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Should I charge for my manuals?

by edenworkshops
8 replies
Hello

I run a niche website and for the past 6/8 years I have been freely giving away a range of timeless instructional .pdf's.

I checked recently and I see that around 300 people a week are downloading these manuals, while I appreciate the form of viral marketing giving these manuals away gives me, none the less I feel I want to charge for them. The main reason being I have just accepted someone elses .pdf manuals and am charging for them.

What do you think?

Thank you for your opinion.

Richard
#charge #manuals
  • Profile picture of the author Big Money
    Originally Posted by edenworkshops View Post

    Hello

    I run a niche website and for the past 6/8 years I have been freely giving away a range of timeless instructional .pdf's.

    I checked recently and I see that around 300 people a week are downloading these manuals, while I appreciate the form of viral marketing giving these manuals away gives me, none the less I feel I want to charge for them. The main reason being I have just accepted someone elses .pdf manuals and am charging for them.

    What do you think?

    Thank you for your opinion.

    Richard
    Either charge for the manuals or make them opt in to a mailing list to get the manuals for free and then up-sell more expensive related products. If you have over 300 people a week downloading these manuals you a good opportunity on your hands. What niche are the manuals in?
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  • Profile picture of the author evollusion
    Also, put affiliate links in your manuals to products related to the manual.
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    • Profile picture of the author sal64
      why not give away some and then upsell for the rest?
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by edenworkshops View Post

    The main reason being I have just accepted someone elses .pdf manuals and am charging for them.
    I don't quite understand this sentence.

    Even if you charge $1, you'll build up a list of buyers - paying customers who have credit-cards and/or PayPal accounts and are willing to use them. And that's a tremendous long-term asset to build up.

    You can build the list without charging, it's true, and you'll have a bigger list that way, but it won't be a list of buyers.

    The real answer, though, is that you have to test.

    If you look at just the short-term (i.e. the income for these products you already have, ignoring your future prospects from the list), it may well turn out to be better to charge a higher price than a lower price (50 downloads at $17 produces more money than 100 downloads at $5 each).

    It depends on what additional value you put on "having the list".

    It's not simple and straightforward!

    (I like the sound of Sal's suggestion above: give something away and upsell more.)
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  • Profile picture of the author RunningBear
    I agree with sal64. Why not give some away for free and sell the others? I would make the ones you sell beefier than the ones you give away. The same high quality, just more of it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mehak
    it depends on how much info is on these documents. Maybe take some info away and keep it free, (giving stuff away free is always good for your branding and people appreciate it) then have the good stuff in another manual which you charge for. So if people are serious they can buy if they wish.

    Also ensure to have your links in the pdf so if it's used again or passed on people will always come back to you.
    All the best
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    • Profile picture of the author edenworkshops
      Thank you so much for all your input.

      The manuals are about bookbinding. Some are quite lengthy, in depth manuals running to 80 pages or more. Some are very basic and short.

      One of the problems I had was that the file name and title for the pages where these manuals reside mentions free manuals. It may be easy enough to change the page title, but changing the file name is a lot more hassle I believe, I did it once years ago.

      Also many hundreds of my back links mention free manuals.

      So selling some and giving others away may be the best solution, that way people cominng from links that mention free manuals will still find some free ones, and I can rest easy charging for the ones I feel I should charge for.

      I have a newsletter list of about 2000 (only half of which are read). In the newsletter I dont advertise very much as I feel people are tired of being sold things. What I try to do is write something which keeps the "spirit" of my website alive in the minds of the readers, I get quite a few complimentary mails about the newsletter. (but do I get sales?) Moot point.

      So sell some and give others away?

      Thank you.

      Richard
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      • Profile picture of the author Vogin
        Originally Posted by edenworkshops View Post

        In the newsletter I dont advertise very much as I feel people are tired of being sold things.
        That's the problem, right there. If you think that people are tired of being sold things, why are you even considering monetizing your current state?

        Let me correct it a bit - people are tired of being sold crappy, useless and at times even hilarious excuses for a helpful product.

        Do everything you can to provide value (I think you're already there) and rest assured people will have no problem at all to buy stuff from you...
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