Whither Indus Delta?
The website and newswire have been growing over the past 18 months. It's now reached ubiquity - I went to a CESI conference on Wednesday, and almost everyone there was a subscriber. And what they all asked me, immediately after saying they read it every week, was: 'So how does it make money?'
Well, the answer is that it doesn't, right now. I've started offering one advert a week in the newswire, but I'm going to have to offer some wider paid services to keep the site going past 2009. Here's your chance to tell me what paid services you'd be interested in over the coming months. I've put some suggestions in the comments to get you started, and I'm happy to discuss suggestions outside of the website. This discussion is really very important to the future direction and existence of Indus Delta as a way of sharing information in the industry, so please do respond.
Solution 1: Advertising
OK, so some more background on why the site is worth anything to anyone. There are over 400 organisations reading the site, with a total of over 1200 subscribers, typically from senior management or otherwise well-known in the welfare-to-work field. Unlike most newsletters and websites, they actually read this one, and find it relevant and informative.
This means that one route to sustainability lies in selling advertising space to appropriate suppliers. The obvious ones on this are job ads and event ads. The niche approach of the site makes it easy to ensure the advertising is relevant and useful for our readers. The impact of existing advertising on the site appears to be very high, relative to advertising through other sources. The question is, would you advertise through this site?
Solution 2: Web services
There are lots of things technology can make easier. Website looking a bit tired? We can build you a shiny, accessible new one, host it, maintain it and even provide content for you. A central base of case studies from providers across the sector? A tool to sort out the prime/subcontracting mess in FND2 and the new disability provision? We can do them too. But do you want it?
Other options
We're talking with a few organisations about building a partnership that extends beyond advertising to something more strategic. Then of course there's the deeply unappealing option of making the newswire paid access only. The final option I can think of is shutting down the newswire, but this is even more unappealing. I'm leaving this discussion up, so feel free to return to it over the next few weeks if you have any ideas. I'm confident that the site and the service will survive, but the shape of it remains to be determined, and your input will help to do just that.
Interested in the website product. Ours is a bit sketchy.
Jo
I might pay for the newswire - depends how much you charge. I can see why you don't want to do this though. Our own web site is good enough. We would be interested in advertising through the site, although only for the more senior positions given your viewing profile. As for the flexible new deal subcontracting tool, it sounds useful but you need to get everyone on board. ERSA maybe?
Yes, we'd pay to advertise events or consultancy services, maybe also to place an advert to look for partners in bidding. We wouldn't be advertising for jobs as we only operate in Norfolk/Suffolk.
I'd be more than happy to pay a subscription to access this resource. The website idea may be one that we can use as that is something I'll be looking at next year.
one thing you could do in the interim is ask for donations. it's a bit cheesy but will give you an idea of your committed users.
another is to run networking events and sell sponsorship of those events. sponsored emails. etc. but you need to know exactly who your users are before we would considering paying you for this stuff.
advertising events could also be good but could you maintain editorial freedom e.g. if a big event was known as a talking shop and waste of time (yes apparently some of them are!)?
could you bid for grants from Office of 3rd Sector or RDAs to support provider networks (building on your fnd dev work)? i looked into that last year but didn't have the time to do anything with it. that could be fairly lucrative with the need for prime contractors to engage with the 3rd sector.
Thanks for the feedback so far. Some quick responses on people's thoughts:
Jo & Sam - Glad to hear you're interested in the website idea. It makes sense to use some of the skills and technology we've been building up.
Holmwood - I'm in touch with ERSA but will have to see how that pans out. Re job ads, I'll give some providers a call in the New Year.
Julia - Glad to hear you'd be interested in events and consulting. Re job ads, I agree it wouldn't make sense for local delivery staff. The subscribers are mainly management level.
WakingDragon - Thanks for the suggestions. There's a fair amount for me to think through there. Re the event ads I see your point. It's also an issue with getting a press pass to events. The CESI event I went to last week was genuinely useful, but there are some over the past year that I've heard bad reports of, and I'll potentially have to remain silent on such issues if I continue with the events function.