Significant Contributions
Just a quick post to remark on the growth we've experienced over the past month, most of it due to our affiliates, both old and new, who responded to the handful of new content we posted and used it to promote us or got inspired to write reviews or just put up some links. It is the biggest jump in member count we've ever had over the course of just a few weeks and makes me really excited AND really appreciative.
I also wanted to make a note of it to let people know what a big deal affiliate promotion is for indie programs like ours -- you can make a really significant difference in our lives. We're not talking about the difference between buying some corporate dude a new yacht or him having to make do with his forty footer, we're talking about the difference between us not being able to afford to fix our junker car versus having a reliable car to visit family (or enough money to hire the first contractor or employee to help us make better content or run our program better).
This difference is one of the things that attracts surfers (and members) to sites like ours -- the feeling that they are supporting real people with their dollars and have the ability to make a meaningful contribution versus putting money into the pockets of a large corporation and the model not seeing any of it beyond the payment she got for the shoot. Indie sites can go a long way in establishing trust with surfers to remind them that porn has real people in it who work hard to provide entertaining high-quality products. These are the kinds of yesteryear values touted in best-selling inspirational books: support small businesses and mom-and-pop type operations! Yes, I like to use this as a marketing angle, but not in a jaded way: supporting small independent businesses is something I and many others think of as a moral obligation and something that in general just makes us feel darned good about ourselves. It makes us happier to part with our money when we can actually see and KNOW the people who pocket it.
The past month has been one of the most thrilling since I first opened my site in 2002. It's not that we suddenly got rich or anything even close to that; it's that I feel like we're on the verge of new growth. It's not that the past month has been anything to write to AVN about with stats and bragging about dollars, it's that I was reminded of how much potential our sites have and how cool it is to have the support of other people in the industry, some of them with lots of experience and resources, and others in the same boat we're in, still struggling to pay off credit cards and not at the point of trying to decide between a Bentley or a Rolls (not that I think many people in this industry are actually faced with such difficult decisions ;-).
We have seen constant steady SLOW growth over the past four years which is always encouraging, but seeing a nice little SPIKE over the past month? That felt fucking awesome, and I just want to thank our affiliates for that. I'm really looking forward to the months and years ahead!
I also wanted to make a note of it to let people know what a big deal affiliate promotion is for indie programs like ours -- you can make a really significant difference in our lives. We're not talking about the difference between buying some corporate dude a new yacht or him having to make do with his forty footer, we're talking about the difference between us not being able to afford to fix our junker car versus having a reliable car to visit family (or enough money to hire the first contractor or employee to help us make better content or run our program better).
This difference is one of the things that attracts surfers (and members) to sites like ours -- the feeling that they are supporting real people with their dollars and have the ability to make a meaningful contribution versus putting money into the pockets of a large corporation and the model not seeing any of it beyond the payment she got for the shoot. Indie sites can go a long way in establishing trust with surfers to remind them that porn has real people in it who work hard to provide entertaining high-quality products. These are the kinds of yesteryear values touted in best-selling inspirational books: support small businesses and mom-and-pop type operations! Yes, I like to use this as a marketing angle, but not in a jaded way: supporting small independent businesses is something I and many others think of as a moral obligation and something that in general just makes us feel darned good about ourselves. It makes us happier to part with our money when we can actually see and KNOW the people who pocket it.
The past month has been one of the most thrilling since I first opened my site in 2002. It's not that we suddenly got rich or anything even close to that; it's that I feel like we're on the verge of new growth. It's not that the past month has been anything to write to AVN about with stats and bragging about dollars, it's that I was reminded of how much potential our sites have and how cool it is to have the support of other people in the industry, some of them with lots of experience and resources, and others in the same boat we're in, still struggling to pay off credit cards and not at the point of trying to decide between a Bentley or a Rolls (not that I think many people in this industry are actually faced with such difficult decisions ;-).
We have seen constant steady SLOW growth over the past four years which is always encouraging, but seeing a nice little SPIKE over the past month? That felt fucking awesome, and I just want to thank our affiliates for that. I'm really looking forward to the months and years ahead!
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