IN THE SPOTLIGHT

SwapMySite.com

This week, YNOTNews has Cedric from SwapMySite.com In The Spotlight. Cedric is the president and founder of SwapMySite.com, a new service focusing on traffic through the use of pop-under ads, launched in late 2002.

LAJ: Welcome, Cedric! Tell us about SwapMySite.com.IN THE SPOTLIGHT

SwapMySite.com

This week, YNOTNews has Cedric from SwapMySite.com In The Spotlight. Cedric is the president and founder of SwapMySite.com, a new service focusing on traffic through the use of pop-under ads, launched in late 2002.

LAJ: Welcome, Cedric! Tell us about SwapMySite.com. What do you guys do over there? What’s your focus?

Cedric: Hi Jay! We focus primarily on targeted traffic. There are a lot of ways to generate traffic to an adult site, but as far as I am concerned it is not the quantity of traffic that is important but its quality. As the boss, I basically walk around the office giving orders and asking for more coffee every 45 minutes despite my doctor’s recommendations!

LAJ: Haha! Well, how do you get this targeted traffic?

Cedric: We are running a “pop-under” network because we see that concept as the most efficient and least intrusive way to bring traffic. Let’s face it, everybody hates pop-ups and exit consoles. On the other end, pop-unders are the largest format for advertising since you are displaying your whole site! No more 468×60 restrictions!

LAJ: I used to be dead set against pop-ups/unders of any kind, but I can certainly see their value, and can appreciate where you are coming from.

Cedric: Well, I just want to clarify the notion of pop-unders because I have found that some people get confused. The idea is to have the minimum impact on the user’s experience. For example, with SwapMySite, Webmasters decide how many times and when a user will see a pop-under. I do not believe that hundreds of pop-ups covering the user’s screen actually work. The non-adult industry is banning pop-ups more and more and are looking for non-intrusive methods of advertising. This is what we do but for the adult industry and we believe this is what the industry needs.

LAJ: How long have you been involved in the adult Internet?

Cedric: I have been working online (adult and non-adult) since 1996. I am now 35 years old.

LAJ: How does your company differ from other traffic generators?

Cedric: When comparing with other ways to generate adult traffic like banners, TGP, top lists, etc, I think pop-unders are simply the most efficient for Webmasters. There are not a lot of pop-under exchange networks yet but the few we have reviewed did not seem very reliable technically.

Cedric: I was born in Paris, France (how romantic!) and have spent the last six years of my life in London. I have a Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence but I’ve been running Internet companies since 1996.

LAJ: Wow… that’s a pretty cool degree to have! What were you doing just before SwapMySite.com?

Cedric: In my latest role I was the Managing Director of European Operations for Gay.com – the largest site for the gay community. I also used to run a very profitable banner exchange program.

LAJ: How did you end up in the adult Internet?

Cedric: I think the name of your site summarizes it all. YNOT? The adult industry is still the largest one online and because I don’t have any problem with my sexuality or others’ sexuality I see no reason why I should not work for this industry. And we all know it’s one of the most entertaining industries to work for really. I have worked with bankers in the City of London, not quite as fun…

LAJ: Yeah, I wouldn’t think so. Safe to say your friends and family have no problem with what you do?

Cedric: They love it when I offer them presents and free passes!

LAJ: Got any good and/or embarrassing industry stories?

Cedric: My best story is when I sold one of my sites for a lot of money, enabling me to semi-retire at the age of 32. The most embarrassing one was when I sent a “not nice” email about a colleague and copied that colleague to the email…

LAJ: Oops!

So… has YNOTMasters been helpful for you in getting to where you are today?

Cedric: I think YNOT is an essential resource for anyone serious about the adult industry. There are still too many rogues out there but some people are raising the overall standards and I consider YNOT as one of them. Our industry needs standards and regulating bodies. ASACP is a very good example of this.

LAJ: How do you see the future of our industry?

Cedric: I am not Nostradamus but one thing is for sure: we have seen nothing so far. The emergence of broadband and wireless devices will bring a whole new set of opportunities for all of us. The few projects I am aware of will change the face of adult entertainment very shortly.

LAJ: What one bit of advice would you give to Webmasters trying to get ahead?

Cedric: If good is not good enough, try for better.

LAJ: Any new launches we can hope to see from you guys?

Cedric: We’ve just launched a service for owners of adult Webmaster resource sites (like YNOT). I believe in cooperation and I would be very flattered if my peers were using our service for their own promotion.

LAJ: Sounds great!

Thanks for your time this week Cedric, and everyone be sure to go and check out http://www.swapmysite.com!

Do you know a Webmaster with a great story to tell? Someone innovative, unique or perhaps even entertaining? Tell us about this person for future consideration to be “In The Spotlight” here at YNOTNews!