State of the BeerLeg 2023
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)
