I run a social network and it’s doing pretty well with growth in the community. I’m now faced with… How will I make money so I can keep this up?
Charge advertisers or charge members?
I get so much ‘business advice’, but no one I speak to actually has experience in running a social community. I know my community has a lot of potential and I want to start making money on it so I can continue what I’m doing. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!
Can you explain a little more about your community? Is it niche focused? Is it used for general social activities, business networking, a community or something else?
It’s a community for ‘language exchanges’, so very targeted towards language learners- all over the world. <snip/>
I was planning on selling advertising to language schools and language learning programs to be listed in a Directory, PPC ads (that match up with each member, and possibly a deal of the day/week giving a language learning ‘deal’ specific only to those who match up to the language.
After receiving some advice yesterday… they basically told me it isn’t going to work and that I need to charge my members a fee. I need to figure out a business model that works to continue this project.
Thanks!
Language Learning is an extremely profitable business given the courses, software and 1:1 solutions, however I imagine your site is all about people learning directly.
It certainly makes sense to court products you feel are reputable and see if they can enter the picture in a brand advertising experience, perhaps put together some branded trials where users get free software / lessons in exchange for an open review which builds community awareness?
A pay for use model may also work if you can tier your offering to provide something free to everyone but more value for a low amount. This is of course difficult to add to an existing service and works best if you charge for new rather than trying to limit or cut what’s free now.
Thanks Ted,
Actually the community is just for practicing languages, not actually learning them. I promote choosing the method that is right for them through the website and blog so I’d left it a very open environment to introduce the ‘academic’ side of it… whether through classes, online program, software, private classes, books, etc.
I am adding some new features to the website: chat, forums, etc… so I could possibly charge for this for an extra membership along with affiliates, my own pay per click ads, and selling flat rate directory listings? That’s my best combination I can think of right now. Does that sound feasible?
When you think of what to charge for think of things that extend the functionality without hindering participation. If people want to chat they use the site more, stopping that is bad. On the other hand if they’re accessing guides they may be inclined to buy credits. If there is a mentoring option for teachers, there could be a pro account, etc.
Yes I agree. You can add more useful features and charge for them. You can set the price to be very low (e.g. $2.99/month) considering they are students.
How many visitors do your community site get? If it is more than expected, you can charge premium membership fee with extra advantages.
Someone else touched on this. You said your site is doing pretty well, what’s your definition of pretty well, exactly how much traffic are you getting? This will determine whether or not you can charge for advertising or charge a membership fee. Its easy to monetize your site if you have traffic, advertisers will want to be on your site.
As a user I would say that charging for membership would be a bad idea - after all advertisers will want to have as many impressions as possible!
I would charge advertisers instead of members. This is to make sure your members won’t run to another free social sites.
You could go both ways:
- charge advertisers for related ads
- keep free membership but add new premium features or privileges that can be subscribed to
it was not easy for me to use stumble upon. do you have any source of tutorial with this ?
thanks
I think you should keep the membership free, mostly when people see that there is a membership fee, it always makes them think twice, and you may lessen your clients. Instead of adding a Membership fee, you may ask payments on video downloads (related to whats your marketing) or other features.
I think it is always better to keep users free from any charges. In extreme cases it’s better to ask for donation by putting up PayPal Donate button. I would look for advertisers first.
I agree, much better to keep your site free. If you tend to charge your member they might leave your site and look
for another free site that related to your niche.
If you are able to sustain a reasonable advertising model, I always vote for those over membership models for most services.
Since you are already getting good business without membership, adding a membership can either decreases usage (if membership is required), or just be ignored by nearly everyone (if optional). An advertising model, especially from targeted advertisers (like Rosetta Stone) can be much more profitable if done right, without sacrificing your members.
If the OP hasn’t found an answer since last May, I imagine he never will.
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