Interview with Whitney of MegaPornBucks
Read on newbies! I recently interviewed Whitney Smythe of MegaPornBucks and she gives some great tips for getting ahead in this business. Here is what Whitney had to say about her online adult career and the company that got her to where she is now.
Muffy: Okay, you have to answer my standard interview question before we get to the good stuff. How and when did you get involved in the adult industry?
Whitney: Anything for you guys! ;) Hmm well I guess it all started when I opened my door to the adult Internet industry back in 1999. I met my current boss and best friend Charlo Barbosa (president and CEO of MegaPornBucks) while on vacation in Vancouver. So to make the long story short he was hiring. I packed my bags and moved to the west coast from the prairie city Winnipeg I called home. My path in his company (as well as in the adult biz) wouldn’t stop there. So for the next 3 years I have been climbing as high as I can within the pillars of MegaPornBucks. The payoff has been amazing. Every day I am grateful for everything I have learned and experienced since I began.
Muffy: How have you seen this industry change since you have been a part of it?
Whitney: I can think of two ways I have seen the industry significantly shift and evolve. These being the new processing regulations and the reality site niche trend. Both have changed the face of the industry as a whole.
Sponsors need to be more aware of Webmaster fraud, and monitor chargeback rates much closer ever since the allocated percentage of chargeback’s has been implemented. Many factors have contributed to this evolution of stricter regulations. One being: the rise the fall and the subsequent “last men standing” of the free trials. Many programs that offered this structure have since “disappeared”, however the solid programs continue flourishing.
Secondly, the introduction of the reality site niche. After the giant success of the original reality sites such as BangBus, we have all witnessed a shift towards the reality obsessions of America. Not only is it happening in mainstream television (Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire, Temptation Island etc…) it is happening within our industry. And the fresh new marketing angle has been a huge success. I love the reality sites. I love the angles programs have been taking to entice surfers. We have added two reality sites to our program FuckYourFantasy and RealityFucking and the results have been amazing! Witnessing such a cultural shift and partaking in it in my own small way is pretty cool!
Muffy: Tell me a little bit more about MegaPornBucks and your role with them.
Whitney: We used to run a program called CartoonBucks before the launch of MegaPornBucks. CartoonBucks is what gave MPB’s the grounds to launch successfully with a solid Webmaster base. We have always been trailblazers with the cartoon/hentai niche. So, webmasters can always trust our toon sites and can rely on our consistent conversions. I enjoy the success webmasters experience after promoting our cartoon sites. It really is surprising how many surfers enjoy looking at those cartoons getting all nasty. ;) I sincerely believe MegaPornBucks is a brand you can trust in this industry. I have always made it my first priority to be honest with my fellow webmasters and I believe that honesty has enabled us to have a solid product and reputation in the adult Internet biz. Since beginning with MPB’s I have worked in almost every single department in our company. This flexibility has given me the knowledge to assist my affiliates in the best way I can. Currently I am the Director of Sales and Marketing. But my title should really just be “Whitney – Jack of all trades”; as I do not spend my day focusing solely on our traffic sales or marketing. I work largely with our in house webmasters tweaking the affiliate program and our sites. I work with the design team directly with new site launches and redesigns. Customer service is a duty I overlook, office management … aw man I could go on and on! I guess all in all I am MegaPornBucks! Heheheh!!
Muffy: I know that MegaPornBucks recently released some exciting new niche targeted dating sites. Can you tell us a little bit more about these and what kind of results you expect from them?
Whitney: We sure did! I would love to tell you about them. We have recently launched the beginning of our dating site niches. I am super excited about these products and I’m blown away by the response of the consumers. We have begun with launching four dating sites. We targeted the MILF (www9.dateamilf.com), Teen (www9.dateateen.com), Cheating Wife (www9.dateawife.com) and Twink (www9.dateatwink.com) niches first. And like I said the conversions are great! These sites are giving surfers the opportunity to tap into their own personal fantasies with the ability to sift through 1000’s of profiles. This is an aspect of the industry we are going to go in to head strong. The short-term results we have experienced have been very positive. We continue to tweak the tours so that these sites will have a place in our program in the long run. There is NO doubt in my mind that these dating sites will become just as important to MegaPornBucks backbone, as our toon niches did for us three years ago.
Muffy: What is your favorite thing about working in the online adult industry? And, least favorite?
Whitney: I have a large passion for my work. I take pride in the results people experience with us. This is what has kept me going and will continue to keep me moving forward. There are a few key people in this industry that make my days working in this industry that much more enjoyable. I have been lucky enough to not only work with such amazing people but also be able to call them my homies! Our industry is built on a close network of driven, goal-orientated people. The travel, the people, my team here in the office; these are all great perks to my job.
My least favorite aspect of the biz is the stigma that comes with working in our industry. You get associated with the scum of the earth. People assume you are in some skuzzy basement. Filming 70’s style porn with some creepy, greasy director wearing a bad plaid jacket and smoking a fat cigar! So I guess I get tired of having to explain what I do or how it’s done. I can understand why they pry but I guess after 3 years it gets old!
Muffy: Ok, here’s the last question. What do you feel is the most important key to being successful in this particular industry?
Whitney: In terms of my position in my company and how I have achieved success in MegaPornBucks is with two key points: Honesty and knowledge. I think honesty in this industry will bring you much success. Honesty with who you are and pride and trust in the product you are representing. Every program in our industry has a person that has been branded with that logo or label. I associate their inner qualities, their business sense, how they treat other people with the quality of that product. So I guess what I’m trying to get at is being confident in your product is number one in my books. And with the honesty comes knowledge. Know everything you can about what you are representing. Know your product inside and out. And have a very broad knowledge of the industry as a whole. We are lucky enough to have so many resources to assist us daily. We have the message boards, resource sites, radio shows and most importantly each other. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or just simply sit back and listen. Either way I think these building blocks that worked for me could definitely work for other people as well.
Muffy: Thank you so much Whitney for taking the time to speak to me. Best of luck to you and MegaPornBucks with your new products!
Whitney: Anything for you guys! ;) Hmm well I guess it all started when I opened my door to the adult Internet industry back in 1999. I met my current boss and best friend Charlo Barbosa (president and CEO of MegaPornBucks) while on vacation in Vancouver. So to make the long story short he was hiring. I packed my bags and moved to the west coast from the prairie city Winnipeg I called home. My path in his company (as well as in the adult biz) wouldn’t stop there. So for the next 3 years I have been climbing as high as I can within the pillars of MegaPornBucks. The payoff has been amazing. Every day I am grateful for everything I have learned and experienced since I began.
Muffy: How have you seen this industry change since you have been a part of it?
Whitney: I can think of two ways I have seen the industry significantly shift and evolve. These being the new processing regulations and the reality site niche trend. Both have changed the face of the industry as a whole.
Sponsors need to be more aware of Webmaster fraud, and monitor chargeback rates much closer ever since the allocated percentage of chargeback’s has been implemented. Many factors have contributed to this evolution of stricter regulations. One being: the rise the fall and the subsequent “last men standing” of the free trials. Many programs that offered this structure have since “disappeared”, however the solid programs continue flourishing.
Secondly, the introduction of the reality site niche. After the giant success of the original reality sites such as BangBus, we have all witnessed a shift towards the reality obsessions of America. Not only is it happening in mainstream television (Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire, Temptation Island etc…) it is happening within our industry. And the fresh new marketing angle has been a huge success. I love the reality sites. I love the angles programs have been taking to entice surfers. We have added two reality sites to our program FuckYourFantasy and RealityFucking and the results have been amazing! Witnessing such a cultural shift and partaking in it in my own small way is pretty cool!
Muffy: Tell me a little bit more about MegaPornBucks and your role with them.
Whitney: We used to run a program called CartoonBucks before the launch of MegaPornBucks. CartoonBucks is what gave MPB’s the grounds to launch successfully with a solid Webmaster base. We have always been trailblazers with the cartoon/hentai niche. So, webmasters can always trust our toon sites and can rely on our consistent conversions. I enjoy the success webmasters experience after promoting our cartoon sites. It really is surprising how many surfers enjoy looking at those cartoons getting all nasty. ;) I sincerely believe MegaPornBucks is a brand you can trust in this industry. I have always made it my first priority to be honest with my fellow webmasters and I believe that honesty has enabled us to have a solid product and reputation in the adult Internet biz. Since beginning with MPB’s I have worked in almost every single department in our company. This flexibility has given me the knowledge to assist my affiliates in the best way I can. Currently I am the Director of Sales and Marketing. But my title should really just be “Whitney – Jack of all trades”; as I do not spend my day focusing solely on our traffic sales or marketing. I work largely with our in house webmasters tweaking the affiliate program and our sites. I work with the design team directly with new site launches and redesigns. Customer service is a duty I overlook, office management … aw man I could go on and on! I guess all in all I am MegaPornBucks! Heheheh!!
Muffy: I know that MegaPornBucks recently released some exciting new niche targeted dating sites. Can you tell us a little bit more about these and what kind of results you expect from them?
Whitney: We sure did! I would love to tell you about them. We have recently launched the beginning of our dating site niches. I am super excited about these products and I’m blown away by the response of the consumers. We have begun with launching four dating sites. We targeted the MILF (www9.dateamilf.com), Teen (www9.dateateen.com), Cheating Wife (www9.dateawife.com) and Twink (www9.dateatwink.com) niches first. And like I said the conversions are great! These sites are giving surfers the opportunity to tap into their own personal fantasies with the ability to sift through 1000’s of profiles. This is an aspect of the industry we are going to go in to head strong. The short-term results we have experienced have been very positive. We continue to tweak the tours so that these sites will have a place in our program in the long run. There is NO doubt in my mind that these dating sites will become just as important to MegaPornBucks backbone, as our toon niches did for us three years ago.
Muffy: What is your favorite thing about working in the online adult industry? And, least favorite?
Whitney: I have a large passion for my work. I take pride in the results people experience with us. This is what has kept me going and will continue to keep me moving forward. There are a few key people in this industry that make my days working in this industry that much more enjoyable. I have been lucky enough to not only work with such amazing people but also be able to call them my homies! Our industry is built on a close network of driven, goal-orientated people. The travel, the people, my team here in the office; these are all great perks to my job.
My least favorite aspect of the biz is the stigma that comes with working in our industry. You get associated with the scum of the earth. People assume you are in some skuzzy basement. Filming 70’s style porn with some creepy, greasy director wearing a bad plaid jacket and smoking a fat cigar! So I guess I get tired of having to explain what I do or how it’s done. I can understand why they pry but I guess after 3 years it gets old!
Muffy: Ok, here’s the last question. What do you feel is the most important key to being successful in this particular industry?
Whitney: In terms of my position in my company and how I have achieved success in MegaPornBucks is with two key points: Honesty and knowledge. I think honesty in this industry will bring you much success. Honesty with who you are and pride and trust in the product you are representing. Every program in our industry has a person that has been branded with that logo or label. I associate their inner qualities, their business sense, how they treat other people with the quality of that product. So I guess what I’m trying to get at is being confident in your product is number one in my books. And with the honesty comes knowledge. Know everything you can about what you are representing. Know your product inside and out. And have a very broad knowledge of the industry as a whole. We are lucky enough to have so many resources to assist us daily. We have the message boards, resource sites, radio shows and most importantly each other. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or just simply sit back and listen. Either way I think these building blocks that worked for me could definitely work for other people as well.
Muffy: Thank you so much Whitney for taking the time to speak to me. Best of luck to you and MegaPornBucks with your new products!
