EzBoard Community-Supported Communities Progress
From my in-box:

"It's now been nearly four weeks since the launch of ezboard version 6.0 and Community-Supported Communities. We wanted to update you on our progress, and let you know what to expect from us as a result. The good news is that in the first 26 days of CSC, we have signed up a total of 1,608 Community Supporters; our average is 62 a day. At this rate we will have 18,600 Community Supporters by year-end. The bad news is we are shooting for at least 100,000 Community Supporters - 333 a day - by year-end to maintain (not grow) our operation.

What does 100,000 Community Supporters really mean?

·There are over 3 million registered users of ezboard -- our goal represents less than 3% of total users
·We are currently registering over 15,000 new users a day, more lately with other community closures - our goal represents only 2% of new users.
·If this growth continues, by year end 100,000 Community Supporters will represent 1% of total users.

We are going to do four things immediately to help us reach this goal.

·First, we are introducing a new CSC Gold Community option. CSC Gold Communities will receive board-wide no ad service for all users, top search engine placement, and top priority for the Community Showcase. Pricing is based on your actual page views -- the vast majority of our communities can get this service for $30 for 6 months - an average of $5 a month. You can get more details about this new program on the Community tab in your Control Center.

·Second, we are upgrading the CSC Admin program to CSC Community. Benefits include limited advertising (top and bottom banners only and no popups), top search engine placement, and priority for the Community Showcase. And all for the same price of $15 for 6 months.

·Third, we're adding a credit card option for payment of all programs, in addition to PayPal and check/money order.

·Finally, we are going to introduce new forms of advertising and increase the amount on our free service, including popups. We know that these are unpopular - but we need to cover the cost of the free version. We also feel we have given you very cheap alternatives.

I'll keep you posted on our progress. As always, I am interested in your feedback. You can post in my forum, What's Coming Up at ezboard, at http://login.ezboard.com/fezboardfrm32."

Interesting to see them working with their users in order to reach sustainability (and turn enough of them into customers in the process).