Choosing the right subscription price will determine how profitable your website is.Obtain the price too low as well as your costs.....marketing in particular.......will eat into your margin. You might put people off if the purchase price point provides perception of low value.Get the price too high......particularly in comparison to alternative sources of information.... and you will put prospects off.Before providing you some guidelines it is very important to remember:There is nothing to avoid you from changing the purchase price to test the marketplace.Many subscription site owners pluck a subscription fee out of your air when they launch their site. Often it's predicated on only a hunch. They never test whether it's too high or too low to maximise their profit.  more info   is difficult to change the purchase price for a print publication, however, not for an online website.Test! Test! Test!There are no hard and fast rules about how exactly much you should charge for access to your website, but listed below are 20 guidelines to help you work out an ideal price for your subscription:The monthly subscription can be anything from �1/$2 up to �1,000/ $1,800. The most typical subscription charges fall in the range �4.99/$4.95 - �19.99/$19.95.A website with just 1,000 members charging $9.99 a month will generate about $120,000. If ecommerce is run from your home, even after costs it could generate a net income of over $100,000 for the individual publisher.It is strongly recommended that publishers provide a choice of payment plans with discounts for members willing to commit for longer periods of time, for example:9.97 /month, or24.97 /quarter, or87.00 /yearIn the event that you offer three pricing points, you tend to get most subscribers choosing the middle one. It's a psychological thingYou will probably have seen on charity collection forms a choice of three donations. They do that because they understand that most people will choose the middle one, that is usually set at a level greater than people would normally give:"Please tick the donation you intend to make:5.0025.0050.00Other"If you provide a monthly price point, be certain that it is much higher than 1/12th of the annual. You would like to encourage visitors to subscribe for for as long a period as possible, whilst not putting off people who want to test the water before fully committing themselves. E.g. Monthly 19.97, Annual 149Offering just an annual subscription will help reduce your conversion rate as you are increasing the perceived risk for prospects registering. That is still the case in case you offer a 100% money-back guaranteeBe aware that many payment providers won't allow you to charge an annual subscription because if the web site closes down they are responsible for refunding members the outstanding balance for the rest of the 12 months. Consult with your payment provider before signing up. Also be sure that they are able to take automatic monthly premiums if you are supplying a monthly subscription. This is called 'Recurring Payments'Generally speaking, sites targeted at consumers charge significantly less than those targeted at businesses Consumer sites typically 30-120 per year Business sites typically 120 - 700 per yearDo you know the competitive sources of information for your potential audience? Just how much do they charge? If Manchester United charges �100 per year for membership of the official fan club, a competing online independent fan club should probably charge forget about.The more exclusive the content, the more it is possible to charge. A very successful share trader, Vince Stanzione, charges �100 /$180 a month for a newsletter reporting what trades he could be about to make or has just made. Jay Abraham charges $300 a month for access to his website that gives his personal advice on growing a business (www.abrahaminsider.com)Study magazines in your sector. How much do they charge? What is their circulation? How do you want to compete? There is no rule about charging much more or less than them, but you have to be sure your value proposition is more compelling when trying to attract new members. Remember as an online site you offer huge advantages over print. These benefits have a value you can charge for.People love a deal! Set your price a bit higher than you would like to charge and then discount it back. This has two benefits:People perceive the value of the content reaches the higher priceProspects feel they are getting a bargainThere are psychological barriers in pricing. It is best to charge $4.95 per month than $5.00, or $9.97 is preferable to $10. Additionally, there are opportunities to push pricing up towards these barriers. For example in the event that you charge $385 a year, you can probably getaway with lifting the price to $397 without any impact on sign up rates. Just don't break the $400 level as this is the next psychological barrier and can cause a fall in subscriptions.Don't give discounts to loyal members! If a member returns every year they perceive that the price they pay is add up to the worthiness they receive. By all means reward their loyalty with bonus information, like a free ebook or a research report, but don't decrease the price. This is a very common mistake.Offer promotional prices for one year, but don't drop the general price. If you believe that you are passing up on a big market group because they're more price sensitive, offer them a promotional code/discount on the standard price. Don't drop the purchase price for all subscribers. A good example is in the event that you decide you want to attract students who tend to be very price sensitive.DON'T ever consider, even for a moment, charging a one-time fee for lifetime's access. This is common in the first years of the internet, but I haven't seen an individual site which has survived with this particular strategyTest, ensure that you test again! One of the biggest benefits of the web is it is possible to change pricing, make discounts available or promote free incentives with minimum effort and cost. For example distribute two different price offers to two similar groups of prospects. Gauge the response rate and margin to find out which offer is most profitable. Then create a new offer and check it out against the best of the first offer...... etc. This is referred to as "AB Testing"Also you can consider offering trials, but make sure you get the customers credit card details prior to the trial starts and obtain them to concur that after the trial has ended you'll automatically bill them unless you receive written instruction not to.I hope that you discover this advice useful. It's been put together from the experience of helping dozens of online publishers decide on the subscription fees for their membership websites. Please take the time to research and choose the best price. It is probably the most important decisions you'll make in determining how successful your organization will be.Miles Galliford is the co-founder in SubHub - www.subhub.com . The business is really a world leader in helping individuals, small publishers and organisations to create paid memberhip websites. For large amount of FREE information and resources visit www.subhub.com .