i will give you ...maybe a 15% decrease based on the increasing availability of free porn.....it used to be a "power user" loss....but now tube sites are making the everyday user into a leecher....you're right

but the overwhelming majority of people right now are just losing their disposable blue collar income to rising costs in virtually ALL everyday costs

i will say i am in fact a demographics man as well....so I'm not just spitting random gibberish out of my mouth....sure the %'s might be off by 10 points....but I'm close, just trust me :winkwink:

No, no, I trust you, hence why I asked you if you had any demographics that you would like to share/discuss. We're working on some project that was scheduled to be launched almost 6 months ago and we're collecting data of every possible source, testing and researching almost anything you'd think of and we noticed the "jump from the cliff" around January, although I understand the price of oil, the record in unemplyment in US, the mortgage matter and so on has to make an impact, but we're trying to research globally rather than regionally or it would take forever, esp when we're not seeing a dime, just preparing data before launching.

Anyway, I'm going to sleep, but if you don't mind sharing your info, I'll repeat my invitation to discuss on ICQ or you can just send me a mail to webmaster ¿| cssxl ¿| com if you want :)

What I love are the "affiliate reps" who tell me that they're switching me from PPS to revshare because "my traffic doesn't convert" but they'd love to work with me on fine tuning my sites.

THE TRAFFIC DOESN'T CONVERT BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SHOULD GO INTO A SMOKING PAYSITE - AND THE TRAFFIC I SEND KNOWS WHAT ISN'T IN YOUR SITE SO THERE'S NO WAY THEY'RE GOING TO CONVERT. INSTEAD OF TELLING ME YOU WANT TO TELL ME WHAT DO WITH MY SITES....WHY DON'T YOU ASK ME HOW YOU CAN MAKE YOUR SITES CONVERT???? :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Quoted for truth. And if there's somebody who knows his niche, is Mike, after learning A LOT about it with him I just cracked listening to people who were about to launch smoke sites or producers trying to make smoking content, most of them are doing the exact opposite of what smoking fetish is about :2 cents:

I might add around 90% of sites catering to specific fetishes or microniches don't have any idea about what they're doing. And it happens even on big niches, ie I'm surprised at big boobs sites, other than Score I still haven't found a big boobs site really knowing what big boobs lovers are looking for. Or just BOOBS lovers, as we're at it. Everybody thinks: "OK, she has big boobs. Done" And the big boobs are just the "vehicle" to get to the real object of desire, so any boobs sponsor using that would increase their conversions greatly, but problem is this industry uses the kind of "affiliate representatives" Brand0n and MikeSmoke mentions. And the whole concept of "marketing" is just a guy who pays for drinks. And let alone research, psychology, business engineering, etc that simply doesn't exist. And those who have it don't tell anyone :2 cents:

6, one gallery sucked, but that was my fault using the old template.

Thanks, Harvey :) And you're right, the "It's easy, I'll hit the (fill in the blank) niche by buying a bunch of (fill in the blank) content" approach is why there are so many hundreds or thousands of paysites out there that are basically just taking up space.

And BTW, the noobs or the people here who don't know Harvey should read, then reread, and then re-re-read all of his posts (and not just in this thread) --- he's one of the few here who knows the biz from a multitude of perspectives, and has done a bunch of different things very, very well. He GETS it, and when he shares info, it's worth reading and remembering :thumbsup

About a year ago I almost got one of these "Traffic manager" positions........ I am glad I didn't because I am doing better by myself :) .... maybe I now know a lil bit about traffics :)

But In regards to the thread topic... I have to agree ... There are clueless people hiring clueless guys who "claim" to know something ... I have nothing against that... I just wish them the best!

My sites don't convert.

I know exactly what you mean lol, I once had a rep wanting to send me the content using email :1orglaugh

I blushed http://www.briggs.net.nz/log/wp-cont...ush-smiley.png

What's wrong with the hiring of sexy ladies as aff reps? :)

Not a thing, but unless they've paid their dues as a webmaster and know as much as I do (not naming names because I don't want to leave anyone out - there are definitely some pros who do affiliate rep work) --- they should stick to buying drinks, not "checking out your sites to help you filter and target your traffic better" :1orglaugh

aw :winkwink:

Even as an account rep I will say that it is true that most webmasters don't even have a clue when it comes to micro-niche. As my own webmaster, the vast majority of what I do is micro-niche and 'real' fetishes.

The prime reason I got into doing AVS so long back was because most webmasters or companies don't properly understand those niches and if I took the time to actually learn what those surfers wanted I could put up 200 pages on a very amateur looking AVS site and outsell any paysites in the micro-niche/fetish that might happen to exist (often many didn't).

That isn't just a rep thing it is a webmaster thing overall and I am kind of glad (from a webmaster perspective this time) that my micro-niches and 'real' fetishes aren't widely understood by other webmasters or it would harder for me to stand out as one of the few sites that do 'get them'.

I started in this industry in the BBW market and even to this day the vast majority of BBW sites put out by big companies don't really understand the market and put up insulting tours and the like. So, I get the frustration of trying to be 'sold' sites that miss the mark with your niche or fetish.

Where I do think it starts to come down to the rep or affiliate support is if they try to lie to you about understanding the ins and out of a niche or market when they don't. If I am promoting a fetish and somebody doesn't know a huge deal about it I would rather they be honest with me.

That is the stance I will always take with my Max Cash affiliates. We don't have many niches I haven't worked with enough to understand but I am never going to pretend to know the total ins and outs of every aspect of every niche.

For example, with the Ebony stuff (just grabbing something out of my head)..I had done some sites in the past and played enough with the traffic to get the basics. Yet, I know that there is a whole other layer to the market where I might not know the names of all the hottest ebony pornstars, or all the micro-niches within the larger market. Since taking this job I have researched those aspects more so that I can help my accounts but I will never lie to them and say I am a total expert.

What I am an expert on is what ebony sites we have, how they do for various types of traffic, what tools we have and what wording has been working for those I have helped,etc. If I put that on top of the aspects of traffic generation and SEO that I am knowledgeable on and which cover sites in general then hopefully I am going to be able to help when needed even on a niche that isn't my Mastermind subject.

Now, dare somebody ask me about the niches that are my Mastermind subjects and then the problem might be getting me to shut up (like now) ;)

If more affiliate support reps were more honest then perhaps there would be less feeling of them trying to pull something on you for an extra couple hits.

well, you're right and I know you're a knowledgeable and experienced person in the business, however, the honesty part you mention at the end is a toughy. I mean, it isn't a problem for you, but most aff reps aren't in your position, and what are they going to say? "sorry, I have no clue"? In any case, problem starts when program owners hire people because of professional achievements like a high GFY post count or posting Tube Girl or whatever. You can make any question to MOST (NOT ALL!!!) aff reps and they won't have any clue but neither will have the program owners.

I think the ultimate example is Epass: you have Michael O and then a bunch of ignoramus who aren't able to tell even the date they're living on. However, they're still working there. I'm mentioning this because in another life I was a marketing manager for Citibank, Deutsche Bank and VISA (yeah, that was ANOTHER life :1orglaugh ) and it amazes me what Epass let their people do. I wouldn't let them stary more than a week, nor any of my bosses would let me stay more than a week if I allowed what Epass allows. They even do things against their own interest, so how can you blame the soldiers when the generals are as knowledgeable as them?