PPS VS Recurring

[forest]

What is your prefered method of payment when sending traffic

or do you do both?

[gaystoryman]

I hate being first on a poll... :cry: but as there was no 'both' choice... but both is my real answer...

[Xstr8guy]

I generally only promote sites/programs that I would personally join. Therefore I think my surfers are more likely to rebill because the sites are giving them what they want.

[Lee]

Forest,

Hope ya dont mind bud, i added a 'both' option to the poll for you also

Regards,

Lee

[GPallan]

call me stupid...but doesn't it make sense to only promote revshare?

If a site is going to pay out $35 for a $3.95 trial (recurring at $35.95, for example), doesn't that mean that their stats show that their average retention rate is long enough for them to recover the $35 they paid out to us AND also make a profit at the end? So, having have established this, doesn't it make more sense to go with their revshare program (even if it's only %50) where at the end you'll make more money than the original $35? Does that make any sense?

What's behind the PPS? are sponsors really that confident that they'll recover what they payout for PPS, through their recurring sales? And if so (as i explained above), why are affiliates not taking advantage of this information and only promote revshare programs?

something I’ve always wondered…hmmm

Allan

[forest]

Forest,

Hope ya dont mind bud, i added a 'both' option to the poll for you also

Regards,

Lee

Thanx Lee!

[JustMe]

Greetings:

We had this debate over here before launching AlleyBucks. We tested our first site out for 5 months, so we know our retention rate was huge. So, we easily could have come out of the gates with a PPS program.

However, let me tell you why we chose not to.

1. PPS sites suck ass (and not in a good way) for the most part. The PPS world is FULL of cookie cutter sites that have nothing in them except for a bunch of crappy plugins that usually have nothing to do with what the site's supposed to be about in the first place.

We certainly didn't want to be mistaken for one of those.

2. Programs that run these cookie cutter PPS sites know damn well they're not going to be getting many rebills. So, they make their money by AGGRESSIVELY upselling other sites, and bombing the hell out of the user with popups in the member's area. And, being a PPS program, affiliates are totally out of the earnings loop there.

We certainly didn't want to be mistaken for one of those either.

How do these PPS programs that offer you $30 per signup for a $3.95 trial work? Is it because they have SO much content that the user simply decides to stay a member after seeing it all? No. Simply put, when the user logs in they don't get access to any content, short of what amounts to a secondary tour, until they agree to convert to a full membership. And after they do that, THAT's when they get to see the popups and upsells. Again, the affiliate is out of the loop.

The assumption that sites offering PPS retain a long time, so it's better to go rebill, is not a good one. As I've mentioned above, MOST PPS sites do NOT make their money off of rebills. Now, that's not to say that there aren't some VERY good gay paysites out there that do offer a PPS, and that are making their money off of rebills. However, as I've said, the VAST majority simply don't work that way.

Xstr8guy is right. The best thing you can do is find a paysite that you really like, that has really good content, really good member support, and regular updates. Promote that, and promote it with revshare. You WILL make a LOT more than promoting some piece of crap cookie-cutter plugin site under the PPS model...

[Xstr8guy]

JustMe, you have explained in exact detail why I stay away from PPS. Perfect!

[Lee]

The PPS vs. Revshare debate has been going on for many years and, like JustMe mentioned in his post, for the most part, PPS sites dont make money by keeping the surfer on their site, they make their money by sending the surfer to a variety of upsells both in and, outside of the members areas.

In essence, when utilizing a PPS business model, the sponsor actually loses money for the first month or two upon opening their program and it is only once they start to see a good 'flow' of traffic that they actually start to make a profit. Mark Tiarra posted an analysis of the figures he had seen over the past 8 or so years of working with PPS and Revshare sponsors on another board a month or two ago and those figures were quite simply amazing.

The PPS business model does make a webmaster more money in the short term however, the same can also be said for revshare model paysites especially if their members area arent up to scratch.

My own experience has taught me that running a revshare program is definately the way to go for the start of an affiliate program, you get to judge how much traffic your affiliates are sending you and, you also get to see what happens INSIDE the members area and how you can successfully play with them to make the best surfing experience for your paid members.

After several months of running a revshare program, you may have also noticed that many sponsors start to raise their payouts, this is because they have either spent the time to build an impressive members area or, they need more traffic to build on the existing members area.

You might also have noticed that many of these programs once they raise their revshare percentage within a month or two tend to turn to both a revshare and a PPS business model, using the revshare funds they keep to supplement the payouts on the PPS affiliates in addition to using it to further improve not only on their members areas but also in their marketing presence.

Personally, we use a mixture of revshare, pps and PPC sponsors, the PPS sponsors get used on 'shitty' sources of traffic for a quick 'hit' of funds whilst the revshare sponsors get utilized on more 'quality' traffic where most of the time, signups generated to our revshare affiliate program often surpass the payouts on the PPS sponsors beause their members areas retain, giving us long term revenues.

Ultimately however, it will all depend on how you decide to profit from your traffic, if you make more on revshare, use revshare, if you make more on pps, use pps, if you make more on CPM or CPC use those payout models.

Regards,

Lee

[Dzinerbear]

I agree with JustMe and xstr8guy here. If a site looks like it's a dog and isn't going to retain well. I usually go PPS. If the site looks decent enough and looks like something I could promote and with a good conscience say "this is a really good site" then I usually do revshare.

If it's a new sponsor and I don't know them, I'll often start out PPS.

Also, I go PPS often with good sites like Randy Blue or Circle Jerk Boys simply because they're so heavily promoted and I think it's harder to get sales. I mean if you can grab a sale out of one of their hosted galleries when there are 4 billion of them out there, grab the money while you can. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the sites, there's not, but it's just like selling a bottle of Coke in Atlanta.

dzinerbear

[Xstr8guy]

... but it's just like selling a bottle of Coke in Atlanta.

Oh, I'm gonna use the hell out of that analogy from now on!

[GPallan]

that's interesting...cuz i just realized that i knew all this before even asking the question. Over the years and through trial-and-error, i've learned what works and what doesn't and that's what i've implemented in my AVS sites.

I too promote BOTH PPS and RevShare programs, but in totally different ways. Now that i think about it, i've been doing exactly what Lee has mentioned above. I direct all my "crappy" traffic to PPS programs (with totally AWFUL member areas) for a quick buck. And i send all my "quality" reliable traffic to reputable revshare programs.

[Xstr8guy]

If this poll was taken on a straight board, I bet the results would be reversed.

[gaystoryman]

If this poll was taken on a straight board, I bet the results would be reversed.

you got that one right I think. nice new avatar too... :extat:

[JustMe]

Greetings:

If this poll was taken on a straight board, I bet the results would be reversed.

I think you're right. One of the main reasons being, it seems that gay sponsor programs tend to put out a better quality product than many of their straight counterparts.