Membership fees in 2009: should you charge more or less?

[clickhappy]

I need advice Im ready to sign up with a payment processor and start charging.
But I dont know how much to charge.
These days will you make more money by charging a higher monthly fee, but less people will sign up?
Or charging a lower monthly fee, but more people will sign up?

Anyone want to share their experiences with this?

[AsianDivaGirlsWebDude]

If you want to make money, I think you should more or less charge...

ADG

[fris]

start to charge a fee for gfy posting

[Sly]

You'll need to figure that out on your own... everybody does something different and everybody has their own reasons for doing so. Make up a spreadsheet and start playing around with numbers... see how much money you have to make, how many sales you need to make to make that happen, etc. etc.

Seriously, get out a spreadsheet and it will open up your eyes.

[spacedog]

I say a little higher initially to speed up return on initial investments.

Also depends on how much content, exclusive or not, quality, etc..

Most of the huge sites charge average of $30 per month.. some more, several a bit less, like $24.95..

I see many doing $19.95 too..

Way too many variables to consider.. but you need to calculate what your cost is per member then decide what your rate is.

[tony286]

you also have to look at what others are charging in your niche? How unique is your site? Also look at the numbers as Sly spoke about and I think many dont do that and they should.

[Barefootsies]

Originally Posted by tony404

you also have to look at what others are charging in your niche? How unique is your site? Also look at the numbers as Sly spoke about and I think many dont do that and they should.

True dat.

A lot of factors go into your cost, or what you charge. We compete in niche, so it's harder to get quality foot worship, and foot fetish content. Many think they know foot fetish, but you want a REAL eye opener? Go to a foot fetish forum and READ the comments.

They name a lot of the BROS, their programs, or reference them and the fact they do not have a clue when shooting foot fetish content. They bitch about almost everything these so called BRO foot sites shoot, and what they do not like about them. By the time they are done, you have to concede they can't get mass appeal.

Niche is different than other porn. There are less customers, but they are more loyal, rebilling, and repeat business. Where mainstream porn, and the mentality, is all about getting them the ONE time, and raping them for all they are worth on a cross sale.

[Robbie]

If you're opening a site full of bought content then you would be better off with a lower asking price.

I get $34.99 all day long with claudia-marie.com and NO trial memberships. The only other pay option I have is a $74.99 for 3 months deal non-recurring.

But again, it all depends on what you're doing. If I opened up a generic site with content that I bought, I wouldn't dream of doing that kind of pricing. It would be much lower and there would be trial memberships, a lot of x-selling, etc.

[TidalWave]

more is better

[MaDalton]

it also depends on whether you want/need webmasters. i know people who have their own traffic and their own merchant account which costs them like 3%. they charge about $15 per month and are very succesfull. but when you have to give 15% to CCBill and 50% to the webmasters you better charge a bit more

[banglacash]

u should charge low because the competition is higher now with the economy and all...

[After Shock Media]

Originally Posted by banglacash

u should charge low because the competition is higher now with the economy and all...

Have you read the thread much?

I do niche myself on personal sites which has very little competition. It also has unique content. I also do not depend on affiliates. Yet I still charge a lot more than most do. When economy started to get a little weird and turn downhill, I did the opposite and raised prices. Did not hurt sales at all and looking over full stats after a period of time, sales have gone up a bit - especially conversions from the join page. I just seem to also get more freeloaders hitting galleries and watching videos on main page than before which I attribute to current traffic trends and not the price.