To be Free or not to be Free

[Austalent]

Hi everyone, Ryan here, the founder and owner of Austalent.com.au.

Austalent is basically a website for musicians, models, actors, performers etc. It's like their very own online resume which will help them gain exposure and work in their industry. It is designed to be used for things like, bands wanting to find gigs at pubs, models for local shows, clowns for kids parties and the list goes on.

Austalent launched just over a week ago and as it's a new site, i've decided to make it free (for a limited time)to help fill the place up abit which will then attract more interest for others to join. After the free promo is done it will then cost as low as $10 for 3 months to join....at this stage.

Now what i've been thinking about and need advice on is, do I make a completely free package available indefinitely which would increase members and hits and then would hopefully entice advertises to place ads on my site, which would therefore see the site receive more revenue from the advertising and make up from not charging anything for the free membership. I feel as though there would be a fair amount of people not actually needing to use photos, videos and audio in their profile and this is what the free membership consists of, no content apart from details and profile pic. You'll see the free members on the site have actually got videos and what not on there, that's just as a bonus for joining pre launch.

Or alternately, do I keep the $10 membership and be concerned people aren't wanting to join because they need to go through the payment process and aren't interested in wanting to pay? Which would slow the growth of the site and wouldn't entice advertisers.

I'm really in two minds about this and as this is my first online business I don't really know what would be the best thing to do.

So to sum up, the choices are -
$10 Membership - Details and Profile pic only, slower sales, not as much interest for advertisers, but money coming in from customers that don't mind paying
or
Free Membership - Details and Profile pic only, increased members, increased hits, more interest from advertisers, but no money from customers.

Hopefully a little bit of that made some sense lol. I would really appreciate to hear what you all think.

[Austalent]

Also how much can be made from advertising on my site? Approx figures if anyone knows

[Austalent]

Anyone??

[Evan]

Hi Ryan,

I don't have enough experience to advise you.

One question: are you sticking to pop or are you also going to encompass classical, choral and early music. From your avatar it looks like pop only.

[Austalent]

Originally Posted by Evan

Hi Ryan,

I don't have enough experience to advise you.

One question: are you sticking to pop or are you also going to encompass classical, choral and early music. From your avatar it looks like pop only.

Hi Evan, nah it's everything mate. Any musicians, comedians, actors, models, clowns and the list goes on. Just trying to make it look exciting with that avatar lol

Well i've decided to go with having a free membership available indefinitely.
These are the positives I see from doing it -
* Because this membership consists of a profile photo and text only it doesn't cost the site anything to host their profile. Only cost I can see is from people viewing the profile, which wouldn't be much I don't think.
* Faster population growth
* More hits
* More interest for advertisers
* Ability to upgrade at anytime

There are a couple sites that are similar to mine and they also provide free package. I figured why would someone pay to be on my site when they can join the other site for free.

If anyone can see any problems from me doing this please speak up. I hope theres no major flaws in my logic

[Evan]

Thanks Ryan,

I've sent a link to your website.

[Austalent]

You've done a what what now?? lol