------------- Continued from previous message ---------------
PART 11
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10.03 - Can I make money running a BBS?
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The BBS As A Profit Center
How To Successfully Run a BBS for Profit:
By S. Carol Allen
___________________________________________
Review by Dan D. Gutierrez, SYSOP, AMULET:vc BBS: A Collection of
Virtual Communities (specializing in Virtual Reality, Artificial Life,
Nanotechnology, Cyberpunk Lifestyles, Cyberspace). 310-453-7705
dataline.
As a Sysop who has been running boards since 1984, the idea
of charging for what in the past has been a labor of love, a
hobby, a way to communicate with my students at UCLA, and the
occasionally useful tool for my business, is new to me. The
realities of this economy, a mortgage, and the desire to excel in
virtual reality, have been the impetus for me to look around for
information about making my board self supporting. There is not
much out there that I could find and when I received a copy of
this book from the publisher, the title intrigued me -- How to
Successfully Run a BBS for Profit.
Being a skeptic by nature, I approached this new release in
my usual fashion. I read the foreword, checked out the table of
contents, then started to scan the chapters that most interested
me. I was instantly hooked. For me, chapters 8-10, Getting the
Word Out, Hooking Your Caller's Interest and Assuring Your Callers
Return, were exactly what I had been looking for. I read those
chapters then proceeded to read the entire thing (unusual for me).
When I finished, I couldn't wait to put several of the creative
and inexpensive marketing ideas to work.
As I assume is the case with most Sysops, when setting up my
board I concentrated on the technical needs of the board while
the marketing needs seemed unimportant. In my case, they were
also unknown. The author of this book obviously recognizes that
for most of us, marketing experience is not part of our past.
She tutors the reader, not with just an explanation or description
of what needs to be done, but with numerous worksheets and a
collection of sample marketing tools (press release, direct mail
letter to potential subscribers, a "report card" for user
feedback, etc.) that can easily be customized for any BBSes use.
Don't think that this book is just for the hobbyist turned
entrepreneur. Any individual or business that is running or
planning a BBS will benefit from the marketing secrets revealed
throughout this book. True, there is the basic business
information on putting together a business plan, determining
start-up costs and long term costs, and getting financing if you
need it. But, then there are the BBS focused tips on attracting
new callers, getting them to call back and to pay you top dollar,
collecting the fees by credit card (even if you don't presently
have a merchant account) and guaranteed ways to generate other
revenues besides subscription fees. There are phone numbers,
board numbers and addresses for a long list of BBS resources.
Some of the suggestions seemed pretty simple and were just
common sense, but I hadn't know about them so they gave me ideas
for my board. Other marketing avenues seemed too advanced for
me, but on the other hand, I can see myself growing into them. In
essence, the tools are laid out in the book, it's now up to me to
choose the timing and implementation.
For all of us, the timeliness of this book seems significant.
Although I found little information out there on making money with
my BBS, it's hard to read a magazine these days without seeing
references to the explosion of the BBS industry. With this book
has come the realization that a BBS can be a significant profit
center.
Not only does it contain the marketing tools described, it
also includes over $1,000 worth of money saving coupons from
vendors of products and services for Sysops. Also included with
the book is a disk with the full version of a DOS based decision
support program. It proved to be very useful and lots of fun
whenever I needed to choose between alternatives the book
recommended.
Here's a list of the Chapters from the book:
1) Winning in the 21st Century
2) Surveying the Marketplace
3) If You Fail to Plan Then Plan to Fail
4) Choosing the Theme of Your BBS
5) Value Adding Options For Your Customers
6) Pricing for Profits
7) Increasing Profits by Reducing Costs
8) Getting the Word Out
9) Hooking Your Caller's Interest
10) Assuring Your Callers Return
11) Collecting Your Money
12) Owning a Gold Mine
13) Growing and Expanding Successfully
14) Achieving Your Goals
Appendix A - BestChoice3 Documentation (software disk included)
Appendix B - Marketing Toolkit
Appendix C - Bibliography, Glossary and Quick Phone Directory
Appendix D - Coupons
Index
The publisher is so confident that a reader who applies the
techniques described in this book will be making profits within
90 days that they offer a 90 day money back guarantee for the
book. I would be surprised if they get many back. It's on my
reference shelf with a 5 star rating.
So, bottom line, this is probably the BEST investment you
can make for your BBS!
The book has 304 pages and costs $49.95. You can call the
publisher, InfoLink, to order this book by credit card (Visa/
Mastercard/AMEX) by calling toll free 800-776-3818 Ext. FG20 (US) or
619-228-9653 Ext. FG20 or Faxing an order to 1-619-369-1185. FAX
orders please include: "ATTN Dept. 254-FG20". Orders with checks can
be mailed to InfoLink, 56089 Twentynine Palms Highway, Suite 254-FG20,
Yucca Valley, CA 92284. $49.95 + $5.00 shipping and handling + California s
ales tax.
* Reprinted by permission of AMULET:VC BBS
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10.05 - Building your online commmunity.
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- This topic will be available in future versions of the BBS FAQ.
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10.06 - BOOKS & OTHER SOURCES FOR SYSOPS
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QUICK REFERENCE PHONE NUMBERS
-------------------------------------------------------------------
PRODUCT COMPANY BBS# VOICE
--------------------------------------------------------------------
DLX Baudtown 818-893-7600 818-894-4150
Excalibur Excalibur Comm. 918-496-8113 918-496-7881
Kitten Telpro Technol 804-442-5867 804-442-5865
Major BBS Galacticomm 305-321-2404 305-583-5990
Megahost ASCII Comp. 209-836-2402 ---
OPUS-CBCS -- 214-528-4943 214-528-4687
PcBoard Clark Dev. 801-261-8976 801-261-1686
Powerboard NUIQ Softw. 914-833-1479 914-833-3479
Proboard Proboard Intl. 612-537-8655 612-537-8655
Remote Access Wantree 913-441-0595 913-441-1336
RoboBoard F/X Hamilton Tele. 819-685-0994 800-363-7626
RY BBS The Ryco Co. 414-962-1097 414-962-5967
Spitfire BBS Buffalo Crk. So 515-225-8495 515-225-9552
Sapphire Pinnacle Softw. 514-345-8654 514-345-9578
Searchlight Searchlight Sw. 216-631-9285 800-780-5483
Synchronet Digital Dyn. 714-529-9547 714-529-6328
TBBS eSoft 303-699-8222 303-699-6565
TinyHost Bruce Krobusek 716-924-4193 716-924-8284
Virtual BBS Virtual Tech. 616-399-4818 210-787-2443
Wildcat! Mustang Soft. 805-395-0650 805-873-2500
WWIV WWIV Soft. Svcs 210-631-5841
- INTERNET USENET NEWSGROUPS
----------------------------
alt.bbs.allsysop
alt.bbs
alt.first-class First Class (Mac)
alt.bbs.majorbbs MajorBBS, Galacticomm Inc
alt.bbs.pcboard PCBoard
alt.pcbuucp PCBoard UUCP gateway
alt.bbs.unixbbs UnixBBS, Nervous XTC
alt.bbs.wildcat Wildcat!, Mustang Software
comp.bbs.misc
- BOOKS
--------
- The BBS Construction Kit
Author: David Wolfe
- Creating Successful Bulletin Board Systems
Author: Alan Bryant
- How To Successfully Run a BBS for Profit:
Author: S. Carol Allen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MODEMS
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
10.08 - Carrier Dedected
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Below is a list of companies which offer reduced prices for sysop's
when purchasing a modem for BBS's.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
VENDOR BBS# VOICE FAX
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AT&T Paradyne 813-532-5254 813-530-8276 813-530-2398
ATI Technologies 905-764-9404 905-882-2600 905-882-2620
Cardinal Technologies 717-293-3074 717-293-3000 717-293-3104
Computer Peripherals 805-499-9646 805-499-5751 805-498-8306
Digicom Systems 408-262-1412 408-262-1277 408-262-1390
Galaxy Networks No BBS 818-998-7851 818-998-1758
GVC Technologies 201-579-2380 201-579-3630 201-579-2702
Hayes Microcomputer 404-446-6336 404-840-9200 404-449-0087
Image Communications No BBS 201-935-8880 201-935-6548
Intel Corporation 503-645-6275 503-629-7000 503-228-8707
Microcom 617-255-1125 617-551-1000 617-551-1988
Multi-Tech Systems 612-785-9875 612-785-3500 612-785-9874
Practical Peripherals 805-496-4445 805-497-4774 805-374-7202
Supra Corporation 503-967-2444 503-967-2400 503-967-2401
Telebit corporation 408-745-3861 408-734-4333 408-734-3333
U.S Robotics 708-982-5092 708-982-5010 708-982-0823
Ven-Tel 408-922-0988 408-436-7400 408-436-7451
ZyXEL 714-693-0762 714-693-0904 714-693-0705
Zoom Telephonics 617-423-3733 617-423-1072 617-423-9231
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CD-ROMS
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10.08 - Takin' a spin through the CD-ROM showroom
------------------- End of The Official BBSFAQ ----------------------