XBIZ
Focusing on Your Own 4 Walls
Being a total marketer requires one to cast a pretty wide net while seeking the latest information, tips, trends and techniques that may provide a competitive advantage to your company and its offers.
Harry Sparks: Porn With a Vengeance
Indie filmmaker Harry Sparks is a man without a niche, and that’s exactly how he likes it. After producing the 2007 Broadband Emmynominated documentary short “Shenandoah,” about the effects of global warming on Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, the Maryland-born producer, writer, and director soon shifted gears — and genres — to produce the horror films “All Hallows’ Eve” and “Rotkäppchen: The Blood of Red Riding Hood.”
Bridging The Billing Gap
It’s hard enough to make sales on the Internet today without your payment process getting in the way. Many customers subconsciously seek ways to avoid making a positive purchase decision; and sparing themselves the drudgery of filling out another online form — perhaps using the reduced functionality of typical a Smartphone’s micro-sized keypad, may be just what a prospect that is “teetering on the fence” needs in order to say “no.”
Time-Sensitive Promotions and Custom Content
On the day after the recent record-setting MegaMillions lottery drawing, as the sad realization that despite my single $1 ticket purchase, this author would not be sharing in the huge $656 million jackpot, the good folks at Dell sent me an e-mail whose timely subject line captured my attention: “Didn’t win the lottery? Try our Mystery Coupon.”
The Internet Really is For Porn
A new report is calling attention to the widespread consumption of online adult entertainment, and is opening eyes with some startling claims. It won’t come as much of a surprise to many of our readers, given the breathtaking bandwidth consumption now being reported by free tube sites offering streaming videos, but broadband and booty-shaking go hand-in-hand.
Blogger Spotlight: Meticulous Mentor
A self-proclaimed “sex toy encyclopedia,” Hey Epiphora began reviewing sex toys in 2007 for an online sex toy shop before launching her own platform to unleash her own “snarky, ridiculously truthful thoughts on sex toys” in 2008. HeyEpiphora.com has since blossomed into a trusted source for consumers looking for comprehensive product recommendations and commentary on modern-day cultural views on sex and its icons. She was even quoted in sex educator/author/adult filmmaker Tristan Taormino’s book “The Secrets of Great G-Spot Orgasms and Female Ejaculation.” In the latest edition of Blogger Spotlight, XBIZ highlights the personality and dedication behind HeyEpiphora.com.
Video vs. Blip Ads
As companies look for new ways to advertise, it’s important to take note of where people are getting their news, entertainment, and mail.
Sex Toys and Pop Culture: Life Imitating Art?
This month, we introduce a new “Talkback” section to NoveltyBiz to give industry members the opportunity to share their thoughts on the mainstreaming of sex toys. While many of the supporting responses relate to the booming sexual wellness category in mainstream retail, a significant portion of respondents recall being ushered into the mainstream thanks to Hollywood.
XBIZ TV: James Deen Goes From Starbucks to Porn Sensation
XBIZ TV on Friday debuted an exclusive new video interview with adult film star James Deen.
How Employee’s Social Media Use Can Harm Adult Companies
In a recent communiqué, adult industry attorney Dan Pepper of Pepper Law Group, (www.informationlaw.com), discussed several of the most important ways in which companies can be harmed by their employee’s use of social media.
Adult Search Terms Now Dominated by Mainstream Sites
Several seemingly “adult” search terms have recently become dominated by mainstream sites as the Google algorithm now ranks non-adult content sites on the first page for keywords that were historically considered to be profitable adult traffic sources. A search for terms like “lesbian,” “Ron Jeremy,” “Cunt” or many others in Google now reveals page one listings for several gay rights groups, mainstream movie credits and other mainstream content. What impact will this change have on adult site SEO, traffic patterns, domain values and profitability for adult webmasters?
If This, Then That
Many consumers today use a wide range of devices and services to interact with and stay in touch with clients, friends and family. Using their Smartphone to check Facebook status updates is a common example.
Driving Sales Through Interactive Technology
One of the biggest benefits of online marketing is the enormous depth and breadth of information that can be communicated to prospects — material far more robust than can be presented in a 30 second radio or television spot, or through full-page advertisements in print publications. Add to this the multimedia capabilities of the online realm and top it off with the one thing that online sales offer that no other medium (with the exception of dealing with in-person sales staff) can match: total interactivity — and it’s easy to see the possibilities of online interactivity.
Mac Users Cope With Security Threats
There are a number of readily available tools that allow Mac users to surf more safely while protecting their personal data and freedoms from scrutiny by authoritarian regimes, pesky spouses, and competitive businesses.
Breaking Through Electronic Walls
Indonesia’s recent claim that it is blocking more than one million adult websites as part of its cultural cleanup efforts, adds a dose of reality to the widespread fear and hype over country-level blocking of .XXX domain names. In this case, it is clear that states do not need to rely on a website’s choice of TLD to determine whether or not to block it — as the bulk of Indonesian and other state-sponsored efforts, target adult dot-com domains.
XBIZ EU 2012 Official Event Website Now Live
XBIZ is pleased to announce preliminary event details surrounding XBIZ EU 2012 presented by AWEmpire, are now available on the newly launched event website, which features a striking new look fitting for "the smashing event of the year" set for Sept. 17-19 in London.
Power in Partnerships
Co-branded advertising is standard to promoting manufacturer-distributor relationships to retailers en masse. For the growing adult retail industry in which distributors now offer thousands of adult goods from hundreds of vendors, deciding on an effective print ad campaign is not exactly cut-and-dry. By working with top adult vendors, distributors are perfecting strategies to promote the latest products while solidifying their own brand image and promoting their unique services.
Distros Not Dead!
If hot young stars and the next big movie are the heartbeat of the adult industry, then distribution is the lifeblood. The less-than-sexy aspect of actually selling products, considered by many to be no different than selling “schmattas” (Yiddish for rags) in New York’s garment district, and being able to convince wholesalers and retailers across the country that a producer’s goods were worth putting on their shelves has been what’s made every successful movie company what it is today. In fact, a number of today’s studios were born out of distribution companies that saw potential in producing their own product. They had a built-in distribution network so why not make movies?
Profit-Boosting Tips for White Label Websites
White label websites are a popular and intriguing option for many online marketers, both in adult and in the mainstream arenas, where the appeal of a free, turnkey solution is hard to deny. In the adult world, a paysite network seeking to add live cam offerings may find using a white label site is a preferable option to investing in infrastructure and model recruitment and maintenance. Likewise, an entrepreneur might find that a novelty shop’s white label program is the best shortcut to success for his brick-and-mortar store seeking to extend its marketing online.
Memory Matters
In today’s digital world, memory cards play an increasingly important role (beyond cluttering up our drawers and camera bags with each new generation of enabled device). While numerous shapes, sizes and formats have vied for the top spot, with proprietary professional formats dominating the highend of digital content production, most current consumer and “prosumer” digital media devices rely on secure digital (SD) media, in the form of standard, mini and micro form factors.