So without TGP's you'd have GREAT conversions! Maybe as high as 1:20 all the time! Problem is you'd only have a handful of people who would even know your site existed. So that 1:20 conversion ratio wouldn't feel so good to a site owner if all he had were a few members.
Yes, the conversions are not as great...but the number of members is. And that's what TGP's have brought to the table. Advertising.
Advertising that a pay site simply can NOT do. Plus branding. You're leaving out a lot of variables in your theory.
Plus you have to remember that 10 years ago there were only a handful of paysites. And they all had the same exact shitty content on them. What was the old joke? That there were only a dozen porn pictures on the whole internet? It was damn near true.
Every paysite was ridiculously lame. They all had the exact same content and the old Pornholio feeds.
You couldn't tell one from another back then, and they didn't retain worth a damn which is why all the "big" companies back then started their business model of throwing popups and circle-jerking traffic back and forth to each other.
Yeah, we made fortunes back then. $40 and $45 PPS was the norm. But it KILLED the business. Surfers got to the point that they simply would NOT click on a banner.
Whose fault was that? Not the TGP. I begged for console free codes. I took lower payouts and only went revshare to get them. That's why the site that I ran for 8 years became one of the most profitable TGP's of all time. Because I built up surfer trust in the name. Same as I do to this very day.
I guess it's all according to your perspective in the business. I've run a content company, TGP's, and now a paysite. So I've damn near seen it all. And when I say "run" I mean I am a one man show. I do everything. So I'm not just spouting.
In today's market...quite frankly the old generic TGP's can't keep up with niche TGP's. And niche TGP's can't keep up with a niche, hand written blog.
When I first opened Claudia-Marie.Com I looked at the stats and saw that ONE site had sent me 36 signups in one day! And I'm not talking about trials. I don't offer trials. These were full paid recurring signups.
The site? Boobster.net That little blog is run by a super nice guy who is in his early twenties. His secret? None. He simply writes his own stuff (no feeds) and caters to big tit lovers.
His site doesn't have 1/100th of the traffic that I've been in control of in the past. But yet it blew away anything I'd ever seen.
As a comparison...I bought a banner spot on The Hun for 3 months. It was worth 7 signups. What a gargantuan waste of money for my paysite.
Targeted traffic is king. And you have to give away small pieces to effectively advertise. I don't even WANT those guys who jerk off in 8 seconds. I want the people who have some money, and who want to be a member of the site. And who I don't have to worry about re-billing. That's why the site has taken off so big.
Of course that is also one of the advantages of running a solo girl niche site. The members are extremely loyal. And most of them have money.
Not sure if I'd want to have to try and work a multi-girl site. What a headache that must be from production right down to marketing and retention. But there are many who are very sucessful at it.
Sorry to ramble...
