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Using Free Groups and Forums to create a members site to sell a Service or product.

by dowsp
4 replies
Hi,

Is anyone familiar with Free Groups or Forums such as yahoo groups ?

I have an existing Yahoo group with a few hundred followers...

I set it up some years ago....and I made posts on my niche topic for some years..
but I had not made hardly any changes for some years.

I had considered eventually creating another similar yahoo group to offer another
paid service....or maybe even sell some info products.

I seem to recall some past yahoo groups that had been set up as either private groups or
that had payment or paypal buttons on them .. to take either payments for private group membership or to sell a product.

At the moment the yahoo group page that I have shows how many members there are and other members I think can see the list of the other members. Although I think that I can change that setting so only I can see the members list.

BUT it shows the number of how many members that there are.
I cannot find anyway to edit the settings to hide this ..unless I set the group to private..
but I think once you set it to private... you may not be able to reset it back as it was..
or this may apply when you initially set up a yahoo group and select the relevant related options.

but As a moderator of yahoo group... you can edit certain things..or alter certain settings.

As I have described ..I have built up a list of followers for a service I am considering charging for on a FREE yahoo group..that shows the amount of members. and at the present moment I have the group set for only me to be able to post messages.

I am doing this before I look to create a my own membership site as a way of testing things at no cost to me. and if I could do this on the likes of a yahoo group.. that may be ok for me.

A main reason why I am considering yahoo groups.. is that they also MAY be more secure..than me creating and hosting my own forum or membership site. As in the past when I created websites ...I ended up with being attacked with a very nasty virus that destroyed all my websites.
I have never recovered from that since. and I have not as yet found any way to find a way to avoid that ever happening again...without paying for some very special high cost hosting that claimed to be more secure... and I dont really trust wordpress sites.. as that may have been how I was initially attacked...

I am wanting to do some testing on another offer I am considering and want to send the existing members on my yahoo groups site who may be interested to another similar group or forum.... but do not want my existing client list to know how many other members may also sign up to enquire...

I think at one time you could edit or hide the number of members/list behind the scene as a moderator on another yahoo group..but that doesnt seem possible now.

I want to send a present list of my followers to some sort of same or similar FREE group or forum ..that does NOT list the details how many members or a list of the persons who may join.

Because I do not want the present members to know how many others may sign up... this is because I may not get many persons to sign up in the initial stages and it may put others off, if they look and see few others have signed up...

I think at one time you could hide the amount of members on groups and forums but most that I look at on some recent searching seem to all list how many persons have signed up or joined..

as I say this may not help me in my testing stage..

I have tried to ask my list to send me an email privately if they would be interested in another service that I am considering...but very few responded... but in the past I set up another similar group and 30 % did sign up.. but again they could see how many members were listed.

I wonder if anyone who may be familiar with such things could advise at all ?

thank you in advance.

PS...

On Warrior Forum.. it does show the number of members...and you can click on a link to
see a list of them.. as what I pasted in below..

But at one time I recall that there used to be a page or some part of a page that you
could scan and see ALL who were presently online..

It seems to no longer be visible... Does anyone know if this has now been removed ?


Currently Active Users: 8663 (961 members and 7702 guests)
View Who's Online
Most users ever online was 202,353, 1st January 2015 at 09:00 PM.
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Dowsp.
#create #forums #free #groups #members #product #sell #service #site
  • Profile picture of the author dowsp
    Upon a bit of further research, it seems that you cannot hide the number of members on a yahoo group.

    How to Set a Yahoo Group Page to Not Show the Number of Members | Chron.com

    I got this info after asking a well known guru.

    I had also questioned if he thought that the likes of a yahoo or Facebook groups maybe more secure than normal blogs or websites but he has not replied to this as yet....

    My Impression of such groups is that they can be like an already set up membership site. at least to be able to post ones content and build a list of followers / members who may be interested in ones niche or topic.....less the payment facilities....

    They are already set up, and save one time and effort in learning how to set up ones own membership site.. even if its just to test an idea first with little capital.

    Issues I have had in my past when setting up my own websites or blogs was that I was targeted by hackers and viruses that puts me off trying again with the same initial passionate commitment that I had at the start..


    I would welcome comments from anyone with such knowledge.

    Thank you.
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  • Profile picture of the author michaelswengel
    Wordpress is a very good platform, but you must secure it. Use something like Wishlist member. Those are made for what you want. I use a paid program to secure my sites from attack, and it works well.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      You may want to look into something like Facebook groups. I joined several Yahoo groups, but i haven't logged into any of them for several years. Sounds like your members are similar.
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    • Profile picture of the author dowsp
      Thanks for your comments on Wordpress and wishlist Michael.

      I am not sure though if you have actually used them in the past in setting up a membership site.

      It is interesting that you seem to indicate that you have found a Paid Program and that they secure your sites from Attack.


      Can I check if this was a actual membership program or are you just referring to general websites or blogs ?

      I was aware of some paid for membership sites that I suspect are very secure such as one I think called membergate. but if I recall it is very expensive. I think it used to be £ or $ 5000 .

      In fact upon relooking, it seems that they now run a monthly option to pay $197 a month to test out a idea..

      Maybe this could be something that I could consider to do 2 o 3 months of testing..

      and it may solve my problem...

      It may have been until I now see you have to pay for a minimum of 3 months..
      so thats a $600 layout..

      wouldn't be so bad if you could try it for just a month to try to cover the costs of getting 4 members that would cover the 1st months expense..

      but if you did not get it to work... then you had the option to cancel and just have lost one months $197 fee.

      or maybe there are some other similar cheaper altenatives that I have not as yet come across.

      MemberGate Pricing and Signup

      This $197 model let's you test out a topic and get paying subscribers on board. So for example, a $47 a month priced membership site would only need about 4 paying members or so to pay for the software.

      It has already been very popular in the limited testing we've done. Some clients immediately signed up for multiple sites at this rate.

      Please note that there is a 3 month minimum commitment at $197 and it is only available on new MemberGate sites.
      Originally Posted by michaelswengel View Post

      Wordpress is a very good platform, but you must secure it. Use something like Wishlist member. Those are made for what you want. I use a paid program to secure my sites from attack, and it works well.

      I note your Comments to suggest John.
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