Got a Membership Site? How much did you spend on creating and developing it?

Cynthia Mosher · 02-25-2009, 10:13 AM

I've done a lot of reading here and paid for a few WSOs about membership site creation in general. But I'm finding myself conflicted about how far to go with creation of features I want to offer. My site is focused on a rather small sub-niche. My pre-launch signup consists of nothing more than an invite to sign up to be notified when I launch the site and to date I have about 2000 people on that list but that has taken many months to grow. I feel the interest is very strong but the expectations are high for features and functionality.

For example, one feature in particular - a menu planner - could be very simply created as static HTML pages at low cost. A more valuable feature would be to have a customized menu planner for members to pick and choose their meals and even individual foods in each meal and save that to their account. That would require custom coding and more money to develop. But it would, at least in my mind, bring much more desirable functionality for members and would increase the value of the membership - yes?

Among membership site owners/creators there seems to be a divide in opinion about how far to go when you first start out with the creation of a membership site. Some feel that you should keep it very simple and low cost until you get it going and see what sort of conversions you get and invest later in more features. What concerns me about that is that my 2000 people on my list now will be disappointed that it is not more feature and functionality rich and I may lose a good number of them from the start.

The other side seems to feel that you should be willing to invest in your site to create real value to offer. That makes sense to me but I'm still feeling very cautious about how much to spend and don't want to go too far. So my question is for those of you who have membership sites - approximately how much did you spend at the start to get your site ready?

Thanks to anyone willing to share.

LightHouse13 · 02-25-2009, 11:55 AM

Why spend so much money? use a OS system like socialengine.net (no affiliation) and get someone to skin it and customize it. No need to build ground up these days esp one something without a true value or return.

Cynthia Mosher · 02-25-2009, 12:01 PM

So you're saying don't spend money to develop any special features at the start? Offer the basics and only build it up later once it proves worthy?

What would you estimate it would cost to have someone skin and customize an OS system like socialengine.net? Just wanting to get an idea of what you consider to be "so much money." I guess that's what I'm hoping to hear from other membership site owners. What do they spend in getting their site ready to launch? I'm trying to keep it under a $1000 right now but maybe $1000 is bordering on too much?

I already have a membership script in place (not expensive) so the focus of my question for my own needs has to do with spending money to bring more personalized functionality to the site for members.

02-25-2009, 10:13 AM	#1
Cynthia Mosher Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: , , USA. Posts: 99 Thanks: 20 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Got a Membership Site? How much did you spend on creating and developing it? I've done a lot of reading here and paid for a few WSOs about membership site creation in general. But I'm finding myself conflicted about how far to go with creation of features I want to offer. My site is focused on a rather small sub-niche. My pre-launch signup consists of nothing more than an invite to sign up to be notified when I launch the site and to date I have about 2000 people on that list but that has taken many months to grow. I feel the interest is very strong but the expectations are high for features and functionality. For example, one feature in particular - a menu planner - could be very simply created as static HTML pages at low cost. A more valuable feature would be to have a customized menu planner for members to pick and choose their meals and even individual foods in each meal and save that to their account. That would require custom coding and more money to develop. But it would, at least in my mind, bring much more desirable functionality for members and would increase the value of the membership - yes? Among membership site owners/creators there seems to be a divide in opinion about how far to go when you first start out with the creation of a membership site. Some feel that you should keep it very simple and low cost until you get it going and see what sort of conversions you get and invest later in more features. What concerns me about that is that my 2000 people on my list now will be disappointed that it is not more feature and functionality rich and I may lose a good number of them from the start. The other side seems to feel that you should be willing to invest in your site to create real value to offer. That makes sense to me but I'm still feeling very cautious about how much to spend and don't want to go too far. So my question is for those of you who have membership sites - approximately how much did you spend at the start to get your site ready? Thanks to anyone willing to share.

02-25-2009, 11:55 AM	#2
LightHouse13 Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 31 Thanks: 4 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Got a Membership Site? How much did you spend on creating and developing it? Why spend so much money? use a OS system like socialengine.net (no affiliation) and get someone to skin it and customize it. No need to build ground up these days esp one something without a true value or return.

02-25-2009, 12:01 PM	#3
Cynthia Mosher Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: , , USA. Posts: 99 Thanks: 20 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Got a Membership Site? How much did you spend on creating and developing it? So you're saying don't spend money to develop any special features at the start? Offer the basics and only build it up later once it proves worthy? What would you estimate it would cost to have someone skin and customize an OS system like socialengine.net? Just wanting to get an idea of what you consider to be "so much money." I guess that's what I'm hoping to hear from other membership site owners. What do they spend in getting their site ready to launch? I'm trying to keep it under a $1000 right now but maybe $1000 is bordering on too much? I already have a membership script in place (not expensive) so the focus of my question for my own needs has to do with spending money to bring more personalized functionality to the site for members.