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You rarely see French WM's floating around (which probably pleases many here) so is there some kind of law in France preventing it? I know they've cracked down of videos with heavy taxation but is running sites from France illegal or restricted?
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Tipsy,
There actually are a
LOT of French webmasters, after German and English speaking webmasters the French section on
http://www.europeanwebmasters.com actually receives the most traffic proportionatly.
As far as laws go, to my knowledge there are no laws pertaining to being an adult webmaster in France however, as you rightly pointed out, the new taxation class for imported videos is being implemented (if it hasnt already) although, this taxation will only affect those adult webmasters selling tangiable goods through a storefront.
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In France, it's all about dialers instead of creditcards. You don't see many French webmasters on here because most focus on the French market, where money is easier and competition is less fierce.
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Punkworld,
That is simply not true, in fact, it is estimated that only 17% of French citizens
DO NOT own a credit or debit card compared to the 21% of the US based market. The problem that the French do have however is that they have been used to dilaers for so long they are not as abhorent at pulling the CC out as they should be.
However, my business model has taught me that they can and, will use their credit card should you not offer them a dialer as a billing solution first.
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Not really no. Go to any adult WM board and check out the very high % of people who have English as a second language and still post, especially dutch. Many French have a good grasp of English but they don't show up on boards so there must be another reason. Even the dialler thing would only partly explain it as there's no reason the wouldn't/couldn't also run English language sites if their skills in it are good enough.
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Tipsy,
You are quite correct about the high %age of webmasters with English as their second language and, from what i can gather, the foreign webmasters i have spoken to seem less likely than their English speaking counterparts to post on message boards. That's not to say that they do not visit them because they do.
As far as your comment about French/Foreign webmasters running non French language websites go, its pretty much the same argument as why many English speaking webmasters dont run foreign sites, they still havent got the idea that the internet is a global entity and doesnt end on the borders of their own country.
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Why would they spend time and money on running English language sites that bring less profits than their French language sites?
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Punkworld,
Thats simply not a true statement.
As the current global climates rise in respect of internet usage we are beginning to see a trend of foreign sites entering the English dominated markets, thats why such companys as our own adult translations service can become helpful. The more foreign webmasters that start building site that there are the more likely hood we ourselves will need to embrace the foreign markets to get a fresh burst of traffic.
Look at it like this if you will, why would i send 100 English speaking surfers to the same paysite they have seen over and over again when, i could send 100 Foreign Language surfers to the same locally translated paysite which they havent seen before?
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Why not? WM's from most other European countries do and they are in the same situation. Credit cards are also now far more widespread throughout Europe than those living outside of it often seem to think.
The obvious answer is simply the non-French market is MUCH larger so why not hit both if you have the ability? Again, like I say it doesn't seem to stop germans (even with the laws they have about it), Dutch, Spanish and many others from popping up. However, I've yet to bump into many French doing this.
Even then the dialler argument makes little sense. That would maybe limit the sites they build but would be no reason to stop them coming onto boards for the odd chat or bit of info from the wider 'non-french' market. This is a global business no matter what country/language you target most and many elements (purchasing content for example) aren't particularly limited to one country.
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Tipsy,
Again you have hit the proverbial nail on the head.
As English speaking webmasters we have been told for
so long that the only way to make any money from our foreign traffic is to send them to a dialer, whilst back in the mid-late nineties this was true we now have access to a variety of global billing methods ranging from SMS Billing to Euro Debit and Check Processing.
As English speaking webmasters we need to ensure that we are targeting the foreign markets even more than we are the English ones as these are the markets that are beginning to become the most affluent from a profit turning point of view online.
Also, as you mentioned, actually spending some time to learn about what your foreign traffic
wants to see and target that traffic will pay off dividends just as it does with targeting our English speaking traffic.
The cultural differences throughout the global internet are much more varied than they are in America or England for example, most foreign countries view homosexuality as a sexual
preference and many married
straight men have male lovers that their wives know about.
In fact,t he only countries globally other than the backward arabic speaking countries that have a lesser view on homosexuality is America, everywhere else it is an accepted part of society.
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Also, for your information, I am European, and run European websites. You don't seem to get the dialer argument - dialers make WAY more money than memberships. $20 a month recurring or $40 an hour, you choose what you want to get...
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Punkworld,
I would rather have the $20 a month recurring.
This is based on the fact that most foreign surfers, if you can market your site effectively
WILL rebill in excess of three or four months.
What you have to realize, as i have already said, is that foreign porn surfers have been so used to getting hit by dialers that they think this is the only option open to them, we as webmasters need to start offering billing methods that will embrace the rapidly growing foreign markets (it is estimated that by the year 2005 the European market will be bigger than the domestic US market in respect of internet usage).
By offering our surfers multiple billing options in multiple currencys we are not only opening up our business to the global economy but are growing our businesses int he right direction.
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France, however, does not have very strict porn laws, does have a large population, most of the people there either don't speak English or speak it very badly, and on top of that, in France dialers are the porn payment option of choice.
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Punkworld,
An excellent argument as to why English speaking webmasters
NEED tp get their sites localized globally from translating them to offering multiple currencies.
If anyone would like to learn more about localization services or the foreign markets specifically feel free to head over to
http://www.europeanwebmasters.com or, if you want to discuss human translation and billing of your existing sites you are more than welcomed to email me at
[email protected]
Regards,
Lee