The Freemium Business Model: Striking a balance
Most internet professionals now agree that the best online business model is one that strikes a balance between free content and paid content.
As millions of bloggers can attest to, going the 100% free route requires that you rely 100% on advertising dollars. But to make serious money in advertising dollars, you need ridiculously high traffic volume or you need to be in the top 5% of your niche.
But as millions of other bloggers can attest to, the online community is habituated to free content, and getting people to pay you for information is no easy sell. Again, you normally either have to have a killer product, or have a huge following to make any serious cash.
The reason I advocate the freemium model isn’t just because it works, but because it helps shape your vision. Your goal as an online publisher should be to use free content to create a strong enough following that people will pay for your premium content. So ask yourself this question: are you writing with the goal of getting search engine traffic or are you writing with the goal of gaining credibility? Are you trying to build a community or are you trying to squeeze pennies out of AdSense?
I strongly believe that if you always keep your eyes on the goal of establishing yourself as an authority, the Freemium model will eventually become the business model of choice. So what you should do today is aim to make your free content attractive enough to build the community that will pay for more in-depth content.
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Free is great if you don’t already have any authority, and want people to get to know you more. However, there are tons of people giving away lots of information, too much for people to digest. Your (free) lone voice may never get heard (or “traction”).
Before you choose free or not, spend some time creating a marketing plan for your business. Identify who you’re targeting and what problem of theirs you solve. Then figure out if free is the best way to get their attention. There’s no one right answer - it’s the one that works for you and your business.