Ok Guys... Here's the scenario.. I own a website that's your typical Rapidshare Premium Link Generator. The difference is that the website is private sort of system. The service is offered only to it's members. However, of late, I've become tired with the expenses involved. Here's a breakdown of my revenue/expenses. Revenue: $115 from June-August. Expenses: $64 + $20 each month ($252 in total) So, basically this is a loss making stuff. I never had plans to make a profit off this stuff, however, it is becoming a financial burden now. Now, the thing here is.. this stuff has potential. The website I own, is a VERY popular one and highly renowned/known for offering quality service ever since it started. It was featured on various very high ranking technology blogs and given featured links, etc. So, all in all, traffic is consistent, and requires almost NO expenses for advertising. Word of mouth and organic traffic makes up for all the traffic it gets each month. Though the traffic has been down each month, because the system has been temporarily closed off (allowing no new registrations since server cannot support additional users). I am not sure, but I believe an enterprising individual could/might be able to turn this loss making site into a profit based one by advertising various services or encouraging members to participate in CPA based offers, etc. Should I sell it? Or should I give it away to someone who has the finance to maintain it? Since I don't want it to die... I want it to continue if possible.. What should I do? EDIT: Forgot, URL to the website is http://www.rsurl.info/?FpATO Code (markup):
Whatever you do don't give it away for free. At least sell it for a decent price to get back what you lost. And if you do decide to sell it entrust it to someone who can provide the top quality service that you have!
I would slap on zango junkware. if you're running at that much of a loss, you'll either A. Make a lot more money or B. get rid of some users until you can come up with a more reasonable plan. I wouldn't suggest that as an ultimate plan but it should work until you find another way to increase revenue or lower costs.
Do you really think someone would purchase a loss making service/website? I am not sure about it. Well, I'll pm you shortly. Zango is what I hate. Specially for a website like that. The community is well known. I know almost all the members and trust them. Putting on zango is like suicide for this website.
What's with the planetwarez I didn't type that ... Anyway even though it is at loss it doesn't mean that a new owner who has skills in making money will produce the same results, so it's just an option ...
Ouch. I guess I must have been typing the password in the post, when I was supposed to do it in the Rar Archive. Edited that. I'll try to do something about it though. Since I cannot bear the financial burden anymore but then, I don't want to see it close down too. I guess the best buyer for this site would be someone with a network of websites. Could add this one to their network. They might be able to get rid of the server expense that way. I guess?
My kinda webmaster!! I would never subject my website viewers to such crap! I dont know how any honest webmaster could... If your allready loosing money open it up to non paying people to get more members/leechers/traffic, then put adbrite or some other form of advertising on it. Im sure you could sell links to it on here, if your like me you prob have a rapidshare account getting lots of points everyday, start selling the 30+ days on your site too at a hefty discount. Find a cheaper host, there are tons of them out there that run like 5 bucks a month and are reliable. Thats what I would do with it for now... Hope you work something out. Good Luck
Sure. Just post your email here and I'll send you the website link Zango's out. So are the other PPI. They just suck! Ok. First off, there are NO paying members. The nature of the service is such that no one would pay. People come here because they cannot buy an account or don't want to buy one, so asking for payments/donations is plain pointless. I could make it public. I know that I'd get crazy traffic on it that way, but Adbrite would still suck for it. Some other program might be better. Link selling could be good. I'll consider that. Apparently, I am slightly different from you, because I do have the rapidshare account, but not the points racking up. Perhaps you could point me in a direction? I've been trying to post HD movies and stuff, but can't seem to generate enough points. I guess I am doing something wrong? Host.. well. I had a VPS that cost $24 a month. However, I HAD to upgrade it because it was too 'low' for the current state. The VPS I have now, costs $64 a month. All in all, the only option I've got is opening this stuff to public, and killing the private area/membership. That'll probably cause the Alexa ranking to go back to 40-50k (which is good) and allow me to sell 4-6 links/banners and try to cover up atleast the cost of the server Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated and also would appreciate if you could PM me or post here with some pointers on how you generate those Rapidshare Points
If traffic is consistent and sufficient try with affiliate programs. Put up some affiliate links and sign up with clickbank and some other affiliate programs. Test with different products/programs like health,fitness,dating etc.,
Clickbank and Commission Junction is out too. Since both of them do not support the country I am in. Again, I doubt the users would buy anything, since they come to the site looking for free service. I don't expect them to pay when their sole reason is to get their stuff for free!
You can go into some form of partnership,and profit sharing, allow someone to work on it and you can split at some point.
Profit sharing? More like, loss sharing I'd rather sell it to someone who can finance it, and help them maintain the server and operation side of the website. The owner can keep 100% profits if any are generated, or cover up the loss.
Well for my rapidshare account I only upload vids that are less than 100 mb. You get the points from the free users and most of them dont wanna download more than one file at a time since they are limited on downloads. I used to post a bunch, but now people have found my old posts and repost other places, so they do the work for me now. I dont suggest doing HD movies, yea they are great for us with paid accounts, but not for the free ones. You can also get some free ebooks with resale rights and give them away free with rapidshare and post them in the free section here. As for the private area, can you make a public part that is semi restricted? I am not quite sure how yours is set up. I read your "closing" thread and saw you had 4 pages of posts on there... It seems if maybe you put a donate button and each person pays a buck a month?? I dont know how many will, but it might be worth a shot. I noticed you have no ads at all on your forum or blog? Why is this? Or am I missing something?