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Rick's Rants: Are you in the Circle? Does it even matter? (July 2004)
by Rick Latona, Dollars.com and CJBucks.com
Before I got into the adult business, I was already in the Internet business. Like many others, I had always been told that a handful of players controlled a majority of the market for selling adult products online, and that breaking into that group was an insurmountable task...
I now know that is neither true nor necessary, but that doesn't mean there aren't manipulative groups, keeping each other in power and privileged to information, resources and deal-making opportunities. Owners of sponsor programs and other types of adult entertainment networks make up a myriad of players, who sometimes appear as if they'd have been more at home on Marie Antoinette's court, navigating treacherous oceans of egos and wealth. My recommendation is to never put politics before products.
Having participated in this industry for a while now, I can tell you that these circles of power absolutely do exist. Fortunately, you don't have to operate in one of those circles to be successful. There are many free-site operators, sponsor programs and conglomerate adult entertainment networks that don't rely on traffic trades, conventions and politics.
Our company's free sites, Consumption Junction, Steak and Cheese, Freak Hole and Revenge World don't trade traffic -- Ever. We grow organically, and if you want our traffic, you have to buy it. How is it then, that companies like ours are on top? The answer is simple. We spend our time building better products.
Nasty Dollars, Bang Brothers Online and Ox Cash don't trade traffic and/or joins. Mega-sites like Adult Friend Finder and smaller but very profitable sites like Wifey's World have been making a fortune for years, buying advertisements from my company and any other company they can buy from that meets their criteria.
There are many companies in all facets of this industry which have done extremely well, without ever concerning themselves with partnerships. They just concentrate on their own products, expenses and revenue models, and do just fine - if not much better than fine.
So what exactly is the Circle? Who the hell is in it, and why the hell should we care? I would define the circle as those partners who are trading significant traffic. They aren't hard to find, and the circle is much larger than you may think. I know dozens of programs that have one or more partners with whom they are trading hundreds of joins a day. You should care, because mixing a trading strategy with your product strategy can conjure up a powerful traffic cocktail.
Trading traffic can be an excellent way to lock in your traffic levels. It is absolutely not my recommended method to increase your traffic. The only way you can increase your traffic via trading is to get the better end of the trade, or, basically, not live up to your end of the bargain. The math is simple. If you send less than you are getting, you are growing. However, your trading partner probably won't be too happy with this. That said, there are very large programs that trade significant amounts of joins on a daily basis with each other, effectively keeping their traffic sustained at a minimum level. They keep each other on top.
At our sponsor program, CJ Bucks (or by our consumer brand, The Adult Video Online Network), we try to use traffic trades to help sustain our levels, and we use content, tools for webmasters, and great member's areas to increase our traffic and joins. It is my firm belief that you need to have a mix of the two strategies. Add your great products, mix in a well thought-out traffic trading strategy, stir for two minutes, and then enjoy your cocktail. Done right, the hangover should be minimal.
Rick Latona's company started with Consumption Junction and has turned into a powerhouse delivering tens of billions of banner ads and text links monthly through a network of free adult sites. Each of his sites has strong consumer brands that generate bookmarkers and a loyal fan base. Recently we've seen him launch Dollars.com which as a B2B advertising exchange only puts him in charge of even more traffic. Visit www.kblogger.com for more of Rick's tips.
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