[goofy]

hi fellas
nice topic
even i was also thinking about the membership fees for the PG ites.but i dont thoink it is feasible at this point of time .also there are a lot of issues to be solved.
and for the exclusive content thing also i am not sure how far it will work.because we all depend here on sharing things,notes at al . and exclusive content ,what could be that exclusive content that can be charged as a premium service.i am not sure.
maybe donations are acceptable.there are a lot of people who get immensely benifited from our site.so donation may be a good option as there are ppl frpom all different sterams ,students,working ppl, (love struck )etc,etc.
another source of revenue could be ads from the very own coaching institutes.
(they have already started stripping our materials and also give proxy publicity).
again some kinda reference model can be made like if member of PG,then say they get a discount.etc.but that needs multiple tie ups with different institutes,and it can be feasible only when we have a large strength say some 15-20 thousand people.then we will have better bargaining power .
i think we should try to link up all the chains included right from the coaching institutes to the B schools itself.
we can also take advertisements from different insytitutes (B schools) may be in a different section sush as B schools ads etc
again the payment model i am yet to think on it,.taking the same issue forward we can also create city based advertisements like say bangalore chapter,etc.

again for all this we need to have sufficent numbers on our side say when 20 %of all MBA aspirants are on our site ,i think then no one can ignore on that.these issues were also discussed when PG was in bangalore ,so waiting for PGs responses.
for the membership model first we can try that for some other kind oif service,just testing waters.till then may be open the donation thread.

waiting for comments.
prithvi

[Psychodementia]

Having some facilities or services as paid won't work. Knowing junta, I bet that one guy will pay for the preferential services and fwd it to everyone else !! :P

More imporatantly, I think collecting moolah would defeat the whole purpose. I think there should be no intrusion on the community feeling.

Instead if we focus outside there will be a huge market to tap.

An idea which is floating in my mind (but I cannot crystallize the finer details) is that : Get the CL, IMS and other guys in and offer them some space. Like say a sticky thread. Where the faculties and other guys get to answer some questions on various topics. They would obviously "pay" for these services. One thing is that it should be non-competing. Which means, TIME cannot say anything "bad" about other instis. And they should be open for any open criticism coming in.

This way they would be able to exibhit their own competency, being pitted against some many students. And the students obviously get the benifit of those instis.

Potential problems that I can see at this point is :

a) The mgmt agreeing to get into the Pg forum (believe me at the instis all these are very touchy subjects). So an IMS would say it already has higher hits than PG and negate any proposals.

b) There would be too many khachara junta around. Infact its happening right now ! Euphemistically put, how many threads of CAT section vis-a-vis Chit-Chat section have started over the last 2 months ? (An obvious explanation to the anamoly is that its a cyclic thing and right now no one is in a "cat mode".....I hope its true)

Arun

[Prithvi]

hi Pg just being a lill curious about the www.neutralweb.com...do u own this company ? if so thn i guess u r job of hosting this site is really easy ......

luv
Prithvi

[MavericK]

Prithvi,
Could you please avoid using the Bold font ?
Thanks.

and ya PG owns NW

[lazyone]

Why does Google decide on the ads ??
Doesnt PG get autonomy for that ?

Push

[wizard]

Hmmm....
Let us see...I don't think the pay for membership scheme will really work. First of all, there are lots of members. Next, having reps for each place will be next to impossible simply because we do not know exactly how many people are in which place.There could be members all over the world because this really isn't a restricted forum u know

Even if we do say that members must pay a price, that would mean that all those who want to register will have to furnish details about where they live and I am quite sure that no one will want to do that, specially on the internet That would mean that PGs popularity will plummet. Even people who do want to register badly will be put off by the entry fee.

I know it is very unfair only for PG to foot the whole bills, but I honestly don't think a fee would help that much however minimal the amount may be. :wink:

[anastasia]

maybe CL, IMS, CF, TIME and other guys cud advertise on PG.com.......

the fact that quite a loooot of PGites have got final calls this year shud be reason enough for them to do so.....

[Jackal]

hmm interesting we cud think abt the donate part 4 now.. we cud transfer funds in2 PG's account or send a cheque or whtever... i think there will be lots of folks willin 2 donate...
and side by side we cud work on a strategy 2 raise funds PG.com cud sell merchantile like t-shirts, caps etc etc or thru ads i am sure somethin can b worked out...
wot say junta???

[arviyon]

hi

nice idea abt inviting the coaching institutes to the portal.
But why outright reject a fee based revenue model .here are my 2 paise ideas on such a model:
Given that the members consist of serious cat aspirants (say 4000 of the 6000 odd members),why not give them something which wld enhance their preparations.For eg.have small tests of 1/2 hour durations ,say five tests a month.The key things are ood qly of test and proper analysis of the performance.You cld price it pretty cheaply at rs.20 a month(thats the way u hv got u advertise,though u wld be collecting it as a lumpsum).Alternatively u can hv different schemes with the fee ranging from 20-100 pm.With the premium members hgetting more number of tests,more indepth analysis etc.to avoid many ppl using the same member login,there cld be a linit on the no. of times the test can be attempted.
Assuming an initial membership level of 500,revenues of 20000pm looks possible.Of course thats quite low,but remember the total no. of aspirants is 1.3 L and growing.If the no. of members can be expanded to 10000,then u r looking at a decent revenue figure.

the main advantage of a test scheme via internet is that it allows,mainly office goers to prepare during their free time during office hours-and they neednt pay for the net access!!

The second aspect wld be to expand the membership.I dont hv many concrete ideas abt it,but one way cld be to give incentives to current members to refer new members (say,ur fees wld be waived if u get in 10 members,free book on CAt if u get 5 and so on)

[manishp]

Well... I guess a combination of merchandise and paid content.. keeping the website generally free would be one way.

The paid content could be the analysis done by somany of the Pgite's in due course ... their experiences.. articles/books as to how to go bout preparation...n so on so forth.. ( We even have the somany books in the market.. we have to enter in the competition..)

The free discussion forums wud be useful in creating the brand PG and propogating it so that a merchandise can be prepared...

The merchandise could include as suggested T-shirts, caps, badges ,
cards ( created by the various NGO ).. , products from the NGO's.. ( indicating our social affiliations and bent of mind )

Once we have da brand PG among the most recalled onz in the bschooling arena..the merchandise n content can take of the hosting and maintenance part...!

manishp..
~