profile

Q&A: ARL Cash President Laurel Hertz Masters the Affiliate Game

Q&A: ARL Cash President Laurel Hertz Masters the Affiliate Game

ARL Cash President Laurel Hertz has sharpened her business instincts to a razor’s edge over the course of 20-plus years in the adult biz, with major affiliate management creds from the likes of Hustler, Mr. Skin and Flirt4Free.

Her emphasis on quality over quantity, and high converting niche sites, ensures that partners rake in big bucks at a steady rate. And, with a loyal roster of unique video producers like PascalsSubsluts, Ed Powers and Bruce Seven, Hertz can attract increasingly sophisticated users to sign up for very lucrative lust.

If you cast too broad a net with your content, trying to appeal to the greatest number of people, that’s no guarantee you’re going to get the greatest number of conversions. It can backfire.

As the brains behind ARL Cash, she makes sure to target content that offers palpable character and chemistry. After all, she knows that effective affiliates and stellar promotion can popularize and monetize even the quirkiest movies.

To zero in on the money-making mojo fueling ARL Cash’s success and longevity, XBIZ sat down with Hertz, for this exclusive interview.

XBIZ: Tell us about your professional background, prior to ARL Cash. How did your previous ventures impact your approach to the affiliate game?

Hertz: I’ve worked in the adult space since 1996. I’ve managed affiliate programs for many high-profile adult sites such as Hustler, RedLightDistrict, Mr. Skin, SwankDollars and Flirt4Free, to name a few.

It’s always been interesting to see how technology and the adult business model has changed in so many different aspects over the years.

However, I’ve learned that through it all, an affiliate program’s success always depends on giving affiliates the content and tools they need to be competitive.

XBIZ: What does it take to thrive in today’s affiliate marketplace and how does ARL Cash lead the way?

Hertz: Content is everything, and quality matters over quantity. Users these days are inundated with a flood of content, and they’ve become very sophisticated in what they are looking for.

Sex alone doesn’t sell anymore; it has to be a unique experience. That’s why we favor producers with personality like PascalsSubsluts, Ed Powers and Bruce Seven.

These producers are making porn, but they also have a very unique brand with what they do.

Anyone can see what content is popular, but you have to cater to those trends with an edge, a unique angle.

XBIZ: Talk about your various program sites, like PascalsSubSluts.com and 3am.xxx. What are their profitable virtues ... and their deviant vices?

Hertz: If you cast too broad a net with your content, trying to appeal to the greatest number of people, that’s no guarantee you’re going to get the greatest number of conversions. It can backfire.

I talk to producers all the time that had one or more distribution deals that put their content all over the internet with promises of big returns. But all it did in the long run is oversaturate the market.

I’d say that the “deviant vices” have the most potential for profit. We prefer selling content that doesn’t appeal to everybody, finding pockets of specific tastes to cater to, and building a loyal following from there.

We definitely prefer exclusive content over familiar content. If it has character and chemistry, it doesn’t necessarily have to have a mainstream appeal; that all comes in time, with good affiliates and good promotion.

XBIZ: How does ARL Cash’s focus on niche content ultimately pay off for affiliates, vs. more “mainstream” adult fare?

Hertz: Don’t get me wrong; we love “mainstream” pornography. After all, I’ve also helmed SwankDollars for over a decade, managing programs with some of the most well-known brand names around: Club Magazine, Cheri Magazine, Swank Magazine, Gent ... big-tent niches like teens, big boobs and glamour definitely have their place in a healthy program portfolio.

But unique, small-niche content gets better conversion ratios. That’s ultimately what we’re aiming to give our affiliates: better conversions. Affiliates think just like paysite owners — money matters and optimization drives profits. They’re business-minded and we want to help them make the most with the traffic they have.

XBIZ: Discuss what kinds of promotional materials you offer affiliates, such as tube videos, banners, galleries, etc.

Hertz: So far, we’ve talked about our content, which is unique and unconventional. But when it comes to promoting that content, we are very pragmatic and old school.

We do banners and galleries still. Furthermore, we have a bunch of MP4 files for tube site owners too. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel; you just have to keep rolling out fresh tools.

We’re always testing out our materials, finding images, copy and designs with the best CTR. In essence, we are affiliates ourselves, so we put out the types of materials that we promote ourselves with, and share our results with our partners.

XBIZ: Describe the benefits of using NATS4 for tracking and statistics.

Hertz: Over the years, there’s only been a handful of affiliate tracking solutions out there. I’m pressed to think of anyone else in adult that is still out there, actually.

So, NATS has a universal platform that everyone is using, and rightly so. They were the one platform that didn’t shave affiliates, so that’s what we all used.

NATS is indispensable because it’s so comprehensive. That said, I wonder what NATS would look like in a more competitive, innovation-driven space.

XBIZ: What are the perks of each payout structure that ARL Cash provides?

Hertz: It really comes down to affiliate preference, what works for them. With newer programs, affiliates tend to favor PPS, but for programs with longevity, revshare may be more profitable in the long run. It’s really up to the affiliates and we cater to their preferences.

XBIZ: Give us a glimpse of ARL Cash’s grand plans for 2018.

Hertz: We’ll be releasing some new tours, and new sites that are very unique with exclusive content. Plus, we’re always looking for new partners to promote.

Personally, I’d like to get into the gay space. I think the conventional wisdom that gay and straight porn are two separate camps is kind of insular and bad for business. Gay content converts, there’s good retention, and less chargebacks.

It’s our goal at ARLCash.com to be able to offer as many great converting sites for affiliates to promote, with excellent retention. After all, without affiliates, this program wouldn’t be a success.

Related:  

Copyright © 2024 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More Articles

profile

VerifyMy Seeks to Provide Frictionless Online Safety, Compliance Solutions

Before founding VerifyMy, Ryan Shaw was simply looking for an age verification solution for his previous business. The ones he found, however, were too expensive, too difficult to integrate with, or failed to take into account the needs of either the businesses implementing them or the end users who would be required to interact with them.

Alejandro Freixes ·
opinion

How Adult Website Operators Can Cash in on the 'Interchange' Class Action

The Payment Card Interchange Fee Settlement resulted from a landmark antitrust lawsuit involving Visa, Mastercard and several major banks. The case centered around the interchange fees charged to merchants for processing credit and debit card transactions. These fees are set by card networks and are paid by merchants to the banks that issue the cards.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

It's Time to Rock the Vote and Make Your Voice Heard

When I worked to defeat California’s Proposition 60 in 2016, our opposition campaign was outspent nearly 10 to 1. Nevertheless, our community came together and garnered enough support and awareness to defeat that harmful, misguided piece of proposed legislation — by more than a million votes.

Siouxsie Q ·
opinion

Staying Compliant to Avoid the Takedown Shakedown

Dealing with complaints is an everyday part of doing business — and a crucial one, since not dealing with them properly can haunt your business in multiple ways. Card brand regulations require every merchant doing business online to have in place a complaint process for reporting content that may be illegal or that violates the card brand rules.

Cathy Beardsley ·
profile

WIA Profile: Patricia Ucros

Born in Bogota, Colombia, Ucros graduated from college with a degree in education. She spent three years teaching third grade, which she enjoyed a lot, before heeding her father’s advice and moving to South Florida.

Women In Adult ·
opinion

Creating Payment Redundancies to Maximize Payout Uptime

During the global CrowdStrike outage that took place toward the end of July, a flawed software update brought air travel and electronic commerce to a grinding halt worldwide. This dramatically underscores the importance of having a backup plan in place for critical infrastructure.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

The Need for Minimal Friction in Age Verification Technology

In the adult sector, robust age assurance, comprised of age verification and age estimation methods, is critical to ensuring legal compliance with ever-evolving regulations, safeguarding minors from inappropriate content and protecting the privacy of adults wishing to view adult content.

Gavin Worrall ·
opinion

Account-to-Account Payments: The New Banking Disruptor?

So much of our industry relies upon Visa and Mastercard to support consumer payments — and with that reliance comes increased scrutiny by both brands. From a compliance perspective, the bar keeps getting raised until it feels like we end up spending half our time making sure we are compliant rather than growing our business.

Cathy Beardsley ·
profile

WIA Profile: Samantha Beatrice

Beatrice credits the sex positivity of Montreal for ultimately inspiring her to pursue work in adult entertainment. She had many friends working in the industry, from sex workers to production teams, so it felt like a natural fit and offered an opportunity to apply her marketing and social media savvy to support people she truly believes in and wants to see succeed.

Women In Adult ·
opinion

Understanding the Latest Server Processors

Over the last decade, we mostly stopped talking about CPU performance. Recently, however, there has been a seismic and exciting change in the CPU landscape, due to innovation by a chip company called Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Brad Mitchell ·
Show More