First of all, a big thank you, Wolfgang Mayr, for taking the time for this in-depth interview with us.
General Questions About You & Your Career
Mr. Mayr, how did you get into the world of online marketing and specifically into the adult dating industry?
I started with affiliate marketing in 2009 and did so rather half-heartedly. Someone told me back then that you could make money with dating products. So I signed up with the Intermax Group and Cashdorado. At the time, I didn’t really take it seriously and barely put any effort into it – maybe also because I didn’t feel any financial pressure, as I was already successful
as an entrepreneur in the film industry.
At some point, around 2010/2011, I finally launched a campaign and was surprised at how well it worked. With that motivation boost, I started doing more and more. One thing led to another, and by 2012, I was earning a five-figure monthly income through affiliate marketing for the first time.
What have been the biggest challenges in your career, and how did you overcome them?
Well, I’m quite versatile as an entrepreneur, but if we focus solely on my affiliate career, then SEO has always been the biggest challenge for me. The constant ups and downs, along with ever-changing rules, can be quite nerve-wracking. On the other hand, if you enjoy what you do, you’re willing to accept that.
How would you describe yourself as an entrepreneur – more of a strategist, doer, or visionary?
A bit of everything, I would say. But first and foremost, I’m probably a doer. I don’t leave projects unfinished once I’ve started them. Everything gets done. And if it takes longer, then so be it. But it gets completed. I’d say that’s what defines a doer.
Wolf Masterclass & Adult Dating Academy
Your Wolf Masterclass is one of the few platforms in the German-speaking world that specializes in adult traffic and monetization. What was the inspiration behind this concept?
Our Wolf Masterclass was created in the summer of 2022. We designed it for the niches “making money with digital products” and “Adult Dating“. Our inspiration was the realization that the market needed something new. Not just another typical “coaching-blah-blah product,” but something solid and practical that also makes it easier for beginners to enter the industry.
What makes the Masterclass so unique, and how does it differ from other online marketing courses?
The Masterclass doesn’t just consist of digital courses and 1:1 coaching, but also includes a ready-made lead magnet page for participants, complete with a mail funnel featuring the highest-converting products. This allows people to immediately transition from theory to practice and start seeing results.
Can you give us a brief overview of how someone can get started in the industry and achieve their first successes with your Masterclass?
It all starts with filling out the application form. The Masterclass isn’t a mass product that just anyone can purchase. We decide whether to accept participants or not.
At the very beginning, we made the mistake of being too uncritical and accepting almost everyone. But it’s crucial that people approach this with the right mindset. And even though we do a lot of the heavy lifting by providing ready-made products, every participant should still bring their own initiative and creativity.
We support participants intensively – including through our weekly group sessions. What usually happens fairly quickly is that people start making money with the pages we’ve created and delivered. Especially in the adult dating space, there are many innovative ways to generate traffic, and typically, just a few days after we deliver the Masterclass pages, the first leads and sales start coming in.
What kind of participants does your Masterclass appeal to – are they complete beginners or also experienced marketers?
Currently, the majority are experienced entrepreneurs or at least creative individuals who are already successful in their field and want to build something additional in these niches. So these are people who are quite experienced in business, but relatively new to affiliate marketing. However, we don’t have complete beginners in the program.
You currently have a pause on new enrollments until May. Why did you decide to limit the number of participants?
That’s simply because I always want to make sure that those who joined recently can get their business running independently first. Last year, we onboarded quite a few new people, and we need to make sure things are running smoothly for them first. Once that’s the case, we can start focusing on new participants again.
Email Funnels & Lead Generation
You say email funnels are your specialty. Why are they so important in online marketing?
The vast majority of my revenue comes from email marketing – and that has pretty much always been the case. Even now, in the age of artificial intelligence, email marketing remains essential and is constantly evolving.
That’s why a new course of mine will be released in April, titled “The Email Cash Cow,” where I show how to run affordable and effective email marketing without expensive providers. In our case, our Masterclass pages achieve open rates of up to 80% and click-through rates of up to 35%. I explain how that works in the course.
Can you briefly explain the principle of a working email funnel?
A successful email funnel consists of several components:
- The signup form – First, you need an appealing and compelling signup form that users can’t resist.
- The first offer immediately after signing up – This is the best time to make the first sale, as the user has just shown active interest. You have to seize that opportunity by presenting them with a suitable offer right away.
- The 72-hour rule – During the first three days after signup, the user should receive an email every day. These initial emails are critical because attention is highest at this stage.
- The three pillars of a good email funnel – Ideally, each email should contain three elements:
◦ Value (e.g., tips, insider knowledge)
◦ Entertainment (e.g., storytelling, humor)
◦ Sales (targeted offers)
After that, the sending frequency can be reduced depending on the target audience and niche. An email funnel is successful when it generates more revenue than it costs – and so far, we’ve always managed to achieve that, sooner or later.
Many marketers rely on social media or paid ads – why do you focus so strongly on email marketing and lead generation?
One thing doesn’t exclude the other. But many people make the mistake of sending traffic gained through social media or paid campaigns directly to affiliate programs. That means the user is redirected once – and that’s it. They’re gone.
We, on the other hand, first direct the traffic to our own platform – our own site – and monetize it multiple times within the email funnel. That’s much more effective in the long run.
What mistakes do most beginners make when trying to use email funnels for themselves?
I actually made a little series about this on my German-language YouTube channel:
➡ youtube.com/watch?v=NveTFI8lpKk
But to name the most important points:
A common mistake is that marketers or affiliates collect a user’s email address – and then nothing happens. Eventually, a week later, the first email arrives. That’s obviously way too late. We live in a fast-paced world, and users often forget you faster than you think. So you have to start immediately building trust and winning them over. After a week, you’re usually already forgotten. So always remember the 72-hour rule and keep the email frequency high especially at the beginning of an automated funnel.
Another common mistake: Many beginners buy email addresses. That’s usually not very effective. If you have no relationship with the user, their engagement rate will also be low. Plus, consent is often missing, which increases the risk of spam complaints and lowers the reputation of your list.
Third point – also related to list reputation: Not removing inactive users.
In my case, users who haven’t opened or clicked an email in more than two months are ruthlessly removed from the list. As mentioned, we live in a fast-moving world – and email addresses are just as fast-moving for most users.
A user is only a good user if they open and click. Otherwise, they reduce your list reputation, which leads to lower open and click rates overall. As a result, email providers classify you as lower quality, which can severely damage your inbox delivery rate in the long term.
Of course, there are many more mistakes – I go into detail about these in my new course “The Email Cash Cow“.
Are there specific tools or software you recommend for building successful funnels?
There are of course a wide variety of tools on the market. We use OptimizePress to create our landing pages. As an email sending tool, we use MailPoet. But the crucial part is the choice of SMTP server. We use different solutions such as Amazon SES, Mailjet, as well as our own mail server at Skynet. Depending on the requirements, different systems are used.
It would go too far to explain all of this in detail here – but I cover it thoroughly in my course “The Email Cash Cow”.
Adult Traffic & Monetization
The adult market is controversial, and not everyone dares to get involved in it. What are the biggest advantages and challenges in this field?
First, we have to acknowledge: Like in any other niche, there are serious and less serious providers here too. Then the question becomes how you promote each offer. Almost all of my own sites are age-appropriate, and I’ve never owned a single tube site in my life. To me, it’s an industry like any other: there’s strong demand – so there’s a supply.
Is anyone harmed by it? Not that I know of. I do know of other industries where harm does occur – for example, gambling. But that’s a different story.
I think one major barrier for many people is the fear that they’ll have to show their face everywhere and risk damaging their reputation. But affiliate marketing can be done quite anonymously – if you know how.
What does a typical path look like for generating and monetizing adult traffic?
That depends. There are many roads to Rome.
I would initially advise beginners against buying traffic because that requires a lot of experience. The classic route is more through SEO. That means you invest time instead of money – and hopefully, that pays off in the long run.
One crucial point: don’t just let the user move on. Instead of redirecting them directly to an affiliate program, you should capture them in your email list. That way, you can reach out again and again – which brings us back to the topic of email marketing.
Are there ethical or legal aspects to consider when entering this market?
The question is: How do we define “ethics” in this context?
Let me put it bluntly: People want to f***. And they love sex. And we have the technical means to give them exactly what they want. Our job is to do the right marketing. If we don’t do it, someone else will.
By the way, I’m also active in many other niches – fitness, software, finance, etc. Especially in finance, there’s a lot of shady stuff going on. In 2016, I exposed a huge scam: Recyclix. The YouTube video is still on my channel today. I was right about all my criticisms back then – and after my exposé, that thing literally went up in flames. I saved a lot of people from financial disaster at the time. The affiliates who promoted that garbage disappeared afterward – or simply promoted the next scam.
And then come the pseudo-moralists, who often have skeletons in their own closets, pointing fingers at others:
“He promotes adult entertainment!”
Now that’s my kind of humor.
As for the legal aspect?
Different countries, different customs. And sometimes, different laws. And by the way: How many adult webmasters are there who still officially run their business from Germany?
Which monetization models work particularly well in the adult industry?
I personally still focus primarily on rev-share. Although I must say that customer retention rates are significantly worse today than they were ten years ago. But there are also affiliate programs that offer very attractive lead commissions.
One example that comes to mind is VXCash with its marketplace.
How do you see the future of the adult traffic industry – will it continue to grow, or are there challenges that could slow it down?
I believe artificial intelligence (AI) is changing a lot right now. But I also have the impression that the German market, in particular, will face increasing challenges. Overall, though, I see the industry growing again on an international scale. I observed this at the recent TES Affiliate Conference.
Other Projects & Future Plans
You already launched your first dating course project “onlinedatingmiterfolg.com” in 2016. How has the project developed over the years?
Well, it wasn’t a huge project, but rather our first own digital product in the dating niche. Basically, it’s an audio course produced in a timeless way so that it remains relevant even today and can still be marketed as an evergreen product. While it no longer sells nearly as well as it did five years ago, it can still be promoted as an affiliate product.
What trends do you see in the area of online dating and digital matchmaking?
Here too, AI will likely bring further developments – and the craziest things could happen. Actually, they’re already happening. Men are falling in love with AI avatars because they’re easier to deal with than real women.
Fortunately, it’s not my job to think about what societal consequences that might have.
When it comes to business, many things are becoming easier:
- AI dating experts recommend the right platform.
- AI algorithms could even directly match ideal partners.
From a business perspective, this offers huge opportunities – provided they are used correctly.
Your site “derwolf.cc” – what can visitors find there, and who is your target audience?
“Der Wolf” is my personal blog. Almost nothing there is AI-generated – everything comes from my own mind and pen.
I cover a wide range of topics related to online marketing.
- I report on scams.
- I introduce outstanding Masterclass users and guests.
- I review products and share whether they’re trash or worth recommending.
- And yes, I get a bit political sometimes too.
You can also sign up for my business mailing list there.
Are there any upcoming projects or innovations you’re currently working on that you can share with us?
My team and I are currently experimenting with AI chatbots for adult sites. These are intended to automatically generate leads and sales. We’ve already seen promising results, especially in the BDSM niche. But we’re still at the very beginning.
In addition, several digital products are set to launch this year:
• I already mentioned The Email Cash Cow.
• A fitness reseller product is in the works.
• And we might also release something new in the dating niche.
Personal & Final Questions
What advice would you give someone looking to get started in online marketing or adult traffic today?
Anyone wanting to enter this business should first ask themselves if they have enough creativity and independence to really stick with it. Especially when starting from scratch, you need to be aware that it may take some time before your time and financial investment pays off. But that basically applies to any niche.
The special challenge in the adult space is that you need to know the affiliate programs and really understand what you’re promoting.
A general tip for complete beginners:
➡ Focus on BDSM users with a submissive inclination.
This target group converts more easily and tends to spend more money. If you’re working with German traffic, it’s important to compare providers and test things out. Without naming names – there are Germany-specific cam providers offering lifetime commissions that look attractive at first glance.
But that doesn’t automatically mean you’ll make easy money with them. Because:
- High likelihood: A promoted user may already be assigned to another affiliate in the system.
- Poor conversion rates: German traffic converts significantly worse compared to other countries – except in the BDSM space.
Are there any specific books, mentors, or experiences that have especially influenced you?
I never had mentors – and I never needed them.
I am my own mentor and make my own experiences. That’s also because I’m self-taught. In fact, I’d say that most people who want to establish themselves as entrepreneurs probably do need some kind of mentor.
As for books, I’m currently reading “To Ibiza” by Julian Hessenthaler. At first glance, it has nothing to do with our business, but I’m interested in politics and especially in people who go against the grain.
Arnold Schwarzenegger describes it similarly in his biography: he made a sport socially acceptable that most people mocked at the time. He swam against the current – and that probably influenced me as well: Don’t go with the crowd, follow your own path.
Where do you see yourself and your business in five years?
I can’t give a serious answer to that.
I always do what I enjoy and what opportunities happen to come my way. Depending on how online marketing evolves through technological developments, I’ll go with it – or not. The most important thing is to enjoy what you do. Because if you love what you do, the money will follow – sooner or later.
If you’d like to learn more about Wolfgang (DerWolf), you can find more information and ways to get in touch here:
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