I caught up recently with Eric from Adult.com after the Webmaster Access East show for a little one-on-one about life, the biz, and partying in Montreal.SexyScribe: What do you do at Adult.com?
Eric: I am adult.com’s Director Of Marketing. I am responsible for all advertising and sales on GFY, organization as well as sponsorships for Webmaster Access Shows, and work with our design team on the marketing aspects of our paysites and the programs they fall under. I also handle many of our larger traffic trade accounts through exit trades, cross sale trades, and other traffic trading avenues.
What led you to working in the adult industry?
Eric: Before I got into this business back in 1998 I was finishing up school at CSULB. After finding internet porn a year or so earlier, I started to dabble a little bit into the industry in my last semester at school. After a few months it really started to catch on, so I went from part time to full time and never looked back.
What would you be doing if you weren’t in adult? What do you like most about this industry? Least?
Eric: The one thing that I know even if I left the industry today that I would take with me are the people I have met and the relationships I have made. I try and live by the golden rule and treat business the same way. One thing that does disturb me is the fact that people hide behind their computers and use the fact that they can hide as an way to scam, cheat, or treat others poorly.
How many WAE events have you organized?
Eric: Montreal was our 6th Webmaster Access show, and our second Webmaster Access East. The shows keep getting better and better, and with more deals in place for media representation at future shows that trend should continue.
What’s special about WAE compared to other shows?
Eric: The WA shows were started as a way to fill in the gaps. We wanted to give webmasters, program owners, and anyone involved in the industry a chance to see each other more than just 2 or 3 times a year, and create an atmosphere where people could easily maintain relationships they have built. I think we have done well to achieve that goal. I walk away from every show trying to build more relationships and continue to grow the ones that I have already. Then I can go home and do the business I need to get done with someone I know I can trust based on the relationship we have built together.
Were you happy with the Montreal WAE show?
Eric: Montreal was a great surprise. I think I went up there with moderate expectations. I guess as an organizer you just never feel fully prepared or like you were able to promote an event as much as you would like. The people that came from the local area, and from Europe, were fantastic. Then top that off with US webmasters that traveled from all over, not just the northeastern states, were awesome.
All the sponsors for the event really made the event as successful as it was. The corporate sponsors SexSearch, AdamEveCash, National Net, Adult Paymaster, and IWantU. Lunch sponsor TopBucks for providing lunch each day for everyone. Jupiter Hosting for providing the cool badges and lanyards. Gamma for not only sponsoring the seminars, but also being a part of several of them. The local companies JoinRightNow, Gamma, NyVirtualCard, BrainCash, and 2Much.net really stepped up to make the nightly dinners and parties a real hit.
We hope to do it even better next year and have all the same people and more involved.
Any upcoming plans you want to tell us about?
Eric: The future is very bright for Webmaster Access, with Amsterdam and LA coming in the fall. Adult.com has several new sites in the works to be released very shortly to the webmaster community for promotion. GFY is…GFY. Love it, hate it. It is what it is: The most active adult webmaster board on the internet.
Eric can be reached at eric@adult.com.
