Dear all,
2006 is almost at an end and as usual for me it is time to think about what has happened and why I have made certain choices for www.smallbizserver.net. The end of a year is also a good time to share some of my thoughts for 2007 with you.
Beginning March 2006 the site turned into a subscriber site. This meant that users had to pay a small amount to get access to valuable content on the site. In the early days I received a few negative comments about this, but users soon began to understand that it is impossible to keep a site like www.smallbizserver.net for free. As with any top site that achieves the kind of success that we have enjoyed, expenses also grow. Dozens of gigabytes of bandwidth per day, multiple servers, legal and business expenses have all grown dramatically in the last year on account of what I can only describe as just plain awesome growth.
The choice for a subscription-based site was made after a lot of thought. Some users asked me to make certain documents available on an individual basis for a small fee but that give rise to a tremendous amount of administration. Besides that, I believe that any Small Business Server consultant will certainly benefit a lot more from a continuous ‘stream’ of writing and unlimited access for a limited amount of time.
The best way to sum up "why" I went to a subscription model is:
"A subscription model may be beneficial for the customer if it forces the supplier to improve its product."
"According to this idea, a psychological phenomenon may occur when a customer renews a subscription, which may not occur during a one-time transaction: if the buyer is not satisfied with the service, he/she can simply leave the subscription to expire and find another seller."
"This is in contrast to many one-time transactions, when customers are forced to make significant commitments through high prices. Some feel that historically, the "one-time-purchase" model does not give sellers incentive to maintain relationships with their customers (after all, why should they care once they've received their money?). Some who favor a subscription model for documentation do so because it may change this situation."
The subscription model currently used on www.smallbizserver.net keeps me alert/on my toes and forces me to constantly write new content on popular or puzzling Small Business Server issues. Since March 2006 I have written more than 170 articles with a total of almost 1,000 pages.
This will continue in 2007 and I hope you will join me as a member on www.smallbizserver.net. We are looking forward to a new version of Small Business Server and hopefully this will be released at the end of 2007. I think that by the time I write next year's version of this email message we will all be very busy working on the new version of Small Business Server.
Well, that is all I wanted to write about. I hope your ‘2006’ was as good as mine. I had a great time writing all the articles for you and I am looking forward to 2007!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for you and your family,
Yours sincerely
Mariette Knap
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