With a few exceptions, most of the adult Internet is in agreement that the summer of 2001 ‘sucked’ – both literally and figuratively.

Most major paysites juggle quite a few flaming bowling pins in their day-to-day financial acts.With a few exceptions, most of the adult Internet is in agreement that the summer of 2001 ‘sucked’ – both literally and figuratively.

Most major paysites juggle quite a few flaming bowling pins in their day-to-day financial acts. In early July I received a terse email from the owner/operator of a major webmaster program: “My numbers are down 35%. I don’t know what’s going on. This is a rough summer.” Turned out a billing processor was inadvertently denying good email addresses in this case, but the cumulative effect of the summer still took its toll on most.

It was reported by several content providers that sales for the summer were at an all-time low.

In my opinion, this ‘slowdown’ is the result of several poorly-timed incidents, that culminated with a challenging summer for most webmasters.

1. ‘THE COOLING ECONOMY’ – haven’t you heard that phrase enough? Every time the media used that slogan early in the year, I wanted to throw the TV through my sliding-glass door. Each time they brought it up, they made it worse! The media drives our economy by influencing the hearts and mind of our country, and the world. Of course, we’re all familiar with the NASDAQ taking the kind of beating that makes you want to avert your gaze and think about something happy. The economy is cyclical, and we’re recovering from a period of time in which investors acted very impulsively with their money. The natural effect that we’re now feeling is exactly the opposite – the IT departments shrinking, the venture capital shriveling up into nothing, and that trickles all the way down to Surfer Bob with his discretionary income who has a porn membership. What is affected? Traffic, conversions, retention, all of it. Anyone who tells you otherwise either has their head in the sand or can’t recognize this fact in the sales trends. It’s industry-wide, so don’t sweat it.

2. WELL, IT’S SUMMER! Summers have always been somewhat ‘cool’ for the Internet. We’ve had good summers and not-so-good summers. We always experience growth in the winter and a slight ‘retraction’ in the summer. Many webmasters already know the reasons – in summer, the weather’s nice. Families go on vacation. The kids are out of school. College students head home to spend time with their relatives. Etc., etc., etc.! None of this gives Surfer Bob much time to curl up in front of a computer and download adult material. We need cold, rainy, lonely nights for that! Let’s all collectively pray for some bad weather, shall we?

3. THE INEVITABLE EFFECTS OF SATURATION. You know, I do feel like I’m going somewhat out on a limb by being frank about this stuff. It’s not exactly a secret that I’m in this business too, and of course I want business to be good and for my products to be great. I think my company’s products, specifically paysites, are among the best out there because of the sheer volume and quantity of content contained within. The rub lies in that a lot of it is the same content that EVERYONE has! We all go to the same content providers for content. Over time, this can’t help but diminish the value of ALL of the products that use these 3rd party vendors. The fact that there are a million and one paysites and webmaster programs now don’t help matters much. It’s just something we all have to deal with by constantly improving the products.

In a nutshell, that’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it. Now we know the reason, but what’s the cure? The cure, in my opinion, is simpler than you might think. It is called ‘understanding.’ We can explain what’s happening; we know the reason; we know there’s nothing we can do about some of the negative aspects of how our industry works. The only solution, therefore, is to continually innovate (jeez, I sound like Steve Ballmer!) and be a fierce, yet ethical, competitor. I still sleep soundly at night. This will always be a great industry for entrepreneurs who recognize the challenges, pitfalls, and rewards associated with doing business in online adult. Understanding the natural causes for macroeconomic changes in our industry leads to better mental health, and most importantly, simplifying our decision-making process when it comes to reacting to these changes. Focus on what YOU can do – not on what’s outside your control.