Do we as in industry work together?

[Rochard]

Someone the other day told me that we don't work together. I disagree. We send traffic and potential sales to other companies on a daily basis.

Thoughts and comments on this issue?

[thruma]

I think we do.
I think we're unique in the way that a total newbie can come into the biz and learn how to make money from the ground up.

Not many people are going to give away their own personal golden egg but the overall knowledge of how to work in this biz is readily available to anyone willing to learn it.

Originally posted by Rochard
Someone the other day told me that we don't work together. I disagree. We send traffic and potential sales to other companies on a daily basis.

Thoughts and comments on this issue?

G'day Rochard, perhapes that someone was referring towards a particular part of the industry.

I personal want to start getting involved with conventions over here in oz. I'm a strong believer of team work and working together can bring out everyones best. eg. Brainstorming to be more creative and effective.

I gather there are a whole lot of other issues that people can comment about, I was looking at one area.

Originally posted by thruma
I think we do.
I think we're unique in the way that a total newbie can come into the biz and learn how to make money from the ground up.

Not many people are going to give away their own personal golden egg but the overall knowledge of how to work in this biz is readily available to anyone willing to learn it.

Very true thruma, people who are fresh in the industry are able to learn from all the information that is online with out utilizing any reverse engineering skills.

[TheLegacy]

I dont have to tell anyone how different it is doing business within the adult industry vs. mainstream. Where else can you ask a competitor for advice on your own product or sales??

For the most part we do work together but in small niches like a hierarchy - its when you get to gay / straight or content / webmaster that things can go a bit nuts.

It is a very incestuous market where staff / sales people are swapped more than a swingers friday night hoedown. I think that it is the deep Secrets that is being held close to the breast pocket. We can all write articles and speak of common knowledge ideas, its when you get into specific numbers and guaranteed success strategies / scripts / programs that we lock up...

I have seen families broken up over the owing of a dollar - it is even less in the adult market. Money may not buy happiness, but definitely alliances and new friends. Find someone who is hated - given them either $$$ or traffic and suddenly they are worshipped. My point being that friendships can be made - but enemies will last longer

[cheeky]

Originally posted by monaro

I personal want to start getting involved with conventions over here in oz. I'm a strong believer of team work and working together can bring out everyones best. eg. Brainstorming to be more creative and effective.

Monaro, please check your private messages

Thank you

Originally posted by cheeky
Monaro, please check your private messages

Thank you

Just received.. Your comming down to Brisbane. that's great. It will be very good to have a meeting about the Convention.

[Funbrunette]

Does sleeping together count as working together?

Evil Chris and I seem to do our best work in bed!

[Mister X]

Well sending traffic to another program isn't exactly working together. It's more like you're working and they're working and you happen to have an intersection of interests where something they do fits with something you do.

That said, a lot of people in the industry are quite willing to help others and work with them to improve sales, etc. Of course there are also a lot who are more interested in backstabbing and spreading rumours.

As a general rule I would say that "as an industry" we do not work together or even come close to it. All you have to do is look at the Acacia situation. Only a tiny segment of the industry has done anything to support it. Another group has caved in and paid licensing fees. The majority (myself included) has just sat back and waited for results.

Of course I don't think that is much different in any so-called mainstream industry either. I don't think most industries ever really "work together" in any real meaningful way. After all they are all competing for the same dollar. But most of them do at least have a trade association of some sort which we don't. And there are some industries which have very powerful voices in law-making, etc. Our industry basically has nothing like that at all.

[cheeky]

Originally posted by monaro
Just received.. Your comming down to Brisbane. that's great. It will be very good to have a meeting about the Convention.

Yes and I think we should - you have another pm

How could I come down to Brisbane and not meet up with you?

This thread that Rochard has started is very important to everyone, not only did it make me take a step back for a moment to look at the big picture. It might answer the question that is on your mind right now.

Right now my mind is full of question that I would like to approach a few website owners whom of which I am buying from and have bought from and ask them about website traffic and try to continue doing business with their Company's website that sell website traffic.

As you can see the increase of people willing to sell you traffic is great, traffic can bought from everywhere. Alot of the traffic can be converted into sales in a number of different ways, to find this out it involves a heap of testing. It could be made easier for WMS to do repeated business if there is a strong focus on the bottom line and get a Win Win. Eg; Some Company's share with you what sponsors convert best with their own surfers guarantee not required though some if not all information is greatly accepted by WMS buying their traffic.
It would be profitable for both parties to share upward and downward information concerning the aspects of the supply and demand of website traffic privately under contract and or via an agreement between the parties.

I totally agree with Mister X after reading

Well sending traffic to another program isn't exactly working together. It's more like you're working and they're working and you happen to have an intersection of interests where something they do fits with something you do.

[McAttack]

I think along the same lines as Mister X. I don't think we necessarily work "together" much. There are some people that I can thank a lot for the help when I started and I feel bad that I couldn't do enough in return for them even though I tried to send them business from other people. But overall, people don't help much unless it helps them.

When I was doing some gay sites for a while for a client of mine, I did find that the gay webmaster community was much more tight with each other. There was a LOT of help. You could easily ask "What do you think of this tour?" and you'll get honest answers with depth to it. The only thing you have to be straight about is if you are straight and trying to be in that niche, it's because you are serious, and not just thinking "money is better here" cause they don't like those types of webmasters and I don't blame them. It kills the straight webmaster market.

So in general, I don't think we work together much more than I've seen when I worked in the video game industry. We worked together back then to try and cross-brand products. The partnership lastest a few months, a couple of product launches and then that was it. Never told them much, never expected them to tell us anything.