I have coded/ I own this quite cool entertainment script. What to do next?!

Long story short I had a customer who wanted a break .com clone script first, then he wanted improvements, but in the end the deal went off. Not good for me 'cause I was left with a custom script and no money. Anyhow, I decided to make it portable and you can have a look at it here: www.digialog.com

The script has a lot of cool features:

* 5 media categories:
- flash games
- [funny] videos
- [funny] pictures
- hot girls videos
- bands videos

* Search engine friendly URLs, meta & h1 tags for all media pages

* Flexible modular design, easily expandable, 100% original custom coded

* Embedded social bookmarking icons

* Media features:
- auto image resizing for pictures section to fit in the page
- auto icon usage if no custom icon is uploaded: original images for pictures section and default icons for the other sections

* Hotties section features:
- 18 years old confirmation page
- using a separate list of ads files so you can use adult ads instead of 'cleaner' ads

* Registration available for people of 18 years of age. If users are logged in they will skip the 18 yo check for hotties section

* People can rate an item without being a member, however once they click a rating they have to fill the registration form in order for their rating to count, hence more members!

* Members can:
- upload media
- rate media
- add/remove media to/from favorites, for easier later viewing

* All visitors can:
- tell a friend about a page
- embed content in own pages/myspace with minimum bandwidth usage for the main site (embed only icons for videos) and with advertising link

* Admin features:
- add/upload media (including embeded codes)
- list/edit/delete media
- list/delete users
- edit welcome box
- one click sitemap generator (Google friendly sitemap)

Use these details to see the members section:
email: test@test.com
pass: testing
(however, registration and uploading are disabled for this demo purpose)

and it could be further improved with features such as:
- media comments
- RSS feeds
- inner search
- more modules, such as editor picks
- admin newsletter module

My options are few:
1) To put it on a domain and sell it as a unique custom site after it picks up good traffic/revenue;
2) To sell the script together with all the rights to a person who will develop/retail it further for a price around $1,000.-
3) To retail it myself as it is for a low price, like about $35.-
4) Add the above features and offer full support and then retail it for a more expensive price such as $99.-

So the questions are:
a) What should I do, or what would you do if you were in my situation? To be honest I'm not keen with option number 4 above. Nor with #1, since I need money soon. I've worked a lot on this script and I've had a lot of headaches and although it's well done I would prefer to leave it behind and move on.
b) Would you be interested in such a script in any of the situations above, and if so what do you think this script is worth/how much would you pay for it?

Thank you for your patience of reading all this. Your replies should help me a lot.

Mihai

 

My vote would be for retailing it yourself. If you market it well enough, and make improvements over time, it could end up being a steady income stream.

 

dude, that script rocks. I wish I could use it for linkstink.com, but I'm poor and at the moment. Humor portals are a big...plus with the popularity of youtube you could instill a buzz, letting people know how they could be as cool as youtube with this script.

I would sell the script to people, offer maintanence contract, free updates, etc...maybe even "brand your own humor portal website" deal.

I really dig the script though...seriously. Nice work

 

Thanks for your opinion guys, waiting for other as well. Also I'm keen to listen to any interesting business proposal on this subject.

Mihai

 

Make some RSS improvements like automatic content updates and then market, market, market. And this could be a huge amount of income for you.

 

Definitely sell and support the script yourself, this gives you control over sales and you get the full benefits from it. You definitely would easily get several interested parties here.

 

I also vote for RSS improvements like automatic content updates.

and: not everyone wants to upload tons of stuff, or anything at all really,
make it easy to embed feeds from other sites, one step up: feed mixer for the every user, let them share playlists.

also: charge for modifications, that's how many developer make money.
And customers products that not everyone else has 100% the exact same.

 

I think I forgot one word in the last sentence:

"appreciate" products that not everyone else has...

if you have time to modify one for me, maybe I can do some
marketing for you in exchange. let me know if you have time.

 

It looks like you are onto a winner there!

I say Market it yourself!

When I was looking for a Script to run a humor site it took me a long time to find one and I ended up paying about $50 for it. There are not many good, reasonably priced scripts out there.

It would easily sell for about $50 a copy - so set up a demo site, and market it like crazy!

Also, include a feature roadmap for any future versions.

The only thing missing from my quick look is the ability for the admin to send out email newsletter to all members - this is a must have feature to keep a site such as this alive.

It will make you money for a long time to come if you price it right and do a couple of feature upgrades per year ( even think about a subscription and purchased option for your script). I would be very surprised if you could not make at least a few thousand in a year from it.

 

Nice script. I test drove it and you did a very good job.
You may want to market it on hotscripts.com

 

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and nice words. I decided I will make some fixes and some additions to the script and sell it myself. The price will probably be under $50, maybe even under $40 and there will be a possibility of purchasing an additional customization package to get an unique look. So stay tuned on DP for a very cool script soon

Thanks again
Mihai

 

I say:
1) Make a site, and use it as a live demo (lots of free visits)
2) Make another site to sell your script, and give no resell rights. This stops people saying 'I have resell rights' and selling it on forums.

 

cant wait to see this script for sale. i will buy a copy. thanks

 

The script is almost ready! I've added a RSS feed (wordpress compatible, so you can use it as blog feed as well), comments module and added a few fixes.

I will be needing 2 testers before releasing it. If you want to get the retail version for free and are willing to test this script a bit (nothing serious, only installation/basic usage), please send me a PM with a few words to show me you're the right one for this.

Mihai

PS1 The price of the script will be $39.99, with an introductory offer of only $29.99 for the first 10 people ordering it. Stay tuned on DP for that!
PS2 I will also feature a graphic customization services package ($9.99 for any of the first 10 people to order the script, $19.99 afterwards.)

If you want to be among the first 10 people, send me a PM. Once the script is ready, in a day or two, I will point this thread to my sale thread.

Thank you everyone for your support! I hope this first big project will do well. If it does, I owe you a big slice of its success!

 

You can also sign up on freelance websites and bid on jobs where people are looking for such websites.

 

Add me for one piece of scipt

 

I like it. I will consider buying it in the near future.

I especially like this part:

Viral marketing friendly

 

Cool guys, thanks!

Mihai

 

Mihai,

It looks great.

Let me know when sales thread is up, I will definately take one copy of script and custom graphics package at 29.99 and 9.99.

browntwn

 

One tester found, need one more.

browntwn > it's a deal!

Mihai