If I Were To Charge For Blog Posts, This Is How I’d Do It…

32 | Posted In Marketing by David

A couple days ago, I talked about how blogging is broken. I also openly speculated about the benefits of moving a blog over to a paid model.

I must have really touched a nerve because the commentary POURED in on that post, both here on the blog as well as on Twitter and Facebook. Interestingly, hardly anybody seemed to disagree with me either.

Today, though, I wanted to post a quick followup to clarify some stuff. I don’t want people to read my post and then simply knee-jerk into a paid model for their blog. The truth is that most bloggers wouldn’t succeed on a paid model.

Importance of Value Proposition

If you’re going to switch to a paid model, you’ve got to bring the value. It doesn’t matter if you charge as little as a dollar per month… the mental difference between “free” and a mere dollar is much larger than the real-world difference. The moment you ask for any money, your audience is going to immediately evaluate the proposed VALUE of your offer.

You’ve got to deliver far more value in a paid situation than you would with a free, public blog. You’ve got to focus on solving problems for your audience and giving them information which translates into a real-world benefit to them. You cannot post opinions and engage in speculation. You’ve got to deliver.

Actually, put more accurately, you’ve got to OVER-DELIVER. Because, ultimately, your business won’t survive unless you are producing more value to your customers than you’re charging them.

So, you’d need to ask yourself – can you bring it?

You Still Need Traction

Something has to promote you and get your name out there, right? You can’t just go “off the grid”, put everything behind a paywall, then expect people to pay attention.

So, you still need a public presence. Which is why you’ll still need an open, free blog. Or at least a big honker email list.

All the people who have decided in recent months to stop blogging and go private with their content had already built up a large, loyal following before making that move.

Perhaps blogging is now a “gateway drug” to bigger and better things, who the hell knows. :)

Can Your Niche Support It?

Many choices for blogging niches simply can’t sustain a solid paid model for your core content. This doesn’t mean you can’t set up a membership site (obviously), however taking your blog behind a paywall is an entirely different matter.

For example, my other blog is a large tech blog. The tech niche is, essentially, news. What isn’t news in that niche is how-to, and there is literally NOTHING that I could show people how to do that hasn’t been covered elsewhere a million times. The level of saturation in the niche is high. Not only that, but we’re all talking about external things which are defined by outside companies (i.e. Apple). In other words, the tech niche is like a pile of vultures all eating the same corpse.

Trying to take a site like PCMech into a paid model would be suicide. It doesn’t mean I can’t have a membership site, however. And I do, and it works fine.

Coming full circle to the idea of value proposition, you’d need to evaluate your niche and your place in that niche, and determine whether there is a unique enough reason for somebody to want to pay to access YOU.

So, Here’s How I’d Do It…

So, I didn’t want anybody to read Monday’s post and assume I was advocating throwing a big paywall over DavidRisley.com and charging to get in. Not gonna happen. :)

Here’s what could happen, however…

NewImage

You may or may not know about my Inner Circle program. I set up the Inner Circle several months ago. My concerns laid out on Monday were the EXACT reasons why I created the Inner Circle. Inner Circle members get a closer level of access to me, they get to ask me questions, and they get exclusive content that the public on this blog will not have access to.

The Inner Circle program would essentially see a “blog” on the inside, where I will post more often and more in-depth. This would be in addition to other things I do to add value, such as live workshops, live Q&A sessions. Pretty soon, I plan to add call-in days to the mix so people can call my desk at certain specified times and talk to me. I’m also throwing ideas around about an exclusive newsletter, only for Inner Circle. I just need to work out the logistics on it first.

If somebody enrolls in the Inner Circle, then I know they have “skin in the game”. Their level of dedication is higher. The simple fact that they pulled out their wallet means they are a cut above. And I want to work with them.

So, what would happen to the public, free blog? Well, it’d stay in place. However, post frequency would probably decrease. The structure of the blog would change somewhat as well in order to highlight some of my best stuff in the archives (I have over 900 posts on this site). And you’d see more overt mentions about what you’re missing out on inside the Inner Circle.

Now, a little “hint hint”… this is how I’d do it… and this is how I’m GOING to do it. The Inner Circle already exists. I plan to make many of the changes I just mentioned. It just makes sense.

How does this translate, then?

  • Don’t kill off your whole blog or put it behind a paywall unless you’re OK with losing the promotional power of it.
  • You can still do the payment model by adding a private section to your existing blog, while keeping the free side open.
  • Use the free side to build the relationship and “tease” the member content, but ultimately you’re trying to convert them into a member.

Some might be thinking – that’s nothing new. Sounds like a fairly typical membership site.

In many ways, it is. But, for the reasons I spelled out on Monday, I think you’re going to be seeing it more and more. It is a sound business model if you’ve got your value proposition in place, and know you can deliver.

I know I can deliver. For me, it is now about delivering to people who are actually going to use what I tell them. Because, I want you guys to make some money, not just find me interesting for the 5 minutes you read my post. :)

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  • http://website-in-a-weekend.net/ Dave Doolin

    Inner Circle: something I haven’t ever seen in Blogistan is mailman-type list, or a Google groups list, which could both be closed to the public. I’ve used and operated both, and I believe for the type of engagement you may be looking for on Inner Circle, that’s a good model. It certainly has worked well for me in the past, and it’s certainly the strategy of choice for a vast number of software projects.

    This is such a good idea for what I have in mind, I just created a private group for my site, and a private group for guest authors.

  • http://Beltwayboysports.com BeltwayBoy Sports

    You are one of the few who will be able to make this work and I look forward to seeing how it goes after do it.

  • http://realsimplepeople.com/ John Sherry

    I think many people agreed with you David because they may see the prize of incomising their writing rather than having a valuable asset to readers (hence the high ratio of support). But, I quite agree that it must be of value and match people’s needs, provide solutions or support, and potentially connect them to an inside track or a shared ethic community. Just because you charge $5 a month to read your blog on growing cacti or therapy for cats it doesn’t mean people will read it. Blogging isn’t always about, ‘build it and they will come’.

  • http://www.timemanagementninja.com Craig Jarrow

    David,

    I think your vision here is correct. And I think it is where many blogs could go in the near future.

    Keep the public blog to build audience/brand and to deliver value. However, offer a higher level of interaction/connection for a price.

    I like you Inner Circle concept. Have been exploring how to do something similar with my audience at TMN.

    Best wishes,
    Craig

  • http://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com/ Chuck Frey

    Your point is well taken, David. That’s been my experience with the membership program on my Mind Mapping Software Blog. I’ve made a commitment to produce one new special report, interview, how-to piece, etc. per week, so there is always something new for my members to benefit from. These pieces can’t be phoned in, either. They need to be well-researched, more in-depth and provide greater value than my free blog posts. That’s not easy, and requires a clear vision of who your readers are and the kinds of challenges they face. In short, if I don’t over-deliver, I won’t retain my subscribers, because they can cancel at any time.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Yeah, that thought has occurred to me, too. Do you actually use Google Groups to run your’s?

  • http://www.balanceinme.com Anastasiya

    I’ve been playing with the idea of paid blog access for the past few months. I too find that at some point it gets very difficult to maintain the blog, spend your time and deliver high quality information (which sometimes takes hours to create) without any financial rewards. I also find that a lot of people/readers do not take your advice too seriously unless they pay for it (I guess everyone believes the saying “You get what you pay for”) If a blogger gets past the point of just blabbing about their life or some theories that just pop up in their heads (without any practical implementation or use) then this blogger deserves to be paid. People pay for magazines, books and newspapers and a lot of times these resources have much less value than some blog.
    I think that bloggers who deliver value deserve to be paid. It might be difficult at first but once more and more bloggers start doing it readers will simply get used to this fact. They will choose more carefully what they fill their heads with and will be able to benefit from the information much more.
    I think it is a win-win situation in the long run…

  • http://website-in-a-weekend.net/ Dave Doolin

    I do now.

    I’ve been running an informal startup collaboration group (private website, etc) over two years with groups. I’m also on several ruby/rails groups, the node.js group, etc. I set to digest, get 1-2 emails per day, scan the TOC for items of interest. Works great.

    I’ve also used mailman for a previous project, hosted that with EMWD for $4/month. Worked really well. I’m on a few mailman lists as well.

  • Anonymous

    David I only have one thing to say to this. You gave me tons of useful business building strategies in this post thank you!!!!!! I am glad you took Mondays post to the next level. Now I have a clearer idea of what I need to do.

  • Anonymous

    Hi David.
    First, I really appreciate your open and non-hyped style of discussing these matters. I find it quite helpful. A lot of the discussion here boils down to one’s definition of “blog content” vs. “membership site content.” The free blog leading to a paid membership site model has been a popular concept for years. Essentially, the “paid blog content” just seems to be a minor twist on the concept of a paid membership site. Standard blog content is not something too many people will pay for. Better content, what you would find in a membership site, IS something worth paying for. I was always taught that the free blog is supposed to be a traffic-driving vehicle for your paid services. There is still much value for the business owner to operate that type of blog. Problem lies when you just have the blog and no paid service/product to offer! Which has been my #1 mistake by the way. Of all the internet marketing advice givers, you sir, are one of my favorites because you actually say things worth listening too without screaming GIVE ME MONEY! But it is indeed a fine line because you can not pay your mortgage with nothing but your humanitarian efforts!
    Lorraine Grula

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Thanks. :-) That being said, when I have something to offer, I’ll ask for money. It is part of business. My kids don’t eat if I don’t do it.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Thanks, Joe.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Agreed.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Yeah, over-delivering is the only way to go. If it is just an even thing, well, most people will just keep their money.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Yeah, that’s why I thought I should follow up on the topic today, because I didn’t want everything thinking that charging for things would be some kind of magic pill. For most bloggers, it will just kill off their readership. Hell, for anybody, it will reduce readership…. that is, unless you maintain the free side.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Cool. Might consider Goog Groups for the Inner Circle. Will take it to members and see what they think. I do have forums in there now, but the thing I do like about Groups is that it comes to them, rather than them having to take the time to log in.

  • http://remarkablogger.com Michael Martine

    Semantics plays a big role in all this. Blogs are free, and sorry to say, “bloggers” (as opposed to business owners–that’s a whole different cut) are cheap-asses. When you’re using the lingo of the free and the cheap, I don’t see it getting much traction.

    As soon as you call it something else and use language that doesn’t have the word “free” associated with it, you’re on a higher level.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Very right. And trust me, I’ve been thinking about that as regards my positioning and that whole byline at the top of this site. :-)

  • Onerak

    Free blog as a traffic driving vehicle to paid membership is not a new model. It is as old as the Web and. The porn sites owners had discovered this model way back in 1997. I made lots of money and now I enjoy milking financially challenged people bu other means like affiliate marketing by selling useless products – like colon cleanser.

  • Anonymous

    I guess my point is that many people’s free stuff is not even worth that much. Your free stuff is very valuable.

  • http://hpshappyhomebusiness.blogspot.com Hpvanduuren

    Thanks for your Post,

    I do think that with a Public Free Q&A-type Blog it’s possible to build a Relationship with an Audience that way grow them into possible future Customers for a Membership Site and/or for example things like (Paid) Consulting. (or for example for specific products
    for special – members only – discount rate.)

    ‘Anyway, first by providing them with
    all kinds of Free Help, Resources
    and Answers to Questions’.

    On one of my Blogs (my Writing Lifestyle Blog) I already created such a Free Q&A-type Blog.
    Their feedback might even Inspire me to – besides the tiny little (almost free) ebook I already (pre) sell on that blog – also create other Special Products for them. My most recent Post on that blog is a Post about Writing Goals, asking my Readers for their Feedback
    and how I can Help them.

    All the Best,
    To your Happy – Blogging – Inspiration,
    HP

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Thank you for littering the web with your obvious intelligence.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Thanks. :-)

  • http://chrisalta.com Chris Alta

    David Risley you slick sunuhhvuhhgun!

    haha great stuff man, I wouldn’t be mad at you for following through with your inner circles area, only if you can definitely and completely bring it! And I mean every single question I ask you have a quickfire answer that solves my problem. Do I trust your experience? hell yeah. Would I pay for it? If I had the money then yes! I mean what would any of us have to lose?

    This idea is kind of cut throat but it definitely separates the dreamers from the action takers, so kudos on that note. Is this going to change the blogging industry completely? I’m not sure it just might, we’ll have to wait and see..but for the most part I like what you’re doing and it’s making my visa card crawl out of my pocket as we speak..no seriously though it’s coming out lol

    What would you do if you his a plateau of subscribers to your inner circle and people are just reading your free content? how would you gain more memberships? Just keep teasing them at the end of each post? Shooting them emails and letting them know what you’re going to be covering? I’m interested in knowing how you would entice me and everyone else in this community.

    You’ve got to be able to sell me the car the same day I walk on the lot brotha! lol

    All and all I’m a big advocate of giving away as much free content as you can, but eventually you’re going to need to monetize somehow and you’ve definitely found a good way to start doing it. However I also believe that if you keep giving away free content and building people’s trust you won’t have to sell anything at all!

    Your readers will keep coming back and will want to buy something from you be it your own product or through one of your affiliate links since you’ve given them such great stuff all along. They’ll, we’ll, us, them, whomever will feel indebted to you in some kind of weird internet marketing way lol

    Anyways I hope to get some answers from those questions bud!

    cheers!

    -Chris Alta

  • http://chrisalta.com Chris Alta

    hahahah what the heck?

  • http://chrisalta.com Chris Alta

    Anastasiya!

    Totally agree with you, if you know what you’re talking about and really change people’s lives for the better by helping them out directly then you definitely deserve to be paid. Now as much as we all want to help people it is a business and money needs to go from one person’s pocket to the other or else bills don’t get paid, mouths don’t get fed, etc.

    Our blogs are definitely for the long run, it’s not some short term thing where we just push content out so our site can be “full.” So respect on having a good mindset on things most bloggers don’t have. If monetizing were soo simple then everyone would have Ferrari’s, beds made of benjamins and pearly white teeth lol

    You don’t really necessarily have to sell anything. You can just rely on getting the most viewers in your particular niche, which is the life balance niche for you (I checked out your website, looks really nice, clean and simple!) and then just monetize by getting paid advertising.

    Go ahead and give it a shot by contacting some health drink companies. A few off of the top of my head are like vitamin water, odwalla, nutrigrain, cliff bars, etc..give them a quick pitch and let them know you’re website is showing consistent growth and if they support your website with a banner that they’d be getting direct traffic instead of untracked tv/magazine marketing that is costing them $70,000+. I’m sure they’d be willing to cut you off anywhere $5,000-$10,000 for some DIRECT MARKETED TRAFFIC.

    You really can’t wait for someone to contact you, you’ve gotta take that extra step and make it happen. Even if it’s a local company in your town focused on health. If they pay you $1,000 then sweet that’s $1,000 you didn’t have and who knows. The more traffic your website gets and the more business you bring them they’ll want to keep their ad on your page. So as you grow they grow and they won’t want some big company coming around and taking their ad space. So they’ll be WILLING and now financially ABLE to offer you a bigger pay.

    This will build you a great relationship with the company and will also build yourself up as a reputable website, and who knows maybe they’ll even start referring even more people to your website as you refer people to their specific product.

    just an idea!

    cheers!

    -Chris Alta

  • Mazzastick

    I am relatively new to blogging, and I definitely see a problem with the current system. I have spent countless hours writing useful content for free. Most people are not going to click my ads or buy my affiliate products. I would rather charge a small monthly fee and be paid that way, and get rid of all the ads on my site. I may occasionally promote products and such, but I would not litter my website with too much advertising.

  • http://www.WhoIsBolaji.com Bolaji | WhoIsBolaji.com

    Hi Lorraine & David:

    David, this is my first comment on your site. I appreciate the quality and authenticity here.

    Lorraine’s point about free blog content as a means of:
    1. Establishing your authority, and
    2. Generating leads (traffic) for your paid content, is a poignant one.

    As is her question: What if you have no paid service to offer!

    I think, David, that there is a business life cycle upon which this debate should be overlaid.

    Bloggers just starting out would be well-served to put out frequent, high quality FREE content.

    For the 2 reasons pointed out above.

    But as they move along that life cycle:
    – More authority
    – More traffic

    They are then well-served to develop products based on their audience’s needs…
    And then they can monetize that blog traffic.

    (You did point out that Ryan Deiss and others already had huge mailing lists before moving away from blogging. You also have huge authority and traffic, so the transition makes sense for you.)

    Great food for thought in your blog post.

    I just checked out Inner Circle – and it is CRAZY affordable.
    It’s enough to create an income stream for you, but not so much that any reader who wants results can’t invest in it.

    Wishing you all the best with the transition. I don’t doubt your continued success.

    Tire kickers, find another tire store to abuse.

    Bolaji.

  • http://www.pulseuniform.com/fleece-jackets.asp Peny|Fleece jackets

    There are some things in life that money can’t buy, just like interest.
    And I guess, you have it all here. Blogging could be a real fun when you make it a very interesting one for the reader (even it is a free stuff) and the reader will eventually find it helpful and buy/act on it.

  • http://authopublisher.com Ivin

    I’ll get there eventually. But first I need a loyal following of at least a 100. Correct? That’s before I even start thinking about it.

  • http://www.dragonblogger.com Justin Germino

    I agree with Michael’s comment about blogging and blogs being ‘free content’, it should be called something else than a blog if it is to be a paid subscription model. I will say however that I vehemently avoid paying for anything if I can find alternatives that are free. I don’t pay for software, (I use freeware or get companies to give me free licenses). I don’t every subscribe to pay newspaper websites, I boycott and move on to free news sources online instead. You are absolutely right that your site has to provide value to justify people parting with their hard earned money, and if you can’t provide content better than 20 other free sites offering the same information or subject matter topics then don’t even try. This is why I would always prefer advertisers to sponsor the blog and make money from companies and advertisers than try to charge a user directly. Sure, a reader can become a customer but I would rather have 10x more readers than 1/10th who paid a small subscription fee per month.

  • http://twitter.com/ChristinMowery Christin Mowery

    This is the first post that I have read on your blog, and I like your writing style and the way you present your ideas. I will definitely be reading more of your posts.

    At this point, I am giving away free information on my blog, but it would be nice to consider this as a future option. Thank you for sharing. :)