... Neither cast ye your pearls before swine...

[jrianto]

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

The question
If you are an true expert on something, is it better to give something away for free and hope to monetize the content you are giving away from advertising (using AdSense for example and offer products/services related to your expertise) or rather make an ebook or subscription based site for these to offer this knowledge and skills and charge people who are interested in knowing about it?

The scripture quote above tends to advise us to not give "truly valuable" things for free since people will undervalue it and even trash it.

What do you think? Which ones are more profitable?

[oneempowered]

I don't think the passage has anything to do with "free" vs. "for fee."
Rather, it's talking about wasting your valuables/efforts on the wrong recipients.

There's a lot of wisdom there .... Know Thy Market!

Don't try to sell a dating ebook to nuns.
Don't preach "Go ye into all the world" to prison inmates.

Once you target the right market, giving something away for free can be a good way to break down trust-barriers.

[Chris Lockwood]

I don't get the poll. If you have knowledge that is good enough to sell, then it makes sense to also give some of it away, to build a folllowing, a list, etc.

If your knowledge isn't good enough to create a product from, what is the point of giving it away? Post non-useful info on your blog?

[artwebster]

What a bloody good question!

I know how to get results in an offline situation and I know how these results can be demonstrated before any action is taken.

I have written a report that will enable anybody to walk into an offline business, make a sale and create immediate savings out of which the business owner might be prepared to pay for other services.

The general feeling seems to be that I should give this away or sell it at a very low price and build a membership site to produce residual income.

This sounds very attractive until I realise that once I release this report (which is, obviously, unique) I no longer have a unique selling proposition since what follows on is sprayed all over the post boards in this and hundreds of other forums not to mention being promoted by everybody and his dog.

I don't know anything about marketing a unique product and am seeking advice from a fellow warrior and a well known marketer but I am seeing that I either need to put a real value on my report and have a one off sale or spend a great deal of time trying to build follow up content for a membership site - something for which I am semi qualified but in which I can see little chance of remaining unique.

A very good question indeed!

Couldn't vote in the poll - not decided

[LivingCovers]

If it's a service, it might be different. You might want to give out
a service for free to let people know that what you offer is
exactly how you'll deliver it.

[artwebster]

Originally Posted by LivingCovers

If it's a service, it might be different. You might want to give out
a service for free to let people know that what you offer is
exactly how you'll deliver it.

There you go. That is exactly the sort of response I am getting.

It is NOT a service. It is a methodology that allows any half competent internet marketer to walk into a business and sell his/her services by giving the owner more money in his pocket.

As soon as I publish this report I know it will be stolen, reproduced and voided of all value by the copycats who will see it as their way to get onto the list building enterprises called 'give-aways'.

I just want to make sure that I get some of the value out of the report before that happens.