CYBERSPACE – Danny Watkins and Graham Webster have seen the future and it is micro-payments. Most specifically, it is micro-payments within their PayAsYouClick.com system.Two and a half years ago, Watkins launched PayAsYouClick.com and within a year he was applying for patents and attracting investors. Once Webster joined the growing company they were ready to introduce their micro-payment product to the adult webmaster community at a 2004 Internext. Now they have staff in both the United States and Europe.
The PayAsYouClick concept is simple – and familiar to those who have been involved with the Internet for long. Instead of requiring that eager site visitors present their credit card information in order to gain access to a large collection of content that may hold minimal appeal for them, the surfer who uses micro-payments purchases only what they specifically want, spending mere pennies to small dollars. Each time a site visitors clicks a thumbnail, s/he receives their content immediately and is charged per item, be it video, still image, audio clip, or other. No recurring charges, no feeling of being fleeced on the surfer’s part. According to Watkins, payment options are varied. “The surfer needs a PayAsYouClick.com account to do this, which he can fund with a credit card, ACH, SMS message, or premium rate phone call.”
Proceeds raised by PayAsYouClick micro-payments is divided 50/50 between the visited website and the webmaster that send the purchasing traffic. Because members spend less at a time and have more control over the content that they purchase, Watkins believes that they will spend more money in the long run. “I figured that if we could get surfers spending even just a few cents at a time, they would break through that (trust) barrier and soon be spending at much higher levels and in much higher numbers,” he explains.
Like a kid in a candy store, eager site visitors with a PayAsYouClick account will have the option of browsing a large collection of treats before making their selections. Because there are more and easier purchasing options than the tedious and time consuming text message, access is not a problem. Because prices per entertainment experience amount to pocket change, Watkins believes that more members will allow themselves more frequent access to content. According to Watkins, “The result is that a surfer will start slowly then, when he trusts the system (and gets horny)he’ll click perhaps 200 pictures an hour at five cents each. That’s $10 an hour.” A control panel on the website will show the surfer his balance any time s/he wishes to learn it.
So far, user response has been “amazing.” Watkins reports that email has been extremely positive with surfers reporting that although they would, “never, never buy a subscription” to a website, they feel comfortable using PayAsYouClick. This, in Watkins’ opinion, is precisely why they are willing to spend more money than they might otherwise. “It’s not because they’re stupid,” he assures, “it’s because they’ve tried us and they trust us. When a link doesn’t work, we refund it. They never get spammed. There’s no recurring billing. There are new sites every day with great value and quality content. Why would they go anywhere else?”
Watkins says that it’s not just surfers reporting good experiences with the program. Webmasters, who watch the bottom line when determining what works and what doesn’t, report that the PayAsYouClick system works. “We have webmasters making thousands each month from micro-payments.”
Because both surfers and webmasters feel good about the PayAsYouClick system, Watkins is focusing on buying traffic and further developing tools for the webmaster. Feedback from member site developers have already resulted in a PHP tool that allows database driven sites to generate micro-payment links on the fly and a gallery builder tool that converts the links on free galleries to PayAsYouClick links. With these developments and others in production, Watkins hopes to see PayAsYouClick hybrid galleries join mainstream TGP galleries in the near future, introducing surfers that have traditionally avoiding making payments to an entirely new, convenient, and affordable way of laying down cash “Even those surfers that will never click a banner will see the payment confirmation page and will immediately understand the PayAsYouClick concept – pay only for what you want.”
Watkins’ experience is that once surfers begin paying and clicking even the most cash conservative often begin to, “spend large amounts.” Furthermore, during a time when those opposed to pornography complain about the large amounts of free content available to people of all ages, Watkins believes micro-payments may well provide added protection to the adult industry. “It could also be a move towards gradually reducing the amount of free porn and the bad press it creates, perhaps the biggest challenge to the future of the industry.”
To learn more about this promising payment option, visit http://www.PayAsYouClick.com/adult.
