Hi all - got a question for people who run or try to run membership sites. I am not talking about free to use forums etc here, but proper paid membership sites that focus on a coninuity model for recurring income. Did you include a forum? I am starting a couple of different membership models in the next few months (including what will be my 'beta' effort in my sig) but have just been watching a video by Ryan Weisz (is that his name? Something like that) who seems to be a big player in that industry and he mentioned in passing he doesn't advise a forum from the start I am sure he has his reasons, and I don't doubt they are valid (and God knows he knows more than me about this stuff), but I am trying to grasp the logic. Surely a place people come back to time and again, developed a relationship and a trust of is something that will lead to continual sign ups etc? It certainly will allow for a lot of social proof. So I want to know if anyone has tried a continuity/paid membership model and whether they included a forum as part of the packagae or not - and did it have free and paid sections, or just free sections?
No idea who Ryan Weisz is, but the reason he doesn't recommend forums from the beginning is because it can be difficult to get them going if you have no traffic (well, other than spammers) and you might as well wait for the traffic or else your forum will be a wasteland.
It all depends on the type of paid membership website you have. Let say for example, you are selling a product, you may need a forum just in case someone has questions. Otherwise, as BizDetail said, an empty forum just shows inactivity and may actually cause some of your members to leave. Just my few cents