comfortable producing lots of content and may do better charging less to gather more subscriptions.

Pricing doesn’t really matter; what matters at the end of the day is how much income you are making and as an entrepreneur you should experiment with your pricing structure to see the maximum amount a majority of your fan base is willing to pay.

OnlyFans does have an excellent feature that let’s you give discounts to your fanbase and I will be covering how to use this in the Get Promotion Right Section Below.

As a seller, you should always be looking to lead your fans around to all your content so that they eventually convert to paid followers. Your Instagram follower for example should know where to find some uncensored freebies and how to buy your content. Similarly, your OnlyFans visitor should know if you have a free PornHub you post too as well.

A tool I like to use is LinkTr.ee which lets you aggregate all your links in one place. Create your LinkTree profile and add it as a website on your OnlyFans profile. OnlyFans also allows you to link your Twitter and you can do this through the Account section.

Running an OnlyFans Account

Get Promotion Right

Once your account is set up, now comes the real challenge; acquiring fans and getting them to pay for you!

Before we go deeper into how you can promote, I want to touch again on the mindset you need to have for this business. A lot of girls mistakenly think that guys pay for nudes but this is not the case and in fact being too business like is a surefire way to turn people away. What guys are really looking for is a cool, sexually open and confident girl who is within their reach and promotion is how you establish that.

First, in terms of content don’t be shy to post uncensored content where you can. Previews from your full length content work perfectly well. A lot of girls hide their face or post censored content assuming guys will pay money to unlock them however based on my experience in this industry, that strategy does not work and in turn turns people away. Don’t be shy to give out free content. Guys will pay no matter what. Remember they are not paying for pictures but to interact with you!

Second, regularity is super important. I cannot tell you how many girls contact us, join us excitedly and give everything up after a month. Guys have been turned off by subscribing to these accounts and not getting any content. When you post regularly on your social media, you tell your fans you are active and will make their money worth spending.

Let’s now get into some platforms you should use to promote yourself and some tips you can follow to gain followers fast.

Twitter

Twitter is by far the most lenient platform. You can post anything here as long as you follow these requirements:

  1. No nudity in profile picture
  2. No nudity in profile header
  3. Mark your Tweets as insensitive

Use the leniency of Twitter to post clips from your best content because that helps establish that you are a passionate seller who producers content regularly. I usually like to list the model’s OnlyFans and pin it to a Tweet on the profile so visitors know what you offer. You should also mention what you do and link your LinkTree on your bio so your visitor knows what you do, can find your other content and profiles easily.

Twitter is also an excellent way to network with other sex workers and have them promote your content and give you a shout. Don’t be shy to reach out other models and ask them if you can trade shouts for shouts. I highly recommend reaching out to promoter accounts and having them give you a shout (never pay for anything though!)

One easy way to get followers is to follow the existing followers of other models. More often than not, they will follow you back and may end up becoming your paid fans as well. I like to use a Chrome Extension called Superpowers for Twitter to make this process easier.

Reddit

I have already covered Reddit in this article.The biggest tip I can give is to post for free before coming out as a seller to gain karma fast so you can then post on seller groups. Do not disregard Reddit since it already has a healthy community of buyers ready to pay for content.

Reddit can be complicated. If you need any help feel free to book a free coaching session and talk to us about it.

Instagram

Instagram is not that lenient to sex workers so any nudity is out of question. However it still brings a lot of followers.

First, make sure your account doesn’t get deleted. The follow tips have worked really well for our models:

  1. Don’t use vanilla hashtags.
  2. Don’t post anything sexual
  3. If you are posting nudes, cover up your nipples when taking the pictures or censor them out using an editor. I would stay away from any spreading shots no matter what.

Again, you can use Instagram to exchange shouts and have promoter accounts give you a shout. Instagram actively polices content and may ban your account if you mention a porn site in the description. LinkTree can again be used to obscure the details and still be able to link your accounts to the profile.

Campaigns

Campaigns are an extension to promotion but there is a bit of science to it and can be run in many different ways. Again, think of this as a business; marketing has some costs and in this case giving discounts or giving your content out for free as part of a campaign is a cost.

The main point of running one is to get people in the door even at a loss. A close example is that of the free cookie samples you get in the malls; you get get hooked to the taste and then go buy the whole box!

Generally a campaign has these two parts:

  1. An incentive, for example good content at a discount
  2. A time constraint, for example an offer that expires in a week.

Try to make campaigns rare and pair them up with other occasions e.g a Christmas sale, or a birthday special.

Here are some sample campaigns you can run on OnlyFans:

  1. Create a limited time discount on subscriptions. I recommend setting prices modestly and taking no more than 50% off. Generally you want to tell them why you are offering the discount. Occasions like your birthday, Christmas works perfectly.
  2. When you’re new you can give some subscriptions for free; you can run a competition where you offer 5 free subscriptions for a week to lucky followers on Twitter who retweet 3 of your Tweets.
  3. Post free nudes or small clips to your OnlyFans and mention it on your Twitter. This will drive people to your OnlyFans and may incentivize them subscribing as well. It’s a classic foot in the door marketing technique.
  4. Run a completely free second account. You can simply re-post whatever you post on Twitter to this account and use it as a way to promote customs or your other account. Set it up so that once your fans subscribe, they get an automated message linking your main account and offering custom videos. You can also add the same information to your bio.

Again, having this account establishes that you are real especially if you regularly post to it. It gets guys in the door and gets them used to being on your OnlyFans. Some people may be more comfortable paying for customs than subscribing long term. Honestly, more often than not this free account makes more money for our models!

How To Post

I have already touched a bit on what you should post on social media but here are some tips for posting on OnlyFans.

First of all, post regularly. Sex workers know that keeping your existing clients is more profitable than acquiring new ones. Some escorts even offer reduced rates to their clients for this. You already have a relationship with them and you know they pay. Post good content regularly so they don’t get bored and leave.

Keep you content fresh and interested. One of the best ways to do that is to source ideas for your fans. Remember to keep it interactive and set you apart. Get them to buy you toys on your wishlist and engage them in the process of finding ideas. If you run out of ideas check this article out for some more:

I am a huge advocate for live broadcasts; they are everything your fans are looking for. With so many girls joining OnlyFans, I hardly see any who go live. Going live sets you apart; it gives you the opportunity to interact with your fans and shows you are serious about what you do.If you need one on one coaching on going live book a session.

OnlyFans also essentially creates a free mailing list for you like I mentioned before. Don’t only post on your main feed. Occasionally, you should create super exclusive clips and send them as a locked message to your subscribers. If you have a free account you can reuse clips from your paid accounts and send them as locked messages.

Upsell

Your cam life does not only have to be selling nudes OnlyFans. Camming and selling panties can not only open another way to bring in money but may also make your OnlyFans more popular.

Two platforms we really like are :

\ Chaturbate for camming - This website has a lot of traffic. It can not only help you build a following but also help you earn money from your live broadcasts.

ManyVids - Generally good overall platforms. The fees are high but it is self promoting and has a lot of features to help you make money like getting tips, hosting clips and even going live.

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