You won't find any flies on TopBucks, but that's because there's no niche for it. The Tucson-based affiliate program/content provider guarantees customer satisfaction and lots of content - just no flies.
That sounds like it's from the official Cyberheat (TopBucks' parent) press release, but it's actually a consensus Webmaster rave for consistent timely payouts and high conversions. In the colorful and competitive world of Adult Webmasters, where online snipes are par for the course and flame wars ignite sleepy message boards, positive comments abound for TopBucks.
One of the especially galling things about the Bush Administration's War on Pornography is that what is being attacked is actually an exemplar of democracy in action. The Adult Webmaster message board is nothing but a no-holds-barred town meeting that fears no cries of slander or restraint, and is free speech in its unrestricted form. Therefore, erring content providers with low conversions, missing checks, and recycled content are given no quarter and fast. In an environment where complaints outnumber kudos, TopBucks rakes in the praise.
TopBucks itself is a conversion. Formerly the pay-per-click enterprise TopCash, TopBucks was founded in 1997 by erstwhile Web programmer Kevin Ho when the pay-per-signup model became prevalent.
Staying competitive in a constantly-evolving market requires the willingness to listen to customers. "Don't get tunnel vision," advises TopBucks' marketing director Quentin Thomas. "Keep your options open. You may be making money on your teen sites, but why not add a few gay sites as well?"
Diversity of content is one area in which TopBucks has taken some hits. Charges of recycled content appeared on Webmaster boards over the past year, and the company responded by adding niche and reality sites and making good on its pledge to deliver fresh content. Still, Thomas maintains that a Webmaster should "target the niche, but don't be a slave to it," because most porn consumers are more daring and omnivorous than niche site membership gives them credit for.
TopBucks offers seemless click-throughs, bannerless and cookie-free tracking based on traceable affiliate codes that follow the surfer through his or her porn journey, and quickly-standardizing bells and whistles like exit signups.
What makes TopBucks different from its competitors? "Our motto is 'On time, every time,'" says Thomas. In fact, this interview had to be rescheduled because one of TopBucks' payment processor's servers was down, and the company needed to get the bi-weekly checks out (they did). But what might have made TopBucks stand out a few years ago when late or lacking payments was more widespread in the industry is now, thankfully, becoming a common part of the package.
Thomas agrees. "Two or three years ago the differentiation was in how much people got paid," he says. "Now affiliate programs - including us - have tightened their belts, and so we've needed to become more competitive in retention, content, and service to Webmasters."
A new motto for a more customer service-based time? "We try to be available, accountable, and flexible," Thomas offers.
One reason that affiliate programs need to be so accountable and flexible is because the technology is evolution-happy and demand can be volatile. Thomas does not advocate crossing any new frontiers unless they are in the realm of customer loyalty, however. "I'm glad there are people out there who push the envelope and take a hit for the rest of us," he says, but he maps customer retention to TopBucks perks like 24-hour technical support, not necessarily new twink sites, though those are in the mix as well.
Despite jealous claims to the contrary, porn is not recession-proof, and though there is just as much, if not more, willing talent getting off the bus (or on the BangBoat.com) every day, the challenge for Adult Webmasters is less about content than it is about keeping customers happy.
TopBucks will be caravaning into January's Internext with several new reality sites, such as TeensForCash.com (the heartwarming adventures of three or four guys in their 40s who scout the same Porn Valley mall parking lots in search of young women to come home with them and be paid to service "Uncle Jack") and HisFirstHugeCock.com. Signups average $35-40, depending on promotions, and 80 percent revshares.
Their Internext booth will be the standard 20' X 40' affair, but Thomas says to look forward to several parties and promotions not yet determined at press time, as well as individual Webmaster appreciation dinners.
One TopBucks Webmaster gushed in a chatroom that his conversion rate was 1:146, but president Kevin Ho holds to a less-dramatic but still-enviable average rate of 1:300.
Along with solid conversion rates, another way TopBucks seeks to add and retain customers is through the sale of software particularly - though not exclusively - useful to the Adult consumer like Adware Remover Gold and Evidence Shredder, as well as Extractor & Burner for MP3s. Members of affiliate sites receive a percentage of all sales of these items when purchased through links from their sites.
Webmasters can customize their TopBucks portals for invisible access, as well as get timely stats to determine how much the check will be for on the first and fifteenth of the month. Not that the check will be any different from what the stats determine; Thomas suggests Webmasters "count their own clicks" so that they have an objective basis for comparison in a business where clicks are accounted for differently.
"I would love to see a standardized system where people use a particular algorithm [to count when a click actually happens]," he says, "but it ain't gonna happen." He makes no bones about the Adult Internet community being "a hard-headed group of people.
"If everyone sent traffic through the same system," he says, "then [standardization] could happen. But, like I said before ... "
TopBucks generates business by all the traditional means, from bulky rolodexes to savvy snooping-out of new content to word of mouth. "There's a lot just coming to us right now," Thomas says, and reiterates that "we never failed to pay anybody." He stresses that, with the stabilization of a steady flow of fresh content, the difference between TopBucks and its competitors is quality of service.
And people pay attention. The world of Adult Webmasters is a distillation of American opportunities. Don't laugh - it's true. A disgruntled Webmaster from Nashville can get on a message board and in a week ruin your business. That's free speech. S/he can then solicit services from a host of competing affiliate programs in a blatant display of Darwinian capitalism. If the new affiliate program - let's say it's Tucson's own TopBucks, which just moved its 30-odd employees into a new building by trendy Restaurant Row - fails to cut the mustard, there's no law saying s/he can't take the business elsewhere. Why is the government trying to shut porn down when it embodies all the things our founding fathers held dear? It's the real thing.
Getting your relationship started with TopBucks involves a quick visit to www.topbucks.com. The page has been redesigned recently to allow easier navigation; it's easy to learn about the company's promotions, benefits, and latest news. Signing up is fast and painless. Particularly helpful is a month-by-month list of new sites, adding to the diversity of the portfolio.
Thomas relates a story about how one of TopBucks' approximately 70 sites came under scrutiny by the Feds. "We were running a site called PornStarSearch.com," he says, "and I got this call from a sheriff down in Florida ... "
Thomas thought the sheriff might want to be taken off a spam list or something similar. "Anything related to law enforcement; we cooperate fully," he hastens to point out. "But it turned out that the reason the guy was calling me was because one of his officers was featured in the free tour." A link from the novelty site ConsumptionJunction.com led FBI investigators to find the site, and upon seeing the officer froze the frame and enlarged his badge number, which clearly identified him. The officer was fired, but Thomas immediately had the officer's scene removed from the tour.
"What's worse, the caption was, 'Ron Jeremy rates Officer Limpdick,'" Thomas recalls. "The sherriff said, 'That's not representative of the virile guys we have on the force down here.' In case anyone had doubts, our reality sites are the real things."
Content, Customer Service, and the pursuit of Payouts: Investing in TopBucks is investing in American ideals.
Marty Barrett divides his time between writing for and being a technology consultant to the entertainment industry. As Gram Ponante, he edited AVN.com. He lives in Los Angeles at www.martybarrett.net.
