Monetizing/making 2+2 better

[BluffTHIS!]

All,

I think the easiest way to monetize 2+2 is to charge posters a fee for making each post. El D and MicroBob will then become huge profit centers for 2+2. Of course I won't be too far down the list either of posters padding Mason, David and Ray's pockets.

[edfurlong]

I think charging per word would be better.

[aheravi]

El D:

Rather than read the morning paper, I figured I'd throw in my $.02. I laud the 2p2 community that takes an interest in the long term health of the site.

However, suggestions like yours have been thrown around quite often around here, with a bit more discussion in the Elaine trainwreck thread (the one in ATF, not OOT). In that, Mason pretty explicitly stated throwing a bunch of $$ and effort into 2p2.com was not a priority.

I don't understand the web business and don't pretend to, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who was scratching his head when Mat stated above that the 'budget' for changes was closer to $10K than $1M. I'm guessing that basically allows for band-aid improvements.

To fully monetize this, 2p2 would need a beefed-up full-time staff AND the capital to sustain it until it became profitable. It's awesome that a lot of people are willing to volunteer time to "help," but in the long run, this will be more detrimental than beneficial. After a while, other priorities kick in, and volunteers can't help (job, family), so projects die on the vine.

A suggestion (based upon one of your comments above) would be for a group of 2p2ers to get together, develop a business plan, and offer investment capital (As you stated, a lot of young single males with a BUNCH of cash on hand reside at 2p2). If Mason doesn't want to invest his own cash, that's really the only other option. Obviously, a helluva a lot of research needs to go into the business plan, and we're talking significant investment on the part of people...having someone say "I'll chip in $300" is a waste of time. All the investment, of course, is predicated upon getting a healthy chunk of the improved profits.

Like other ventures, if it goes belly-up, well...welcome to the business world. I don't imagine 2p2 going away, but without a solid business plan, the improvements may not generate the returns expected.

I didn't intend to rip on Mat--if anything, he's in the worst possible position. Customers screaming they want more, the overlords don't want to pay for it, and he's caught in the middle.

If someone puts all this together, and Mason still says no, let it drop. It's a waste of time at that point.

[Razor]

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I think charging per word would be better.

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f tht chrg by ltr

[Evan]

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I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who was scratching his head when Mat stated above that the 'budget' for changes was closer to $10K than $1M.

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I think they could do a great to of good on this site without throwing a ton of money at the problem. Most of the suggestions here are pretty cheap to implement.

1) Host blogs
2) Host a hand converter
3) Host a database of converted hands
4) Give away some stuff for whatever

All of these are cheap.

Blogging software is free, so that's just an issue of hosting space. Hell, they could even use Blogger software and host it there while maintaining the twoplustwo url.

A hand converter would obviously require programming, but I'm sure they could arrange for it to be done free by willing posters since that's how it was done for such a long time. The space to host that program is negligible based on the estimated file sizes I've read.

An associated database would require some hosting space but it's just text, so the files are very small. The programming associated with actually saving hte converted hand files seems to be very basic and not something that would cost much to have developed, if that was even necessary.

Finally, creating some more goodwill and site loyalty by giving away books or whatever seems like a great deal. Don't use those crappy polos though.

Some of the other suggestions would requite a little more funding:

1) Alter search to avoid php and make RSS feeds available
2) Create a revenue sharing market place for videos, coaching, etc.

Both of these would require programming more complex than simple scripts to parse hand histories, but I think it would be a mischaracterization to call either "expensive" in the context of things. I was chatting with Diablo the other night and he mentioned a number (which I'll leave it up to him to share if he feels like it) that I felt was probably too high. To be clear, he knows a hell of a lot more about this than me. That being said, I think it's clear that at least some of these changes could be implemented for very little money, and those changes would provide significant improvements to the site.

I'm not sure what Mat's commitments outside of 2+2 are, but the first four ideas certainly seem like something that one guy could manage. The later two might require something along the lines of a consultant. Anyway, my point is just that I don't think the limiting factor here should be funding.

[imported_Chuck Weinstock]

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If instead, they always have to go through Chuck and have him make every minute change, it just takes a long time for every little thing and makes it a hassle.

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This is a non-issue. We've dealt with this issue before.

Chuck

[Botchman]

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However, suggestions like yours have been thrown around quite often around here, with a bit more discussion in the Elaine trainwreck thread (the one in ATF, not OOT). In that, Mason pretty explicitly stated throwing a bunch of $$ and effort into 2p2.com was not a priority.



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Thats exactly what I thought the problem was, they don't realize the money that the site can be generating, its not like they would be throwing the money away either, they would be getting it back 10 times. They should wake up and realize that the site is not that attractive at all and just a basic design change would probobly increase traffic quite a bit.

[El Diablo]

Botch, ah:

To be fair, they did do a redesign and add sweet wood paneling, yet a lot of people still complained. Some users are just always gonna whine no matter how awesome you make the site look.

[El Diablo]

a,

That 2+2 business plan creation contest is probably too out there to have a good chance of working, but it's definitely an innovative and interesting concept.

[aheravi]

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a,

That 2+2 business plan creation contest is probably too out there to have a good chance of working, but it's definitely an innovative and interesting concept.

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El d:

Ha. Didn’t really propose it as a business plan contest, just what I see as really the only ‘solution’ to really monetizing 2p2. And I want to differentiate between 'improving' and 'monetizing.' Monetizing would require improvement, but improvement does not necessarily create $$.

I’ve been involved in developing 2 BP's, neither of which was completed, since during the research/documentation the conclusion was made that the risk was too steep. Painful, and I'd recommend not taking this up unless serious about it. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Question: without development of lasting improvements, do you see an exodus of 2p2ers anywhere on the horizon? If not, what is the incentive to change things?