Re: Is the internet a "good" place to do business?

From: John Gaskill <jg_at_info-central-usa.com>
Date: Tue 04 Dec 2001 08:21:10 -0500

IVAN WELTMAN <ivan_at_tudogs.com> WROTE:

<SNIP>

>So look at the numbers. Say you deliver ten million
>impressions a month - already meaningless - so let's say the
>average user visits four pages, and you have 2.5 million
>daily unique visitors a month. Still not good enough,
>as some will come back more than once during the month. So
>lets reduce it to 2 million unique users a month, and reduce
>this to 1 million unique users during a year.
>
>If you sell CPM and average $0.50 over your total inventory
>of 10 million impressions a month, you'll gross $60,000 a
>year, and that wont keep you going for long!
>
>Now lets say you charge a modest $50 a year subscription fee,
>and only 1% of your 1 million annual unique users think it's
>worth it, you'll get $500,000 a year. These numbers, of
>course, are illustrative, but make the point.

A word of caution to content providers. In the world of
online subscriptions, a $50.00 annual subscription fee
is not "modest" when compared to what fifty bucks gets
you in the way of paper publications that interest you.

Before setting a price, survey your subscribers to learn
what paper periodicals they buy subscriptions to. Then
find out from the publications how much a regular
subscription costs and what percentage of their subs
are paying full rate.

When you know what they buy, aside from TV Guide,
you'll have an idea of what they might pay for what you
offer. If you generate a range of publications, bring
the bright light of comparison and ask yourself if your
publication offers the same editorial integrity that your
free subscribers actually pay for.

If you can honestly say that your publication stacks
up against your paid competition, set your price in
relation to known factors to increase your paid
subscription signup rate. Don't just pick a number out
of the air, or because "it sounds good."

Regards all,

John Gaskill
jg_at_Info-Central-USA.com
http://Info-Central-USA.com





Received on Tue Dec 04 2001 - 07:21:10 CST