LAS VEGAS - Bob Rice of Lightspeed Cash probably summed it up best in his early remarks for The Evolution of Affiliate Marketing seminar, held Monday during Internext 2008 in Las Vegas.
"What started off 15 years ago where you started a few paysites and made millions has really changed models," he said to the crowd of more than 150 people.
Rice and panelists - Harlan Yaffe of PrideBucks, Albert Lazarito of Silvercash, Kristen of Yappo Dollars and Arthur Chang of FuckYouCash - covered a number of topics affecting affiliate program owners in the latest era of the Internet.
Touching on everything from what webmasters are looking for in their affiliate programs to picking a processing company to whether the current paysite model is dying, the adult industry veterans shared their experiences and offered tips to newcomers and old-timers.
Yaffe stressed to audience members that webmasters are very specific in what they are looking for from an affiliate program.
"They are looking for stability, trust and reliability," he noted, while Kristen added customer service goes a long way in maintaining current and gaining new clients.
All agreed that affiliate programs need to be visible to their customers, as well as offer what their clients want.
"For Yappo Dollars, we evaluated about 20 good affiliate programs, and took the best features from each of them," Kristen said.
When it comes to choosing a processing company, Rice suggested choosing more than one.
"Almost everyone I know has been bitten in the ass by a processing company that went under in one form or another," he said.
His suggestion? "Make sure you have a different set of baskets to put your processing eggs into."
While it was agreed the affiliate model is changing, and will need to continue evolving in order for the Internet-based adult industry to survive, Yaffe said he didn't see enough reason to change it dramatically in the near future.
"There's something to be said for tuning in every week for entertainment and knowing what you're gonna get," he said.
