Dave Debs
Member sites are hot! As more subject matter experts and information entrepreneurs begin online publishing ventures, the demand for automated content management software continues to grow.
For the second time in a month, a Mequoda member has introduced a product to help membership website publishers manage their online content.
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The really great thing about the MemberScript trial is that after the trial period has ended, the website and contents that the trial user has created can be transferred to a permanent account, if they elect to purchase MemberScript, so all the work they’ve done is saved.
In this exclusive Mequoda interview, Dave Debs tells us all about his new offering, MemberScript Content Publisher.
MEQUODA What did you do before MemberScript?
DD I have been in the computer industry for over thirty years. Starting as a technician and ending up in executive management, from which I retired six years ago to move to the country in VA and opened shop as a web designer and programmer (web).
I owned several of my own web design businesses, and then several years ago I became an international seminar leader teaching workshops on website design and development and multimedia. I retired from that a year ago to start Winning the Game, an Internet marketing company dealing with multimedia.
When I was still in corporate America, I worked for several very large software development companies and assisted with the launch of many software projects.
MEQUODA What best describes your position with MemberScript? Are you the founder/sole owner/president/webmaster/designer—all of the above—or what? Was this product your creation?
DD I am one of the principals in a corporation that will develop and market MemberScript on an ongoing basis. The other major principals in the organization is Fred Gleeck, an internationally recognized information product developer and seminar leader.
MEQUODA How did you come to develop MemberScript? What’s it all about? Who are your customers? What motivated you to launch your program and website?
DD That’s an interesting question. I was and am in the process of creating several membership, subscription websites. One of the major dilemmas I was having was in trying to find a really good software to run the website.
I am a designer and programmer myself, but I really didn’t want to do all the work necessary to create proprietary software. I searched and searched. I sent out e-mails to tech support that were never answered. I tried out other products and poked and prodded, but really could not find a suitable solution at a price point I was willing to pay.
So finally, I put out a bid for the project—to build software to my specifications—and after over two weeks of interviewing about 15 prospective teams, I finally selected the one that I felt was the best and contracted them to build software for my sites.
During that process, I had a conversation with Fred Gleeck and mentioned in passing that I was having software developed for my sites. Fred asked if I’d considered offering that software to other people who were in the hunt for a good solution that would be feature rich, easy-to-use, and affordable.
Actually, I had. So, after several conversations, Fred and I agreed to partner and put out what has come to be called MemberScript Content Publisher, a complete, integrated solution for creating, running and maintaining subscription, membership websites.
MEQUODA What is your fee structure? What is included for the fees?
DD We are not ready to release the final price of MemberScript, but I can tell you for what we are offering, which includes many things no other software has, like chat room creation, and live phone technical support. We will be extremely competitive and affordable. We will also be making a very special offer to those that trial test the pre-release (beta) of MemberScript.
MEQUODA To build the MemberScript program, what tools did you use, and how long did it take? What has your experience been with outsourcing the programming?
DD I’ve been developing MemberScript now for almost two months, which includes time working with the development team. The program itself is being built using PHP and MySQL.
The team that I contracted to do the work is very excellent, but I still have to work very diligently with the lead of that team to ensure that MemberScript is meeting my expectations so that it meets other subscription website owners expectations.
MEQUODA What has been your greatest challenge to date?
DD Until recently, I was pretty much a one man band, so time restraint was the most difficult thing. Lots of very late nights and seven days a week. But one month ago, I hired Stacy Beck who will be handling customer service and first-level technical support. She’s a real asset to the MemberScript team—very dedicated, organized and service oriented.
MEQUODA What’s the best or smartest thing you’ve done? What’s the worst?
DD The smartest thing I did was to hire a team to develop MemberScript rather than try to do it myself and just contract other programmers to work under me. Also, as mentioned above, to bring Stacy on board. I’m not sure I’ve done the worst thing yet, and hope I don’t.
MEQUODA What’s the deal for Mequoda members with the beta testing? Are you going to offer Mequoda members, or members who help you with the beta testing, a special price on MemberScript?
DD The beta test, which will be a personal trial test of the software, began on Tuesday, April 27. Anyone who wants to trial test the pre-release (beta) version MemberScript can go to www.memberscript.com on or after the 27th, and create an account for themselves, which will allow them to start using MemberScript for free.
The really great thing about the MemberScript trial is that after the trial period has ended, the website and contents that the trial user has created can be transferred to a permanent account, if they elect to purchase MemberScript, so all the work they’ve done is saved.
As far as specials, we’ll be making a very special offer to anyone who has a trial account, with a fantastic price and lots of bonuses.
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