So while debating with someone who started to spew statistics about FriendFinder and how they have so many emails and registered users I was reminded of a basic axiom in advertising… “Sex Sells”

FriendFinder (the company) is basically Penthouse. The vast majority of their network, as far as members and subscriptions, is sex based sites. AdultFriendFinder, Penthouse, Xfinder, etc… and the majority of them are run against the same back end system. However, they also engage in fairly nefarious practices when reporting numbers… their affiliate model feeds people into the “sex” based brands.

It’s a fine model to attempt to replicate IF you have the allure of “sex,” or other highly impulse product where it is easy to get someone’s registration data because they are, for lack of a better word, horny. The majority of those sites are populated with people who are offering escort services (as women) and the “john’s” as the male registrations. They do not realize they are John’s until they start to contact the women on the site.

These are NOT dating sites, but sites you go to to find sex… well, it’s a date you have to pay for, but don’t have to buy them flowers.

The “Friend” based safer brands, as well as all of the verticals, AsianFriendFinder etc… are a fraction of a fraction of the ongoing registrations. They are fed by the affiliate network model of the sex sites in a cascade marketing model. i.e. An affiliate has to run a certain number of ads toward the registration of those sites. It’s the impulse registrations on the sex sites (which immediately request upgrades to higher levels) that feed the entire system.

Without the “sex” sites, the entire model evaporates as there is not the money for the affiliates to just feed. Match.com and it’s affiliates under IAC have similar models for driving registrations. Many of the same affiliates participated in both. However, they found that the “sex” model makes them more money. Also, as an affiliate should, but more often than not does not follow brand guidelines of the site they are promoting, they do a massive disservice to the actual brand equity. As in, they will advertise via Black Hat SEO practices etc…with ads that say “Free Sex” etc… Now if you’re a site that basically makes all it’s money off of these practices you really do not care. However, Match.com was spending so much time policing affiliates that were bad and hurting the brand that they had to scrap the program and start over.

The sex model is a quick hit designed to sucker someone into signing up once, for three months. The abandonment rate is over 95% after that time.

Now, the many smaller sites as entery points, all designed and using SEO to have high organic ranking for specific terms is a good idea if you do no care about brand, but just about making money, and can cycle through various sites repeatedly.

Omniture, and other companies specialize in multivariate testing of “doorway” pages designed to maximize the profit potential of the funnel, however, to do this correctly costs a lot of money.

In the end if you are looking at example like FriendFinder and think “We can do that model with our product!,” unless your product is naked women willing to have sex for money… probably not.

Sex, for lack of a better word, sells… because it is a hidden desire that no one really talks about. The internet was almost custom crafted with its one-to-one consumption model to take over the escort business. It’s unlikely that YOUR product is as alluring.