Amino Plus - A good deal for entrepreneurs and other businesspeople

Amino Plus needs to be a good deal for you. You should buy it because you get something out of it: Visibility, opportunities to find jobs and more tools for using Amino. Of course I am pleased that you also support Amino, but that is not the reason you should buy it.

The video is from October 2009. I go through the membership as it was then, priced at 1,000 kroner and offering a range of benefits. The features, prices and figures below are from that historical presentation.

Amino Plus should offer value for money

We do not believe you will take 1,000 kroner out of your pocket just to support us because we are nice people. So we have created a product we believe is worth every krone.

I want to explain what you get. Along the way, I also point out that, of course, I have got a spot on the very day I am recording the presentation. That’s life. But back to what you can use the membership for.

Amino Boost puts your message in emails

When you post on Amino, you get an email when someone replies to your post. In the video, I say that we sent tens of thousands of those emails every day to around 40,000 registered members.

At the top of those emails is a small advertising space. With Amino Plus, you can write your own advertisement and have it rotated alongside the other Plus members’ ads.

You write the message, press a button and, shortly afterwards, it starts appearing. There is a direct link to your website. I talk about hundreds of views a day and later in the video mention around 300–400 daily impressions.

That is Amino Boost. The visibility is included in the subscription, and it is one of the things I believe can bring you business.

Amino Alert helps you discover mentions and jobs

Amino Alert is similar to other services where you can follow particular words or phrases. You enter what you want to monitor and get an email when it is mentioned.

If you design for WordPress, for example, you can follow the word WordPress. Then you can spot a post from someone looking for help with a design job and respond quickly.

You can also follow your company name, your own name or your trademarks. That gives you a chance to respond to mentions before something takes an unfortunate turn, or to join in and say thank you for the praise.

A larger signature can send readers to your website

Your signature appears below your posts on Amino. In the video, I say that ordinary members had 256 characters, as far as I remembered, while Plus members got 650.

That leaves room for a banner and more links. If you have something you want to sell to businesspeople, your signature can be a way to tell them about it beneath your posts.

Amino is not only read by entrepreneurs. I talk about almost 7,000 unique visitors a day and posts that had been read 5,000–10,000 times.

If you write a good post, people can find it through Google and follow your banner to your website. I highlight Amino’s search optimisation as part of the value in that.

Read entire replies in emails and opt out of ads

As an ordinary member, you only get a short excerpt of the post in the reply email. As a Plus member, you can get the entire post, so you do not need to visit Amino to read the reply.

You can also choose whether to see the ads at the top and bottom of the forum. Some people find them annoying, and with Plus they can be removed with a click.

I point out that this gives you more space and less clutter, especially if you use a small laptop with a small screen. In the presentation, I also say that the page then loads faster.

Amino Marked offers prominence and special auctions

On Amino Marked, you can put things up for auction. With Plus, you can give what you are selling greater prominence. I believe that increases the chance of a higher price.

We also hold special auctions that only Plus members can bid in. I mention E-pusher, which appeared regularly and went for around half price, as well as SEO-LEX and laptops.

You can also offer goods for those auctions. The idea is that this gives your products visibility while Plus members get an opportunity to buy something cheaply.

Reading material on search optimisation and PR

Membership also gave access to a special chapter from Thomas Rosenstand’s SEO-LEX. I was not completely sure of the book’s exact price in the video and mentioned around 1,200–1,400 kroner plus VAT.

Members also received PR-håndbogen, intended to help them get better PR. In the presentation, I mention a normal price of 250 kroner plus VAT. It was included as part of the membership.

Amino Freelancer aims to connect companies and suppliers

When I recorded the video, Amino Freelancer had not yet launched. I discuss the forthcoming service for small and medium-sized businesses that want to reach more customers.

You describe your business and what you can deliver. That might be web design, press releases, translation or programming. You can link to your website and work you have done.

A company can post a job, for example looking for a .NET programmer, and invite relevant freelancers to bid. You submit your proposal for the work. The best proposal is not just about price, but also about service and what you can deliver.

Once the job is completed, the company rates you. Good ratings can help you get more jobs, as people know from eBay.

I explain that Plus members would be featured on the front page among other Plus members and could join more categories. I mention ten groups as a way to show more of the things you can help with.

We were investing a lot in the service. We wanted to help more companies find more Amino members so it would lead to more business. At the same time, we hoped the value would encourage more people to choose Amino Plus.

A membership we wanted to keep developing

Finally, I mention sponsored links worth 500 kroner as part of the package. Together with Boost, Alert, reading material, auctions and the other opportunities, that was my explanation of the value of the 1,000 kroner.

You also got a little icon showing that you supported Amino. I emphasise that there were more things than I could remember in the presentation and that we would continue developing the product.

In the video, I considered whether the price might later rise to 1,500 or 2,000 kroner as more services were added. The idea was that you should be able to become more visible and get more out of Amino.

That is why I recommended the membership: Because I believed it was worth every krone and would become even more valuable over time.