Black Dog is not the name of a new Led Zeppelin cover band and Spread4U.com is not a new Website hyping the latest margarine. Although the aforesaid may one day come to fruition, what we really have here in the present is a company (Black Dog Unlimited) that has developed a superb Internet hub (Spread4U.com) featuring live video chat.
Launched with tender loving care on Valentine's Day 2000, the site's nucleus is that of private hardcore sessions and group nude video chat. Currently there are 200 girls working 24 hours a day, with on average about 30-60 models online and ready for action any time.
"We originally launched Spread4U as a site that sold strictly private live video chat with a selection of models," says Barry Fruitman, co-owner/co-founder of parent company Black Dog Unlimited. "My reasoning was that people obviously wanted to go one-on-one with live girls because phone sex sold so well."
Fruitman says that the idea for the site was "a natural progression" from the once mighty phone sex industry. He recognized that few companies were presenting private one-on-one service and quickly started to create a blueprint for an untapped market.
"When we started we only had private chat rooms, no free chat rooms, but we quickly decided to add them," says Fruitman. "From free chat rooms came group nude chat rooms and eventually we expanded to offer added-value features such as free phone connections."
The staff consists of Barry and his wife Hazel (also co-owner/co-founder) located at company headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, with Gunner as the director of Webmaster relations in Chicago, IL and Poppy and Laurie handling sales from sunny San Diego, CA.
Because of Fruitman's knack for seeing a business landscape not yet fully formed, Spread4U.com was able to get a head start on the pack, thereby establishing success early on. "Part of the reason for our success is that we got in early, in an expanding market," said Fruitman. "The main reason is because we've always tried to offer a quality product and superior customer service, while always listening to our customers, both surfers and Webmasters."
As advertising remains vital in establishing brand identity in the Webmaster community, Black Dog Unlimited has been very active in various marketing strategies. "Our sector in the adult Internet is at a stage of tremendous growth," says Fruitman. "We are taking advantage of this by using every opportunity to get the Spread4U name out there."
He goes on, "Up to now, our marketing focus has been on providing a quality content package to pay site Webmasters, which has worked very well for us. We are now starting to evolve by targeting free site Webmasters and other raw traffic providers."
Fruitman has accomplished this goal by launching an affiliate program called Spread4U Pays. The program offers the same payout structure as the Spread4U Free Feeds program, with additional marketing tools for free site operators, such as free content.
Essentially, the new program is aimed at Webmasters who aren't necessarily interested in free live content for their Website but still want to earn for sending traffic to Spread4U.
"The Spread4U Content Affiliate program has been very successful so far, I think primarily due to the fact that we always treated all our affiliates equally, and paid even the smallest Webmaster the same rate as the big guys," says Fruitman. "This worked well for us at first because the smaller Webmasters sustained us in the early days. Now that we are larger and still growing, we're able to compete against our larger competitors even when it comes to attracting the invaluable traffic of the major pay site operators.
"This success is what led to the launch of the Spread4U Pays Affiliate program. We are banking this program on the Spread4U name and expect that Webmasters will really like it."
What's most striking is the variety of girls on the site - not to mention the overall production, which deftly blends dynamic visuals, progressive text placement, and usability that is top notch. The beauty of the site is that, unlike a usually jam-packed chat room, the user here has the undivided attention of the girl they've chosen. The girls' chat feeds are produced on a freelance basis. The talent is a mix of independent models working from their homes and studios located around the world.
Fruitman says most of the models are located in North America or Europe, and the deals do not vary; all models and studios are paid the exact same amount.
With a background in computer science, Fruitman worked for six years as a software developer before launching Black Dog Unlimited. "I got the idea of starting an adult Website after I saw a story on Dateline about the couple that runs Wetlands, and fortunately, Hazel agreed. We researched the industry and decided that private video chat was under-represented in the marketplace."
And with that, Spread4U Free Feeds was born.
Fruitman says that keeping a constant watch on the Webmaster community, knowing what they want and staying ahead of the creative curve, "is probably the most important thing that the operator of any adult affiliate program can do."
He says the industry is more dynamic than most others, "with more pitfalls and opportunities, too."
"The Webmaster who can see ahead of everybody else will be able to take advantage of these opportunities," said Fruitman. "We do this by staying close to our affiliates and listening to them. We love feedback."
By staying in close communiqu� with Webmasters, Fruitman has a courtside seat to the constant shifts of the volatile adult Internet industry. "From my perspective, the adult Internet industry is still growing," he says. "Live feeds, in particular, are still growing at a rate that the industry as a whole has not seen since the early days."
Fruitman believes it's too early to determine whether the current political landscape will have any major impact on the industry. "Porn in general," says Fruitman, "will always be profitable for those who are serious about making money."
With the future of the adult Web sector always a juicy topic for debate, what we do know is that the immediate forecast for Black Dog Unlimited and Spread4U.com is bright.
Coming on the heels of Spread4U Pays is the launch of a new Affiliate Zone for Spread4U affiliates, loaded with enhanced stats and Webmaster tools. "We will be the first free content provider to offer a choice between earning a recurring commission or generous flat payout on every trial and signup," Fruitman says. "We just added audio to our private sessions. This will make Spread4U convert even better for our affiliates."
