Is the price too low?
The goal is to drive more traffic to the website. Then, out of that traffic, have more people sign up for the subscription-based page. It’s just a single page, the current weekly horoscope.
One page isn’t as cool as breaking the signs down into a single sign per page, but think about that, multiplying the work by 12? Server load by 12? Chance of error by 12? Fewer fun links, too.
This problem was addressed in a conversation the other weekend, all about publishing. What it amounts to, though, this is basically nothing more than a web-based column. My scopes are too long for print. I’ve been in several newspapers, but that just doesn’t seem to last. I’m sort of a second string to another esteemed colleague.
So the question is, how to market the paid subscriptions?
The deal is, the sites I compete with, actually, I tend to believe we compliment each other, the big ones all have the backing of large enterprises. One is funded by huge publishing contract with a major tabloid, that website is merely an afterthought. Another is paid for by books, and I would hazard a professional guess that part of that site is funded by PR/advertising funds, again, from a major publisher. And my esteemed colleague, previously referenced? That is paid for by phone service.
But at six dollars per week or $14.95, or even $30 per month, I’m wondering maybe I shot too low? Did I price myself out? Is the price point too cheap?
I sampled, re-sampled, and tweaked that “skull and crossbones” image, trying to get the best take on it. I blew it up to a huge size and tried my hand at a pixel-by-pixel editing process. Which resulted in a sore wrist and a not-much-improved image. But I did get it processed down to an acceptable size for a web graphic, and I was going to plug in here. But I got thinking about that, and the second though was that an image from a church/mission in S. Texas might not translate well. That image is like the black backgrounds, embedded deeper in this site. Doesn’t work well, although, given my humor these days, I find it all strangely comforting.
