Ive had 1,000 registered members join my site since i launched in July. should i charge?

10 replies
Im running a dating website. Its finally starting to take off. I have a constant flow of users. Im just wondering if i should concentrate on building more traffic and post ads. Or should i charge a membership fee? I have 1,000 members. And growing more everyday. What would you do if you were running a dating site?
#charge #join #july #launched #members #registered #site
  • Profile picture of the author fated82
    Have a freemium model.

    Give certain content for free and charge monthly premium for higher quality content.

    You can also provide videos, transcripts for the premium users.

    This way, you still attract users to register for free but make money on the backend selling premium membership
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  • Profile picture of the author Ricardo Furtado
    First, I would try to devise a way in which you can actually make money from such a site. There are many such sites and people just sign up for free. So, if you want to run a business from that site and earn a monthly income, you need to have a business model in place. You could have 10,000 registered users, but what good are they going to be, if you are not going to make money?

    All the best. Regards
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    Ricardo Furtado

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    • Profile picture of the author coffeeguy
      Originally Posted by Ricardo Furtado View Post

      First, I would try to devise a way in which you can actually make money from such a site. There are many such sites and people just sign up for free. So, if you want to run a business from that site and earn a monthly income, you need to have a business model in place. You could have 10,000 registered users, but what good are they going to be, if you are not going to make money?

      All the best. Regards
      I understand that, i guess i shouldve headlined this. The best beneficial way to monetize within this niche witbout lising the crowd
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  • Profile picture of the author aaaa33030
    If I had a dating site I would have charged a membership or some other kind of fee from the beginning.

    What good is it to have a website (that wasn't free to build) if you're not going to profit from it.

    Since there are already 1000 members you can monetize it by using ppc, ppv or add some affiliate banners.

    It is also not to late to put in place some kind of membership aspect where members have to pay to access certain features of your dating site.
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  • Profile picture of the author John J M
    What if you said it was moving to a subscription base of just $1/month. If say even 500 stay, that's $500 per month for you minus a little for transaction fees.

    That being said, if these people can just go to other free sites, I'd figure out either what makes premium sites premium or I'd monetize the members by offers on the backend - offers related to dating. Use affiliate products or make your own.
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    • Profile picture of the author coffeeguy
      Originally Posted by John J Rivers View Post

      What if you said it was moving to a subscription base of just $1/month. If say even 500 stay, that's $500 per month for you minus a little for transaction fees.

      That being said, if these people can just go to other free sites, I'd figure out either what makes premium sites premium or I'd monetize the members by offers on the backend - offers related to dating. Use affiliate products or make your own.
      Yeah that's another anchor. With all of the other free sites out there they are targeted nationally for the most part, where my members are for the pacific northwest only. I guess I could put a few unique perks for premium members. Looks like I have some trial and error to do lol
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      • Profile picture of the author Chris Grable
        Originally Posted by coffeeguy View Post

        Yeah that's another anchor. With all of the other free sites out there they are targeted nationally for the most part, where my members are for the pacific northwest only. I guess I could put a few unique perks for premium members. Looks like I have some trial and error to do lol
        If your members are sufficiently well localized, you may want to try selling ad space to complimentary offline businesses.
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  • Profile picture of the author DubDubDubDot
    1,000 isn't enough to consider paid anything unless it's a fine niche dating site such as ex-amish in wheelchairs. Otherwise if you divide that random 1,000 across the whole country, there are so few people near one another that they probably stop coming to the site..... meaning there would be no reason to pay.

    You mentioned a membership fee. That business model is pretty much dead for most types of dating sites. Nowadays people are more willing to pay a nominal amount for added features. It's the app effect. They want something for free that is functional and then the ability to buy upgrades.


    edit: just saw your post that it's a regional site. If you are focused in on one city specifically then I would probably start developing some paid features.
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    • Profile picture of the author coffeeguy
      Originally Posted by DubDubDubDot View Post

      1,000 isn't enough to consider paid anything unless it's a fine niche dating site such as ex-amish in wheelchairs. Otherwise if you divide that random 1,000 across the whole country, there are so few people near one another that they probably stop coming to the site..... meaning there would be no reason to pay.

      You mentioned a membership fee. That business model is pretty much dead for most types of dating sites. Nowadays people are more willing to pay a nominal amount for added features. It's the app effect. They want something for free that is functional and then the ability to buy upgrades.


      edit: just saw your post that it's a regional site. If you are focused in on one city specifically then I would probably start developing some paid features.
      Yes it's local only. That was one turn off with other sites. People get messaged from users thousands of miles away where it's highly unlikely to build a relationship with. Yes people do it, but from a user stand point, It was annoying having people from africa, china etc messaging me. Although I was on these sites for pros and cons to build mine, I found it to be a drag seeing people messaging me from so far away.
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  • Profile picture of the author dulun
    i feel you need more times~
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