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. FG41 (US) or 
619-228-9653 Ext. FG41 or Faxing an order to 1-619-369-1185. FAX orders 
please include: "ATTN Dept. 254-FG41". Orders with checks can be mailed 
to InfoLink, 56089 Twentynine Palms Highway, Suite 254-FG41, Yucca Valley, 
CA 92284. $49.95 + $5.00 shipping and handling + California sales tax.

                   Reprinted by permission of AMULET:VC BBS
