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I think many people in this business... both affiliates and program owners, whether they know it or not... are thoughtlessly pursuing a short term revenue model. There is such an enormous emphasis and attachment to the word "free" in this industry. In most other businesses, that word is not even in their industry vocabulary. When a newbie comes to this board, or any other board, and asks for advice, they're encouraged to start building free sites and galleries. Submit them to TGPs... and keep doing this day in and day out. The end result of this strategy is over-saturation of every niche and trend that comes along. It gets to be that the only surfer you have a chance of selling is a new one... or one who's not an experienced porn surfer. Because, as surfers become better educated on the adult side of the Net, they find less and less reason or need to purchase porn... especially that which is available through subscription sites. It's no wonder we're seeing higher and higher conversion ratios.
Try to make a regular, dyed-in-the-wool, gallery submitter see this point, and they'll boast that they make a sale or two every day. So, for the time being, this MO may be working for some. However, the long term deficiency in this strategy is that eventually internet growth slows down, creativity stagnates, technology languishes, and what worked in the past, fails miserably in the present, and provides no profitable segue to the future. We're intensely involved in a "give away the store" mentality to make a sale, instead of instilling value and worth in what we sell... and that's a very flawed strategy.
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