Branding David

About a week ago, I started developing a membership area for this site. The premise is simple: give people access to my knowledge at what I consider to be a very reasonable price.

I currently bill myself out at around $120 per hour, depending on the needs of the client, and so I have priced the members area aggressively at only $10 per month, or $120 per year. Those purchasing a full year in advance will also get an hour of consulting. That means, if you buy a minimum of one hour of consulting time, you also gain entry into the member area.

What do members get that normal readers of this blog do not?

• Premium content similar to other things I’ve written here
• Actionable information that can’t be found elsewhere
• Tips, tricks and advice from me and other members
• Information on tools that I use
• Guides and techniques I won’t post anywhere else
• Members only podcasts, videocasts, live Ustream video sessions and screencasts

I will be doing everything in my power to make membership worthwhile, and I will be limiting the membership to only 50 members. This limit might sound like a marketing gimmick, but instead is a number I chose based on a few different factors.

I wanted to make sure the community was small and tight knit. There aren’t going to be hundreds of people all competing in the same niches, allowing us to help each other, and to make each tip I give out more useful for each member as there might only be a small handful of people in the same niche for you to compete against.

Also, there is advice that I’ve long wanted to give out, but I didn’t want to do like Darren Rowse did a long time ago by giving out tips publicly that could ruin my business growth and opportunities. He told the world about how high the advertising rates were in blogging about digital cameras, and in doing so, created his own competition, effectively diminishing what anyone could get in that space through advertising revenue.

I gave out the information regarding this new offering in my e-mail newsletter last week and already have five members on the forums, so you will want to get in quickly before I close the doors. I will never raise the member limit beyond fifty active partners.

Lastly, the current rate isn’t set in stone. You need to join before February 1st, 2009 to be grandfathered at the $10 per month rate. As of February 2nd, 2009, the rate will go to $15 per month, or $175 per year.

How can you sign up for the Branding David Premium Partners section? Head on over to the sign-up page and enter your details now.

Over the course of my career, I have become very used to starting fresh on a new site and I am equally used to doing so in my personal life as well. I have started many blogs, and moved from blog to blog, honing my talent, and refreshing my perspective, and recently the time and opportunity came once again for me to start anew.

I have long held a personal blog, but updating it has become more of a chore than anything, and has never strongly reflected my abilities nor the work I have done, and as such, it has made a horrible portfolio for someone who generates all of his income online.

It reminds me of the various web designers that have a horrible design on their own site as they are too busy with client work. It is great that they are too busy, thanks to paying clients, to work on their own site, but it doesn’t help earn the confidence of potential new clients to fill the void once that busy time dies down.

Recently, I was able to sit on two panels at Blog World Expo, and in doing so, I realized, once again, how much I enjoy teaching others. I have always though of myself as a teacher, and continue to try to find new ways to explore that interest, but like my personal blog, I haven’t been able to devote much time to it.

With this site, I hope to expand on what I have done on other blogs, in teaching others everything I can, while working towards finding new opportunities for myself to consult, teach, and speak as my career continues forward.

This blog will cover all of my interests rather than any single niche, and will be my place to connect with other like-minded individuals. This blog is not going to try to generate tens of thousands of readers, but is instead, hopefully, going to be useful for a small cross section of geeks, bloggers, educators and thought leaders that think and feel as I do.

I will be writing about blogging, business, events, technology and trends, while also covering some of my random interests and personal life. I will delve deep into what I, and those around me are doing, and what it means to brand yourself as a web worker today.