How much content should I give away for free on my website or social media? This is the question we’ve been asking ourselves recently. Have you ever written up a blog or email or freebie and then thought it was so good you should charge for it? Here at SocialforGood.co, we tend to err on the side of free. We openly share our best tips and tricks and how-to’s, but there may be times when it would be appropriate to charge.
Determining how much content to give away is an important question for two reasons:
- If you give everything away, you won’t make any money.
- If you give nothing away, no one will hear about you… and you definitely won’t make any money.
Let’s break down this issue into 3 key questions. First, why give away free content? Second, why withhold content? And finally, where to draw the line between paid and free content. Here, we’ll discuss the first question — why give away free content — and delve into the paid content side of things in the next blog. Let’s jump right in.
Why give away free content?
Big picture here: we have to consider the goal of offering free content at all. So, let’s not beat around the bush; the goal is more sales, volunteers, or donations.
Free content leads to more sales/volunteers/donations in 3 ways:
1. Building awareness
Free content helps people in your target market find you and learn that you offer a product/service they care about. For example, if people are searching for “how much content do I give away for free” and they find XYZ site with useful information, they will view them as an expert. They may be willing to subscribe or follow and find out what services they offer.
You can build even more awareness through better search rankings. If your site offers great content, visitors will spend more time on your site. This will please the search gods and they will reward you with higher rankings, resulting in even more people seeing your content. We discuss search engine optimization in detail here.
Free content also encourages backlinks, which turbocharges search rankings. Podcast hosts, peers, and influencers will not be afraid to link back to your site because they know that anyone will be able to access the relevant content. This will make your site way more credible in the eyes of search engines.
Speaking of rankings, did you notice that search engines are offering more information directly on the search results page – so people don’t have to even click to get the answers to their questions? Rather than put your best content behind a click or paywall, you’ll have to put your best content up front and easily accessible. That is, if you want to be seen at all.
2. Building trust
Large ticket items don’t usually get impulse buyers. People need to know that your service is worth the investment of their hard-earned money. The only way to learn this is through your free content.
The old bait and switch gets eyeballs, but doesn’t build trust. If your first impression is to mislead people, how can they trust you to provide honest products down the line? Free content means people get what they clicked for, and that they get what they pay for.
Plus, if they subscribe or see your content regularly, they get to know your voice, and maybe even like you. No one wants to buy from someone they don’t like.
3. Building loyalty
Existing customers can gain even more value out of free content such as tutorials, best practices, and case studies. They may even add more services as you keep the relationship fresh with regular new content.
Okay, so if you’re getting a tad stressed about the idea of giving away valuable information, can we ease your worries? There’s probably someone else out there giving away pretty much your same content. And if someone else is giving away useful free content, people will go to their page and not yours. Nuff said.
Where do I draw the line between paid and free?
It’s really difficult to give too much information away. Some people say that even if you give it all away (and as long as it’s great content), you’ll still have people who are begging for your advice, customized plans or products, training classes, speaking engagements, or books.
Some ideas on content to give away in podcasts, videos, or blogs:
- industry tips and advice
- case studies
- tutorials and how-to’s
- personal stories (from staff, volunteers, or leaders)
- best practices, etc.
Don’t be concerned about giving so much away that people could do it on their own. If you have some savvy DIYers out there who use your free content for all it’s worth, they are not your target market. Who knows, if you prove that you’re an expert, they may reach out to you for help down the line. The goal of free content is to find the people who need what you offer – and are willing to pay for it.
In Sum
The answer to the question, “how much content should I give away for free?” is – as much as you can! Free content can help you achieve your business goals. It gives people a glimpse into the type of results they can expect from your paid products or services. Yet, there are times to charge for content, and we’ll get into that in the next blog!