Would you pay a membership fee here?

GramaNewYork

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 9:40 am

Daisy...or we could have tiers where others would not know which tier we were on...the perks would be behind the scenes, for example, the ability to keep notes or a journal or accumulate recipes or whatever. Then nobody would know what tier anyone else was and our communication with each other wouldn't change due to whether we pay or not.

red sea

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 9:58 am

GramaNewYork wrote:

I think thats a great idea grama

Basya

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 10:09 am

I think a great perk would be- if it's at all possible- to be able to save the "posts since last visit" somehow. lots of times I just want to pop in and out of the site, but when I have more time I like browsing through the posts that were made after the last time I was on for a while. but if I just pop in- I lose record of all those posts- am I making any sense???

I really like the collect-a-thon idea - or a chinese auction- alot of radio stations do the collect- a-thon idea - usage will be none or limited till until the amount needed to run the site is collected.

However, I dont think it is fair to expect a yearly salary off of this site.

Yael

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 10:18 am

Thank you everyone for your suggestions, and for trying to help out.

I understand the points that everyone here is making about membership fees.
I will not charge a mandatory membership fee, b/c #1 some couldnt afford it, #2 some cannot pay it without an international credit card, #3 I wouldnt want the dynamics of the site to change. #4 its not necessary.
as for something optional, we 'll see.
So thank you for all the discussion.
as for my husband quitting his job, he's not going to, and doesnt plan to any time in the near or distant future. Imamother doesnt need 10 hrs of work a day. though it does need about 2 hrs almost every day to run well.

The biggest issue here is finding ways to cut back the hours, so that he and I can have more relaxing time a day, in addition to regular housework, and job, and Imamother hrs. plus moving.

If the hrs we spent per day succeeded in getting us nice amounts of money in return, then it would be easier to say, even though I'm working hard and spending lots of time, thats ok, b/c at least we're making enough money to be worth it.

please remember that we spent thousands of hours building up imamother and changing it to be better long before we even saw one dollar of income. after working for so long completely for free, at this point its hard to volunteer more.
all we really need is enough of an income to make it worth our time. and enough encouragment to want to continue even when it gets rough.

Contacting advertisers, finding new advertisers, activating new members, and responding to pms and emails are what takes up the majority of our imamother hrs.
If someone could help with the advertisers and sponsors part of it, that would help. I would like to find out how to get a grant, b/c if we had a grant we could 1) use the money to make imamother better, and 2) get rid of all advertisers, and that would be a lot less headaches for us.
whats so hard about advertisers? well there are those who ask us how much it costs, and then send us the ad and the payment the next day, thats easy.
then there are the rest. the majority of the people we work with dont even know how to make an ad. they ask questions about how to do it, and can we do it for them, which we do sometimes. then they want to talk to me on the phone to get convinced why its worth their money to place an ad on imamother. then when they finally send us the ad, its the wrong size. then they dont know how to pay. whats paypal? I dont have an account with them. can you do it for me? so they need lots of patience and explaining. then some ask for a discount, while at the same time paying ten times our amount on some other website to advertise.
its just frustrating, and feels insulting when some of our advertisers are willing to pay 1000 a month on another website but wont continue to advertise with us after 2 months. as if we are so expensive right? Rolling Eyes

we need serious advertisers. big companies who know what they are doing. people who understand that if you wont get a sale the first month, or two or three, and if you want to be successful you've got to stay with us long term. b/c how often do women order things online anyway? they've got to still be there when a woman finally needs something.

oh yeah and the two hrs a day does not include extras like improving imamother, and adding features. or upgrading the backend of it to keep it secure from hackers. or finding out how to get a grant, or finding sponsors.

LisaS

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 10:26 am

The magazine Natural Jewish Parenting was close to closing for lack of funds and the editor came out with a whole campaign of things the readers can do to help keep it up. Some involve time, some money, basically give us some ideas of what we can do to help. Those of us who can afford the $18 annual membership will give that. Those who cannot will find another way to help.

I have to note that I did not read the whole thread so my apologies if I am repeating what someone else said.

withhumor

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 10:31 am

downsyndrome wrote:

Maybe one person can be hired for the $$$ that comes in from donations (???) to upkeep the site (withhumor??) and then Yael's husband can continue on his job to support his family, Yael can continue to have babies and change apartments Very Happy

and all will be happy?

and when will I find the time to have babies and change apartments...

withhumor

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 10:40 am

YAEL re – advertisers, I can totally take over that part. Having an informative page on your website does the trick. I too have people asking me meshuga questions all day and I made pages with help files, it’s all answered right there. No big deal. Also, I finally got set up to accept credit cards which tripled my business b”h because people were literarily banging my head against the wall for ‘what’s PayPal, how do I do it’. so I got set up for free, I pay $10 a month and then per swipe too. It’s still cheaper than paypal’s 3% if you do the math.

Anyway, it sounds like handling the ads is the biggest pain. Simple solution: offer one rate if they submit the art, double for the first month only, if you (me) does the art. Problem solved.

chocolate moose

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 10:49 am

Yael, what about some of us helping out? I'd volunteer some time!

Ruchel

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 10:52 am

Quote:

I go on lots of sites, and none of them are asking me to pay memberships. in fact, ive been to so many woman forums,jewish and non jewish and I was never asked to pay.

Same here.

And 50 dollars a year… come on!! It’s much too expensive for a membership!! Do you realize what it is?? Not to mention the standards of living aren’t as high as in America everywhere, I’m thinking of Israel for example, 50 dollars is a sum there! Some of my cousins gave me 100 dollars for my wedding, and it took 5 people to gather the money!!!
If people do pay 50 dollars, they will SURE want more than a say in how things work, and it may turn sour.

Ruchel

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 10:53 am

Oooops, didn't see Yael's message!

withhumor

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 10:57 am

chocolate moose wrote:

Yael, what about some of us helping out? I'd volunteer some time!

I think CM would be great for doing the money. I’m terrible with math. And then she can give the speech about ‘if you submit the art as per specification of this and this webpage, then it’s this price. If we do it for you, it’s a one-time fee of blah blah.

Mitzvahmom

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 11:01 am

so those that can afford use the donate button!

downsyndrome

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 11:43 am

Oh Yael, I can so sympathize with you. Your description of your challenges was a twin to what I go through in publishing my magazine. It's sheer hell to deal with advertisers and it takes the whole flavor out of the project.
Please count on me for either a decent membership fee or an annual donation. I will rather fast for a day and support you, than enjoy your site and haggle about money.

BTW stillmom, the terminology that you quoted me as using did not necessarily refer to people on this site, but rather to attitudes.

Hashem_Yaazor

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 12:02 pm

As someone who works in the website hosting business, I'll explain why it costs money, even if it doesn't for your husband, Defy.

Buying a domain name -- few dollars. Done.
Monthly website hosting -- anywhere from free to 20 dollars.
Software -- can be free (phpBB is), but custom building either involves time (which could be used making money in a job), or hiring someone to do that. If your husband's site doesn't have much tweaking, then he's saving $. But this site is more complicated -- for security reasons, many member requests for hidden forums, advertisements, etc. Still, I think a lot of this can be handed off. WH honed in on a point I brought up in a different thread: get more volunteers to take over tasks. Have a fundraiser to recruit people who want ads (actually I know a Jewish media place that does the ads for many, many websites, and they might be a good contact), have some programmers willing to do programming (there IS a tremendous risk and gamble with this though), have more moderators and admins to fulfill requests like adding people to hidden forums, etc.
An additional cost is that this site has its own server since it has a lot of traffic. A server adds on a much bigger monthly fee than a regular website.

How much $$ can we make off the imamother cookbook?

chocolate moose

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 12:20 pm

HY, I don't think any ONE of these suggestions would be enough for Yael/Imamother. That's whyI suggested:

more of us helping out, timewise
donations
chinese auction - $$$$$
cookbook sale

Hashem_Yaazor

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 12:55 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

HY, I don't think any ONE of these suggestions would be enough for Yael/Imamother. That's whyI suggested:

more of us helping out, timewise
donations
chinese auction - $$$$$
cookbook sale

Yup I agree with the volunteer aspect, as I've said in a couple threads now.
Donations -- yes, but that's not a new thing. Perhaps Yael can send an email to us to remind us to use that button Smile

Chinese Auction -- I don't know how easy it is to pull off with such a limited amount of people.
Cookbook -- see my post above Smile

withhumor

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 1:02 pm

I’ve mentioned the recipe section which can serve the purpose of a cookbook. If it is done online, it is ten times more powerful since users can rate them and also comment on it. and then we can link the recipes to ‘recommended food products’ which manufacturers would be honored to pay for their mention. It all goes in circles and circles makes dollars and cents.

Yael, can a hidden forum be open only to people who pay? How about a few hidden forums like that? If someone badly wants to join it, they should donate some. If natural parenting costs $5 and I care much about the subject, I’d pay to be granted access, case closed.

redhot

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 3:10 pm

withhumor wrote:

I like those ideas!

- Also- Thank you Yael for explaining in depth the makings of Imamother each month. Your response was very informative and quite honestly made me more interested in donating money if I am ever able to.

chocolate moose

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 4:10 pm

the chinese auction CAN run until enough is met.

Hashem_Yaazor

Thu, Apr 19 2007, 4:22 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

the chinese auction CAN run until enough is met.

you tell ruthann in another thread that nechama's closet chinese auction is in a market flooded with auctions...what makes you think an imamother one will be successful?