DDF Cash - Important: Open letter from Denys Defrancesco

[cots]

Not sure how many of you are affiliates/deal with DDF Cash but thought you might find this letter from Denys Defranco interesting and may want to disuss it here!

OPEN LETTER TO ALL PRODUCERS AND ALL AFFILIATES OF THE ADULT BUSINESS.
THE ALARM BELLS ARE RINGING


THE ADULT BUSINESS IS IN DANGER OF COLLAPSING, THIS IS NOT BECAUSE OF THE CRISIS!


I am Denys Defrancesco the CEO of ddfprod.com. I am sounding the alarm bells before its too late, as in less than two years our businesses will be dead because of who? Because of what?
It is our fault, we have created the largest freely available pornographic content on the planet, so why pay to see our content?
For 12 years I have created promotion material there are free galleries, porn tubes, exchanging content with the 'share' sites , Google or Yahoo groups etc. .. Because everyone wants to put more and more free content on their websites, we are currently killing the goose that lays golden egg. By giving our surfers uncensored content we've created the largest free site of all time. Put end to end to giving it away on free sites, all free galleries, all trailers’ online, can you imagine the amounts that are out there.


CHANGE YOUR HABITS IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE TO EARN YOUR LIFE IN THE ADULT INDUSTRY- AND MAKE MONEY AGAIN!


We could fix this with a little discipline, believe me, and start to censor your free galleries, restore the desire to see more by accessing the member’s area of your sites.
The golden age could return and there is enough space for everyone, lets clean up the Net together. I am aware that this will not happen overnight but I everybody’s responsibility to begin to censor their new galleries (put only soft content), not give away hardcore content for free anymore, and reduce the archives of your free sites. BELIEVE me you will not lose your traffic, you'll just boost your income.


I await all your comments and suggestions.

Denys Defrancesco.
www.ddfprod.com
--

So what do you all think?

[somona]

Oh we talked about this some weeks ago, and Suckerpunch did a great pic of the situation no ?
http://www.legwebmasters.com/forums/...ead.php?t=1148

[nichednet]

Originally Posted by cots

So what do you all think?

Think it is spot on, we have been giving away the cow for too long, content will ALWAYS be king, but if you give it away, it aint worth shit. My dad is 65 years old, and can barely figure out where to go to 'LOGON TO HIS EMAIL'... which is pretty funny for alot of us, but my point is this, I ask him, as he knows what I do for a living, where do you go to look for Amy Ried (His favorite Model, lol) and you know what he tells me... EskimoTube... PornHub... XNXX... which makes me want to puke, how can a person so unsavvy on a computer know where to download full clips, but can't find his Email. My dad has a great credit score, a job, and plenty of working Credit Cards, so that speaks wonders in my eyes. If you could not find your favorite model any place BUT her site, well, the sale comes back to you. Unfortunately the seed is planted and the trees of giving it all away has grown. Will not be a easy job to get us back, and most likely will never be what it was, but there is potential to make it better, and it is in what Denys says in his email.

I need a beer after this, uff, not sure what is worse, this or the oil out off the coast of my home... Cheers


Shane

[nyllover]

Could make sense... but i wander if it's just too late.

He's right when he says that we are offering too much, that's true. But in the moment i think of it... i get doubts.

Suppose i reduce the size of photos on my FHG galleries, writing there that the site has bigger ones. What will the suffer do, knowing that there are plenty of other websites offering high quality material in FHG? Will he just think what i'm saying is bull**hit and move away?

And i suppose censoring them would be the same (not my case as we offer no nude)... there are still thousands of other sites offering uncensored content in their FHG...

...i think the right way is always offer something unique. I understand that for DDF it can be difficult, but what they (we) need to do is move forward into finding always new niches.

I think it's just too late to reduce content available for free out there...

[LandL]

Geoff,

I'm glad you brought this up again, it's something I too have been thinking about lately. I think Denys was only referring to the free promotional content that is out there and not to stolen content, but I wanted to address both.

Promotional content:

--I remember when I started doing galleries for TGP sites years ago and the minimum number of pics for a gallery was 10, sometimes 12. Some sites wouldn't post your galleries if you didn't have at least 12 pics, some at least 16. So if you wanted to get your galleries on a certain TGP site, you had to play by their rules. So you give away more. But is that always a good idea? A surfer glances at the gallery and he's seen enough, he isn't enticed enough to want to check out the site, because he's already seen it all pretty much.

--It also seems that over the years galleries have become more explicit? (perhaps this is just my opinion). But if you give it all to the surfer, what is to entice them to want to see more?

--Some TGP sites I have seen will offer so many galleries of models all in one place that I wonder how that is beneficial to the affiliate or the paysite? For example, some TGP sites have models listed by name, you click on a model name and are brought to a page with 20+ galleries (FHG's) of that model. WHY are we giving all of that to the surfer? What happens is those pages get posted to various forums for pic traders as they get to see alot of pictures in one place of that model, but is that really effective for making sales??

--How much promotional content is enough? Once a week, every other week, once a month? A new gallery only stays on a TGP for a few days to a week usually....why don't we rotate older galleries more often?

Stolen content:

And by stolen content I am referring to entire photo sets, videos and site rips that are posted to various sites without your permission.

--It would be nice to see some way that adult webmasters could come together and work together in getting our content off of these sites. Like having a password protected site/forum where all webmasters would have to be confirmed as running a paysite before they are given access to the site. In that forum, site owners could trade information in regards to these sites, how they got their content removed, who they had to contact, other new sites that trade content or even members who they have caught posting their content.

Changes to Members area:

--I know it's kind of become the thing to say that you have thousands of pictures and videos on your site. We like to show the surfer that they get alot when they join our sites. (Which also begs the question: How much is ENOUGH?) But this is something that I have been seriously rethinking as of late. Currently on my paysite, I have everything available to my members....all of my photos and videos since I first opened the site. I'm curious, how many of you do it this way on your paysite as well?

But then I come across a site that does "full site rips" and I realize....anyone can join, download my entire catalog of content and pass it around. Which has got me to thinking.....why am I giving them everything in one go?

I use to "poo-poo" the idea of rehashing old content (rotating older content). And I still do, but as long as a site is updated with NEW content every week along with the rotated archives, maybe that wouldn't be a big deal then. The surfer is STILL getting new updates.

I don't know.....I am thinking that there needs to be a change though. It's been on my mind for a while.

Good topic!

[Suckerpunch]

Wow... another great thread.

All the free stuff on the Internet is killing the business and making it harder to make a living doing what we do. Smaller programs continue to die a slow and miserable death. The biggest problem I've seen though is the sites continue to do the same things over and over again. For instance take a look at some of the solo model sites. I can't think of a single model that I would pay $24.95 per month to get 4 picture updates and 1 video update a month. I mean I could see myself being interested in the site for a few months but after that I doubt I would continue visiting the site. I don't care how sexy the model is or how killer her legs are, she wouldn't be worth $299.40 a year.

Now if the model regularly interacted with its members, shared personal thoughts in a blog/diary and forum, offered unique content that wasn't simply the same old re-hashed poses in similar lingerie in the same locations then you might get my attention. Teaming up with other models periodically would be another good idea. Create a sense of community with the users and I'd be more apt to keep coming back (although probably not at $300 a year).

Another way of keeping your ahead above water is doing something unique. I have to give nyllover a commendation here because he is doing something that I haven't found out there and it's a throw back to the old days of non nude. Sexy models showing off their legs and feet in nylons while staying fully clothed. May not be for everyone but I know my conversion rates for his site are better then anything else I promote. He's put a spin on the nylon niche that is unique and I really enjoy seeing.

The problem isn't solely the free content out there and the answer is not censoring the content or offering less to potential new members. We have to get creative in ways of getting people to spend their cash, find new ideas or revisit old ideas and just keep hammering away until we find what works.

[Dyker]

Originally Posted by Suckerpunch

Another way of keeping your ahead above water is doing something unique. I have to give nyllover a commendation here because he is doing something that I haven't found out there and it's a throw back to the old days of non nude. Sexy models showing off their legs and feet in nylons while staying fully clothed. May not be for everyone but I know my conversion rates for his site are better then anything else I promote. He's put a spin on the nylon niche that is unique and I really enjoy seeing.

It is actually something I have been doing for ten years - Kirstyblue.com

However, back to the main point - Which was very well made by Dad knowing where to get his free kick and not knowing how to work his mail -

Since I started in this industry, (1995) it has been a constant stream of abusing the industry - Getting rich quick by ripping off the members with shit sites, shit content and x selling up selling and then spamming the ass off him to ripping off the webmaster by shaving his earnings to now giving all the content away for free -
In truth, it has now gone too far - way too far. Why pay for anything when you can get what you want for free from one of the thousands of site rip sites or tube sites.

I have had all of my free sites rebuilt so now they show minimal content and I have not for some months (and will not be) giving any more content for marketting - Guess what? Sales are getting slowly back to normal - Still have the odd bad day, but very few and far between -

[nyllover]

Doing something unique is the only way i'm seeing out of this (thanks Suckerpunch, i'll get in touch later to pay you for this post ).
Also very, very true what Dyker says... i've always wandered what's the meaning of giving hundreds of new FHG each week... i just think it's wrong. If your stuff is rare to find, users will be more interested! Or at least...that's what i think...

[Suckerpunch]

Kudos to both of you for doing something different. You guys are the ones who will weather the storm and hopefully continue making a living in the business. The ones that will fail are the sites/models that continue to do what they did for the last X number of years without considering smart business moves to improve their own situations. I know that Dyker has a network of free sites to promote his own stuff and that's a smart move. More site owners, including the single model sites, could benefit dramatically from that.

From an affiliate perspective, I hate seeing it when sites give you less to work with to help them earn money. I understand the thinking behind it and agree it makes sense. Just means I may have to adjust my sales efforts down the road to compensate for that.

[Dyker]

Originally Posted by Suckerpunch

From an affiliate perspective, I hate seeing it when sites give you less to work with to help them earn money. I understand the thinking behind it and agree it makes sense. Just means I may have to adjust my sales efforts down the road to compensate for that.

The problem with that is we are all playing with different sized goals.
European webmasters have to pay vat on the total cost of the sale - Usa webmasters don't. We also have to pay ccbill 3% more.
So, for a 30 dollar sale,
ccbill take 4.50
Vat takes 6.60 (I pay 22%)
affiliate takes 15.00

Paying somebody to make up loads of fhg and videos and hosting them, takes up more than the 3.90 left over -

For us Europeans, the affiliate model really doesn't work that well as we simply can not compete with American webmasters. And, when we explain to non European affiliates and explain what an actual sale is worth, we are often told "Bullshit".!!!

[somona]

Originally Posted by nyllover

Doing something unique is the only way i'm seeing out of this (thanks Suckerpunch, i'll get in touch later to pay you for this post ).
Also very, very true what Dyker says... i've always wandered what's the meaning of giving hundreds of new FHG each week... i just think it's wrong. If your stuff is rare to find, users will be more interested! Or at least...that's what i think...

Really true

[cots]

Got a lot of thoughts on this and will get back on all them soon. Not today as it's Amazing Astrid's birthday!! Hopefully tomorrow!

[LandL]

And opinions from the OTHER side of this (the guys buying memberships to paysites):

http://www.pornusers.com/forum/forum...648&showPost=5

Some quotes:

"The problem with all the doom-and-gloom predictions is they ignore the reality of consumer demand."

"The Chicken Littles of adult entertainment have been warning of the 'end' of the industry--whatever that means--for years now, almost, it seems, since the first days of the 'net, or at least the first dirty pictures or text online."

"The freebie Internet surfers are a small part of the actual market. Deliver a good site and clients will find you. "

[NinjaSteve]

I saw some of their galleries the other day with censored pics of the action. It said "members only".

[Toby]

Originally Posted by NinjaSteve

I saw some of their galleries the other day with censored pics of the action. It said "members only".

I saw those too, and I won't use them. Not only can you not make thumbs from them, the click-thru rate to tour sucks. I can understand what DDF is trying to do, but it would be far better to simply not include explicit images in their promo materials.

As I posted on another board regarding this issue, the art of tease seems to be lost in this biz.