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Comment by replicatorblog | Hacker News Reader

I agree the monthly fee is not where you want to upsell. I would break it down by feature. A bare bones site is $15/flat. If you want a premium theme, another $15 if you want to tweak colors, $5 customized emails $5/1000. More of a virtual goods approach rather than the hosted solution route.

Also might be some interesting alternate monetization routes. You could set up an Amazon affiliate link so YOU get the bonus for anyone who buys. Have people pay a fee to turn off Adwords on their page (ala Ning) Set up an invitation designer tool and actually help people get their cards printed. That takes time to set up but could be very lucrative.

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Just to touch base on why we went with the monthly fee. A majority of other wedding sites offer both a flat fee and monthly. The monthly is nice because that way people don't feel committed. You also have to keep in mind that average engagement lasts 8 months and some brides might choose to keep their sites up after the wedding.

There are tons of other monetization ways - but right now we are trying to focus on the main revenue model.

Another question I wanted to bring up: What are options for ways to construct a SaaS business model?

1) 37 signals approach - which is a very limited hidden free plan and then numerous other paid options.

2) Squarespace approach - 15 day free trial, with no credit card required. If you don't upgrade then your account is canceled

3) Carbonmade approach - funnel everyone into the site via a free plan and then once registered try to get them to upgrade

4) And then another pretty common one is - credit card down on sign up with a 15 day free trial, which rolls into a paid plan if you don't cancel.

Can you guys think of other options?

On an unrelated note, you say "some brides might choose to keep their sites up after the wedding." Maybe you should try to cater to both grooms and brides. (Painting with very broad strokes follows...) Brides may be more likely to go for the idea, but grooms are more likely to be techy enough to think of, care about, or be able to set up a website.

While TheKnot has a free and premium option, I'm pretty sure that most of their monetization is advertisers and other ways of selling marketing information.

Also consider that the average couple spends a downright obscene amount of money on their wedding, most of it as flat fees.

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