[MojaCity]

I just started a website for the city of Toronto. We have a lot of restaurants on board as well as bars and clubs. When we first started we got a lot of people on board for free. But now every new restaurant that we take on pays a monthly fee.

The problem is that we want to go back to the restaurants, bars and clubs that we got on for free and we want to charge them that same monthly fee. But at the same time we don't want to scare them away.

Any Advice?

[tekmoney]

I think you're bound to lose some, but it depends on your strategy. One way to entice them is to tell them the amount of traffic the site is receiving or something... add value to the price. You can also offer them a discounted rate for the first few months since they're "already members."

[MojaCity]

Yea I guess we should probably wait and until we get a little more traffic before approaching them. Do you guys think buying traffic to get those numbers is a good idea?

[tekmoney]

If you're going to start charging for a free service then you need to add value to the price. I don't see any way around it unless they're all your friends

I'd like to hear other peoples ideas too though

[spyro]

Tekmonkey is right.

I think that if you are going to try and charge them for something they have been receiving for free then you have to show them how much you have already done to help their business. If you can't prove to them that it is worth it to stay on board the you will lose them. I would generate hard data to bring to the table when asking them to pay for your services.

Also, the buying traffic idea is terrible. You are basically falsifying data just to get them on board and then the traffic will drop of. Provide an honest, quality service.

[alchemist]

I think the best way is to offer something more to those that are paying (for example, placement in special rotor of featured restaurants, best parking, visitor comments, description of specialities etc) and then ask the free people if they would like to upgrade. As your site and service improves it will become a necessity for the free people to upgrade because their restaurant will get less attention than the paying customers.

[mcmannandtate]

Have you built the value? Does a link or text ad result in conversions and new business for your restaurants? As with any advertising, on or offline there has to be an ROI.

[akula]

Originally Posted by mcmannandtate

Have you built the value? Does a link or text ad result in conversions and new business for your restaurants? As with any advertising, on or offline there has to be an ROI.

very good point

goodwill is another reason shops buy these marketing things