My business is FINALLY up and running!

**byzantium** · 01-20-2009 04:39 PM

Visit http://www.forinternetpeaceofmind.com/ and protect your teenagers from internet predators and the stupid things teens tend to put on their social networking pages that can come back to haunt them big time later in life. After 18 months my business is FINALLY ready to go. Wish me luck.

**Grandmarnier** · 01-20-2009 05:49 PM

Good luck to you.

I saw the site and thought it was a super good idea but the price seems a little high. Im a parent but I wouldnt spend that much.

Thats just me, but keep us informed of your progress.

**greggomatic76** · 01-20-2009 06:00 PM

Great idea...clever. However, I'm with grandmarnier, that is quite the chunk of change for the report. If it is worth that much, you probably need a lot more than a paragraph that talks about it. You'd need a sample report, charts, figures...details. Best of luck though! Keep us informed on how it goes.

**rob2009** · 01-20-2009 06:01 PM

Way too steep pricing.

Although, even if you get 1 or 2 bites with that..it will more than pay for the site and maybe capital for a more profitable venture...

**greggomatic76** · 01-20-2009 06:12 PM

rob2009, if he gets 2 bites...he won't need another venture! But yes, the pricing is too steep.

**peteyflow** · 01-20-2009 07:01 PM

i expected like <$100

**Mega B** · 01-20-2009 07:35 PM

The idea is very good and in theory it could do well BUT even in a good financial climate i would think you would struggle with that staggering price but i wish you well.

**byzantium** · 01-20-2009 08:34 PM

I was pricing it during that huge round of inflation we had in early-mid 2008. By the time the website was ready, the inflation had stopped. My original set price was around $300-$350. Still a little steep, but my goal is for parents to take this report seriously, and for them to be motivated to change their teen's behavior. With this sort of thing, a one time only customer is a good customer. $100 is way too low, IMO. If deflation really gets rolling, I may cut it to $250-$300 but I wouldn't go any lower unless a total monetary collapse happened. I will talk to my advisors and see if they support a price cut. If I get no bites, I will definitely go back to my designer and have him cut the prices. I know one guy said I should sell it for $30 which is totally ridiculous. As for my grading system, I wish to keep that proprietary. The report is pretty simple, the grade and various comments, nothing fancy.

**lechuga727** · 01-20-2009 10:50 PM

Originally Posted by byzantium

I was pricing it during that huge round of inflation we had in early-mid 2008. By the time the website was ready, the inflation had stopped. My original set price was around $300-$350. Still a little steep, but my goal is for parents to take this report seriously, and for them to be motivated to change their teen's behavior. With this sort of thing, a one time only customer is a good customer. $100 is way too low, IMO. If deflation really gets rolling, I may cut it to $250-$300 but I wouldn't go any lower unless a total monetary collapse happened. I will talk to my advisors and see if they support a price cut. If I get no bites, I will definitely go back to my designer and have him cut the prices. I know one guy said I should sell it for $30 which is totally ridiculous. As for my grading system, I wish to keep that proprietary. The report is pretty simple, the grade and various comments, nothing fancy.

To be honest, inflation really shouldn't have that drastic of a change in your prices. I don't see how you can say any price is ridiculous as there are no real comparables. That guy was probably saying what he would pay. I agree that you should lower the price as this seems perfect for a low price high volume business model. I would rather sell 100 a month at $30 each than 2 a month at $300.

**Grandmarnier** · 01-20-2009 11:06 PM

For something like that, $100 is reasonable. Im not sure exactly which social networking pages that you are targeting but I would assume that youre talking mainly about myspace and facebook. But as a parent, if I know my childs myspace username or email address, I could do that report myself.

The hard part of all of this is when the child lies about their age (which is EXTREMELY common), or if they have multiple pages, or if they set their profiles to private. This would make your job really difficult. But I guess thats what we pay for. But if I have to provide you with that information, i'll could check my childs site for free.

Im very interested though in how well your business will do at your current price vs a price reduction.

**Aletheides** · 01-21-2009 06:45 AM

If all you're giving is comments and a grade then I'm afraid its really overpriced considering a parent can do this kind of work themselves. $100 sounds fair to me.

**mthomas** · 01-21-2009 10:10 AM

Well, what do reports like these typically go for? If they usually run that expensive and generate decent sales, a cut may not be necessary. $400 certainly sounds expensive, but the figure is meaningless if we have no point of comparison.

Either way, I still think for that price (even if you cut it down to half), your home page and order page should do a little bit more to sell the product before the price is mentioned. The price is mentioned on the order page right away. If you do some research on landing page and copy writing, they usually suggest you save the price for last. They also suggest including some free bonuses to make the price seem more than worth.

**TheBigIdea** · 01-21-2009 11:29 AM

price point is wayyy over the mark. if you charge 10 bucks a report, parents would be flocking over, and you'd gain good rep if.

and if the reports are good, the same parents will come again after a month, bcos lots of shit happens in social networking in a month's time!

u can even do a subscription service, and vary price levels. like 6 months and they get a discount, etc.

i could work out the plan for u if u AIM me. at NO cost ( bcos, hey we're just helping others out)

**byzantium** · 01-21-2009 04:05 PM

First off, everybody might want to read Before You Quit Your Job by Robert Kiyosaki, in which he says not to fight for "the bargain basement", ie engage in a price war. In that book, he recounts the story of how he was told to price his Cashflow board game at $8.99, when each unit cost $35 to make. Instead, he priced it at $299 (IIRC) and presented it as a teaching tool. It sold.

Second, my web designer, who has 30 years of experience in marketing, told me to keep text to a minimum, that is why the text seems sparse. He says that people often try to "oversell" their product, and end up falling flat. I've always been a fan of short-and-to-the-point selling myself. Maybe I should make clear that my evaluators have experience that the average parent doesn't. One of my evaluators was an FBI agent; when Myspace came out many FBI agents were in a panic because they viewed it as a supermarket for perverts. Another evaluator is a San Francisco social worker with 20 years experience with troubled teens.

I have slashed my prices, it'll just take time to recode the page. I'm now pricing it at $295 and $375, with a 15% discount for first time clients. It still sounds like a lot to some. Since my designer is gonna be in there tinkering with the site anyway, I'll ask him about altering the text.