Comments on: Free or Paid Content?

By: jozzua

jozzua — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 06:30:55 +0000

Offer some part of the blog for free but provide a subscription option for the more valuable text, and materials.

I’m actually planning on doing that for one of my sites.

By: minor

minor — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 05:27:26 +0000

pugad baboy blog hey! im willing to pay for that

By: CrunchSite

CrunchSite — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:00:29 +0000

Offer free online content, then publish a book and sell it.

By: AnnaE

AnnaE — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 13:07:22 +0000

I would charge zero pesos, because my goal is to have as many visitors as possible. They can start spending after they’ve been to my site, not before. But that’s just me. (-:

By: Is Paid Content The Coming Thing? » Retired Pay World

Is Paid Content The Coming Thing? » Retired Pay World — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 09:37:36 +0000

[...] a friend pointed me to this article, about free versus paid blog content, which I found quite interesting. The same guiy has been thinking about some of his online [...]

By: KK aka Tina

KK aka Tina — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:09:20 +0000

For me from a reader’s standpoint, I’ll only whip out my credit card/ debit card/paypal to subscribe if the content is realy REALLY worth it.

Paid content like porn sites, make money from the content because people are simply addicted.

By: jhay

jhay — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:01:43 +0000

The only reason I put up ads on my site is to help me get through college. Otherwise, I’d drop them all and just marvel at the beauty and elegance of the theme I’ve decided to use.

In this world of information technology, information is a commodity.

By: elmer

elmer — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:49:56 +0000

Im trying to unlock my iphone this week and as usual googled it and it came a bunch of results.. bunch of free how to’s and others that you have to pay for as low as $5. Well, of course i choose those free how to’s not because im cheap (ok..im really cheap) but with free how to’s (mostly forums) you have lots of interaction and feedback from others and learn the process by yourself.

IMO would definitely pay for contents if there’s nothing like it in the internet or if i extremely need it..say yesterday, but if i could goog it then i’ll stick with free.

BTW, i successfully unlocked my iphone (gettin’ ready for my RP vacation enero next year..i hope this baby works with smart/globe??) in less than 30mins. If you need the steps-by-steps on how to’s just email me for $2

By: Kuya Kevin

Kuya Kevin — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:16:27 +0000

Thanks for adding me up in the blog list!

I agree with Jon and the others: I would not count on people paying to subscribe to a blog. I read several blogs and websites, but wouldn’t pay for any of them. Advertising is one way to go. The only other way is to use your website/blog for some other form of business (promote a product that you make, etc).

By: Mindanao Bob

Mindanao Bob — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:04:39 +0000

Hi Abe, I have considered going to a subscription model several times over the last year, and it is something I still might do. Better yet, I may stay with the ad supported model on some of my site, and switch to a subscription based system on other sites. I think I’d be aiming at a fee higher than P20, though. Maybe a minimum of $2 per month or so. On top of this, another thing to consider is a hybrid site where some content is free (perhaps with ads), while other parts of the site, or full content is subscription based. Hey, look at some of the commercial newspaper sites and such… they are offering subscription services along with Ads on the same pages! Now, that is going too far, IMHO.

One important point to consider, though, is that a lot of big sites are just now starting to abandon the subscription model. The Wall Street Journal is one that is likely headed that direction.

By: BrianB

BrianB — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:38:51 +0000

Serious blogs or blogs by experts may earn money through subscription. VBlogs will earn if the chick gets naked.

By: yuga

yuga — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:32:58 +0000

How about blogs on tutorials, original recipes, guides, how-to’s, reviews. Or how about video blogs or podcasts? Or blogs by scientists, mathematicians? Or in finance, banking, stocks?

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:03:37 +0000

I can’t think of any blogs right now that will make me subscribe even for a $1 a month. I am not saying it will not work but I’m skeptical. From the top of my head, here are the reasons:

1. Most blogs don’t offer unique content.

2. The content of subscription based blogs will be blogged by other for free on their blogs.

3. Some blogs are basically personal opinion on issues. I don’t even read Opinion section on spreadsheets. Paying them for their opinion is unlikely.

By: yuga

yuga — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:56:20 +0000

Yup, the subscription model for Kindle is reasonable since the EVDO network will be totally free. In essence you’re paying for the wireless on-demand delivery of the content.

By: Nick Nichols

Nick Nichols — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:37:10 +0000

Subscription content model may get a new boost with the Kindle - which is, in some ways, a subscription aggregation service. It’ll be interesting to watch how that turns out.

By: yuga

yuga — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:08:12 +0000

Hi Nick. Yes, I purposely excluded that part because it is hard to give a fair value to indirect benefits/income from blogging. Besides, having ads or not on a blog may not directly affect those benefits. That’s why I wanted to limit the discussion to the direct benefits.

By: wites

wites — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:54:37 +0000

go grab yourself a copy of “teaching sells” and it will tell you why you need to go for paid content.

here’s an excerpt

If you’re blogging or otherwise creating content online in the hopes of making
money, there’s a good chance you’re following a fairly complicated and timeconsuming
strategy. You’ve got to publish every day and attract lots of links, so that
after a year or so, the Google Gods will bless you with plenty of long-tail search
results that will bring you traffic.

Once that happens, you’ll have to keep blogging for another year, and hope to build
page views, so that you can make money from AdSense or some other form of
advertising. The money is pretty meager, but if you work hard, maybe one day it will
add up to enough—if you just keep at it and never ever quit producing more and
more free content.

By: Nick Nichols

Nick Nichols — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:39:46 +0000

Well I haven’t read the NYT article yet. But I’d like to take issue with your statement “Your answers will reflect how much you value your content and the effort you put in them.”

Hoy!. I already have no ads and deliver full RSS feeds. And I still maintain my blogging rhythm - without a subscription fee too. AND I value my content and effort extremely highly. I’ll bring home over P2.5 million this year with lots of leads for next year. I couldn’t do it without my blog.

There’s another way to view the value of blogging that you overlooked in this post, but you’ve often referred to it in previous posts. I just wanted to bring it back up. Some of us make money BECAUSE of our blogs, not FROM them.

And i haven’t even gotten to the positive psychological and learning aspects of blogging. That has a value to me too.