Paid Membership Websites

Discussion in 'General Business' started by save-a-family, Aug 30, 2007.

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  1. #1
    Hello everybody,

    I am thinking of creating a paid membership website and I was wondering how many DPers own such sites.

    Do you have any experience with them? Do you know anybody who owns one? How profitable are they?

    Please share your experience and opinion about anything related to this kind of websites, including how you market them, how much time did it take you to make them profitable, how easy it is to retain your paid subscribers, and how many subscribers you have.

    Thanks,
    Mody
     
    save-a-family, Aug 30, 2007 IP
  2. jajed

    jajed Peon

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    #2
    I run a paid membership site (see 1st sig link).

    Profitable? That always depends on what market you aim at, how well you promote, the quality of your content, etc, etc, etc.

    One thing is for sure, it's a lot easier to keep a customer than to get a new one, so if you have a paid site, you have to find out what your customers like about it, and keep giving them more and more. Trying to get new customers by changing your content can drive current customers away.
     
    jajed, Aug 30, 2007 IP
  3. save-a-family

    save-a-family Peon

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    #3
    Thanks Jajed.

    I should have been more clear when I mentioned ''profitable.'' There surely are many variables, but I am asking about the experiences of people like you. So, how profitable has it been to you? How much time did it take you to get the word out and start getting subscribers? Do you have a decent subscriber base now?

    Only share if you care please. Do not answer if you do not want to. Good luck anyway. :)
     
    save-a-family, Aug 30, 2007 IP
  4. jajed

    jajed Peon

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    #4
    Well, like many other sites, mine started out as a hobby (not mine, my mother's), and it just kind of grew, until I thought we should go commercial. I don't know how long it would take from scratch, if you invest time/money into it. I've put about 2 years into it so far, but the site's been up for about 5.

    We currently have a decent subscriber base (sorry, can't be too specific), and yes, it's moderately profitable for us.

    I guess the only "real" advice I can give you is that you have to stick with it at the beginning, even if you're not making any money. That's probably why a lot of successful sites start out as hobbies, because you have to be willing to do a lot of work without any guarantee.
     
    jajed, Aug 30, 2007 IP
  5. ErikJ

    ErikJ Peon

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    #5
    I would say no matter how competiitve the market is, if you have a great marketing plan and a way to influence people in a better way then you can take the existing market over.

    I would look inti ways to promote the site first before designing it if no ones sees or hears about the site it could be the best in the world but no one will see it

    find ways to promote it and market it first

    here is a great guide in my sig if you want
     
    ErikJ, Aug 31, 2007 IP
  6. garazy

    garazy Peon

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    #6
    Hi,

    I run a paid membership site. Well, its free to sign up and when you get into it and find it useful (an important business rule) when you try to do certain actions you must 'upgrade' to a pro option, which has various pricing. Such as 1 month, 6 month and 12 month. I've give you the link but I don't have the privledges.

    This is a good way to ensure your customers are happy with what they are buying IMHO
     
    garazy, Aug 31, 2007 IP