I had a thought (or a brain fart)

[loke693]

Hello everyone. I was thinking (and Serena yes it hurt) of a way that potentially could help the Charms potentially get more members and help the fans become bigger fans of the Charms. Something I thought about that might help is the following:

Currently, we as fans have three options of joining the Charms sites, one month membership, three month membership and six month memberships. What would happen if there was some slight modification to two of those membership opportunities. Or maybe we expand the membership options from three options to five options. The three current options would continue, but we would add two options which would tag along with the three month and six month memberships. If a fan purchased a three month membership, he would get three months membership, but he would have to choose to get three months of the same Charm, two months of one Charm and a month of another Charm or three one month memberships to three different Charms. And the same would apply for the six month memberships. The price would still be the same as it currently is for each option, but it would give us the fan the opportunity to potentially check out three or six different charms in a month thus spreading the love.

This might give a fan who has 3 to potentially 560 (plus the inactive Charms) favorite Charms the opportunity to support more for the same price he would support on Charm for. If there was a Charm that I wasn't sure about, would I risk the one month membership on her, probably not, but if there is one that I interested in and maybe two others that I have an interest in, I get the three month membership, check out all three, realize I appreciate all three and continue my membership to those sites.

I potentially see this as a "win-win-win" situation for all involved. I mean, we the fans get the opportunity to have more variety. When the fan has more variety, more Charms get members and SC still gets paid. I think there might be in increase in memberships purchased and maintained over a longer period (my opinion).

In the midst of all this, I had another thought (brain fart) and an option could also be to offer a lifetime membership option. Not sure how to price it or how to make it happen, but lets say I just love Charm X and I want to join her site, I can do a 6 month membership and then have to renew every six months. If I get a lifetime membership, I don't have to worry about renewing, SC gets its money, the Charm gets her money and if I check out the site for a year and never visit again, everyone got what they wanted. Not sure what the price point would/should be, but it could be a way for a fan to show appreciation to the charm (by purchasing a life membership). The only risk I can see with the life membership is if the Charm leaves SC. I would then recommend something to where if there is a time limit between the membership purchase and the departure of the Charm, some of that life membership goes to potentially another Charm (of the fans choice) or if its been a while and the Charm leaves, its a risk the fan took and it didn't pay off.

Just some thoughts and ideas. I'd love to hear what fans, Charms and SC staff think about this. SC is the decision maker on whatever happens, but maybe this could be an opportunity for the fans and the Charms to speak to the SC staff about what they might want and like.

Loke

[Alexus Lin SC1]

Lifetime membership, never work. Never know when a charm would be leaving and could leave
a month later.
Hugs

[SultrySerenaSC2]

Hello everyone. I was thinking (and Serena yes it hurt) of a way that potentially could help the Charms potentially get more members and help the fans become bigger fans of the Charms. Something I thought about that might help is the following:

Currently, we as fans have three options of joining the Charms sites, one month membership, three month membership and six month memberships. What would happen if there was some slight modification to two of those membership opportunities. Or maybe we expand the membership options from three options to five options. The three current options would continue, but we would add two options which would tag along with the three month and six month memberships. If a fan purchased a three month membership, he would get three months membership, but he would have to choose to get three months of the same Charm, two months of one Charm and a month of another Charm or three one month memberships to three different Charms. And the same would apply for the six month memberships. The price would still be the same as it currently is for each option, but it would give us the fan the opportunity to potentially check out three or six different charms in a month thus spreading the love.

This might give a fan who has 3 to potentially 560 (plus the inactive Charms) favorite Charms the opportunity to support more for the same price he would support on Charm for. If there was a Charm that I wasn't sure about, would I risk the one month membership on her, probably not, but if there is one that I interested in and maybe two others that I have an interest in, I get the three month membership, check out all three, realize I appreciate all three and continue my membership to those sites.

I potentially see this as a "win-win-win" situation for all involved. I mean, we the fans get the opportunity to have more variety. When the fan has more variety, more Charms get members and SC still gets paid. I think there might be in increase in memberships purchased and maintained over a longer period (my opinion).

In the midst of all this, I had another thought (brain fart) and an option could also be to offer a lifetime membership option. Not sure how to price it or how to make it happen, but lets say I just love Charm X and I want to join her site, I can do a 6 month membership and then have to renew every six months. If I get a lifetime membership, I don't have to worry about renewing, SC gets its money, the Charm gets her money and if I check out the site for a year and never visit again, everyone got what they wanted. Not sure what the price point would/should be, but it could be a way for a fan to show appreciation to the charm (by purchasing a life membership). The only risk I can see with the life membership is if the Charm leaves SC. I would then recommend something to where if there is a time limit between the membership purchase and the departure of the Charm, some of that life membership goes to potentially another Charm (of the fans choice) or if its been a while and the Charm leaves, its a risk the fan took and it didn't pay off.

Just some thoughts and ideas. I'd love to hear what fans, Charms and SC staff think about this. SC is the decision maker on whatever happens, but maybe this could be an opportunity for the fans and the Charms to speak to the SC staff about what they might want and like.

Loke

Hi Loke
Great idea for the fans, bad idea for the charms.......

And the same would apply for the six month memberships. The price would still be the same as it currently is for each option, but it would give us the fan the opportunity to potentially check out three or six different charms in a month thus spreading the love.

Currently, the three and six month memberships are already reduced priced. Now if you take a six month membership, divided it by six charms that's only $8.32 per charm which is further reduced by 50%, per the charm's agreement with Sc, leaving her $4.16 for a month's membership. Breaking it down further, imagine that same charm updates twice a week for 4 weeks. That's eight updates a month......leaving her a gross of .52 cents per update.
Considering the cost of camera equipment, lights, clothing, shoes,boots, etc etc etc,........well you get what I'm saying

Before the photo set page was disintegrated by a software blurp, the photosets could be purchased for $1.99 each. This gave the fans the opportunity to test drive different charms for very little money out of pocket to them. Once the new site goes live the photosets will be once again, offered for sale.

This might give a fan who has 3 to potentially 560 (plus the inactive Charms) favorite Charms the opportunity to support more for the same price he would support one Charm for.


There comes a point where it's not really "supporting" a charm.........and having a three month membership divided by three charms, and then again divided by 50% is quite a loss for each individual charm.

Lifetime memberships would never work. I don't think a price point could be reached that would be aggreable to all. I've been a charm for 10 years, so would I want a lifetime membership on my site? No. I wouldn't. It wouldn't be fair to me.
On the flip side, if someone paid a lifetime membership fee on a charm who quit after a few months, that wouldn't be fair to the member.

With all that said, thank you for trying to think of ways to improve SC for both the fans and charms
It's fans like you that make sc such an amazing place!

[MissAngeliqueSC3]

I have to agree with Serena, Loke. Honestly, I make FAR LESS on my site than I spend each month on clothing, makeup, hosiery, footwear, props, trips both near & far, plus all the time I put in working on my photos & videos as well as promoting myself on Twitter, here on the SC Fan Box, and anywhere else I can think of. As a matter of fact, I LOST a great deal of money last year on my site when I went to do my spreadsheets to file my taxes; comparing memberships versus money spent. And I haven't even mentioned all the time hubby puts into my site as well, shooting all the content and doing a majority of the editing. MANY of us pour our hearts and souls into our sites yet only make a few hundred dollars as it is. For heaven sakes, I did an update from my HOSPITAL BED even. That's how dedicated I am to my fans. But there comes a time when even doing what you love has to pan out moneywise. Especially in this economy.

I think it's great you're trying to come up with other options, hon. It's just really hard to work for nothing. Thank you though. At least you're trying and that means a lot.

Kisses & Licks,
Miss Angelique

[RopePhotog]

Loke, some thought provoking comments for sure but I do need to agree with Serena & Miss Angelique on this. While it has been over 9 years since I was on my side of the business with my sites, costs back then were high. The Internet and how images are shared has changed greatly since 2000 when I started. I was lucky enough to have a model & business partner built in but we still had costs. I can remember the days of shooting for 6 or 7 hours and then heading into my office to edit the images, design the site updates, load the updates to the site, and do it all over again. As Miss Angelique pointed out, there were costs for many things. We upgraded our digital cameras 3 times during our 5 year run, we purchased new computers, new web site & design software, monthly hosting costs, monthly billing costs, and of course the time we both committed to the business. When we decided to call it a career in mid 2005, looking at the spreadsheets we had been keeping just depressed me to no end. We had invested almost triple of what we had made. No regrets though, I had the time of my life doing what I did, just like most Charms do. They put everything they have into this and for most, they still lose at the end of the day.

Again, very good thoughts Loke but I just can't see it working to anyone's advantage, Charms or fans.