Does It Pay To Charge?

Terminator

Hi All.

I work for a web firm and so far this year its been quieter than last. Rather than sit around waiting to be fired I'm in the process of setting up my own company.

I work on a classifieds site in my spare time (www.gaire.com) and I'd like to introduce some premium services which would hopefully generate some income.

I'm not looking to be the next dot.com millionaire - like most webmasters I just want to quit the day job and do my own thing.

What I'd like to know is with the likes of Yahoo and just about everyone else introducing paid services - are people ready to pay fo them?

GoneShootin

next dot.com millionaire

are you sure there is such a thing anymore ?

anyhoo, it depends on wat service you are gona charge for. do have the existing traffic, the loyal kind, to support such an idea

ireland.com, anyone know how its fairing out with its email service ?

nahdoic

it really does depend on your target audience whether or not they will be willing to pay, and is what you providing really worth paying?

places like www.ign.com are nearly going under because a very small percentage of members are taking their premium service, and their ad revenue has plummeted.

the main subscription services people pay for on the net are for sex sites

why not make a survey on your site. And ask your members what they'd be willing to pay for. That's really the best course of action... you're members will let you know

MarcusGarvey

As Nahdoic said it depends on your target audience. If its a good service that people will pay money for you could make a good enough income from it.

Those with disposable income are who you want to attract. Easy payment methods are also a good way of getting subscribers.

Do a poll and see would your members pay for premium or improved service that you already provide, like the personals section of the site.

dahamsta

[The following is just my opinion based on my following the tech news avidly, and not authoritative by any stretch of the imagination. Do with it what you will. You'll have to forgive the philosophy (aka guff), but it all ties together.]

I work for a web firm and so far this year its been quieter than last.

Sounds familiar. Believe me, it's worse when you run one...

Rather than sit around waiting to be fired I'm in the process of setting up my own company.

Well done. It's effin' hard work, but if you can get into the groove, and you're a wee bit lucky, it's the best decision you'll ever make.

I work on a classifieds site in my spare time (www.gaire.com)

I'm familiar with your work. Very well put together site. Not that there's anything wrong with that. (Only Seinfeld fans will get that.)

and I'd like to introduce some premium services which would hopefully generate some income.

Don't bet on it.

I'm not looking to be the next dot.com millionaire

Don't. Ever. Those days are gone.

like most webmasters I just want to quit the day job and do my own thing.

Don't Quit. Until the revenues pay for the site and leave you a few quid over to survive, AND a little to put away for a rainy day - because there will be some very damp days - don't quit. It's not worth the risk. Here's another tip for you: Don't register for VAT until you have to. Biggest mistake I ever made.

What I'd like to know is with the likes of Yahoo and just about everyone else introducing paid services - are people ready to pay fo them?

Yes and no. People are coming round to the idea, but very, very slowly. Internet users are used to getting content and services for free, and it's very hard to switch from that to paying for stuff. Users shouldn't be blamed for that, idiotic web companies and malicious investors should, but it remains the reason the WWW recovery is going to be very slow, at least relatively speaking. It's a long and painful process to convert people to even the idea of paying for content and services.

That said, now is actually a pretty good time to have a go, and Gaire would seem to me to be a pretty good style of site to try it out. For a start, although I'm certainly not an expert on the gay community, it would appear to me to be pretty tight-knit, and that can pay off if you give them what they want. If you do that, they'll respect you, and that bolsters the community, and that adds value to what you're offering them.

I'm a firm believer in community and customer service. I personally believe that people aren't looking for simply the best price any more, they want support too, they want to be able to ring the boss if there's a problem. I saw this coming in the last couple of years, and it's becoming more and more evident on the Internet, and even in bricks and mortar business. Even the supermarkets are starting to pander more and more to customers.

I think that's a good thing, but it's also a good thing for business. Customer service builds customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction builds more customers. A happy customer will bring you more - they'll recommend you to their friends and associates. More importantly, they'll become repeat customers, and that's what the bank likes to see. When they come back again and again, they won't go away until you piss them off.

Oddly, that's always been a premise in business, but it disappeared in the last few years, and I think the Internet should shoulder a lot of the blame for that. The Internet was supposed to deliver it - whatever "it" was - cheaper, and sometimes even free. And it did, but not profitably, and that's not good business. Some people tried to apply this to bricks and mortar businesses and failed miserably.

In fact, the trick is to come at it from the other side - most Internet business should have applied bricks and mortar philosophy to their businesses. If they had, there wouldn't have been a dot.bust. The flipside of that is the one major difference between bricks and mortar and the Internet -- in the bricks and mortar world, quite often the more money you fire at it, the more likely it is to succeed. On the Internet, it isn't as simple.

So the advice I always give to my clients is to simply /take your time/. Don't rush into it. Don't try to do everything at once, and come up with a decent plan. If /this/ works, you can extend it by doing /that/. If it doesn't, how about trying /the other/? Take your time, and spend your money - and your time - wisely. Invest a little at a time. If it works, excellent, you can move onto the next step. If it doesn't, you haven't lost a whole lot.

Take this site as an example of what I'm saying. Now Boards.ie can't be considered commercial at this point in time, but in fact they're a very good position to do so if they wanted to. The site has a very rich community that genuinely appreciates what the owners have given them. If you look in the Admin forum, you'll see threads about donations and revenue generation submitted by the community. Because they care, they want to see the site continue.

That's what you have to do if you want to try what you're suggesting. And, like Boards.ie, you have somewhat of a head start, because you already have a rich site and an active community. If you do it right, if you provide what they want and need, it could pay off. Again though, just take it slow. Talk to your community. Ask them if they would be willing to pay, to cover your expenses.

If they are willing to pay, be fair with them, give them a fair price. Don't boost revenues by putting the price up every time you need to, try and come up with other ways of generating revenue. Poll them regularly with these ideas, so they know what might be coming, and they should be much more supportive. Survey them for new ideas, even ask them to email you if they have suggestions. Believe me, it pays off.

adam

© 2002 adams long posts ltd.

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Originally posted by dahamsta
Not that there's anything wrong with that. (Only Seinfeld fans will get that.)

Naturally

Originally posted by dahamsta
© 2002 adams long posts ltd.

Are you franchising yet??

Terminator

Cheers guys (esp dahamsta) for some really sound advice.

I guess the only way to know if people will pay is to take the plunge and start charging a fair price for extra stuff.

The average age of users on my site is roughly 29 so I suppose a lot them will be well used to buying online at this stage.

That's what I hope anyway!