I’ve always thought that Radio Userland was mispriced. So I’m very pleased to have Steve Kirks ask a pricing question in the comments to Domain Name Fixation. I just don’t know whether that’s quite the direction I would go.

The underlying issue is that Radio Userland is different things to different people. But it has only one price. So depending upon what you’re using; it can be underpriced, overpriced, or just right.

If you’re using Userland hosting, then [domain names aside] Radio is a great deal. It’s hard to find hosting for less than $5/month. And while the base Radio only includes 40MB of storage, you can buy more. On the other hand; if you host your own weblog, then that Radio renewal doesn’t feel like much of a bargain. Especially with the seeming lack of progress in Radio capability and robustness over the past 20 months.

The problem is that if you make the pricing too complex, then people will walk away rather than sort out the pricing. What I would recommend is:

• 1-3 entry packages similar to the current offering. Unless there is a lot of demand for a non-hosted package, then I’d avoid offering one.
• 2 renewal prices: one with hosting and one without.
• Domain pointing either included in the package, or as a one time setup fee.