The idea of selling content through the use of virtual token systems and other PPC means is not a new one in the world of e-commerce, in fact, mainstream web sites, such as news services, have been doing just that for some time now. PPC options targeting adult content consumers have not been as robust or feature-laden as many in the industry would like, however, but a new service offering is making the prospect of an effective and desirable micro-payment solution one step closer to reality.
As XBiz reported yesterday, PayAsYouClick.com, an online micro-payment service provider, has just launched a Gallery Builder tool that, according to company spokesman Danny Watkins, "lets webmasters convert a free gallery to pay-per-click in seconds. They just run their HTML through our Gallery Builder, select the price they want to charge, and upload. Then surfers are charged between 1¢ and $2 for every click on their thumbnails."
Intrigued by all of this, I couldn't wait to see a demo at Internext, and instead, decided to dig a little deeper. This Gallery Builder tool on its own seemed to be a pretty sweet solution (in theory, anyway), as it required no re-coding of an existing gallery other than what the automated tool did – making the process simple for the technically impaired – a process made even easier by the online tutorials and the easy to use self-installing PHP file. A wide range of linking options for webmasters to use further enhances the potential of this system.
It's not just individual galleries that can benefit from this system, either, since larger sites can be converted to Pay Per Click money-making machines by adding a few lines of code to your pages which will generate PPC links on the fly.
Around 100 sites are now using the service, and some are doing extremely well, claims Watkins, "for example www.valleycats.net is selling niche pictures at 5c and videos at $1 or $2 per clip. He's making more money selling by pay-per-click than he was with a subscription site, and represents a great example of how to get the best out of the system."
This is one of the oft-cited benefits of using a PPC system to enable ala carte content offerings: users who are reluctant to pay for a full membership will often spend more money on obtaining individual items of interest. This is commonly seen in the online news arena, where folks spend more money on 25¢ articles than they would to buy the whole newspaper.
One application that I'm personally interested in is monetizing surfer access to TGP archive sections. Even Gallery Post sites that are composed primarily of sponsor-provided FHGs can charge a buck or two for access to a specific category, "Teens" for example, and another buck or two to see the "Mature" section after that.
A webmaster referral system lets TGP and other site owners link to PayAsYouClick enabled sites or galleries using their ref code and earn up to 50% of everything their traffic spends on that site – an added bonus that could add up. This percentage is based upon what the gallery or site owner wishes to offer to referrals through the system – no separate affiliate network is needed. A full traffic tracking system is built in, and the process is fairly 'fraud proof' since "hit-bots don't make payments."
On the surfer side, the process is pretty painless. "Surfers clicking for the first time are given a simple payment page confirming the price, with a quick sign up form to get a PayAsYouClick account. From then on every click on your thumbnails means another few cents, with the picture or video delivered instantly from your server," said Watkins, adding that "It's just like free surfing, except they're paying for it!"
There's a lot more to PayAsYouClick.com's offerings, but this isn't an advertisement (although it might have read a bit like one) so you'll have to do your own homework, but at first glance, this is one of the best solutions I've seen in this field, and I'll definitely be looking these folks up in Vegas for an extended demo.
While I am pretty excited (as are many of my readers) about the prospect of finding an effective PPC solution for profiting from surfers, the 'deal killer' in all such systems is the intermediary step of funding an off-site account. Many surfers won't bother, even if they get beyond the trust issue. Especially for American porn surfers who are used to simply whipping out their Visa, telling them that "You'll have to pay these other folks over there for the content you want to get over here..." typically sends up a 'red flag' in the form of "Why do I need to do that? Can't you accept Visa? All 'reputable' merchants do!"
Looking beyond this, however, is the basic fact that the more payment options you offer, the more money you will make from any given quantity of surfers, and while not an ideal system, PayAsYouClick.com's offerings deserve a closer look. Use the link below to share your thoughts and experiences on the subject – it won't cost you anything to click!
