Something New! Open Discussion: Tawk Amongst Yaselves

Jan 21, 2010
45 Comments

Gonna try something new, here at the Remarkablogger Ranch. Every Thursday, I’m going to toss a topic out for you and we’ll discuss it in the comments. Now that we have these nifty commenting systems that allow for replies and even cross-posting to Twitter and Facebook, this will be really cool. Plus, it will really give us a chance to better know each other and my hope is that we’ll all learn a lot from each other, too. I’ll learn just as much as you guys will, I’m sure!

This isn’t anything new; I’m certainly not the first person to do this, but it’s the first time I’ve done it and I think it’s a great way to balance things out here and give you guys more of a voice. Instead of responding to something “educational” I wrote (cough, cough), we can have more of a dialog or a discussion about issues we all face as blog marketers.

Sound good? Right, here we go, then. The first topic is…

Drawing the Free Line

In other words, how much free information do you give away on your blog in hopes of attracting paying customers? Do you think it’s different depending on whether you sell products or services? Are you afraid you’re going to give away so much useful information that your readers will not buy from you? How much “free content” is too much?

I have some thoughts on this, but I want to see what you guys think first, what questions or issues you have. I trust you guys to be civil and courteous to each other like you always are, and I encourage you to reply to each other. To “tawk amongst yaselves.”

All we need is one brave soul to step up to bat and take the first swing…

  • robertjfischer
    There are two models that you can follow. You can give away free samples and then sell products or services- the traditional model. Or you can become a thought leader and develope a tribe. With this approach you give till it hurts and then give some more. This is the apprroach that Seth Godin and David Mearman Scott have used. They do not make money from their blogs and free ebooks. They make money from workshops, speaking and consulting. Both models can work, but the blogger needs to decide which model he will follow. Being succcesful as a thought leader will ultimately lead to far greater monetary awards, but it is more difficult and fewer people will succeed.
  • remarkablogger
    Thanks for your comment. Do you really think it's a choice between one or
    the other?
  • For my businesses helping people to launch and grow their business I chose to only do a free in the following situations:

    free teleseminar so that potential coachess can get a feel for my style
    free teleseminar when I amlaunching a book or home study course
    sample chapter of a book I am selling so that people could get a feel as to whether it would meet their needs.

    I think offering a free report to encourage people to sign up for a newsletter is a bit cheap - they either want to read more about you or they don't plus - you shoudn't have to bribe them besides - if the report is of no value to them they might choose not to sign up when otherwise they would have done so.

    I do intend to have resources such as checklists etc available on my websites since these can be helpful to people whatever business and whatever stage they are at but I am not going to make getting them require signing up. Maybe a big mistake on my part but free should be free.
  • remarkablogger
    Thanks for your comment, Gillian. Offering a free report that is of no value
    is a mistake, absolutely. Offering something valuable for free is a
    different matter altogether. That value is communicated in the same way as
    for paid products: with a price and with benefits and testimonials. The
    price isn't something they're paying, but what it would be worth if you sold
    it.

    And if it isn't worth selling, then, paradoxically, it also isn't worth
    giving away.
  • As a blog consumer, I'm not sure consumers are as concerned about what's free and what's not free as long as you, the blogger, are providing lots of value (as James points out) to relieve the pain or worry points in the personal and/or business lives of your readers. If I'm consistently getting this, I'm going to come back again and again. Then when a product is offered, I'm more likely to jump on it, even if it may include some of what I've gotten for free. I'm paying for CONVENIENCE--or as Michael pointed out--you're paying for the packaging.

    This is a worthy discussion, but I don't think bloggers need to spend an inordinate amount of time or energy on it...just keep spending time and energy identifying your target market and learning all you can about what keeps them awake at night. When you've got them "sleeping better" you'll have a loyal fan.
  • remarkablogger
    Thanks for sharing your ideas on this. I think this is something many of us
    need to hear, the feedback that's missing. "Sleeping better:" I couldn't
    have put it better myself!
  • Not much I can say here. Not making any money to speak of yet.

    Will follow along.

    I suppose I could say that my days of giving stuff away are coming to a rapid close. I don't have the capital to continue indefinitely.
  • Free and paid for? Yes! And it depends...

    It seems the common practice these days is to get them in the door so to speak by offering something free. But, the free stuff had better be damn good. The internet is very busy with new offers daily. And providing that "ethical bribe" to get them to sign up to be on a list so you can than get them to buy from you is common practice. Is it the right thing to do, yes if done right. Is it the wrong thing to do, yes if done wrong.

    I guess my point in all of this, there is no right or wrong answer. I tend to watch a handful of people who, in my opinion are the best at marketing online, and do what they do. I also think you have to weigh your decision to give away free stuff with who your audience is. And, if you are blogging and posting some good stuff like Michael, you are giving away free stuff every time you post to your blog.

    The next key is trust. You have to build trust with your audience to build a relationship with them. I don't think just because you give them something for free, will you build that trust.

    In the end, you need to know your niche, your target buyer, your readers and whether free will work or is even necessary.
  • I was discussing this with James from Men With Pens a couple of months ago and he suggested the free content on the blog should be one step removed from your main work. So you're not giving away the same stuff as you sell. I don't always manage that.

    However, what I write tends not to be as detailed or in-depth as what I'm selling - the info products anyway. So it's more like a small sample, and the bought products are the whole enchilada.

    And as you pointed out to Jennifer, as a Coach, when I sell 'me' it's always going to be different to the free content AND the info products because it's personalised, it's in the immediate moment and it's dealing with that particular clients specific issues.
  • It depends on what your product is.

    If you're a consultant, then you're doing it right. If you sell information products, then you have to look to see what someone like Chris Guillebeau is doing...which is to sell himself and his community as the brand, and use the guides to foster the relationship. Sometimes, people buy not to get information, but because it makes them feel good to be part of something.

    I'm heading towards the freemium model, not only with my blog but with other businesses I'm working on. Give some good stuff away, and charge for the better stuff.

    Lastly, if you are the product, and your blog is nothing more than an advertising tool to say...get a book deal...then your true customer is a book agent and a publishing company. The more you give away the better chance you have of landing that deal.

    The average consumer is not reading blogs on a daily basis and certainly not subscribing to an RSS feed. In that case, your free content doesn't get to them very often, so you give a White Paper or Newsletter and figure out how you can meet their needs. They aren't going to spend hours reading blogs to learn that they need to know SEO, so they're going to need you to explain why they need to need it. Then you can sell services.
  • remarkablogger
    I like your point about being a part of something. Such a human desire,
    isn't it?
  • It is, and it's a missing link on my blog that I'm working hard to fill. Now that I've finished reading Atlas Shrugged, I have a few ideas :)
  • remarkablogger
    Atlas Shrugged? Excuse me while I throw up a little in the back of my
    mouth... :-)
  • Not a fan? Why not?
  • remarkablogger
    Oh, jeez, where do I start? Bad writing, first of all. I've never seen such
    insufferably preachy characters in a story. On top of it the story is just
    ridiculous, because it has to bend to the sermon. If she wanted to write
    about her philosophy of objectivism, she should have stuck to non-fiction.
    Really, the only writer worse than Ayn Rand is Dan Brown. To each his own,
    right. You asked... :-)
  • Interesting...because although I think Dan Brown tells the same story over and over again, I can't helped but love the books. Thought the same about Ayn Rand, although I liked the Fountainhead better.

    I just like the way she develops characters. A story is a story and she's a bit extreme, but as you said...to each their own :)
  • patweber
    This is a great question and I hope to hear the different sides. I'm not at all afraid to give information; I just really don't know when enough is enough. I suppose that question comes more into play when an original free give away sparks a discussion with someone who keeps wanting more and more. THEN it becomes more of a question for me.
  • remarkablogger
    We got some different sides, already, and it's not even 10am here in the
    Northeast! I think sometimes we may have different goals with certain posts.
    I've deliberately created many posts that are just over-the-top
    comprehensive resources designed to get massive retweets and backlinks. The
    kind of post we're commenting on right now was deliberately designed to
    garner tons of comments and traffic. In this post, I hardly said anything.
    All my work is happening in the comments, and it's distributed throughout
    the day instead of happening all at once.

    Some folks, like James over Men With Pens <http://menwithpens.ca>, are
    masters at fostering discussion. They don't need to reveal much to get the
    ball rolling.
  • I have to say that as online entrepreneurs we are not so great at defining our products (even if your product is consultative service). If humans cannot figure out easily what you are trying to sell them then they will go away and buy a (possibly inferior) product from someone with a clear message.

    I find this a lot when I teach in person to offline service providers and merchants. They sell mailing services and can't give a definite price because of all the variables - but that means that every potential client thinks it is unaffordable. They sell staging services but every client's needs are different so they can't give a price - but that means that they real don't have a product, just a concept.
  • remarkablogger
    Clarity of message comes from knowing exactly who your customer is and what
    problem you solve for them, then creating a product & offer that speaks to
    that. Only after you've done that, do you have a clear message. That's how I
    see it.
  • The answer to this question is " It all depends." What I mean by this is it all depends who your customers are. For example, my customers are brick and mortar business owners ie; Dentist, Lawyers, Accountants etc...My customers are MUCH too busy to be doing their own SEO work and blog entries etc...as one of my Dental clients said so eloquently, " Bill, I get paid to make tooth dust, not build links to my website, this is why I hire you." So, for this reason, I give away a ton of free info because it positions me as an expert right away.

    So I guess what I am saying is I could tell my folks step by step how to rank higher in the search engines, how to get more leads and then convert those leads into paying customers but it does NOT mean they will actually do it.

    The other thing to keep in mind when writing is to give the what but not the how...for example, if you are a MMA expert and you train MMA fighters you could talk about a certain hold ( say an arm bar) that is guaranteed to force your opponent into submission and why it works and how it causes pain but you don't actually tell them how to apply the hold. ( make sense?)

    Oh and here's the other thing, and it's important so pay attention, most people don't do anything anyway... it's the 80-20 principle. So give out all the free info you want, the law of reciprocity is very powerful my friends.
  • remarkablogger
    I love what you're saying, Bill, thanks for a great addition to this
    discussion! You're so right about people not doing anything. Witness all the
    folks wasting their time reading productivity blogs! :-)
  • For me this boils down to understanding who my potential customer is. There is a difference between the DIY visitor and the potential customer. A DIY visitor will always end up utilizing the information provided and work things out for themselves. A potential customer will want you to apply your work to their problem. (Dealt with this in the appliance repair market as much as anything). I believe a key issue when you are writing about what you do is to provide a clear pathway towards why they would be hired. If all of your posts and writing focus on DIY solutions then a potential customer may not even think of hiring you.

    Of course if some part of your work does involve secret sauce that can be easily replicated, keeping some mystery in the mix helps. That's not to disparage the DIY visitor. They can be a core source of networking power.
  • I like this comment because it focuses on what the customer wants/needs.

    In my experience the opportunity lies here. Most marketers, even with all the noise to the contrary, still think about things from the inside out. "How much should I give away for free." Take the customer's view. What would they like/value. This will give you insight into how much should be "free" and when to starting charging.
  • remarkablogger
    Ouch! That certainly was the point of view of the questions I asked.:-)
    Although customers want it all for free, so we still have to draw that
    line.
  • Actually, I don't think they "want it all free." Customers, as opposed to visitors, are looking for a commercial relationship. They have a problem that needs solving and fully expect to exchange value for value. If you are qualified to solve their problem, as evidenced by the content that's available for free, then they are more than willing to pay for your solution.

    A very smart person I know wrote a blog post titled, "Then Steps to Rock Your Business Blog in 2010." (http://bit.ly/6qeFZv0) The second step was, "Figure out what that person's biggest problem is that you solve and blog about that." This helps you find your customers, from among your visitors, and shows them you are qualified to solve their problem. The "show" is free, the "qualified" isn't.
  • remarkablogger
    Good point on the distinction between visitors and customers. What's been a
    point of interest for me is: when does that transition take place and how
    does it happen? Making that moment happen sooner rather than later is
    something I've been focused on. What kind of content makes that happen? What
    other actions contribute to that moment?
  • remarkablogger
    Great points, Fred. One of the not-so-secret reasons why we publish DIY
    posts is because they perform double-duty. They truly help the real DIY-ers,
    and they educate customers that you know your stuff and they'd never want to
    attempt the steps in your tutorials in a million years!
  • I don't think the free line really has anything exactly to do with the amount or type of information you give away.

    When dealing with a product-based monetization model, simply ask yourself the question: "Will my readers actually *need* the product?" If the answer is no, then you've done something wrong. Typically this means you're giving away the farm for free... but also understand that the collation method also works. If you're repackaging your free content in a way that will help hold your reader's hands better or save them time looking through your stuff, then they actually *need* you.

    On the other hand, in a consulting-based monetization model, the question you should ask yourself is "Will my readers need me as a guide". If the answer is no, then you're doing something wrong. There's a big difference between writing a tutorial and actually being able to implement it properly. That's why there's no problem with you writing a 300 page how-to book and giving it away for free... as long as you're positioning yourself as someone that a reader would possibly *need* in order to accomplish what's in the book.

    I just think the "free line" is too strictly defined in general terms. It's not about what is or isn't free. It's how you angle it so that you're still needed in some capacity, all depending on your business model.
  • remarkablogger
    Jordan, thanks for sharing your insights. What's funny regarding consulting
    is that you can take the same stuff you say over and over to individuals and
    make it into a product, which is great, but then people buy it and hire you
    as a consultant anyway because of all the work it takes or the steepness of
    the learning curve.
  • jonathanfields
    Haha, you know my thoughts on free already! But, when it comes to blogging, where you set your free-line is entirely dependent on your monetization scheme. If you have enough traffic and clout to generate what you need through ads and sponsorships, by all means give it all away. That's rare, very rare.

    If your monetization scheme revolves around selling your own product/solution to your community, hold back critical pieces of information with the knowledge that these will be part of the paid solutions and release teases of the full paid solution as demonstrations of "next-level" value.

    Or, if your monetization scheme is built more around personal service that flows from your ability to demonstrate thought leadership in a field, then have at on the blog, knowing your service value proposition will come in the form of delivering unique solutions relevant to a clients individual needs
  • remarkablogger
    Jonathan, great ideas, thanks for sharing!

    I wonder though that even if we're careful to not to spill all the beans,
    others might because they perceive that's a way to gain an edge in the "free
    content traffic battle." That person is probably shooting themselves in the
    foot in the long run, because they have less to sell. But the information is
    out there and can't be taken back. One person gives away a little more than
    the next guy, and suddenly that guy's sales dry up.

    It's an interesting conundrum. Having "hidden" knowledge isn't the only
    differentiator, thank goodness!

    Also, I really like the word "conundrum." :-)
  • Jen
    Hi Michael
    I'm a bit of a newbie here so hello first of all. :) Great idea. I have been blogging for 6 months or so, starting my site as a way of advertising my life coaching services although I'm developing it now as a personal development resource too. My main aim at the moment is to build my site up in the next year to start getting some consistent traffic but I am toying with this question. My gut feeling is to build up my reputation and credibility and create value for free before selling any products. I am there for Life Coaching if people want it, but I like feel like people getting to know me first is the most important thing for me to focus on right now.
    Thanks for starting a great discussion!
  • remarkablogger
    Jennifer, thanks and welcome aboard! Life coach, eh? Drop, welcome to Ocean!
    You need to think about what really makes you different. What you describe
    in your comment is exactly how blog marketing works: it is content marketing
    or relationship marketing, if you like.

    What's great about coaching and consulting is that often, you never have to
    worry about "giving away the farm." No matter what you say on your blog,
    it's never personalized for anyone. Your audience still has to figure out
    how to apply it to themselves. They can ask questions in the comments, but
    that's a great place to draw the line (depending) and say, "I could answer
    that fully if you were my client, but here is where I draw the line between
    what is valuable and free... and what is valuable enough to pay for."

    There's free, and there's entitlement. I don't "do" entitlement, and I
    suggest none of you allow yourselves to, either. :-)
  • Jen
    thanks Michael. Yep, there is a lot of us round :) ... and that's exactly what I am pondering right now ... what makes me different?

    I am going to forge ahead with my relationship marketing for now and when the time is right, come back to this question for my business, but it is great to start thinking about my direction. I like your distinction about coaching and consulting...I guess in a way you can never give too much away (without obviously getting entangled in 'entitlement' a you rightly said.) Thanks for kicking off a great discussion.
  • jadecraven
    This is something that I've struggled with. I was initially going to give my guest post guide, along with 3 other guides, away for free to get business. I only ever finished one and just put it up for sale. Guest posting seems to do more and the guides ensure I get some money.

    My current philosphy is that I try to provide as much free help as I can and people can choose to buy stuff if it suits them.

    When it comes to buying? I prefer expensive stuff. The people that actually bother to buy are those committed to success.
  • remarkablogger
    I think the more orderly, concentrated, focused, and convenient you make the information (like a course or a guide), the more likely it is you should charge for it. As free content goes, blogs are great but their information is all over the place.
  • I completely agree that you should charge more for orderly and focused information. After all, you've spent all your time making the information as convenient as possible for the buyer. You should be compensated for that. Personally, I'd rather spend a few bucks extra than a few hours extra.
  • jadecraven
    I can see myself being glued to this post for a while.

    I agree with that blogs have information all over the place. However, in my early days of blogging I used to write these huge, tutorial style posts to get traffic. The audience responded, but eventually I realized I could charge good money for the information. I then changed my tactic to focus on others, which worked well for a while, but now people seem to want my story on my blog. They want more practical information.

    I'm also concerned that, by giving so much free content away via guest posts, I'm also devaluing any paid posts that I do or my paid content.

    I just finished my first free guide and it was a real struggle not to pack it with too much info. I had to ensure I had some stuff for my paid projects.

    I do know that eventually, I want to reward those that have supported me by providing killer free resources but in the meantime, I need to focus on what will bring in money. Free marketing is a little too slow.
  • remarkablogger
    I wouldn't sweat it too much, Jade. You can always add more and do more, no
    matter how much you've done already. One of my strategies for info products
    is to take a bunch of posts and collect them together, rewrite, remix, and
    add even more to them. So you can't really go wrong when the original posts
    are "biggies" (some of mine have been over 4,000 words).

    Alternatively, you could write what you need to write, then just extract one
    important juicy bit out of that and post that to your blog. If the response
    to the post is really good, then the full thing you wrote can be dripped out
    piecemeal as a series or just go straight to E-junkie and up for sale! :-)
  • jadecraven
    I'm not stressing about it much anymore. Its just some of the concerns that go through my head and I thought, meh, have a chance to pick the brain of a smart crowd :-)

    Thanks for your response. I really do need to do some more reading on this - gotta read 'Free' by Chris Anderson :-)
  • Michael,

    Great topic for a discussion. Having led an open source company for a few years in the early 2000s, I have been writing about "free" for a long time.

    There is no good answer for "how much" free as it varies from person to person.

    The framework that I use to think about it is bits vs atoms.

    Bits scale. Atoms don't.

    Incremental cost of a free information in bits is close to zero.

    Incremental cost of work by atoms is NOT zero.

    The more you can give away the bits, the more leverage you have for your "atom" work.

    A detailed explanation here on my blog:
    http://www.lifebeyondcode.com/2010/01/12/the-fr...

    Have a great morning there.

    Best,
    Rajesh
  • remarkablogger
    I like that bits vs. atoms, but what if it's all bits and no atoms? Where do you stop?
  • Michael,

    Very subjective again, as you can expect. But here is one approach.

    A generic "bits" asset that will address the concerns of your target audience (in general) is where you can stop. A specific "bits" output where the asset will address the concerns of a "specific" company or individual is where there can be a premium and it need not be given away for free.

    Of course, there is no end to the intermediate combinations that we can come up with.

    Usually there is no straight "bits" vs "atoms" in this age. It is a hybrid - meaning there is "atom" work needed to generate "bits" in general. The more specific the need, higher the "atom" work - even if the ultimate output will be in "bits."

    Thanks Michael.

    Best,
    Rajesh
  • remarkablogger
    Thanks for your insights, Rajesh!
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