I think the idea of a subscription shouldn't be off the table. IMHO, times have changed and paying for info on an "a la carte" style is much more common than even a few years ago. I pay for HULU, Disney, Netflix, Amazon and one podcast ....(probably a few more that I 've forgotten about)
Obviously I have no idea what kind of numbers you are crunching, but if you could get a small percentage of the regulars here to join in, I'd think it would take some pressure off at least.
You already have limited access to visitors vs registered users, so maybe there is another tier of subscribers?
Just a thought!
I think the idea of a subscription shouldn't be off the table. IMHO, times have changed and paying for info on an "a la carte" style is much more common than even a few years ago. I pay for HULU, Disney, Netflix, Amazon and one podcast ....(probably a few more that I 've forgotten about)
@andy-j How dare you come in here and make sense! LOL
Seriously though, I had not really looked at it from this perspective. My biggest fear for a paywall is that it could seriously slow down the number of posts, thus stifling the search indexing that brings so much traffic (more about that below). Now that you've got my gears turning, I find myself wondering if the "free plan" could just limit the number of posts per month, with the lowest (i.e. super cheap) paid tier allowing unlimited posts. Or something to that effect.
I'm still not sure how I feel about a full-on paywall. We've seen what it has done to POB Magazine and other entities. It didn't end well for them. I realize that SC is entirely different, but still, that's some scary stuff right there and it needs to be seriously considered.
With all of this in mind, I've been watching the site's analytics pretty closely since day one in 2010, but lately I've spent more time analyzing them. It's a good way to help me fully understand where the site is today, how it got here, and where it needs to go in the future. The number one source of traffic is "direct", meaning that you came directly here without a link or other type of referral. The number two source is search engines. But here's the kicker: 84% of all traffic is direct and about 15% is from search engines. The tiny remainder is mostly social media links, which doesn't amount to enough for me to care (which is why I removed most social stuff from here several months ago). Still, 15% of the traffic coming from searches is still significant -- I mean, that's about 15,000 unique visitors per month, so it's nothing to sneeze at. One other thing to consider is that most of our new users are from search engines, so we have to protect that, since that's where the most growth comes from.
Between your post and other previous posts, you've got me rethinking things a little bit. I don't want to be too hasty, but sometimes you just need a little push to see some things, right? This is EXACTLY why I start these topics, because I NEED your input and I appreciate it SO MUCH. I'll sleep on this a bit and continue to review the possibilities as I continue developing a plan for the future. 🙂
So, thanks everyone for the suggestions and insights. I couldn't do all this without you.
In a pay as you go mode of thinking I offer the following thought. The reward is obtained by the viewer. The poster is what makes the value exist.
Have a basic fee to be "connected" and a "viewer fee" with a monthly billing for views each month over some set number. This is for the strictly surveying categories only, of course. The more you read, the more you learn, thus, the larger value received. Finding a fair "viewer fee" and that maximum number of "free" views would be important. Processing thousands of payments per month might outweigh the extra cost charged to viewers if not set properly. People tend to understand user fees, so that part's easy. Collecting the fee must be easy and practically automatic. Perhaps it would be based on the number of times one accesses the site in a month's time, whether they stay on for five minutes or if they stay on for a few hours.
This place is easily worth a dollar a day to me.
For me, that value comes from the wide-ranging contributions from a wide range of folks, so I'm all for keeping the door as wide open as possible.
I can easily and would gladly justify the cost out my annual CPD budget.
But, please make it easy to pay as a single lump sum, not as a subscription.
A recurring charge on my credit card is not personally acceptable as such charges can be way too hard to cancel.
You could provide a means to enter a variable amount as a donation to the Beer-Leggers club.
The current size of the sum involved means a lifetime membership is out of reach.
While it is a million miles above my head and a million miles away from my realm, I'm also wondering what channels I can explore to influence where my employer chooses to place its advertising dollars.
Just my nzd$0.02
A recurring charge on my credit card is not personally acceptable as such charges can be way too hard to cancel.
It's super easy to manage your BeerLeggers Club subscription on your Dashboard. https://rpls.com/dashboard/ 🙂
You could provide a means to enter a variable amount as a donation to the Beer-Leggers club.
Great idea!
It's super easy to manage your BeerLeggers Club subscription on your Dashboard.
Perhaps,
But you have to know about it.
How would my 'executors, heirs and assigns' find that?
No, nope, No way - it aint going to happen (sorry)
Some of us have been here since the old (Mark Deal) rpls days and most of those are staring at retirement if not already done so. I do not like a subscription as it may inhibit some of the newcomers.
Good ideas being tossed around and some should stick. Hope something good comes out of this discussion.
Don’t know if this would be a good idea or bad idea, but maybe a subscription based service for projects postings to connect Surveyors with developers, realtors, etc. I’d imagine it would need to be more company to company interfacing rather than specific projects, but just a thought if you are thinking of trying g to bring money in from outside the Surveying industry.
@jimcox Jim, I absolutely agree with all that you said. I think Wendell should make the "Club" a bit more prominent and allow the user to determine the amount. Just like PBS has a suggested donation but no real rules. Let people chip in what and when they can. Do that for a while and see how it pans out. IMHO.
Something I've noticed over the past year or so is that a couple of Facebook groups have popped up that seem to be pulling a lot of traffic that might otherwise end up here. I used to see tons of posts here asking business, software, and equipment questions; now most of that ends up on Life of a Surveyor or The Field Crew over on FB. Not sure what triggered it but that's what I'm seeing.
Seems you either have to sell ads or sell access. I would pay a subscription for access, especially if it includes access to all of the years and years of bickering/exchange of knowledge.
I have to admit, I've been thinking a bit more serious about this lately. While working on the upgraded site, to make it better while still trying to at least make a buck or two, I find myself wondering about paid access. Perhaps a small monthly fee with a 30-day free trial. Current donors would be migrated to becoming paid members and I could offer a great deal for those who are already here. Maybe even a lifetime deal for the initial boost to cover development expenses and such.
My concern about paid access has always been about how it might shrink traffic. BUT -- if all the content was left available to the public (and search engines), it would still be readable by everyone. Paid members would be able to post and would have access to other great features. Another concern I've always worried about is the number of people that would actually be willing to pay to access. Well, honestly, I'm not sure it would take very many to make that a success. Anything over breaking even would be considered a success, IMHO.
Would there be less participation? Probably. But maybe that's okay if the site is paying for itself by way of membership fees. I wonder if it might even encourage more valuable posts and less fluff.
What if the site died? Well... quite frankly... maybe that's okay, too. But maybe it's worth trying.
The thing is, the social networking features are pretty amazing. Set aside the fact that it's called "social networking" and disassociate your brain from how Facebook works... I'm not Mark Zuckerberg nor do I have any desires to ever be like him. Anyway, you'll have the ability to create your own photo galleries, document lists, groups, events, and more. We'd have a real classifieds section. For the profile stuff, you can block/ignore other members, connect with one another, and use a more robust (and less confusing) private messaging system. And that's only the beginning of what we can do. Funny thing is, the cost to buy into that system is less than the standalone forum system we use now.
With the new system, I'd have the ability to build our own dedicated apps for iOS and Android, assuming the business model has been running for a while and proven itself. We could be proactive instead of reactive because hopefully the income would allow us to actually do that.
Many of you have been urging me for years to do something like this. I've always defended why I didn't want to go that direction, but I might be turning a corner here.... Not sure yet though, just throwing it all on the table to get your undying feedback. 🙂
Wendell, I think you might be pleasantly surprised at how many people would be willing to pay for this site!
Many of you have been urging me for years to do something like this.
Let’s Go !
(we get what we pay $ for)
