“Sex.com…Type Ins That Don’t Convert” Says Guest Poster

Morning Folks!!


The other day Mike Berkens did an interview with the new owner of sex.com. I received this last night from someone I know for a very long time and is qualified to have these thoughts but would like to stay under the radar for now. He has a unique perspective on the Sex.com acquisition and thought you might find his take interesting given his history, given he has bought that traffic as early as 1996 and then many times since then:


'This is only one mans opinion but i think i can give the facts that maybe the
Will give insight on the factors on the reality of this domain. My opinion based on the experience in domains and adult. I worked in the adult business form 1996 to 2001. In that period i ran one of the Largest and successful affiliate program in the time period.


I was buying the Traffic from Steve Cohen the guy that stole it from Gary Kremen. Steve Stole the name but he put your banner up and it converted.
I do not mean to offend the new owners who i wish The best of luck.


The name sex.com is to generic. Why i say that is because although we do
All love generics and typeins.In adult there is Porn and porno Rick Schwartz porno.com as a example of a great type in Domain. It converts very well and say what you want about Rick, but at the time he leased it that was unheard of.


So what can you do with typeins that do not convert? Nothing. I have bought traffic from every new idea of sex.com and the new owner says he just learned the adult business. Another negative against him.


In the mid 90s we made 125 dollars per member. Now with the free site and the Shirking credit cards charge backs every year the margin is shrinking
Per year. The name was in play many times and everyone passed. Think of Vivid, Playboy Friend Finder.


Why not Rick Schwartz, Slavic who understand both worlds?
So if this company with no adult experience think he can build a model on sex.com that nobody before him could not that everyone always thinks they can do with others can not?


For 13 million in the current fire sale market they could of bought
500 generic name and 2 letters a portfolio that would be worth 10 times
More then sex.com. What is the companies exit plan? You can rule out all the large mainstream Companies because sex is taboo. Then you are back to large adult players and as i said earlier all could have already had it.


Yes i am anonymous but i am creditable. My prediction is it will be back on the market in one year or less. I really hope they can do it but the are so many factors against them'


Like the writer, I have to agree sex.com is an uphill battle that has taken a toll over many years and many owners. I can say that at one time I sent my Porno.com traffic to gaming sites early on and it did very well. Sin traffic is sin traffic. With online gaming looking like it will be legal soon, this is the only play that could make sense other than E.D. type sales and such. I have to assume that the buyer has a plan. A proven plan. I guess we will see in the next year or two if any of the old barriers begin to come down and if Sex.com finally becomes a profitable business. But the writer knows the traffic and knows it well.


For sex.com to make money they are going to need to pull a rabbit out of a hat that so far has produced a bunch of skunks. I for one am at least hoping for their success. Something new. Something bold. But a long shot nonetheless.


Have a GREAT day!

Rick Schwartz

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26 thoughts on ““Sex.com…Type Ins That Don’t Convert” Says Guest Poster

  1. James

    Interesting post, thanks.
    Reminds me of one of your sayings;”not everyone who buys toothpaste is into porn, but everyone who’s into porn buys toothpaste”, (correct me if it’s wrong but the sentiment is right).
    Lets hope they can find something that does convert for them.

    Reply
  2. Kevin

    Repost of my comment on Mike’s blog . . .
    Ask anyone in the adult industry and they’ll all tell you the domain doesn’t matter.
    There are guys in that space doing 10 to 30 times the daily traffic of sex.com with hand reg’d $7 dollar domains, and even they struggle to make money off millions of visitors per day in the current “we want our porn for free” market.
    20 months ROI on $13 Mil in adult right now???? Maybe way back in the early days. I seriously doubt that is possible with the traffic base at hand or that will come from the millions more plowed into future marketing. The adult operators who made the most money started affiliate programs early on and shaved all their affiliates earnings like crazy. The perpetual rebills have kept some money coming in, but nothing like it used to be. In the current credit and financial crisis, you can’t even find banks that will handle adult transactions. Last I heard most everyone had to go to offshore Israeli banks to get processing.
    With $13 Mil to invest it would have been wiser to buy thirteen incredible $1 Million domains to develop.
    Sex.com is indeed a great domain, but it’s had quite a history of astute deep pocket owners who despite having an unlimited supply of capital to develop it any way possible, they couldn’t get it to achieve their grand objectives.
    It will be fascinating to see how it goes with this domain. Sometimes miracles happen regardless of all the doubters.

    Reply
  3. todaro

    need an advertising system for adult sites. as it is now it’s like if playboy only sold ads for penthouse and hustler. 80% of advertisers woiuldn’t touch the market with a ten foot pole but it could be developed for those that would. (or not… who knows.)

    Reply
  4. Jimmy

    I think that in the old days top level domains converted much better.
    Take any subject. Let’s say Fishing. Fishing.com will not convert worth a darn because the average fisherman is not looking for”fishing”. He is looking for Marlin Fishing, or maybe Carp Fishing. The two types of fisherman could not be any more different. Fishing.com will not satiate their desire for knowledge in their respective fishing niches.
    How about Football.com. Who’s just into”football”? Nobody. Everyone has their team. It’s the Falcons or it’s the Saints….etc, etc, etc….
    In the old days these broad stroke category killers worked to a degree, but now surfers are more advanced, as evidenced by Google’s announcements several times that the searches are growing from two, and three word searches to as high as eight word or higher searches. Surfers are refining what they want to seek out and in doing this don’t want to waste their time navigating through a site like Fishing.com. It’s TroutFishing.com they want or FishingLure.com or even AlaskaTroutFishing.com or MarlinFishingLures.com, and on down the line. And with football it’s the Falcons.com or Saints.com, etc…
    This will only continue.

    Reply
  5. domain guy

    well as we have all seen with groupon and the 6 billion rebuff from google and the 1 billion immedately raised on the market.the biz model has everything to do with the domain.
    and a novice that spend 13 million dollars is no fool.
    i will outline here for all to see.
    this domain will move away from the adult industry and will embrace
    the mainstream sex industry.think condoms,dr.ruth,cialias the 4 hour hard on etc…..we will see the mainstream industry embrace the digital world …and the raincoat jerk off crowd will be absent.
    sex is a taboo subject..the sex advisor with write in artcles, questions and answers. with legitimate advertisers right along the side.ppc is dead its the development that counts.

    Reply
  6. jp

    I will say that I have however seen massive genetics like sex.com that DO CONVERT at obscene rates sell in the past few years and sell for faaaaaaaar less. It could certainly make money though, time will tell.

    Reply
  7. Chris

    domain guy, in the above post, says it well:
    “…the biz model has everything to do with the domain….this domain will move away from the adult industry and will embrace
    the mainstream sex industry…think condoms, dr.ruth, cialias, the 4 hour hard on etc…”
    Exactly. Traffic is traffic. Traffic converts if it matches need & expectation.
    If the new owners of sex.com thinks outside the box, they’ll be onto a killer money machine. The Sex industry (beyond Adult/porn) is GIGANTIC! Billions of people want advice/knowledge/interaction to enhance their private lives & their sex lives….ie legitimate, mainstream inputs/products that make their pruvate lives better.
    Coversion? With the right mainstream market positioning/info/products, you bet…!!

    Reply
  8. Landon White

    @ WannaDevelop
    YOU SAID: (Quote) I see some people throwing around unrealistic figures, that it will SEX.Com will sell for some $10m, $15m or maybe even $25m… LOL! That is highly unlikely to happen. (Unquote)
    =============
    HE SAID:
    David J Castello
    March 10, 2010
    Sex.com is easily worth $15 million if used in conjuction to promote the right product. Take Extense (don’t know if that’s the right spelling) for example. Those people have made a fortune. A competitor could easily come along with a similar product and use Sex.com as the web site in their infomercials. That brand is so instantly powerful/memorable it would make an instant dent in Extense’s sales – and that alone’s worth more than $15 million.
    LOOK’S LIKE YOU MISSED THE CALL ON THAT ONE big Time!

    – EVERY BODY LISTEN UP: KEEP YOUR DOMAIN PRICES”HIGH” …
    LEAVE THE NAY-SAYERS IN THE DUST, AFTER ALL THEY JUST
    REALY WANT YOUR PREMIUM NAME FOR THEM SELVES, DONT THEY! :)

    Reply
  9. Anunt

    Affiliate program with Adultfriendfinder.com use to convert really good 3 to 5 years ago…but not any more…you can find free porn dating, free porn videos..everything for free these days.
    Couple years back when sex.com was for sale the first time round…it was averaging about $2,000 per day from parking income…they had sent me 3 months stats!…not any more…those good days are gone!
    domain names are losing value daily…you can keep lying to yourself and keep thinking they are rising in value…but you are just bullshiting your own self
    try selling some of your domain names…people are not paying like they use to…
    you can clearly see this in auctions also…
    anyways, good luck to the sex.com owner!

    Reply
  10. Landon White

    @ Anunt
    A fair question …
    If you believe what you say …
    then why did you buy Flowers.mobi for
    $6500, when .mobi was already in the shiter
    … a serious question”without malice” ?

    Reply
  11. Stan

    yep like you say he either needs to pull a rabbit out of his hat or a hare out of his arsehole…he might get lucky when he decides to sell and play pass the parcel but I doubt it..

    Reply
  12. Rick Schwartz

    It’s in my nature to root for success when somebody is willing to get in the ring and try something big.
    It is also realistic to realize how big the challenge and how many others have failed.
    A breakthrough would benefit all. A loss and it just takes another victim.
    So I root for success because failure changes nothing and success changes everything.

    Reply
  13. Steve

    I tend to agree with domainguy’s comments. Bring the name into the mainstream. Make it the Homedepot of sex. Products, information, clothes, medications, lots of sub-categories for all of the long-tail searches so they don’t miss anything. They could also have a members area where visitors can connect with locals in their own area. etc. etc. I wish them success. I am hoping to partner with someone to do the same with some international names in Chinese, etc.

    Reply
  14. James

    When you think about it, all domains will convert their type in traffic providing you offer what they are looking for.

    Reply
  15. Rafal Furdzik

    Rick,
    Actually there is way to make money on sex.com. I was working with Mike M. on crowdsourcing application that we were planning to put on help.sex.com and than possibly on sex.com, as I have developed crowdsourcing engine… The idea was that people would subscribe to this service and selected experts from the crowd would answer. The partnership with Mike has collapsed and I am looking for new partner…
    Rafal

    Reply
  16. Gazzip

    True, If its ends up just another Pic or Cam site then it may struggle to rise above all others.
    There are lots of ways to appeal to a wider audience, there’s some other suggestions from a few people on the link below.
    elliotsblog.com/sex-com-what-do-you-do-with-it-3742

    Reply
  17. Anunt

    i will buy any domain that is 95% off…especially when the previous owner is a smart domain investor.
    if sex.com owner wants to give me 95% off what they paid for…i’ll take it without even thinking twice…even though i dont like the domain!
    did that answer your question.

    Reply
  18. domain guy

    excellant investment strategy…aka sam zell”the grave dancer” only buys at the bottom at true contrarian investor.
    the next step is to convert these domains to a profitable business.implement a strategic biz model….

    Reply
  19. Landon White

    TY for answering my question …
    ( as i said had no malace intended )
    Good luck with your unique philosophy!

    Reply
  20. Pimp

    rick, tell whoever wrote that email to put their money where their mouth is and stop living in the 90s.
    Last few people that leased porno.com have all lost over 90% of their money and you know.this.
    Not just because you tried to rip them off by overcharging, but the traffic is total garbage these days and doesn’t fucking convert for shit. While sex.com might have worst traffic overall with only about 10% us traffic that’s actually usable .. Porno.com traffic is pure targeted garbage. We all wish it was better but that’s simply not the case anymore.
    I do think you’ve hit the nail on the head here. Sex.com will eventually be a gamling site.
    What else is left to do after gambling away 13m ;)
    You gotta admit that it’s a funny situation. Sex.com passed from one idiot (mike mann) who knew nothing about adult biz to another idiot that’s begging for someone to teach him how to make money in adult biz. In any case wishing the new owner best of luck.

    Reply
  21. Altaf

    Dear Rick Hi,
    I saw until you post a new topic not a single bird visits your blog than me nor any new comment posted. So to be continued it’s better let someone help you in editing/posting consistently enabling your readers not to be frustrated.I am sure you do not have limit on readymade wrticles..Regards,

    Reply
  22. porno izle

    excellant investment strategy…aka sam zell”the grave dancer” only buys at the bottom at true contrarian investor.
    the next step is to convert these domains to a profitable business.implement a strategic biz model….

    Reply

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