Are you marketing just to North America or to the entire international community? Most Webmasters know that there are plenty of paying porn surfers in countries other than the United States and Canada, but how many of those Webmasters know how to market to other countries? The first step towards successfully cracking a foreign market is to understand the history behind that market.Are you marketing just to North America or to the entire international community? Most Webmasters know that there are plenty of paying porn surfers in countries other than the United States and Canada, but how many of those Webmasters know how to market to other countries? The first step towards successfully cracking a foreign market is to understand the history behind that market. In this “World Wide Billing” series of articles, the crew from NoCreditCard.com take a look at some of the biggest markets outside of North America.

The German Market Today

As Europe’s largest economy and most populous nation, Germany is a natural target for Webmasters who want to start making money in Europe. What does the German market look like? Germany has an estimated population of 82 million inhabitants making an average of $26,600 per person – just a little below the average Joe in the US. There are over 28 million guys between the ages of 15-64 years. In 2002, there where 32.1 million Internet users online in Germany. All of these figures total to a multi-billion dollar market for porn. The question any adult Webmaster wants to ask is, “How do I get my share of that money?” The answer is to understand the key forces shaping the market today – fraud and billing fraud.

Fraud

Germany today is a damaged market. Greedy, unscrupulous Webmasters are responsible. They broke every rule imaginable – including targeting underage users. The result of no self regulation is government regulation. Today it is practically impossible to operate as a porn company inside of Germany. End users who want to view porn may soon need to undergo a face to face identity check to comply with new regulations. It is illegal to show porn of any kind on the Internet in Germany, except behind a member’s area.

Billing Fraud

Telecom billing (dialers, broadband solutions and SMS billing) is used by 1 out of 2 adult surfers in Germany. The ease and efficiency of telecom billing in Germany benefited both end users and dialer companies. Then the criminals came on the scene; they auto-connected surfers who clicked on blind links. Auto-connecting when the user was not at the computer was also common. Some dialers made it impossible for the end user to end the session. They stole from Webmasters by sending Webmaster traffic to numbers on which they did not share revenue. Dialer companies changed ISP settings to charge end users per minute for what the user thought was their regular connection. They put a prefix in front of the dialer number to fool the surfer into thinking he was not connecting to a premium rate number. Any one of these tricks could lead to a charge of more than $10,000. Surfers cheated by unethical dialer companies were forced to pay their bills by the national telecom provider, Deutsche Telecom. The no chargeback policy and weak laws brought massive income to these fraudsters.

Now the government is striking back. The exciting opportunities for SMS billing throughout Europe do not yet exist in Germany. SMS billing for porn is currently banned. Today telecom billing companies must register every dialer before use. One dialer company thought that they could challenge the formally toothless telecom billing regulator, RegTP. It thought wrong. In one day RegTP showed its muscle by cutting 400,000 of their dialers. Today there are far fewer dialer companies operating in Germany. Only those companies who operate legally and are large enough to absorb the new costs of compliance are surviving.

How To Profit In Germany?

At this moment there are huge opportunities to make profits in this massive market of more than 30 million Internet users. Many Webmasters now believe that the market has hit bottom and is beginning to recover. However, all adult Webmasters must deal with the legacy of the big fraudsters who came before. When moving into the market you need to ask yourself two questions about your billing provider in Germany: “Can they bill legally and effectively in Germany?” and, “Can I trust them?” If the answer is yes and yes then you are ready to start making money in this high potential market. Additional steps we recommend for growing revenue in Germany are translating your sites into German and partnering to increase your traffic.

Andreas manages the German-speaking markets for Nocreditcard.com. Mitch manages the English-speaking markets for Nocredticard.com. Clay manages marketing at Nocreditcard.com. Founded in 1996, Nocreditcard.com works with some of the largest, most respected companies in the industry. It’s a recognized leader in turning traffic into cash both domestically and internationally.