What is Your Role on the Web?
Posted On: 2008-07-31
Now that may seem like a strange question to ask webmasters on an adult website but it's one that really does go to the heart of what we do ... and ultimately who we really are.
Now if you ask the average Joe out there in the street what an adult-oriented webmaster might do I'm sure he would suggest that it was our role to sell porn and there would be a sleazy connotation to what he said. He might also say that our role was to rip people off ... take their money without delivering anything of value in return.
And that perception of what we're about is perfectly true in many cases. Many adult webmasters see their role here as one of making money in what even they consider to be a very sleazy industry. Sadly there are also many adult webmasters who see their role as being one of taking all the money they can while not caring whether they deliver value for that money or not.
So now we know what the average Joe might think about us perhaps it's time to ask him what he thinks about the people who populate some other industries. Let's ask him what he thinks about the people in the real estate industry.
Immediately I say that you're preconceived ideas of real estate agents are kicking in and it's probably not surprising that some of those things that our average Joe said about us are appearing in your thoughts about real estate agents. They're in it for the money ... it's a little sleazy ... their role is to sell real estate at any cost and they don't care if it's really what the buyer wants or not.
While there's probably a lot of real estate agents out there who publicly or privately think in exactly that way there are some who don't see their role as making money or selling real estate at any cost. Instead they see their role as helping people and by helping people they then make money ... in fact some of them actually make a whole lot more money because they help people than they might if they only saw their role as selling property at any cost.
And the same principle applies to lots of industries. Think about those people who have sold you something over the last year or so. Which ones made such an impression on you that you would go back to them to buy from them again? Why did they make such an impression?
Ok, so if they made an impression on you that would encourage you to go back to them to buy from them again, was that impression because they were helpful? Did they actually sell you something that you wanted? Did they listen to your needs and sell you something that would work for you even if it might not make them as much money as another product would?
Perhaps they understood that when you were standing in front of them they had two options. They might do a one-off sale that could put $35.00 in their pocket even though it may not have been the product that best suited your particular needs. And of course once you had bought from them you would never come back because what they recommended sucked and you would feel ripped off ... but at least they got the most money they could from that one-time sale.
Alternatively they might have looked at you as an ongoing customer ... one who might put $20 bucks in their pocket with this sale and then put many more bucks in their pocket with future sales because you discovered that they were someone you could trust.
Do you now see the value in being in business to help people compared to being in business to make money for yourself?
I hope you do because the same principle applies here in adult, over there in real estate or down the road in white goods. If you're in the business of helping people then the chances are that you can make a whole lot more money than if you're in the business of putting money in your pockets.
In this industry if you give a good recommendation to people and they have a positive experience when they follow your recommendation then they'll trust you the next time they want to buy a membership in an adult site. If you give a good recommendation to people and they have a negative experience then the chances are they won't ever trust you again.
And while we're looking at this whole deal of providing a service to meet people's needs, who says that by selling porn we're not meeting people's needs any more than the real estate salesman or the white goods salesman is meeting a need when they sell their products?
So knowing what your role is on the Web is important if you want to go on making money in the years ahead.