Forum Moderators: phranque
I am currently developing a web site that can help people in some life aspect.
. my goal is to have at least 1000 members (anymore will be a plus).
. my plan is:
A. publish it and keep it ad and subscription free for sometime.
B. when I start having around 500 users, I start add google adsense and/or amazon stuff (can both be applied to same pages?).
C. when I start having around 1000 users, I start offering my service for small amount of money/month.
a qs? if members were using my service for like several months and I announce that after like 2 months the site will be accessd only for subscribed users then how much % in general from the 1000 members would subscribe and how much would leave?
Please any suggestions/comments/hints would be apprecited.
thanks a lot in advance
Few small points:
1. You can quite easily publish your website and put advertising live on it from Day 1.
> I like doing this personally, because in the opening months I tend to tweak sites after launch, so you always have your Ad income / impressions / clickthrough rate / etc to judge how your changes are impacting your income. Also, as your traffic rises, you will see how it effects your income.
> Adsense you need to have a content rich site in order to be accepted (well, I say "rich", but that just kinda means "not empty"!). Amazon you go through a brief review process IIRC. Both programmes have more detailed guidelines on their sites though (also consider commission junction - www.cj.com).
2. I assume because you said it's gonna be an advice type site, you will have a discussion forum of some sorts and that's where your target of 1000 (registered) users comes into play.
> Remember to consider that 1000 registered users may seem like a lot, it doesn't mean your forum will be active - it may take 10,000 or 100,000 before it's considered to be "active". Depends on the subject though - a community of 20 people can be more active than a community of 20,000.
> I run a content (advice) site with a forum on it and I can safely say the income from the forum adverts is crap compared to the rest of the site! :) So my advice is to have a substantial static content portion to your site.
3. As I said I run an advice site and I have to say that the types of members we get are not really the type that a forum owner wants - they arrive, get advice, leave and never come back (well most do) - the subject area doesn't really warrant active discussion.
> Following on from this, you have to think about what you will offer your members in exchange for the fee you intend to charge. Is the advice you will be offering the type that solves an immediate and unique problem? If so you will really have to prove your expertise in the matter to get people to pay you for your advice.
On the other hand, is it advice like webmasterworld, where people ask random questions about a varied and ever-changing subject area? If so, then you may have an easier time offering a private forum.
4. Moving from free to paid forum. Really down to your subject area - noone will be able to give you a % conversion. Your conversion rate will increase if you offer unique advice that is hard to come by, or you have proved your expertise to your community.
Take webmasterworld again - when the Supporters Forum was launched, many users instantly subscribed without question - even when there was no information about what goes on in there.
Why did they do this?
> They had been helped here by many members,
> They had learned a lot from reading and discussion topics here,
> There are a multitude of experts on many different subject areas here, all helping out
> This service had been offered freely for years and they wanted to give something back
> Most had profited a great deal from the knowledge gained here
> And many other reasons! :)
The point being you need to appeal to your members in order to get them to part with their cash - it's not an easy thing to accomplish!
You could test the water and offer a Paypal donation link and ask for donations as you prove your service to your members? If that takes off, then give private forum access to those who donated (to create an instant "smaller" community) and promote the private service to others.
I'm sure others here will be able to offer you some more tips about monetizing your site as well.
Scott
if members were using my service for like several months and I announce that after like 2 months the site will be accessd only for subscribed users then how much % in general from the 1000 members would subscribe and how much would leave?
I would expect very few of them to subscribe, and really can you blame them? It's their presence that will turn your site into any measure of a success. You'd probably do better to honor that fact by either (a) giving all existing members at the time of the switch a free membership and generating revenues from new members, or (b) keep the 'as is' part of the site free and open to the public, but create a 'subscribers' side that gives added benefits to your users who join (much like WebmasterWorld!).
cEM
U know I cant tell u the idea of it but u can think of it like if user actually registerd to the site and used it for months then it means he really need that service and cant leave it. There is no "Network effect" in it.
Ok the site in other words will be like u come in save some data and update these data several times/month and can be everyday if u need and u can check ur private statistics from ur data.. :) Dont wana say more.. but its clear now that its not related to human interaction or something and it doesnt even need a forum... but still a forum would be nice idea so members can share any experience in that field.
so any more comments?
thanks again
