The difference is very important and understanding it at the outset could save the publisher a lot of frustration, expense and heartache further down the line.

 

Subscription Website Software

 

If you buy a software license to run your website, you usually get a disk in the post or login details for the subscription website software are on a pre-installed server.

 

The software development is effectively frozen in time when you receive the disk. This is fine until you need to upgrade the service. Usually, the software company will charge additional money for upgrades and leave you to undertake the upgrade so that they are not responsible for any problems, system conflicts or lost data.

 

You are also responsible for managing all the technical aspects of the subscription website software. This usually involves finding a suitable hosting company, loading it onto a secure server, integrating the payment processing, and ensuring there is enough bandwidth to deal with the peaks and troughs.

 

Once the site is up and running, you will need to monitor it on a daily basis and react when there are any technical problems.

 

You will also need to ensure your whole site is backed up daily. A catastrophic failure could mean the subscription website software and therefore, the site, are wiped out.

 

These challenges are not great for someone with good technical skills, but can be a nightmare for the non-technical user.

 

The big advantage of buying subscription website software is that you ‘own’ a full working copy of the software so if anything happens to the company that created it, for example, they go bankrupt, your site will continue to run. In the medium term, you would still have to look for an alternative solution because there would be no one to upgrade or support the original software.

 

So what is the alternative?

 

Managed Subscription Website Service

 

The alternative is to use a fully managed service. This is where a company undertakes to provide their customers with fully operational web-based services ready for the publisher to use.

Many people use managed services without even realising it. For example, services such as Hotmail, Gmail, eBay and iTunes are all managed services.

 

When you sign up for a managed subscription website service, you are usually given a user id and a password. You can login through a normal web browser and immediately start building your website. There is no disk in the post and no installation hassles.

 

The big advantage with a managed service is that the company providing it takes care of all the boring technical issues such as hosting, security, payment processing integration, bandwidth provision, daily monitoring and current edition upgrades.

 

For non-technical people, this is a dream come true! When you use eBay, you don’t want to worry about what version of software they are using!

 

It leaves the publisher to focus on creating content and looking after their customers.

 

The downside is if the company providing the service runs into trouble, you could lose your website. Therefore, choose a solid and reputable company like SubHub (www.subhub.com).

 

How do Prices Compare Between Subscription Website Software and a Managed Subscription Website Service?

 

This question is a bit like how long is a piece of string. However, as a generalisation, subscription website software tends to be expensive upfront and then requires irregular lump sum payments over the life of the software, to pay for upgrades.

 

Managed subscription website services tend to be less of an investment upfront and then require a fixed monthly management fees to pay for the hosting, upgrades, maintenance, etc. On a like-for-like basis, there may be little difference in the costs, but there is a big difference in the amount of work that you will be required to do.

 

In Summary

 

Highly technical people may feel more comfortable owning a software license and being in control of the administration and maintenance of their subscription website. They could consider buying a subscription website software package.

 

Non-technical people should go for the managed subscription website service so that they can leave the technical and maintenance issues in the hands of the experts.