Alternative Billing School ? Lesson One: How to Squeeze Spain for all its worth!

[Gentle_Ben]

(Scroll to the yellow text for the CliffNotes )

Spain is one of the most beautiful and thriving countries in Europe. With a population of 45 million, it relies heavily on its incredible weather, its unique cities, and its eclectically beautiful architecture and culture in order to bring in the tourism dollars and foreign investment.

Broadband Penetration High:

Spaniards have always been ahead of the Internet learning curve. Broadband penetration has increased from 13% in 2000, to almost 50 % in 2006 (Neilson). The extra earning potential is there, and it?s growing? fast.

Big Hint:

Psssst! Whispers: Spaniards don?t speak English!!!

Well, of course there are some who do, but in general, most do not speak a ton of English. You see, Spain is a very new democracy. It was ruled by the famous war mongering dictator Francisco Franco until his death in 1975. For decades people weren?t allowed speak or learn any other language apart from Castellano (Spanish).

This means that although a Spanish user might be interested in your content, there?s little chance they will even make it to the payment page if everything is in English. Makes sense no? Thousands of potential members are being lost!

If They Don?t Speak English, How Do I Convert Them?

Here is the lesson:

Credit Card? Not so much. Although it?s a civilized Western European country, credit card processing is not the best option. Credit card fraud is high in Spain and hence, so is the scrubing.

Debit? Although localized debit card processing is becoming trendy, it more or less acts as a gateway to CC payment, which we have established, does not work so well in Spain.

Phone Billing is the Best Solution!

Phone billing works so well in Spain for several reasons. Culturally, Spaniards are very comfortable paying for things with telco-based solutions. They aren?t as comfortable divulging their credit card info on the Internet.

In fact a surprising amount of people here will jump on the phone quickly at work, purchase their password, which they then take home with them to enjoy.


You?d be surprised how many people love using the system. Without being tied to just one site membership, the surfer pays for the content when he feels like it (when he?s home alone for instance) and is billed anonymously on his phone bill. If you have great content, users will come back again and again providing you with far more profit than you?d get with a typical credit card join.


The best way to convert Spanish traffic is to find a phone billing company with the following abilities:

- The more phone options the better: Pay-per-minute, Pay-per-access, and SMS/Micropayment providers (SMS is VERY popular in Spain).
- A company that can help you customize, optimize, and geo-target in order to make sure you are speaking ?their? language.
- A company that has as much experience as possible in dealing specifically with foreign traffic.

I'll post some good examples tomorrow...

Hope this info will help anyone trying to boost their revenues!

[u-Bob]

Interesting read; Didn't know the Spanish weren't allowed to study foreign languages under Franco.

[Phoenix]

very cool post man...Ben is a great guy..if youa re on the fence about working with him...jump right in, more money in your pocket

[seeric]

the more ways to make money the better.

[JOELK]

Nice thread man. Really interesting stuff! Phoenix is right, Ben is great to work with.

[Jamie]

Whats the difference between Nocreditcard and password-by-phone?

[sperbonzo]

Ben is working for Nocreditcard.... That makes it great!

[CaptainHowdy]

If anyone needs good & affordable English --> Spanish translations: 94-392-925 !

[Nicky]

Bump for my man Ben

[Nicky]

The more ways to bill a surfer the better I really like the nocreditcard idea

[Gentle_Ben]

Originally Posted by u-Bob

Interesting read; Didn't know the Spanish weren't allowed to study foreign languages under Franco.

Yeah, it was a pretty repressive regime. Now things are flourishing, but it takes time. People are still flexing their new abilities and rights (especially where I live in Catalunya). This country is really taking off though in many ways

[Gentle_Ben]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

very cool post man...Ben is a great guy..if youa re on the fence about working with him...jump right in, more money in your pocket

Dude, you're making me blush! lol. thanks for the nice words

[Gentle_Ben]

Originally Posted by A1R3K

the more ways to make money the better.

Spoken by an expert

Sending you a mail today man. cuckooo!

[Nicky]

SMS is a great way to bill people for porn IMO, many people are afraid to give out their cc info online and especially on porn sites.

[Why]

Spanish people have credit cards, why are you propagating lies? OH wait, cause you represent a dialer company.

[Gentle_Ben]

Originally Posted by Why

Spanish people have credit cards, why are you propagating lies? OH wait, cause you represent a dialer company.

Thanks for the bump man

Propagating lies? easy tiger...

Yes, they do have creditcards and if you have a good European processor, this is definately one way to go. We're simply trying to educate people that there are other, better ways to convert your foreign traffic. We've been doing this for 11 years, so we must be on to something

Lastly, we're not a 'dialer' company. The problem with the dialer was people took advantage of it back in the day using 'auto dialing' programs that re-connected people to overpriced premium lines. These companies were cut quickly by the telcos for not being compliant with their laws. In each country we are compliant with all laws, the user makes the call themselves, and are made fully aware of the price they are paying. Phone solutions have been making people a lot of money for the last ten years

[Gentle_Ben]

Originally Posted by sperbonzo

Ben is working for Nocreditcard.... That makes it great!

Hey buddy! Thibaud told me about your phone chat and he was very impressed. Looks like it's a go. Glad it went well

[Rufchild]

Originally Posted by Gentle_Ben

Yeah, it was a pretty repressive regime. Now things are flourishing, but it takes time. People are still flexing their new abilities and rights (especially where I live in Catalunya). This country is really taking off though in many ways

Great post Benny. Very informative, esp. the historical info.

You could definitely say that people are still flexing their new abilities and rights, in ways both good and bad.

That being said, Spain is one of the fastest growing countries in the EU (well, it will be until the EU subsidies stop anyway) so not trying to convert traffic from here is a big mistake.

[nikooo]

yeah really a good post..................