What do you think? All comments welcome even the nasty ones!

[Debbie ITAccounting Online]

Re: free of charge? where's the revenue?

www.itaccounting.co.uk/ - registered 25 march 2000 - I think you need to become a member but not sure. (Debbie what's the deal with your company?)

It's a service we provide for registered clients, i.e. as part of the accounting package we provide.

ITAccounting Online - Truly Interactive Internet Accounting

[Stephen George]

Re: watering down promises ?

Mmmm you are quick. I don't store any of his files on my server. So I would never be able to delete his files.

However to answer your question.

I would not send messages demanding money because that would be rude. The deal is "You get helpful reminders, I get to send you reminders with adverts added onto the end of them".

regards

Stephen
www.redreminder.co.uk

[reynolds]

re

good idea, smart look

[Martin Underwood]

A few things stand out

1. On the one hand you state that the potential market is huge, up to 3 million businesses in the UK. However, you then go on to say that barriers to entry for potential competitors are high because "people are very,very loathed to give out their email addresses.".
Therefore, what conversion rate are you expecting, based on your knowledge that very few people will actually give out there email address?

2.You say it is costing you £130 per month to run. What constitutes this cost? Are you including the cost of your own time in maintaining it? Have you also included the upfront investment cost (the time it took you to build it in the first place)?

3. How much, truthfully, can you possibly get through advertising revenue, particularly in today's market where there is currently an advertising space surplus?

[Stephen George]

Re: A few things stand out

Martin

The bottom line is that this project is currently not paying for itself. But since I am still contracting on a part time basis this does not matter. I get a lot of pleasure out of creating the technology to keep it working. If in 40 years time I look back and the only thing the redreminder project has given to me is a show case for my prospective contracts and reminders to keep me out of trouble with the Inland Revenue then that will be enough.

regards

Stephen George
Webmaster of www.redreminder.co.uk

[Stephen George]

Re: A few things stand out

Martin

However to answer your questions

You said "what conversion rate are you expecting?"
To be honest martin I don't know. I just know there is a huge market out there and that I have to convince them to trust me with their email address.

You said "What constitutes this cost?"
The £130 cost is for Co-location of the server. It does not include the cost of the server, my time, training etc. If I included this at my contractor rates the bill would come to probably be £200,000 - £250,000 setup + £130 per month.

However, If my business bank account goes below £5,000 I will automatically fire myself and get a permie job. The business will keep going. £5000 / £130 per month = 3 years.

You said "How much, truthfully, can you possibly get through advertising revenue"
I don't know. But its going to be a lot of fun finding out.

regards

Stephen
www.redreminder.co.uk

[Debbie ITAccounting Online]

Re: A few things stand out

Good luck - hope it works for you.

[Stephen George]

Re: A few things stand out

Thanks for the comments.

Hope my site is of some use to you.

regards

Stephen
www.redreminder.co.uk

[reynolds]

Ads

Stephen, you probably have already found the best Ad banner sites, but these I use these and they work well:
www.tradedoubler.com
www.ukaffiliates.com

[Stephen George]

Re: Ads

Thanks for the advice reynolds. I currently use google to do my advertisement and sponsor the website www.taxfreedomday.co.uk.

So your help on advertisement is greatly appreciated.

regards

Stephen
www.redreminder.co.uk