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Free for All vs. Free for Members

by NoBody Special
3 replies
I have an authority site. I create 2 videos per week. My question is if I should give away 100% free content to continue to build the brand name, or give away 50% on my PodCast, and the other 50% to my website, when people sign up for the Free Membership.

One video is Free for Everyone, and gets openly posted on my website, podcast, itunes, youtube, etc. These will get watched 1000's of times in the first month.

The second video I post Free for Members of my website. Google still points traffic to it, even though they get little more than a lock asking them to sign up for free access. I do this, obviously, because I am trying to build a targeted email list. It is also giving them access to dozens of quality training videos, so it is certainly a fair trade.

The issue is that one video gets downloaded 1000's of times through itunes, etc, but the website only gets 3-4 signups per week, and 3-4 views per week.

I am also creating Pay For content, but I am afraid of rolling out a .99 payment, when I cant even get people to sign up for free. People must either want completely free content, or I am doing something terribly wrong.

For what it's worth, I am still only getting dozens of google traffic per day, not hundreds. So, I want to stand my ground, roll out the content as I see fit, and hope for the best a year from now.

Thoughts?
#free #members
  • Profile picture of the author SPC
    People may just want to use your content for free or they may not see any value in it because you aren't charging any money. Maybe you should try charging a monthly fee and see how that affects your conversion. I remember seeing some stats that by charging a fee and creating perceived value might actually entice people to pay.

    Still figuring this stuff out with my own memberships sites and I think a lot of it is just testing and tweaking. Every market is extrememly different in the membership niche. Tweak and test. Better to do it now before you have thousands of members
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  • Profile picture of the author NoBody Special
    I totally agree. I want to establish "The Norm" before I get people into the habit of "bad practice". If I give away for free, they will expect free. If I then charge 3 months from now, they will not pay, there would be no reason for them to expect to.

    Personally, I am still trying to figure out what they would be paying for. I have ideas on paper, but one step at a time. If I try to do too much at one time, I will give up, and fail.

    On a separate topic, I guess I just wonder the better model, .99 per 10 minute video of concentrated learning, or $20 for 2 hours of concentrated learning. So far, the $20 did seem to work. Each new market is always new results, last one does not count.
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  • Profile picture of the author SPC
    It is very hard to determine the right business model. Everything that you have stated are the exact things that I am going through right now. I have tried for advice here, but very few people have responded with good advice. I think people don't really like talking about membership sites. $$$

    Just go with whatever you think is the best model and stick with it. If it doesnt work, move on and learn from it. These sites are very hit or miss I feel.
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