What would be the best procedure to deliver information to paying customers on a daily basis via a website? The information is somewhat time sensitive and subscribers can sign up for any pre-determined period..1 day, 1 week, 3 months etc. Accepting payment is not a problem. My problem concerns automating the procedure to where all I have to do is upload the daily content. Currently I manage all subscriber accounts manually as most of my customers are more of the long term type. I am slowly reaching a point where manual control is not feasible due to the increase of customers and the increased frequency of short term subscribers (this creates more work as they need to be taken off the distribution list more frequently). currently I maintain a database of e-mails and e-mail the content out. Is there a canned program I can use to do this or do I need to hire a programmer? Is it best to have all the content contained within the website or would it be better to maintain the e-mail distribution system?
I believe you can simply code to release articles on a time basis, say daily, or weekly. I know of no programs which could do it for you, but you can easily find a fixed price to have the code on DP.
OK, a 2nd question. Is it possible to allow customers access to the site after they have paid, say with a password? I am sure integrating passwords and lengths of subscription can/is being done. My question revolves around the expenses associated with this type of setup. Anybody have experience running a "pay-per-view" type site and be willing to give me a few pointers?
In my opinion, if you can afford it, go for a custom solution. You can get programmers from sites like rentacoder, scriptlance etc for that.