A couple of days ago, I posted up our new Plus members-only tutorial, How to Make a Time Machine-like Icon. There is a long thread of comments going on there about why we are charging for the Plus membership. Since perhaps some of our readers feel this is unfair, I thought maybe I’d write out a bit why we do this to explain. Then maybe everyone will be happy … or at least not confused!
OK, so first of all in case you hadn’t realized, we have a Plus members section that we charge nine dollars a month for, where you get the sample PSD files for tutorials and occasional extra tutorials (about once every two weeks). And there are complaints about (a) why we charge for content and (b) why we need to post about it.
I can only assume that the complaints are mostly because of misunderstanding, so here’s a post explaining a bit about the site and how it’s run. I’ll try to keep it interesting, but can’t make any promises :-)
The Business of Starting Web Sites
To explain about why we have this system, I’ll begin by telling you a bit about me and Web sites.
You see I like starting Web sites—I *really* like starting Web sites :-)On my days off, I sit around thinking about new Web sites and ponder ideas for the current ones. I carry a little black book around with me everywhere, where I pour in ideas and calculations and estimates and logos and names. So a couple of years ago, along with a couple of other designers, I started a business to do it called Eden. And our business is going well, which is why I had the chance to start Psdtuts+!
But here’s the thing: if you start a Web site like this one, for example, you very quickly create a job for yourself to keep it going. Someone has to write the tutorials, someone has to put them up, someone has to maintain the site and the server and so on and so forth. And who’s going to do that? You!
But what if, like me, you *really* like making new Web sites?
How can you start more Web sites if you spend your whole time running the previous one? I’ll tell you what happens, you start to not maintain the old project, because now you have a fun, new project. Over time, updates slow down, maybe the quality drops, and it takes forever for new features to appear. And if you do it a few too many times, the sites may even die off.
It’s clear we’ve built a great product. The site is super popular. But right now, I spend most of my working week running it—chatting to writers, putting up and formatting posts, going through submissions, approving comments, working on features.
Although I enjoy this job, I can’t keep that up! Why? Because I want to start more sites. For starters, we could make a Flash tutorial site, or a CSS tutorial site, or all sorts of other tutorial sites, all showcasing amazing practioners, cool effects, and great communities—to say nothing of all the non-tutorial ideas I have!
The solution is to make Psdtuts+ a site that operates by itself, even when I’m not here. To do that, you need to have a system for how it all works. You need to have a business.
Why Psdtuts+ is different
One of the reasons I think Psdtuts+ is doing well is that we try to be very professional about it. This isn’t a hobby site, though Photoshop is my hobby. It’s not a creative outlet site that I maintain on weekends, though it is a creative outlet. And I’m not a junior writing to improve my own skills, even though they do improve by writing.
Psdtuts+ is a business.
Being a business is actually a really, really good thing. It means, for example, that we pay our writers fairly and we provide compensation for general contributions. It means we create posting schedules that are pretty consistent and are getting more so. It means that the server rarely, if ever goes down, even under sometimes tremendous load. And it means that even though the site generates literally terrabytes of bandwidth every month, you’ll never see a sudden "We ran out of bandwidth" notice.
It also means that, although the site has run for six months and hasn’t actually generated a profit yet, that we just absorb it in, and keep it running. This is possible because it’s a business.
And we’re only just getting started. Actually there’s still a lot of work to do to systematize the site. And things will get better and better over time.
Now put yourself in my shoes.
You’ve started a Web site that’s running great, really popular, but is taking up lots of your time. You need to move to the next project soon and don’t have time to do everything. But you don’t want the site to go downhill either. What do you do?
Here we are, and it’s time to turn Psdtuts+ into an awesome, self-reliant Photoshop tutorial Web site. Where do you start? Well, first you need an editor, then you need a set of writers, a method for finding new writers, a developer to build features and improvements, and to pay all these people … you need cash.
Advertising … Nope!
Where do you get money to pay all these people? Advertising right? Nope! Advertising is a *hard* business to be in. If you’ve tried starting a site or a blog, you’ll know just how hard it can be. It simply isn’t that easy to make money from ads, even on a big site like Psdtuts+, and *especially* when you aren’t willing to compromise and put ads everywhere on your site and pop-ups and pop-unders and so on.
We do sell advertising across our sites, but it doesn’t pay the bills, and it’s inconsistent. Maybe that’ll improve over time, but I’m not going to hold my breath.
After advertising, we tried selling individual PSD files, but that didn’t work; they cost too much (Paypal fees become a bigger portion of the cost when the price gets lower) so people didn’t perceive value. And value is what it’s all about.
So We Made Plus
So we created Psdtuts+ Plus, where there is value because there are *so* many psd files and on top of that, there are occasional bonus tutorials. And so far the results are looking good, the Plus system is the oil that’ll keep this baby runnin’!
Sure, periodically there are tutorials that are only for Plus members, and yes we’ll continue to advertise them in a blog post because it causes a Plus membership spike when we do. But that’s OK isn’t it? 95% of the content is totally, completely, don’t pay a cent, free as the air you breathe. If you don’t want to pay, you can come to this site, learn a ton about photoshop, never say thanks, never pay us anything, never click an ad, never Stumble or Digg a post, never contribute a tutorial, never even lift a finger, except to click away at the end, and you know what will happen? Nothing. Because that’s OK, that’s your right to do so!
And the site will be here anyway, because of all the *other* people who do participate, chat, contribute, vote, and yes, some even pay money—for which I’m eternally grateful!
Not everyone needs to pay. You only do it if you feel it’s worth it for you. It’s my job to make it worth paying for. But if you’re not going to pay, all you need to endure is a few posts and notices about it, and maybe to press the skip button in your RSS feed. I think that’s OK, right? That’s not such a big deal to put up with?
I like to think that we have a really kick-ass community here, and I’m pretty sure that most of you *do* chip in, even if it’s just by commenting or uploading to the Flickr group. And that’s yet another reason why the site is so cool, because we all get involved.
Everyone Wins!
With the Plus system, we can continue to grow. I can finish building the system to make the site run without me, and then I can build more great sites that more people—maybe even the same people—get to enjoy. I’m happy because I get to build Web sites all day long, and audiences are happy because I like to think we build good quality sites. So everyone wins!
And how could anyone argue with that? :-)
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In Germany you could say:”Eure Armut kotzt mich an!” ;-) (“your poverty pisses me off”- or sth.)
What i want to say is, many of us visitors of this Site are poor dogs that cannot afford membership, since its a monthly subscription, which means you have to worry, whether your nine bucks are better spent for IMPROVEMENT or for NUTRITION…
But nonetheless, this is the f****** BEST photoshop-site I ever came across!
I think there is plenty of knowledge to gain on this site for newbies as me, as well as for definitely more experienced photoshoppers. Since you offer a great bandwidth of difficulty levels, as well as well explained tuts, and this constantly, I do ask myself, if I have to feel bad that I do not (yet) have the money to support this site with someting U$€FUL!
Honestly Guys, Your site rocks, your tuts rock, keep up the good work and charge for it!
( and keep the free stuff comimg as well, so we poor dogs can learn and improve , and earn more money, so we can go PLUS, as well!
Great site!
I have to admit – I keep coming back here because the content is free. If it were not free, then I’d likely not be bothering with the site.
Like an earlier person posted, I utilize this site for work building various skills with some fun tutorials, but if I were to get serious about actually paying for the site for business related projects, I’d need more than sparkly rainbows on a cloud to convince my employer it’s worth the cost to the business to pay for tutorials that to most business suits looks like stuff people would do to pin up on their fridge. ARTISTS, of course, recognize the value – but BUSINESS SUITS do NOT. And the business suits are the ones with the cash.
I agree with another person’s post. If you’re not seeing much profit from online advertising, then you’re doing it wrong. Successful advertising is possible, and if anything, you should use what money you’re gaining now from the Plus content site and use it towards hiring a professional or three or four who’s sole purpose is selling online advertising to assist you with your site.
BittBox, for instance, does a wonderful job with their advertising. They don’t necessarily provide a lot of tutorials, but the site’s brainchild gives away his own free content in the form of free vector graphics, photoshop brushes, etc. Items that ALSO took him time to punch out. Some of his brushes have even been spotted in use with TV productions. He doesn’t ask people to subscribe to download his brushes and vector images, though. He has advertising. And, I will honestly say, it doesn’t look like hell, either. I’m sure he gets to hand-pick what’s going to show on his site and what will not.
I understand the need to bring in money to pay for updated content and bandwidth use. I agree it’s needed. But pulling the rug out from under all the people who came here because they googled “FREE photoshop tutorials” is going to shoot your site in the foot in the long run – especially if you go entirely pay only.
But I don’t think you’re going entirely pay only, which is also nice. And I think for the time being, you have a good solution and you’ll get money from your die-hard enthusiastic fans who are paying more because they like you as a person.
So, yeah. I personally thank you for keeping much of the content free.
i think 9 per month is a lot…
i would pay 25 per year or something….
anyways good job
well, paying for all those excellent tuts its ok, im already a plus member, but you need to add more content and one of a kind tuts for your plus members, just 2 tuts and a layers sample its not what im waiting for, plus 22 its to much right now…
John wrote:If you can’t make enough off of ads you need to hire somebody who knows how to monetize using ads.
^Exactly. I understand it’s a business and you need to make money as it is a time consuming venture, however don’t betray the people who support you.
This once passionate PSDTuts user is no more.
/sad
This website is an excellent resource for me, and appreciate the free tutorials that you publish. It’s quite reasonable to create a paid membership section, and I hope that you do have many subscribers, so that this can all stay afloat. I would subscribe, but I’m pretty cheap, and trying to go to college. I’m also glad that you haven’t forgotten the guys like me, who use this source just about every day.
GL HF DD
Thanks.
I have purchased the upgrade with no quarms – long live psdtuts
Shouldn’t this argument be the other way around???
the people who pay should be asking why others are getting things for free??? LETS MAKE THEM ALL PAY!!! ahhh but wait…no thats right, we dont care…we like the fact that this site is 80% or higher free!!
No one who pays has even suggested this idea as we believe in what this site stands for. COMMUNITY, FAIRNESS, GREAT STANDARD OF PRODUCT
or at least thats what i get out of being here.
ever…
Hey guys, keep up the good work.
This site deserve the best I’ll pay. Very good tutorials for sure.
Hello,
This is my first post on this site. Until now I was one of those guys who come here because the content and the quality of tutorials are great. But after reading your post, I have decided to be an active participant on this site as much as time allows me to do so, I would love to write good tutorials now and than, any thing really to keep you guys going, I know you guys are working hard to get this going and it is a damn hard work. You guy keep up the good work and more of us should be a plus members to keep this going and encourage you guys to do more for this community.
hey i understand y we should pay but i don’t give out my credit card detail so im stuck at will just have 2 figure out how 2 make the time machine logo by myself :P
“I have purchased the upgrade with no quarms – long live psdtuts”
same here, I think it’s important and is the right way to keep the site alive.
I want MORE, and willing to pay for it :-)
I pray for more people like Roni… :))
I certainly understand the need to have a “Plus” section, and eventually I will get on board and pay soon. Nine dollars a month is certainly better than the 1200 dollars a semester I paid to learn basic Photoshop skills that I already knew.
I would love to subscribe for “Plus”, but I don’t have a creditcard and I can’t get one….so what to do????
I love the site and all but to me is it even going to be worth it to spend the $9 a month. I think that is a pretty steep price compared to other services and lets say magazine subscriptions. How much extra is in the plus membership. You say that only a couple more psd’s and once in a while extra posts. If I am going to spend $9 a month to read blog type tutorials I want to make sure there is going to be something something posted every couple of days that will really benefit me in my inspiration and skills. And no I wouldn’t want others who don’t pay to get these for free.
All the knowledge has a price, and if you want to learn more about Photoshop and this site need your support to still online and can teach you more about design why not to pay for it, there are to many people who need this site so support it…
Hi Collis!
I am a frequent PSDTUTS visitior. I wanted to join as + member. I am from Pakistan, Paypal does not offer its services in Pakistan and I dont see any other option, even If I choose to pay by credit card, It retains the same country list. Are you not open to Pakistan?
Nice post man… I’m a daily French Canadian visitor of PSDTUTS and I did every tutorials posted since 1 or 2 months plus I can practice my english by reading the interview or other posts. I also think to get the Plus Member but I wasn’t sure of what it gave more then “non-member”. And there is the fact that I will be 18 only this summer ( July 20th ) so that’s make I don’t have a credit card and my mother doesn’t want me to subscribe to everything with here credit card!
Keep going I like it and I’ll probaly be able to subscribe to Plus Member this summer.
9$ —> To learn something you like on PSDTUTS
about 20$ —> To play Wow ( CAN $ to Euros ) and learn nothing but losing time :D ( Ya I stopeed wow now ! )
- BoneZ
I understand your needs and there’s nothing wrong offering a pro subscription.
Your tutorials are great: definitely one of the best resources on the web.
After read this post by Collis , I am feel sorry. Because I am this kind people “95% of the content is totally, completely, don’t pay a cent, free as the air you breathe. If you don’t want to, you can come to this site, learn a ton about photoshop, never say thanks, never pay us anything, never click an ad, never stumble or digg a post, never contribute a tutorial, never even lift a finger except to click away at the end, and you know what will happen …. nothing.” as Collis say.
I am feel sorry, because I visit PSDTUTS everyday since last year. Plus membership is a great idea to keep PSDTUTS to running, it’s cost is fair. I will join Plus membership soon, because I wish you to apologize me.
I will try to earn more money to pay the plus membership, although it’s really a big burden for me (because of the currency of my country is lower. T_T ). But I will try my best.
Its all love guys, your stuff rock!!
I think admin have to spend a lot of time and his knowledge on each tut, so 9$ per month is too cheap!
I’d like to know if you can pay for only one month. I am trying to sign-up but on my paypal page, it shows that “future” payments will be drawn from my credit card automatically. I don’t want to be a member for life here you know…
anybody can help me out ?
I’d like to know if you can pay for only one month. I am trying to sign-up but on my paypal page, it shows that “future†payments will be drawn from my credit card automatically. I don’t want to be a member for life here you know…
anybody can help me out ?
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Wow, this site chews through terabytes of bandwidth a month! People, you’re getting high quality tutorials including the project files for them as well (if you’re too lazy to follow along). The price is fair. And as has been said, the server rarely goes down and never runs our of bandwidth. Be grateful that you’re not paying more for such a site.
9 dolars is not much, and its great cant down the file, dont put atention to that comments,
O.K i to won money with my blog thats not bad