Whether you’ve abandoned an OnlyFans you’re considering returning to or feel that your current account is failing, this post will help you identify and overcome the obstacles in your way.

Minor mistakes can be fatal

Before we begin, you need to know that you’re not failing if your account is still small.

Small subscriber counts can usually be explained by the accumulation of minor mistakes.

On their own, these mistakes are forgivable but they can add up over time and stunt success.

Of course, it could be the case that you’re getting it all wrong, I just highly doubt it.

Either way, you’re more than capable of turning things around. I promise.

If you’ve developed a defeatist mentality because you’re not in the top 1% yet, let go if it.

Seriously, drop it.

A negative attitude will get you nowhere.

Instead, put success at the forefront of your mind and remember all the reasons you signed up to OnlyFans in the first place. 

Write them down if you have to or make a mood board.

Forget false beliefs that you’ve failed, are failing and will continue to fail.

Begin believing you have what it takes because you do.

One more thing before we get to the mistakes, keeping an emotional distance between yourself and your brand is a must if you hope to improve.

Observing your OnlyFans with an objective, critical approach will grant you access to insights that would otherwise be invisible.

To be clear, being critical is not about ripping yourself into tiny pieces, but to try and see things as your followers and fans see them.

If you fail to do this, your ego will end up entangled in your online image and your content, profile and bank account will suffer.

Let’s get your account on track, shall we?

Mistake #1: YOU’RE SHOWING TOO MUCH FOR FREE

If you’ve managed to attract a following on a public platform such as Tik Tok, Twitter or Reddit but your free followers aren’t converting to paying subscribers on OnlyFans, could it be because you’re showing too much for free?

Think of the last time you viewed a movie trailer that included all the best bits.

How about a time you’ve shielded your eyes or covered your ears to avoid spoilers in conversation or on forums?

You want your first time seeing it to be the real deal, right?

Your OnlyFans subscribers feel the same!

Showing ‘too much’ (this varies from creator to creators) completely diminishes the incentive to subscribe. 

It also makes paying subscribers feel like shmucks.

Why are they bothering to pay for something everyone else is seeing for free on public platforms?

For best results, use the ice berg method.

Everything above the surface of the water is available for free, publicly.

Free followers must convert to paying fans before they’re able to access your content beneath the surface, which will get better and pricier the deeper they dive.

PPVs (pay per view) and custom content should be the best content available, with your feed photos being the second best.

Creators who offer upside down icebergs typically have large free followers with fewer conversions.

Creators who put the best they have behind a paywall may attract smaller audiences, but they’re able to convert more followers into paying fans.

This may come as a surprise but many top 0% creators never go nude for free, despite posting pornography to their OnlyFans profiles.

Instead, they stick to lewds, lingerie, bikinis and even fully clothed selfies.

For best results, treat your public posts as teasers.

Mistake #2: YOUR PRICE IS TOO HIGH

One of the bets tips I picked up from a top creator when I was just getting started is ‘throw your worth out the window’

Sounds awful out of context, doesn’t it?

Without context, this statement sounds derogatory, as if it implies sex workers are worthless but that’s not it at all.

Rather, your subscription rate has nothing to do with your value.

You’re selling products and services, not your soul. 

You are not the product you produce or the service you provide. Your worth as a sentient being is the same as everyone else’s.

Your value is not dictated by your profile’s subscription price, or even your annual income.

With this logic, all workers would be worth their wage. Worse than that, actually, they’d be worth their hourly rate.

Of course, workers are never worth their wages.

They’re often overworked and underpaid, sometimes they’re overpaid and contribute less to the companies kept afloat by essential, exploited workers.

I’ve heard anti-sex work arguments along the lines of ‘you can buy her for $3! She sells herself for $3!’

It’s such a silly thing to say.

If a fruit farmer sold a jar of strawberry jam at a market, their customer owns the jam.

They don’t own the farmer and probably don’t want to spread her on toast or put her in porridge.

Likewise, if you were to sell physical nudes (you can do this on Etsy!) your buyer would own a photo of you.

They can set it on fire if they want to, but they cannot set you on fire.

You are not and never will be owned by your fans. You are priceless and cannot be bought.

With this in mind, you can go ahead and lower your price from $30 if that’s where you’re at.

Between $3 and $12.99 is ideal, depending on what you offer.

If you’re just starting out, your profile shouldn’t be priced the same as someone who already has 500 photos and videos on their page.

You’d be selling empty space.

For best results, build a backlog of content before promoting your profile. 

Mistake #2: YOUR CONTENT LACKS DIRECTION

Does your content have a clear direction? 

If not, you’re in trouble!

Without establishing yourself in a NSFW niche, it’ll be extremely difficult to stand out in your follower’s feeds.

Are you a BBW? A pale girl? A girl with glasses or tattoos? A red head? 

Whichever categories you fall into, find the communities who love your features and/or fetishes.

There’s no use in trying to appeal to anyone and everyone. Instead, develop signature style and establish yourself in a NSFW niche.

If you’re lost on where to look, try Reddit. There’s a community for everything there.

Changing your style now and then is okay but aim to remain in the category you establish yourself in and don’t change so often that you’re unrecognisable.

If you do have a tendency of switching up your style regularly, you can keep other elements consistent, such as setting, theme and even photo filters. 

Mistake #4 You’re not turning up consistently 

A strong social media presence is essential. I cannot stress this enough. 

Too often, creators attempt to promote their profile to strangers on Twitter with captions such as ‘subscribe to my OnlyFans!’ 

Sometimes they’ll even offer a sale to the abyss.

The thing is, nobody is going to be interested in a sale if they don’t know who you are.

It’s estimated that consumers like to see something up to seven times before they’ll consider parting with their cash.

Meaning, you’re going to need to post publicly, regularly in order to attract your ideal audience.

Random internet strangers simply won’t do. 

I know it can seem daunting to create a separate stream of content on top of your OnlyFans media, but tools like Tailwind make it incredibly easy to stay consistent.

With Tailwind, you’re able to queue your content in advance and it’ll roll out automatically.

You could be taking a bubble bath, watching a movie or even be fast asleep when your posts are published.

This way, you won’t need to worry about always being online. 

You’ll also be less likely to experience the social media burn out we all dread.

With that said, it would be worth checking your social media accounts for at least half an hour to an hour a day as interaction is just as important as your content.

Fans want to connect with you on OnlyFans. 

Your company is a valuable to your fans as your content. If not, maybe more.

Mistake #5: You’re not interacting with your followers 

One-on-one time with you should never be free. It’s one of your OnlyFans profile’s main selling points.

However, you should not ignore public comments.

If you can, try to respond to all publicly posted comments and questions, especially if it’s about your OnlyFans. 

Your public replies won’t just be read by the person you’re replying to, all your followers will see.

This will not only allow your audience to get to know you better, it’ll incentivise others to comment and also give you a boost in the algorithm.

Try pinning an ‘ask me anything’ to the top of your public profiles to encourage comments.

If you’re inactive long enough, OnlyFans will deactivate your account and paused all subscriptions.

If you need to take some time off (which is more than okay!) simply let your fans know that you’ll be gone for a few days.

If you need longer, consider scheduling some content to keep them content or even offer a discount on their next months subscription fee.

Mistake #6: YOU SOUND SALES LIKE

Drop the OnlyFans captions, especially if you’re just starting out.

Be a real, living, breathing human being.

Of course, that’s what you actually are, but without making it apparent to your audience, to them you’ll just be a 2D sex object.

Let your interests and personality shine through to let others get a sense of who you are and what you’re about.

Some top creators even share photos of their cats and dogs, with occasional lingerie posts that link to their OnlyFans.

If all you post is ‘subscribe to my OnlyFans’ there’s nothing to set you aside from the people in the thousands of hours of free porn available at your followers fingertips.

If you establish yourself as an internet personality, followers will become more intrigued by you as a person, and more inclined to subscribe to see more because you’re more than just a pretty face or hot body.

You need to attract an audience before even attempting to persuade them to pay you.

Fortunately, gaining a free following is relatively easy, especially on Tik Tok.

Once you have them hooked, you can redirect to NSFW platforms. 

For now, drop the OnlyFans captions. Trust me.

Mistake #7: You’re promoting in the wrong place

If you’re small chested and girly, don’t post to places for goths with big boobs.

Sounds obvious but you’d be surprised by how many creators try to hook audiences who simply aren’t interested in what they’re offering.

Aim to attract your ideal audience by appealing to communities who actually enjoy your features and fetishes.

As tempting as it may be to post to popular subreddits, it’d be a complete waste of time unless you actually meet community expectations and/or requirements. 

Posting to the wrong subreddits can even result in a permanent ban.

It’s just not worth it. 

Instead, find where you actually fit in and the members will welcome you with open arms.

Mistake #8: You’re wasting money with paid promotions

Paid promotions can work wonders if you choose the right creators.

However, your attempt to attract fans will backfire if you don’t carefully consider the creator’s niche and follower count.

Be very careful if the creator is secretive about their follower count.

Although it’s common practice for creators to hide their fan counts on their profiles, fans still know what they’re investing in.

They’ve seen the previews and the creator’s media count is probably displayed on their profile, accompanied by a bio which explains what to expect on the inside.

This information is useless to you. You’re not paying for content, you’re paying to be put in front of paying fans and you need to know how many of them will see you to determine whether this is a worthy investment.

If you manage to find a creator with a reasonable or impressive fanbase, you’re on track but don’t celebrate too soon.

One thing worth knowing before investing in a promotion is that subscribers didn’t necessarily pay, so don’t be too impressed by big numbers.

It’s possible for creators to offer free trials, welcome a load of new subscribers, then add a subscription rate that will not apply to existing fans unless they manually opt in.

They’ve essentially gathered an audience of horny freeloaders to sell to new and naive creators.

They’re not creators, they’re scammers.

As it’s unlikely free trial users are going to pay, it’s pointless to pay to be put in front of them so make sure your creator of choice has paying fans. 

For best results, choose a top 0-1% creator or two a month and make sure they’re in your niche.

You need to have a good reason you think their fans will also enjoy your content.

Mistake #9: Your OnlyFans profile isn’t up to scratch 

The front end of you OnlyFans profile is your last chance to hook visitors.

Consider it akin to an album or magazine cover. 

If you’ve managed to entice your free followers to land on your OnlyFans, you’ve clearly done something right. Well done!

However, you don’t want your visitor to land then click off, you want them to convert!

One of the worst mistakes creators tend to make at this stage is recycling old content.

Instead, show them something they’ve never seen before.

Pro tip:
To track how many visitors are landing on your OnlyFans profile, use contactinbio.com as a micro landing page.

By tracking visitors to your OnlyFans profile, you’ll be able to determine which marketing methods work best and be better able to increase your conversion rate.

You could even run a/b split tests, where one week you’ll try one thing, and the next you’ll try another.

Best bio practices:

• Include a bit about yourself
• Be clear on what you offer
• Do not overstate what you do not offer
• Include a copyright warning

Best banner practices:

• Feature a high quality, never seen before photo
• Make the most of the space you have by lying horizontally or create a collage of vertical photos

Best pricing practices:

• If your account is new, consider lowering the price initially so subscribers get their money’s worth. A profile with 700 photos and 200 videos should be priced higher than an account with 0 media.
• Consider running a free account, or even run a free profile alongside your premium profile for promotional purposes.

Recommended: Free vs Paid OnlyFans Profiles: Which is Best for YOU?

Mistake #10: You’re over editing your photos

Fans tend not to enjoy fake looking images.

They want to see the real you, not a photoshopped version of yourself you assume looks better.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of fine tuning here and there but don’t go and give yourself a jawline of steel if you have a rounded chin with a wide neck.

It’ll just look weird. 

By all means, subtly reduce imperfections but avoid adding or exaggerating your features. Your followers can always tell and it’s bound to be brought to your attention.

Besides, the best looking creators often appear unattainable and out of reach to social media users.

Time and time again, creators who are not considered conventionally attractive reach the top 1%. 

I can only assume it’s because they seem more ‘real’ than conventionally attractive creators, but who knows! 

I just know I’ve been on OnlyFans long enough to understand you don’t have to be model material to do well.

Photoshop will hinder you more than it’ll help you. 

Mistake #11 Your content quality is low 

Another mistake made by small creators is prioritising quantity over quality.

Never forget that your fans are paying a monthly subscription to see your content. Always ensure they get their money’s worth.

It’d be better to have a smaller feed filled with a few high quality sets, than to have a heap of low quality photos.

You’ll probably come to find that you cannot create high quality sets as frequently as you may have anticipated but that’s okay.

Your fans will appreciate your efforts and look forward to future posts if you take the time to create new level content.

While you don’t need to create content every day, you should be turning up every day to interact with your fans.

OnlyFans content mistakes

Bad lighting 
If you can, shoot your OnlyFans sets in natural lighting. Otherwise, your images and videos will be grainy and low resolution.

If you cannot shoot in daylight, opt for artificial lighting.

Ring lights, soft boxes and even professional studio lighting can all be found on Amazon.

Cluttered background
You should be the main focus of your content so step away from your messy bedroom. Mess is extremely distracting! 

Location
Don’t just be another OnlyFans creator on a bed. There are plenty of those already! Your followers are scrolling through tonnes of them. Stand out by switching up your location to something more interesting. Even the kitchen is better than another bedroom. 

Mistake #12: YOUR CONTENT LACKS VARIETY 

I know how easy it is to continue making more of what seems to be working, whether that means emulating what’s already been done by others, or creating more of your best performing content.

However, if you only create one type of content, your fans will quickly become bored.

You’ll become a one trick pony in different outfits. 

You should be switching up poses, expressions, accessories, lingerie, costumes, makeup, your location and even your captions.

If you’ve only been uploading still images, try posting a few videos or gifs instead. 

Mistake #13: SPAM POSTING 

Recycling promotional photos and videos is perfectly acceptable but you should make sure your recycled content doesn’t repeat in your feed without filler. 

For best results, have 5-10 photos you’re happy to reuse throughout the month and space them out.

If you post the same photo to fifty different subreddits, you’re going to look like a spam robot.

Instead, post photo 1 to subreddit 1, then photo 2 to subreddit 2. 

Eventually your system should be 1,2,3,4,5 then 2,3,4,5 then 3,4,5,1,2 etc so each subreddit you post to sees the photos you’re posting to other subreddits without visiting your profile.

If they click through to your profile, sure, they’ll see the recycle loop if they scroll far enough but it’s still better for them to see a mix of content than the same photo twenty times in a row. 

Instead, they’ll see a variety of photos before the repeats.

I hope that makes sense, let me know if you’d like me to clarify. 

Mistake #14: Investing your emotions

The final and most detrimental mistake small OnlyFans creators make is taking things personally.

If we allow our egos to become entangled in the success of our creations, it’s all too easy to develop defeatist mentalities when we appear to be failing.

On the flip side, if we allow our egos to inflate when things go well, our happiness will become dependent on continuously receiving external validation.

Both are bad!

I know how difficult it can be to take an objective approach from what you’re producing but doing so will allow you to gain an unbiased view of your brand.

You’ll be better able to tell what is working, as well as what isn’t.

If you find something you think you could improve upon, act on it! Don’t beat yourself up because you did it wrong.

Chances are, you would never get it right without getting it wrong.

Mistakes are essential to your growth as a creator but they’re only valuable when you’re willing to identify on improve up on them.

Let your guard down and take a critical approach to your profile.

If you find that you’re sensitive to critical commentary, it may be helpful to compare and contrast top 10% creators with top 1% creators.

What are the top 1% doing that others aren’t?

If you’re miles away from the top 10%, look at the creators in your category compared to 5%. 

There’s always a difference.

Ultimately, it’s all trial and error! It’s up to you to identify your errors so tomorrow’s content is always better than yesterdays. 

You’re in competition with nobody but yourself so stop beating yourself up and start implementing improvements.

You’ve got this.

Good luck!