jayeff

It probably is easier to sell blatantly hardcore sites, especially to general traffic and unfortunately, in a market dominated by lousy sites all claiming to be great, it isn't a simple task to convince surfers that sites such as Twistys, Scoreland, Karup, Sapphic and a couple of dozen others really are different.

But you have just seen one major difference: the vast majority of sponsors would simply have ignored your post. How many would have agreed with what you wrote and replied at some length? Stuff like that doesn't translate immediately into dollars and cents, but if you get reminders that someone is really putting a consistent effort into their business and has respect for their customers and for the people they work with, you know they are going to be around for the long run and that they have to be good people to follow along.

I have "known" Shap for quite a few years via various message boards and we have many of the same views. For affiliates, they mean that if you want to work with sponsors who don't have you wondering what tricks they are going to pull next on you or your surfers, sponsors like Twistys are the way to go. Ditto if you don't want to find out one day that the site and webmaster area hasn't been updated for a year because they moved onto something else and didn't bother to tell anyone. Above all, these sponsors may only rate slightly above average now in $$$-making terms, unless you make a special effort with them, but they are the future.

It will not happen overnight, but these days it is crazy for anyone new to go the smoke and mirrors route. So "quality" sites will not be the exception in future and the more such sites there are, the easier it will be to sell them, as surfers who have been screwed over and disappointed get re-educated. Conversely, although they certainly have a few years life left in them, the dinosaurs of this industry are on a downhill slope unless they change their business model.

If you don't buy into that, fine, then look on it as insurance to have 3 or 4 really good sites among those you promote. Although think about it, if you can successfully sell something you know you wouldn't waste your money on, it may take a little thought to come up with the right sales pitch or the right filtering, but surely it should be easier to sell a site that you know people will enjoy.