First, I'd like to qualify my comments... I am the lead developer for the most highly trafficked dating site in the US (HitWise). I'm omitting the name as I use this board outside of work and my opinions are my own and should not reflect on my employer. Thank you for respecting the anonymity
That being said, this post has some misinformation that I'd like to set straight...
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Originally Posted by Choker
Now for the disadvantages.
The main disadvantage of API posting is problems with the dating sites you API post to themselves. I have yet to see a single dating site that has worked out all the bugs and learned how to fully monetize API postings.
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This has nothing to do with using an API effectively. This is based on your own opinion about a specific application of API integration... As you'll read in my comments I believe you have a skewed perspective as to what an API is and isn't. I can't speak for smaller companies but when you're speaking of 10+ figure companies believe me when I tell you they know what they're doing. They've spent hundreds of thousands optimizing their API for what works best for their registration path and their traffic. Keep in mind that some methods have to be put in place to avoid spamming and fraud. Our company staffs an entire fraud department that works 24 / 7 to help eliminate spam accounts. We remove anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands of accounts per day.
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Originally Posted by Choker
1. Some dating sites require too many fields.
Some dating sites require the "Description" and "Looking For" in order to post. This is simply not practicle for most sites that API post. My join form http://realfreedate.com/x2-dating.php has the required fields that is most common and practicle. In fact the sites that I do the best with only require the email address of the surfer, his IP address, and gender. The less the better. Some dating sites tend to think that the more information they gather at signup the higher the quality the lead is. This is true to a degree but requiring a lot of fields can mean 100 signups at 50% productivity versus 1000 signups at 25% productivity. The math is in favor of less fields. |
This is a laughable statement. Dating sites pay on lead acquisition, not a sale. A half completed account does absolutely nothing for the dating site and is virtually worthless. You are being paid out $5+ per free signup, they don't even have to convert! Here, you're complaining that you can't mass spam out one person's information to as many dating sites as you'd like. This is called junk traffic. The likelihood of one person signing up to any of the sites is almost nil. The method you're trying to use is considered spam and frowned upon in the mainstream dating industry.
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Originally Posted by Choker
2. Most dating sites do not return a auto login/confirm url upon posting.
When you API post a member to a dating site you REALLY need thier API to respond to yours with a url that acts as a autologin and a confirm url. And this url needs to always work, not just the first time. Members bookmark this url and can use it to login and you can advertise this url to them so they do login the dating site you are trying to promote.
Some dating sites send the login url and the user name and password in their email so the surfer has to copy and paste it to login. Surfers are lazy, hell I know I am. If its not one click them I'm not interested. Surfers EXPECT urls to log them in. Copy and pasting your user name was great back in 1999. How many times have you went to a site you had a account with and couldn't remember your user name and password and didn't feel like bothering with doing a password reset or reminder? Most people will just say to hell with it and go join another site.
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Generally when I signup at a site I type in my chosen username and password to sign in... That's just a part of registering on any site. Not to mention the fact that you can actually post a user's info (you know it since you created it in your API) to any dating site in the world and auto login... you just need to know how. You can post anyone to any login page with a post body... if you know the login page and the account info, that's all you need.
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Originally Posted by Choker
HAVING A AUTO LOGIN URL/CONFIRM URL IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN MONETIZING API POSTINGS.
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Not even close... It's not even necessary, you don't need it. Just go to the site, look at the login form, learn the var names and post url, and create your own method. It's easy.
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Originally Posted by Choker
4. Some dating sites sell your members information.
Avoid these sites. While it may be in their TOS, you don't get paid for this and the end result is that the member you worked so hard to get will soon have his email address rendered unusable due to the large amounts of spam. It's real easy to find out what dating sites do this, simply make a yahoo email address and signup as a free member and check daily for spam.
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This yahoo check won't actually tell you if this is the case. Just try signing up for an account and don't signup anywhere, you'll still get spam. A more accurate method is to setup a catch all account on a domain you control. Register with a name of
[email protected] and you'll be able to see who sends email to that account specifically.
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Originally Posted by Choker
5. Some dating sites are not proactive in getting your members to confirm.
Use dating sites that send reminder emails to members that have not confirmed at least once a week. Many send 1 or 2 reminder emails then stop sending. I recently attended a google conferance where it was stated that the average dating site member will take 2 to 3 weeks to decide what dating sites to join after finding them. Common sense tells us that if this is the case then it probably takes them another 2 to 3 weeks to upgrade once they have joined a dating site. API post to dating sites that are agressive.
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I'm not sure what you read/heard but it's completely wrong. The highest period of conversions is within the first 96 hours. After that period the likelihood of a conversion drops off significantly, drastically...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Choker
6. Most dating sites do not allow the same email address twice.
Most dating sites will not allow someone to signup with the same email address more than one time. Many people may have created a account 3 years ago at a site and forgot all about it. Try to use dating sites that allow them to make a second account with that email addy so you can get paid if they upgrade. Helping a affiliate from 3 years ago is not my idea of good business. If you send the signup YOU should get paid for it.
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This is absolutely one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. Why would a dating site want to pay you out for a member they already have? A user that could possibly already be paying for an account... If you are using an API to send a user's info to multiple dating sites then they most likely don't know what sites you're even signing them up for until after you've already tried posting their account info to all the sites.
You aren't sending a signup you are sending a current user... no, you shouldn't be paid out on this. You're just being greedy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Choker
While API posts are not as high quality as a click on a banner, the sheer quantity has a big advantage. Look for other programs that accept API posting besides dating sites. The market is wide open. Thank you Choker
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When used CORRECTLY an API post is vastly superior to a click on a banner. A click on a banner is nothing more than a click. An API post assures they've signed up for an account before they ever leave your site.
I think the main problem here is your view of what an API is and what it should or should not do. An API is a tool (in the dating site example) used to customize the signup process so that a user never has to leave your site and so you can design that signup process in whatever way works best for your users. Everyone has different traffic with different target niches. This allows you to tailer that experience to maximize your lead potential. Rather than just sending them off to some dating site and hoping for a conversion...
An API is NOT a tool to be used for spamming of account information to as many dating sites as possible. That's not what it's therefor and this is generally seen as a bad practice. Not only is it unfair to your end user (if you're not telling them before hand that they'll be signed up to multiple sites) but it's also not fair to your sponsors who are paying you for valuable leads. In the end you're just hurting your site's credibility and not at all leveraging the power of an API.
I'll post a follow up to this post as well with proper usage of an API and how to maximize your revenue by providing a better experience for your users and providing the highest quality leads to your sponsors.