How Would You Start A Clean Sponsorship Site?

[flyingco]

It seems that almost every other post here is about some sponsorship site not paying on time or how some sponsorship site is ripping the crap out of them.

So let me ask you a few questions here and at the same time talk about how the other side (the sponsorship site may think) and then you decide what is up with everything.

Let us face it, sponsorship sites are NOT charity sites. They are in the business of making money, just like you are in the adult industry to make cash. However, I think it is because of a lot of unfair pratices which has led a lot of these companies to do what they do is because a lot of adult webmasters expect a lot from them.

EG, how in the world can you expect to be paid up to $65 dollars per sign up when the sponsorship site does not even convert that sale to cover that cost? EG, $2.95 for 3 days. If they do pay out $65 dollars for that...well, they just lost a lot of mula. I think it is the expectations that lead a lot of adult webmasters astray. I don't know about you, but let me ask you sincerely, would you prefer to be paid like a smaller sum, where the actual company is honest and tell you if they do not convert, you only get this and such and such? Would that be better?

[koon]

they can play 20 per signup

if they are paying 65 per signup, it is their
decsions.

it is not our expectation ... if 65 per signup cant make them any money, why dont they just pay us 20 per signup.

[salsbury]

i don't run any sites yet, but i've gotta say, i would *much* prefer to get paid say $20 for a signup and then a % of each renewal or upsale. the % could scale up based on webmaster performance.

[eRock]

If I ran a paysite, I wouldn't even offer the trial option. Too many people take advantage of that. How I see it, if you wanna open a pay site, make it original. If the surfer wants it he has to pay the full price. If it's original enough, there's no question that he will. Look at blacksonblondes...

[Catalinas]

You are sooo right about the trials. I don't use them on my paysite anymore and never will again because alot of surfers cancel before they even know if they like the site simply because they are afraid of waiting too long. I also choose sponsors based on whether they have a trial if it's a % based program. I don't have confidence in the average website to retain members. I also think that surfers would rather not have a trial option. My sales are not at all lower with the no trial option and I also raised my membership rate. I send the same amount of traffic to two sites, one with a trial and one with a $29.95 membership only... the one without the trial makes three times as many sales. Obviously the quality of the content and originality is a factor too, but I do think guys shy away from trials based on negative experiences with them....

Trials are a pet peeve of mine..I hate them unless I'm joining a site ; )

[basschick]

we dropped our trials a few months ago and are making the same number of signups, but now they're full signups. also we are no longer getting those instant cancellations from people that cancel before they enter the site :)

[salsbury]

Originally posted by Catalinas:
<STRONG>I don't have confidence in the average website to retain members.</STRONG>
that is definitely an issue. however, i'd still rather get a % of the revenue from a company that has a chance at staying around for a few years than $65/signup from the new-paysite-company-of-the-month that is going to need to cut corners, delay/bounce checks, falsify stats, etc, just to last til the next month.

[Toni]

To find the best solution is not a thing that can be done in a day or two. It takes a couple of months to see the real results and to compare a per signup program with a partnership program. The first thing that you will notice with an honest partnership program is that your signup ratio is a lot better than with a per signup program. The hard thing is to find a partnership program that will keep their members and that will make you at the end more than with a per signup program.

Here is a little calculation, let’s say you are sending 10.000 low quality hits (TGP) to a pay per signup program ($35) and to a partnership program (real 60%):

Per Signup:
10,000 hits Ratio: 1:1660 6 Signups
Total with Per Signup: $210.00

Partnership Program:
You sold 19 trial signups and 1 monthly membership:
10,000 hits Ratio: 1:500 19 Trials Total: $33.63 ($2.95 x 19 x 60%)
1 Month Total: $23.97 ($39.95 x 60%)

Let’s say that only 6 of the 19 trials convert to a full membership and that two of those 6 stay for two months:

Trial Converted to Full membership: 7 Total: $167.79 ($39.95 x 7 x 60%)
Retained for two months: 2 Total: $47.94 ($39.95 x 2 x 60%)

Total with Partnership Program: $273.33

Before I started my own webmaster program I worked mostly with pay per signup programs and I was making some nice money. I started my own pay sites, my webmaster program and I was shocked the first month. I had a fantastic signup ratio, better than ever before but I made less money than before. After a couple months I’m very happy that I went that direction because now I see the overall results. The reason why started my own pay sites is that I was pissed because of everybody shaving my signups.
For me right now as an owner of a new webmaster program is only one way to grow and to make more money, my resellers need to make more money with me than with other programs.

[Trax]

toni: i have a little problem with the way you calculate the pay per signup ratio... i donno but i never had a ratio of 1:1660 with a solid sponsor.. out of 10.000 unique clicks (even if its as you said shit tgp traffic) you should generate more than 6 signups.. correct me if i´m telling wrong

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Trax

[matte]

Trax
You cant say so in general, on my partnership program i have some tgp owners converting 1:150 and some 1:4000
And i use thirdparty ibill and ccbill as processors.
Some tgp traffic is just useless, its not always shaving when the ratio is bad.

[Toni]

Trax,

I’m talking about real 10,000 hits not about 10,000 hits that your sponsor shows you in the stats. Try sending 10,000 hits to 3 or 4 sponsors and you will see that they will show you different numbers of hits. One will show you 5,000 hits, the other will show you 8,000.

These are just examples and a worst case calculation for a very complicated topic. How would you for example compare 10,000 banner clicks with clicks on a text link that says “more pictures”?

The only thing that is really important is that your check on the end of the month is bigger than the month before.