France had a bad start when people starting signing online to the Internet. Granted, it has the privilege of being the only country that has been selling online since 1980. But the enemy was within: the long-standing Minitel, a teletext system that did much of what the web does for us today.

The post office gave out free terminals for every phone line, and Minitel became such an important standard which is why web usage was initially slow to take off in this country which has about 64 million inhabitants.

Eventually the web won out, but not without a fight. Consequently, both the Internet and credit card penetration levels are lower to those of most other developed countries. According to www.internetworldstats.com, currently 53.7 percent of French households have access to the web, accounting for 10.2 percent of the overall European market.

Pay-per-call phone billing remains popular in France, not least since it is capped – French users know that they will be charged no more than €0.34 per Minute over and above a €1.35 connection fee – so take-up for paying for web content this way is high since French surfers know in advance that they will not end up with an exorbitant phone bill at the end of the month.

As for what pushes their buttons, the French have historically always had a tolerant attitude to sex and nudity – as the worldwide popularity of renowned erotic cabarets of the Moulin Rouge and Lido in Paris bear witness.

Furthermore, as with their German neighbors next door, the French also seem to display a healthy appetite for all things fetish.

It is also worth bearing in mind that whilst the French adore love, romance, sex and porn, they are fiercely patriotic when it comes to their language – so woe be to any webmaster who pitches them in ‘Anglais’ – most won’t understand you, and those that do will probably not want to buy from you anyway for selling to them in English in the first place. So, please, sell to them in French!

Doing so will ensure that you are in a position to fully capitalize on this rich market which still shows plenty of scope for growth both in the fixed line and mobile Internet sectors.

I am a Wapmaster!

The pros and cons of phone billing

If you are a web marketer in the business of selling non-tangibles such as Ebooks, information, software, games, website subscriptions and so forth, then phone billing is a option worth considering, not least since the phone is so ubiquitous and effectively powers the internet.

Phone Billing for web content works as follows : The surfer sees an on-screen command inviting him or her to call a premium rate number which as the name suggests is charged at a higher rate that for most regular phone calls.

The ordering process creates revenue at the end of which the surfer is given a password which they then enter into the webpage in order to be granted access to the underlying content. Once they receive your product, the billing clock is no longer ticking.

Such billing is popular with surfers not least since they do not need to part with any personal information. To them, this is of growing importance in an era of increasing online identity theft and credit card fraud.

Since the tariffs and payouts for such pay-per-call numbers varies from country to country, so do the payouts.

Therefore, a surfer from Austria will therefore pay more for his password than his counterpart from Afghanistan, but you will receive more.

In all those countries that do not support domestic premium billing, the surfer is invited to make a regular IDD (International Direct Dial) call in order to receive their password.

The phone companies to whom this phone traffic is sent understand that these are calls that they would not normally receive and are therefore prepared to pay a proportion of the so-called settlement rate which phone companies worldwide use amongst themselves to calculate payment for international telephony.

Such billing is therefore not suitable if you wish to charge, say, $20 for a product in all countries. Another factor to bear in mind is that for every dollar billed, the phone companies and your processor will keep their share and this will be reflected in the payouts to you.

This having been said, the telephone remains a truly global billing mechanism enabling you to monetise traffic from all markets, including the huge growth markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China – all of which have relative negligible credit card penetration, the absence of which rendering Paypal and other online payment mechanisms on which the credit card is based irrelevant.

Finally, the on-screen call-to-action and corresponding pre-recorded voicefiles that the surfer hears upon calling to get his password should be in a language they understand – theirs! Thanks to IP and browser geo-targeting, your phone processor should be able to provide you with the tools needed to accomplish this.

This way, the implementation of such technology will help take your Brand(s) global and, more importantly, will enable you turn your pixels into profits from a worldwide audience.

After all, do you know anyone that does not have access to a phone or cell? Probably not…

Women, Sex, and Porn

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Why sex sells

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Country snapshot : Pakistan

Google search trends show Pakistan, Egypt and India as the top three countries in the world where surfers search for “sex” on the Internet.

According to Google, surfers in Pakistan search more for the magic three-lettered word with them than in any other country.

With this in mind, it is worth examining this market in greater detail.

Located in Southern Asia, Pakistan is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast.

With over 169 million inhabitants, Pakistan is the world’s sixth most populated country placing it higher than Russia and lower than Brazil but because of Pakistan's high growth rate, it is expected to surpass Brazil in population by the year 2020.

There are also nearly one million people of Pakistani descent living in the UK, where there are burgeoning cultural connections.

Pakistani society is largely multilingual and predominantly Muslim. Urdu is the only official language, although there are several others used, with use of English being confined to the elite.

According to Internetworldstats, some 12m Pakistanis are already online, representing 7.2% of the overall population - so clearly there is some way to go until Pakistani internet penetration reaches the levels of those in the west.

Credit card usage in Pakistan is still relatively new, with cash still being the preferred method of paying for goods and services.

As with most Asian countries, cellphone ownership is rising dramatically and they can be used as a billing tool for surfers to buy time at paysites.

Given their voracious appetite for searching for sex, the sooner you include such billing into your processing options, the better.

Country snapshot : UK

The United Kingdom, often simply referred to as the UK, comprises of four constituent countries namely England, Northern Island, Scotland and Wales.

It has a population of about 60m., 62.3% of which are online according to www.internetworldstats.com.

It is an attractive market for webmasters on many levels.

For starters, the larger US and Canadian programs need not translate their tours and promotools thanks to the shared use of the English language with their British cousins.

Furthermore, the UK is a rich and developed country with high levels of broadband penetration.

British Webmasters often seem to favor a less ‘polished’ approach to porn that their North American counterparts, with many seeming a bit bland or rough by comparison.

The UK also seems to have a love affair with it’s own unique beloved activity know as “dogging”, a British euphemism for engaging in sexual acts in a public place such as a parking lot, or watching others doing so .

When it comes to processing, it is important to bear in mind that there are now more online debit cards in circulation in the UK than there are credit ones.

Use of such cards by surfers when paying for online content results in the funds being taken from their regular checking account – so it is important to think outside the “Visa/Mastercard” box.

About 80% of adults in the UK possess at least one debit card of which Switch is the largest with 23m cards issued. Switch migrated to Maestro in July, which is now MasterCard’s leading debit card brand with more than half a billion cards issued worldwide.

A sister company to Switch called Solo also has about 7m cards currently in circulation in the UK at this time.

However, some processors and webmasters have been reluctant to embrace this payment mechanism since teenagers under 18 have access to such cards and therefore, unlike with credit cards, do not constitute a reliable method of verifying the surfer’s age.

Due to the ongoing and increasing concern regarding online fraud and identity theft issues associated with cards in the UK at this time, phone billing is gaining popularity due the anonymity and convenience for the surfer.

Overseen by ICSTIS, the UK has the world’s most regulated and structured premium telecoms market which regulates such processing.

This is why it must be clearly stated to the surfer how much access time is granted for each password sold.

We pay $5.80 per password sold in the UK and recommend that you grant at least 24 hours access to surfers that pay you using this method. Payment is factored and is made guaranteed chargeback-free every two weeks.

Only by embracing all the possible processing mechanisms afforded by this rich and dynamic country, are you in a position to fully profit from it.

Country snapshot : Germany

Germany has the largest economy in Europe and the third largest economy in the world, behind the United States and Japan. It is ranked fifth in the world in terms of purchasing power.

The export of goods is an essential part of the German economy and one of the main factors of its wealth. According to the World Trade Organization, Germany is the world's top exporter with $1.133 trillion exported, from the beginning of 2006.
Now under the stewardship of its first female chancellor, Angela Merkel, Germany is slowly emerging from a prolonged period of economic stagnation.

Once perceived as having one of the most tolerant attitudes to porn, it is now one of the most regulated markets. Your tours should be 'FSK16' – softcore – and your members area cannot be accessed without an AVS. Hardcore content is referred to as ‘FSK18’.

This is mirrored in the offline world. Sexshops are commonplace in Germany's High Streets and, unlike their Dutch counterparts, are fairly inoffensive from the outside.

Inside, private video booths are popular, and the majority of the movies being offered cater to the German's insatiable craving for all things fetish – particularly BDSM and Watersports.

Practically every German town also has a video store, the adult section of which is again off-limits to those under 18 years of age. Invariably, these 'adult-only' sections are the largest and most lucrative section of said stores.

The adult industry is dominated by two heavyweights – Beate Uhse (a publicly listed company) and Orion who are both based in the northern most town of Flensburg, not far from the Danish border.

Frau Uhse, a legend in her own right, was a former fighter pilot in the war before she moved into erotica and is known by 99% of all Germans. Both companies have a sizeable mail-order division and have aggressively expanded eastwards since the collapse of the Berlin Wall back in 1989.

Whist the above operate a significant proportion of the sex shops, there are plenty of independent stores most of which buy their wares from the wholesaler ZBF who are based in Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt. ZBF regularly holds trade-fair days, whereby content distributors can display and sell their wares to the sex store owners.
Within Germany, there exists a north/south divide with regard to sexual tolerance. This can be attributed to the fact that in the south, the Catholic Church still has much more influence.

Paradoxically, this is where the majority of the ultra-hardcore production companies are located, including Europe’s largest producer, Bukkake King John Thompson.

In the more tolerant north, Hamburg with it's infamous Reeperbahn ('the world's most sinful mile') is second only to Amsterdam in terms of it's red-light offerings and is popular with both Germans and tourists alike.

Webmasters with compelling content ignore this market at their peril. And when you throw satellite country next door – Austria – and German speaking Switzerland into the equation, you are looking at a market of more than 100 million potential customers.

Just remember to sell to them in their own native tongue, and use a processor that accepts “Lastschrift” – authorising you to take the subscription fee from their regular checking account.

The Germans are a conservative lot – credit card penetration is much lower there than in other developed markets and those that do have them are often reluctant to use them online, particularly with overseas porn merchants!

To this end, you should also include phone billing as part of your billing arsenal – the Germans love the anonymity and convenience of paying you this way. Indeed, Germany is our largest overall market…

By steadfastly sticking to a “credit card only” sales strategy, you are depriving yourself of significant additional money “made in Germany”.

County Snapshot : Switzerland

Located in the heart of Europe but constitutionally independent from it, Switzerland is perhaps best known for chocolate, watches, cuckoo clocks, ridiculously punctual public transport and the once secretive banking system.

Switzerland is landlocked and bordered by Germany, France, Italy and Liechtenstein. Since it is not part of the EU, passports still need to be shown when entering across its numerous borders.

It is a federal republic consisting of 26 states known as cantons. The capital is Berne, although the cities of Geneva and Zürich are better known to the world outside.

Switzerland has about 7.5 million inhabitants of which 67.8% are online, according to Internetworldstats.com.

This market of some 5m potential customers is perhaps more challenging than most due to the multi-lingual elements – German, French and Italian will all need to be served if you want to communicate with all Swiss surfers.

Whilst credit card penetration there is quite high, as a people they are quite a conservative lot - as are their German and Austrian neighbours next door.

This is why our phone billing is working so well there. Swiss surfers are able to pay for trials without leaving a digital one. And since they pay SFr.4.23 per minute to order their password, we can pay you US$5.80 per password sold with flexible access times as dictated by you.

The Swiss are reliable payers, with chargebacks via payment this way practically unheard of.

It may not be the world’s largest markets, but it is almost certainly one of the world’s most affluent ones.

By not going the extra mile and communicating with Swiss surfers in a language they understand, you will be depriving yourself of money ‘made in Switzerland’ both now and for many years to come.

Country snapshot : Austria

Landlocked in central Europe and bordered by eight other countries, Austria has a population of 8.1m with Vienna being both its capital and largest city.

Often overshadowed by its larger big brother Germany next door, the Austrian market is an attractive one for webmasters for several reasons.

For starters, webmasters are not legally obliged to stick to the stringent child protection laws of its big brother.

Austria is a sexually tolerant society, with hardcore pornography being freely available at every newspaper kiosk in the shape of the popular ÖKM magazine, which proclaims itself to be Europe’s favourite.

It is also the home of several key niche websites that cater for the Austrian’s seemingly insatiable appetite for all things fetish – fetishes which, rather conveniently, are more often than not shared by their kinky neighbours next door who, even more conveniently, just so happen to share the same language.

Translating your tours and join pages into German with therefore not only help convert surfers from Austria, but also the 85 million or so other German speakers in both Germany and Switzerland.

More than half of Austrians are online, and according to Intenertworldstats.com this market grew by 121.4 % since 2000
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Credit card growth in the last five years has also been slow. This is because of a number of factors including a culture that is adverse to debt and promotes work, discipline and saving.

Furthermore, poor credit card penetration and a reliance on the German economy, which has performed particularly badly in recent years, has hampered growth in this area with Austrians often reluctant to use credit cards online with fellow Austrians – yet alone foreign porn merchants based in the USA or elsewhere.

On the other hand, Austria is the world’s most attractive pay-per-call market since it allows you to charge €3.63/Minute for content via its “09” premium rate prefix. This is why we pay a full $10 per password sold in that market.

Furthermore, thanks to their careful and conservative attitude towards money, chargebacks from Austrians who pay you this way are practically unheard of.
Phone billing should therefore be included in your billing armory if you intend to make more Euros from this market.

Bloody rules!