So I have a recipe membership program.. Recipes with Love I only had 1 paying member.. and today they just canceled.. The crapping thing is that I just emailed them saying they would be getting a free printed book with a bunch of extras. So my question is.. Should I lower the price? It's $15.95 rght now.. maybe that is too much. I can't afford to write recipes for free so I have to charge something. I mean I already have a free recipe site. I mean this is really crappy timing.. My husband just lost his job.. I work from home but I haven't had a sale in a few weeks.. We are already on our last leg.. Now this.. Any advice would be nice..
The problem is you are competing with larger sites with more recipes, more functionality (like reverse recipes where someone can enter ingredients they have, and it will tell them what they can make), and on top of it, they are already giving the recipes away for free (and making money on advertising instead). As with any membership site, you need to truly offer something unique if you want people to pay. Ask yourself the simple question... "Would I pay to be a member of this site?"
My site is unique.. For each week the members are given 5 recipes along with a shopping list and a shopping list price estimate. ( The site says all this information on it ) Those two elements are the main reasons I charge because it take a lot of time. I have been considering adding calorie information to each recipe just haven't found the right software. I'm just not sure if I can afford to reduce the price.. however I think if I did it might open the site to more members..
I decided after a long time of doing a bunch of math.. That I would lower to membership cost to $5.95.. I hope that this change of price will bring people on a budget to my site .. Crossing fingers like always..
Right now, this type of a service will not go well just because there is no real serious need for it. now create a membership site where you teach people how to do something extraordinary such as driving massive website traffic for free and they will come!
I take it you're not a parent? Because any busy mom or dad would love a program like mine. I started the program because I'm a mom and I know it helps when you have meals and shopping list and help when it comes to feeding a family. I think after the huge price change.. it may actually work well. People already buy my cookbook so why not the membership program.
I've seen a few takes on this business lately, ranging from websites to mailing lists to local businesses that actually deliver the ingredients needed for a week along with the recipes to peoples door. Two basic problems that immediately arise, as I see it, are: 1) People have urges - you may be about to finish work one day and think 'man, i'd love some spag bol today' but because you already have a weekly plan, you feel you can't. 2) Difference in tastes - this especially applies to families, whom you have said are one of your main markets. People, and certainly kids, have very varying tastes. As such, some families won't like more than perhaps 1 of the recipes you send out in one week. A couple of other issues sprung to mind as well, but as I have a fever at the moment they went straight out again. Anywho, it's a decent idea, but I wouldn't be surprised if it took a while to get going as your market, as I see it, is more limited than people often think. Best of luck, though! I hope everything sorts itself out for you and your husband!
I changed the price yesterday and I already got 2 new members.. So excited. The free members I have right now don't always follow the meals. However they use the recipes whenever they can. being able to try new things and learn how to make a veggie meat loaf or some spicy ginger chicken burgers allows their family to try new things while it still being veggie filled and super healthy. I started this program 9 months ago and it has been off and on. I never said that there are no draw backs.. in fact every business has a drawback.. that is just life. I know all the issue like people could have allergies ( I can't eat strawberries ) I understand it all... because I'M A COOKBOOK WRITER. I was asking for opinions for the program it self I was asking for pricing help and I'm done with my question. I answered it myself.
Terribly sorry for trying to give some insight into why it may be that people aren't jumping on the idea. If you can't handle constructive criticism, don't ask for advice. Some people, man.. But hey - congrats on the new members.
No offense, but just because you have 2 members (paying a total of $11.90 per month) doesn't mean you have figured it all out. It sounds like you're spending tons of time on this website, but it isn't a very efficient use of your time. Just for fun - how many free members do you have and what sort of traffic is the site getting at the moment?
I would toss some AdSense on it too... and maybe give away some recipes for free as a sample... show them *why* they should upgrade to premium membership. Right now it just seems people need to subscribe with blind faith it will be worth it... which is always going to be a tough sell.
I have three free members.. they won a 6 month membership when I had a giveaway to come up with a new word for casserole. My pagerank for that site is finally pr 1 and so far from nov 1st to today I have 212 unique visits. Writing recipes is my whole life. I do it all day long. How is my site not an efficient use of my time? On the site I even say there are like 5 free recipes that people can view.. and they can also sign up to be notified of new free recipes. So yeah I do give away free recipes. It would be crazy not to. I have tried to get approved for adsense 3 times and never was.. so no adsence for me. saying I'm wasting my time and my site isn't a good site.. isn't very nice nor is it constructive criticism
You know, I was going to ignore this post. But I thought you should know! I am a mother and of two. Taking this into consideration currently I support my whole family from my online efforts! A month ago I launched a site, membership to be more exact which is already a success! I only wanted to help with my advice...You can take it or leave it! As a person who works a lot...I would prefer someone show me how to make millions and hire a cook to plan my meals!
I don't know if your recipe writing makes you additional income (or how much), but making $12 a month on your website means that you aren't being paid very well for the amount of time you are spending on it (less than $1 per hour). You need to find a way to work more efficiently because your current plan doesn't seem to be bringing you very much in the way of returns even though you are putting plenty of time/effort into it.
I'm fighting a battle I can never win. I'm sorry if I put anyone down or anything. Thank you all for telling me that I am wasting my time doing something I love doing. I will find something I hate but will make money from and put it before every thing I do because you all say that writing recipes is a waste of time. Once again. Thank you.
You don't seem to understand. You're writing recipes full time and your website has 5 members total (2 paying members) bringing in a total of $12 per month. What do you want me to say? Congratulations? I'm trying to help you. I'm telling you that unless you make changes things wont get dramatically better. If you want to continue working hard for a couple bucks a month, go ahead. But if you make changes to your business plan you might be able to achieve more success. Or you can get offended and ignore our suggestions. Whatever.
Hi, Just a few things that i have seen when i clicked onto the site: 1. Your using wordpress and a very standard template, this makes the site look amateur so i suggest getting a better looking template. 2. Traffic seems to be low on the site, have you done any marketing work on the site? 3. You have it set to Paypal Subscribe, so the fact that they have cancelled the subscription might not be because they have left but they would rather pay monthly? 4. It looks like there is too much, in your face when you scroll down the page, you need to break it up with images and try to still to keyword rich text. Other than that, the food example you use are limited, why not give a page of dish titles that you will be offering rather than just 3 examples? Get their taste buds working overtime. I wish you luck on the site.
I don't have just two websites.. I have recipes with love and the slow cooker diva.. Then I have simple vocab lessons.net and simple math lessons.com then I have peekaboo smiles.com which sales a greeting card poem ebook then I have an ebook on gift basket business tips, I also have two online stores. Then have an off line gift basket business. You're trying to help me by saying that I need to use my time more efficiently. And how do you want me to do that? I don't write recipes full time. I'm a mom full time and rest is part time. It takes me 20 minutes to write 5 recipes along with shopping list. And it takes me 10 minutes to get an estimated shopping list total. That's only 30 minutes for 1 complete issue. Each email has 4 issues for a total of 2 hours of work for the whole month. When I say all day I mean like 4 to 6 hours at most each day and that is mostly jotting down recipe ideas. Every site starts small doesn't it.. Why can't I be happy with 2 members paying verse none. once again. Thank you for your advice.
I used wordpress because when I used a normal landing page it got hacked in like 10 minutes. Traffic is low because I haven't done too much in awhile. I have a magazine ad coming out in a few weeks. When I used a form to get the information people just filled out the form but never paid. Very stressful. The member canceled through paypal. I'll add more images and create a short list of recipes titles. Thank you for your advice.