Affiliates

[SpannerProductions]

Jazus, thats probably the longest , in depth thread i have ever read on here, and probably one of the most honest ones too !bow!
Ok cards on the table time - where is Spannerproductions right now - ok , got 2 togs , myself and A/N Other, for both stills and vids - not top of the range kit, but not a boxbrownie either !laugh!.
We have a resident model/actress in my missus Storm - not unpopular and getting quite a bit of paid work , but even more importantly she has done some brilliant content stuff and we are going to promote that and hopefully make it saleable on the site. we are also looking at other BBW's/Milfs who have already shown an interest and want to work with us in thier own right and also with storm .
We have had interest from other 'Mainstream' models who are interested in some of our film ideas , so content wise we are getting shedloads. The site itself is still being created and once its up and running , we will hopefully be able to offer the 'punter' (for sake of a better word) something a little different - but we also know that we need to be seen and promoted by others - word of mouth, banner sharing etc - question is at what level should we think about affiliates, whilst the site is being created so they are involved at ground level, once its running and they like the look of it or once we can show some kind of 'Income stats' .

Hopefully I am asking the right questions??

[Daz Savage]

Realistically you shouldn't be asking affiliates to 'get in' at ground-level because you'll have a thousand different people wanting a thousand different things and mainly for their ease and nothing more).
Make a site that gives your punters what they want and fuck everyone else's opinion.

[Glams]

Hi Spanner

When you get your site built which billing company are you looking at using? this can make a big difference when using affiliates and getting signups.

Are you trying to set this up yourself or do you have a good webmaster in mind that knows about affiliates and how they work also how to promote them which is very important as just adding a affiliate program to your site is a total waste of time if you do not promote it the right way.

Good luck

Glams

[SpannerProductions]

Exactly sir !thumbsup!, Thats why i'm asking questions !grin! I have lots of ideas - just like lots of other peeps, but the one thing I dont want to do is run ahead full belter and basically fuck it all up, would rather walk calmly, ask a few questions - get some good advice from my peers!bow! - as the saying goes "dont want to be running towards the light at the end of the tunnel , only to discover its an oncoming train"!laugh!.

[SpannerProductions]

UglyDaz wrote:

"Make a site that gives your punters what they want and fuck
everyone else's opinion"


Cheers mate,
I am kinda leaning in this direction - I'm thinking that if the punters like what your showing , pay for it, and everytime you update etc - they still like it and pay again - doesn't that mean its working......!thumbsup!
ultimately the proof is in the pudding as they say.!grin!

[Krystal Niles]

Mr Spanner,

Are you shooting at the mo then if so u wanna shoot me and stacey ? x

[Daz Savage]

Do what you do best and forget everyone else telling you to do it 'their' way.
If you do what affiliates want then you'd be no different than any manufacturer changing their product to suit the sales-team simply because the sales-team are struggling to do their job with the product as it exists.
Simply put... if you have a product that people want then try to attract affiliates that like it and feel they can sell it as it is, not worry about salespeople who bitch and moan about it and just want it in the same packaging as everyone else's stuff.
There are some good affiliates out there - find them by targeting your approach to them in the same way you would target your approach to potential customers.

Unfortunately some affiliates will just not get it and see ALL websites as cash-cows for themselves. They forget that some sites are wrong for some affiliates just as some sites are wrong for some customers.
All parties need to accept this, move on, keep going.

imho

[Daz Savage]

!previous!
Sorry but each to his own and therefore I have to say I disagree with that person. Let's face it, just because he said it doesn't make it so and I'll tell you why.
It is equally (some might say more so) the job of the producer to make good content as it is for the affiliate to make sales... but nobody EVER says that an affiliate should work as a producer for a while to see how the other half live.
Why the hell should I do someone else's job when it's easier for an affiliate to just TELL ME WHAT THEY NEED FROM ME.

Okay, imagine for a moment that I start out as an affiliate as is being suggested and as is so very often suggested by affiliates... (I'm about to point out something so very childishly obvious and silly and yet no-one seems to grasp it, so watch out for it when you see it).
Okay, so here I am being an affiliate and I'm understanding how the market works.
When finally I move on to being a producer all this 'affiliate' information is now of little use to me because I'm not an affiliate anymore... I'm a producer - who will know his market anyway. My market is much the same as myself - men with disposable income who like looking a pretty girls who usually have big boobs. My job is to produce what will sell to my customers as much as I possibly can with what raw materials and skills I have.
As to the intricacies of web-marketing and 'hijacking' search-engines, well what do I need that information for now? since I'm busy doing my job and expecting my affiliates to get on with theirs!
And if the idea is that being an affiliate helps you learn about the 'tools' you need for the job I have this to say... Since affiliates insist that producers make the damn tools for them and host the galleries for them and do all the bloody work for them then what will I learn by being an affiliate other than how to ask someone else to do stuff for me?
Since affiliates don't want to make banners how will being an affiliate for a year teach me how to make them? All I'll learn is that I need them, and I can get that invaluable gem from any affiliate civil enough to let me know they want one.

Now, who spotted the bleedin' obvious bits?
That's right - all of it!

I just love it when the people who know everything there is to know about code imagine that the internet would still run if none of us code-illiterates stopped making content. Is that just ridiculous or what? This actually demonstrates that behind attitudes like this there is little, if any, real business acumen.
If there were no affiliates then customers would still find adult websites, make no bloody mistake about that!
But if there was nobody making content then what would happen to the porn industry and its affiliates?

I know this is a rant but for god's sake when will someone actually stand up and say that content-providers actually have some value in all this?

[paulpaul]

The problem with your post Daz is that you say: "When finally I move on to being a producer".

Most affiliates have no intention of becoming producers/shooting themselves as that eats time/money/headaches and isn't that profitable when starting nowadays. You need to shoot a LOT of content which comes at cost and keep updating to an ever smaller slice of the market.
Getting a return on this will be hard if selling yourself unless your just after beer money eating out a few times each week.

Yes, it hurt me mentally losing 50% or more at the start due to affiliate sales or sometimes even making a loss on pay per join but you have to see the bigger picture.

If you have 100 affilates and just 4-5 make decent sales (it sounds low but these are realistic numbers) then these are sales you would more than likely never get as its from a complety different traffic source that you wouldn't have.

Now start multiplying this by 200, 300, 400, 1000+ affiliates and the picture becomes clearer. Nowadays this won't come easily and can take many months or even years to build a good affiliate relationship but once you have them, the rewards will be there if you work together.

You need to understand that producers and affiliates are two complety different things and not get muddled between the two.

This isn't a dig at all and i like the stuff you shoot but trying to be a producer/webmaster/editor/dealing with hosting/models etc is a tough tough task to do on your own when it best working as a team.

The big producers just shoot and partner up with others to sell via websites - DVD is all but dead.
Other shooters just shoot and sell the content on.
Affiliates just become affiliates and earn little to lots.

It takes more than one man to try and do everything in this day and age.
6 - 10 years ago you could have done it yourself - but not in 2009.

There are of course exceptions to this but those operators have been doing it a long time and the right now many paysites are struggling.