Hello Rob E -- I'd like to make another suggestion:
Instead of having a "Silver Membership" level, why don't you let people pick and choose the features they WANT to use, and then charge, say, $2.00 a month for those features with price breaks for buying chunks of time.
Here's how it would work:
When it gets right down to it, this site basically has nine features:
Features that could probably always be free:
-- Being able to see the galleries as thumbnails
-- Being able to READ the threads in the forums
Premium features that people would probably pay for:
-- Being able to see the galleries as LARGE pics
-- Being able to post your own pictures in the galleries
-- Being able to send and receive PMs
-- Being able to post replies in the "Large Penis Encounters" forums
-- Being able to post replies in the "Discussion" forums
-- Custom avatar
-- Support (name change, etc.)
Not everybody uses ALL the features, and people would probably prefer to be able to pick and choose features.
And then you have a package deal where they get everything for the Gold membership price as you already laid it out.
*** of course, if this would be a nightmare to program, then skip the idea!
In any case, if I were you I would also....
-- I got what you just posted about "addictive marketing" -- thanks very much for commenting. Yes there are pitfalls. No system is perfect, but it was LOSS of the big pics that kicked me up to getting the Gold membership. I was like, where did it go?!!! I wanna see the big pictures! Maybe give them 7 days run of the mill (with reduced pm/posting capability) and then pull the rug out from under them.
-- Allow people to easily UPGRADE their membership to Gold. In other words, if they bought a Silver Membership (or two-features) for three or six months, and within 45 days they said to themselves, you know, I might as well "go for the Gold", well let them apply what they already paid toward upgrading to a Gold membership. You could also program an email campaign that automatically sends at least three email alerts to people saying, Hey... your 45 days is coming up... do you wanna Go for the Gold?
Long term members:
Putting in a new payment system can sometimes alienate long term loyal members.
Because you do have a lot of long term members who have been enjoying a lot of functions pretty much for free, you COULD give long term and/or high post members a one-time-only price break and/or automatic Gold Status for "x" amount of time.
It's not going to hurt you financially right now as these people haven't been giving you money anyway.
No automatic membership upgrades:
But repeat memberships are a HUGE part of any online business's revenue stream, so I wouldn't do automatic memberships. People DO understand that it costs money to run a site, and they don't usually begrudge you that money.
Also, it might hurt your new memberships - people might hold back paying while they rack up postings. That would harm your finances AND the quality of postings in the forums.
Maybe a reduced price for repeat membership for high-post members.
(Sorry if I'm repeating myself -- I really want the site to do well!)
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