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It's that time again! We've got a great one for ya featuring Craig Tant, marketing head at ManSites AVS. Had the pleasure of meeting Craig at Internet Expo 2002, really appreciate him providing us with the time to get the scoop on one of the largest gay adult verification systems on the web! An all out great guy and one solid AVS program...just can't lose with this one...

C-Pimp: Was a pleasure meeting you at the CyberNet expo in Montreal. Thank you for accepting to take some time off to do this interview for our Cozy readers.

Craig: My pleasure, the Montreal show was a lot of fun for us.

C-Pimp: How did the show work out for ya on both a personal and professional level?

Craig: On a business level, the show was great. We were able to meet alot of new faces in the industry, and was also able to solidify relationships with those we love but rarely get a chance to see. On the personal side, I loved Montreal. I took an extra day and spent the time touring your city on horse and carriage. I highly recommend this to anyone visiting.

C-Pimp: Can you start by giving our readers a little background check, how you first got involved with the Adult Online Industry and why?

Craig: Sure. My background was as the VP of Sales for CCBill. I was in charge of building client relations, and creating their sales force. I learned alot during the last 5 years about the business as I saw what sites converted well and which ones retained customers. During this time, I was able to meet a great many of the people that make this industry run.

"Our AVS system was designed to help new webmasters, by allowing them to create less than perfect sites and still be profitable by being a part of a larger system."
C-Pimp: Tell us a bit about your role with ManSites.com and an overview of the services, for webmasters that aren't familiar with your AVS.

Craig: Since selling out of CCBill, I was honored to take on the position of Marketing with Mansites.com.

Mansites.com is the gay side of Sexkey.com. These are large free AVS's. Our AVS's are packed with 10's of thousands of sites which are available to the surfer for free. We also provide a free trial to our even larger sites. Our webmasters send traffic, and as our surfers sign up, the webmaster is paid $15.00 per free sign up. You can imagine how well the conversions are on a free sign up, so our webmasters are pretty happy.

C-Pimp: What kind of tools do you offer webmasters signed up with your verification system to help promote their sites or profit from their efforts?

Craig: Our AVS system was designed to help new webmasters, by allowing them to create less than perfect sites and still be profitable by being a part of a larger system. In this way they can learn from us on how to improve, and benefit from our staff's expertise. I would highly recommend brand new webmasters start in either the free world or in AVS's. I can say this honestly as I saw how few new webmasters made money in the paysite world. The experience they will gain learning about traffic, conversions and retention, and the help they receive from us, will allow them to start a business profitably, almost immediately. From this knowledge base they can then begin adding paysites, yet still run a profitable business.

We also are here if anyone has any questions or needs some additional help. We recommend the best hosting companies, content companies, to keep them safe, and give tips on how to improve their traffic. When I give referrals, I never take a kickback as I want my agenda to be clean for the webmasters. I only recommend people I've worked with that are honest and know how to treat my customers.

C-Pimp: You guys definitely have a solid formula, webmasters get $15 for every FREE password that they giveaway to surfers. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't personally come across any another Gay AVS that is offering this kind of potential. Where you guys the first to launch a free Gay AVS?

Craig: SexKey.com was the first free AVS, which had the gay section incorporated into it. We then realized that Mansites.com needed to be a stand alone product and we are very pleased with the results from this system.

C-Pimp: The Gay market online has definitely grown quite a bit over the years. Where do you feel the online adult Gay niche stands in today's adult online web and where do you see it year from now?

Craig: Great question!!! The gay market is probably one of the strongest markets currently. The reason is obvious, yet so many webmasters failed to take advantage of it. The average surfer purchases several websites a month, spending on average up to $100.00 per month of discretionary income. The average surfer stays about one to two months.

In the gay market, the conversions rates are higher, the retention rate runs usually between three to six months. In addition the amount they spend is larger month after month. For these reasons, I am very excited about the future of the gay market, and I only see it getting better over the next year.

C-Pimp: There are a few solid Gay verification systems on the adult web at this very moment. Aside from the Free memberships, what do you feel separates ManSights from others available to webmasters today?

Craig: I think the biggest difference is the amount of effort we are continually putting into the site. We are spending the largest part of our days coming up with ways to improve the site and I can't wait for everyone to see how it will look in the next month. We are currently adding some of the best programs in the industry, alot of which will be state of the art. I don't want to tip our hand to soon, but I am very excited about the things to come.

C-Pimp: On a personal level, what do you enjoy most about your current position and what do you personally hate with a passion?

Craig: The thing I will always enjoy most about this position are the people I work with, both within our company and within the industry. What I hate most about the industry, is the very small amount of people that try to lie, steal, or cheat there way through. As a said, this a very small percentage of people, but the damage they do to the industry is unforgivable. One story that comes to mind, was a webmistress who was told by someone that she would need an off-shore business in order to operate an adult website in the U.S. He also offered to arrange it for the incredibly low price of $50,000. He told her that she could pay monthly installments in order to "ease" the cost. When I heard this I was shocked.

Fortunately, she asked around, but one has to wonder how many others were told the same thing and either paid the crook, or stayed out of the industry.

Another tactic which makes me mad are the sites that say they are free, then charge the surfer a "transaction fee", and then on top of that automatically bill them without their knowledge up front. The surfer finds out they are being billed after they are already in the site. There are sites now doing this and it is very bad for the industry. There are many stories like this, but I will get back to the positives of the business.

C-Pimp: What kind of advice can you offer our Cozy newbies that are looking into venturing towards the online adult Gay niche for the first time?

Craig: My first recommendation would be to choose a specific niche. The mistake newbies make is trying to set up a site that pleases everyone. It is far better to pick a smaller niche and be the best at it.

The second recommendation is that if you wish to do a gay male site, at the very least have it designed and written by a gay male. It is amazing how little things can make a difference. If you are the webdesigner, you can get advise from friends, or even ask us for help. We can refer you to some great sources, like CozyFrog.com.

Third and lastly, understand that the site should provide everything and more it offers on the front page before they buy. Nothing will upset a surfer more than finding out they just spent time and money on a site that exaggerates. This is a sure way to get chargebacks.

C-Pimp: What other, if any, projects are you currently involved with? Any future plans that you would like share with us?

Craig: Like everyone else in the industry, we have some huge plans. Our view, however, is to never speak about our great ideas until we have them up and running, or else face the consequences of having someone use your ideas.

C-Pimp: Fair enough! :-) That just about does it for this one! BIG thanks once again for taking some time off to do this, always a pleasure! Any last thoughts or comments before we close up shop on this one?

Craig: Just to compliment you and your group on assisting the new webmasters. I feel CozyFrog.com is very beneficial to all webmasters, as no one is an expert in every field of the Internet. Having a resource site such as yours to use is invaluable.

Another great interview in the Cozy Bag! Make sure to drop by ManSites.com and check out their great AVS service. Get paid a Cozy $15 per Free Signup with all the benefits and tools you'll need to help get you on the right track!