JBM :
It’s a huge pleasure to be talking with Toolz, a real
veteran of this industry. Ok, to start with, can you tell
us a little about your history?
Toolz:
I've been working in the adult business since 1997 when we
ran a single gay paysite from there we expanded into several
different incarnations of what later became ARS.
Over the last year I've worked on growing Adult
Dialer Solution or offering in the dialer market. My newest
project, EMX
,is a new style program unlike anything I've ventured into
before and offers both the surfer and webmaster unprecedented
customization in promotion and viewing of our database of
movies
JBM :
EMX looks
very interesting, how is it connected to ARS,
or is it a completely separate product?
Toolz :
EMX is separate
product that I've been developing over the last 6 months.
Marc and I are very good friends so it's only natural to take
some of his free advice on building it out and making it as
successful as possible.
JBM :
Since it seems to be a fairly unique product, what are some
of the features that make it stand out from other programs?
Toolz :
EMX offers
several unique features. First and foremost, the adaptive
marketing system. Webmasters have the ability to go into the
database of scenes and select a particular scene that would
cater to their traffic. Then they can select screenshots and
movie clips from that scene to build out a customized full
page ad, TGP/MGP, or even a complete site with an unlimited
number of scenes focusing on one niche. In addition another
feature allows you to link directly to the EMX
main site and specific search results. You could link traffic
directly to blonde/teens for example. The last feature that
ties this all together is the join forms directly on all forms
of marketing, no need to send the surfer elsewhere they can
join right from any of your custom created marketing materials.
JBM :
Wow, that’s pretty amazing. What are the payout rates
and are weekly payouts offered?
Toolz :
Payout rates are currently fixed at $28 per free signup. Payout
is done weekly with wires, overnights, and checks. Epassporte
will be added in the very near future.
JBM :
You've been around a long time, since dinosaurs roamed the
net, what are some of the big changes that you've seen over
that time?
Toolz :
Haha, yes the biggest change being constant evolution or we'd
all end up like the dinosaurs. It seems this business has
a constantly evolving business model, every 12-18 months it's
forced to re-invent itself to move forward. The biggest thing
I see right now is everyone maintaining high payouts by cross-billing
surfers 2-3x. I think this is probably a practice that will
become extinct soon too. Why not just offer a product that
the surfers won't cancel and will love? Clearly the future
is predominantly movie based, customers will pay $40 a month
for something that's worth $40 a month. It seems that the
more competition that comes to the market the more ways older
companies innovate.
JBM :
Retention has been an issue forever, have you had enough time
to crunch the numbers and see if retention rates are higher
than normal with EMX?
Does the massive amount of content have a clear effect on
retention?
Toolz :
I think both the massive amount of content and the "non-jerking"
of the customers is going to have a definitive effect on the
customer. We don't have upsells in the members area, cross-sales,
or exit consoles, just give them the content they want and
they'll pay for it :)
JBM :
Does EMX offer
surfers a trial?
Toolz :
EMX offers
a different type membership than others out there. We offer
a free trial to the surfer so they can browse all the screenshots
and small clips for movies. They're not billed until they
choose to download full length high quality movies.
JBM :
So it’s a different type of site and a fairly different
type of billing, since you have seen numbers from many types
of sites, how do conversions for this compare to others? Is
there a noticeable increase?
Toolz :
There's a noticeable difference in conversion ratio as far
as the webmaster is concerned, numbers are much more in-line
with free signups, even with the disclosure to the surfer
on the join page that if they download they'll be billed.
So in other words the conversions are much better than you
could expect out of a similar paid trial or monthly type program.
JBM :
What do you see as the biggest problem facing this industry
over the next couple years?
Toolz :
This is pretty obvious, billing the customer. If the credit
card companies continue to put the squeeze on recurring billing
may go away, trials may go away, and a customer will just
join a different site each month as they'll learn that their
membership is valid for 30 days and few would re-up unless
the site offered them so much they couldn't see it all in
one month. Hopefully that's the obstacle we've overcome with
EMX, future
proof. I believe the 2257 could become an issue too, one of
the reasons we're hosting everything for our webmasters, avoid
any problems coming down the pipe with that.
JBM :
So do you see the new 2257 rules as being a serious problem?
Toolz :
2257 will only be a problem for the smaller guys who either
don't have their docs in order or don't have the resources
to get them in order. It's regular government BS, paperwork
you to death, but like anything, you can bitch about it and
not move forward or you can accept it, do the extra work and
prosper. This business is no where near as easy as it was
seven years ago but that doesn't mean it's still not profitable.
JBM :
I tried to Bribe MardDe with a candy bar for info on the big
ARS
news coming October 1, but apparently he can afford his own
candy. Can you tell us anything about what’s coming
up?
Toolz :
No, LOL. I'll just say that the new changes and promo's we
chatted about this weekend will definitely put them on top,
and very quickly. All other sponsors should be warned, he's
coming to take back a LARGE portion of market share.
JBM :
Well, if anyone can do it, ARS
can. What happened with ARSRI?
Did you miscalculate the demand for reality sites? I like
the new ARS,
but from day 1 there seemed to have been many people against
it.
Toolz :
I'm really not sure what happened with ARSRI,
I was working primarily on the dialer over the last year and
didn't really do anything in the day to day stuff at ARS.
JBM :
So you are washing your hands of the whole mess? Hehehe Ok,
just a couple more questions. What bugs you the most about
this industry?
Toolz :
Haha, no I was in the meetings when we decided to go to the
new setup, but I don't really know what the status was after
that. Pet peeves of the industry? Would have to be the half-assed
attitude of most involved. Maybe it was the easy money, maybe
it's just people's general work ethic, but in general when
I say I'm gonna get something done I work 16+ hours a day
to complete it if I'm running near the deadline we just work
until it's done. If you pay for something, i.e. design, hosting,
content, whatever, they should have the same dedication to
provide you what you ordered when you ordered it.
JBM :
Since you've been deep into the dialer business, is that the
only option for most foreign billing? Can we look forward
to anything else in the near future?
Toolz :
I would say no, the dialer business is not dead but it's one
that is being regulated to death. A company that could do
awesome in this biz and I have neither the time nor inclination
to do it would be to go to each and every major country, develop
the best solution there and offer it as one package. I.E.
Eurodebit in some countries, phone billing in others, direct
bank billing, or whatever. Just something that is specific
for each country, we know that credit cards and checks work
in the US and Canada but I don't have the number's for every
country on what's the most profitable solution for their specific
country.
JBM :
Any hope for squeezing money out of the hundred million Chinese
surfers running rampant on the internet?
Toolz :
Bill their inmate accounts? I'm not too hopeful that billing
will exist for a country that is throwing their adult webmasters
in jail.
JBM :
Just means less competition. If you could be reincarnated
as any animal, which would you chose and why?
Toolz :
A tiger or other large cat, fast running ability and get to
eat raw meat
JBM :
Great choice. To finish up, maybe you can give us one last
sales pitch for EMX.
Toolz :
If you haven't checked out EMX
yet now's the time, if nothing else signup for a webmaster
account, it'll provide you with free access to the members
area. From there you'll see the impressive product the way
a surfer will and it should give you the ability to sell a
ton of memberships.
JBM :
Thank you very much for the interview, it was great talking
to you.
Toolz:
Anytime, my pleasure :)
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