# General Business Category > Entrepreneurship and Business Management Forum >  To Free or not to Free - Help Needed

## Vincent

Over the last few days I've been toying with the idea of allowing people to download any document from my website for free, except my books. I want to and need to change my whole strategy and mindset regarding the webpage.

My question is should I do it or not? 

As I don't want to influence anyone's thinking, I would like to leave this as open as possible. I would prefer a Q & A and from the Q & A develop a strategy.

Your comments, viewpoints, suggestions and question would be greatly appreciated.

----------


## Dave A

This could turn into quite a long thread if a few people participate, because it cuts to the core of the value (and saleability) of information in the internet era.

I know Paul Jacobson was contemplating the same dilemma not too long ago. Should he just make a substantial collection of legal documents available free, and then live off the inquiries of people needing or wanting personal attention? I tried to visit his site to get a link to the actual blog post, but he seems to have server problems just at the moment.

Obviously I've gone the free route with this site, so it might seem I've got a predisposed bias here. But that particular decision was more Gung Ho than carefully structured reason. So I'm quite interested in trying to analyse the issue in a more structured way.

I'm tempted to hare off down a particular line of thinking, but I suppose the first thing is to ask a few questions. Off the top of my head, the first two are:

What is the environment?
What is the objective?

----------


## Vincent

Thanks Dave. First off I'm not a lawyer, but I do have access to people who can provide legal advice. Secondly the environment that I work in  is that of Business rescue, business turnaround, change management etc., and also do comprehensive business valuations. 

The objectives are simple:
1) grow my customer base via people registering - offering something of value
2) grow my customer base by presenting seminars of two and a half hours for R100.00 - have my books and CDs with a variety of documents and open source programs for sale. 
3) Use the open source concept - the documents are free but my services are billed.

One of my strengths - good at presenting seminar/workshop

PS - will be away from my computer most of the day - will answer any other questions when I get back.

----------


## Dave A

I consider various aspects of internet culture are big factors in this discussion.
Most internet savvy folks expect stuff for free. Particularly the younger age groups. They have a totally different value perspective to folks conditioned to doing info business pre-internet.Information that is charged for on one site is often available free elsewhere (or at least something similar, but still useable) - you just need to know how to use the search engines.Many of the commercial online information models I've seen give some information for free, but have an added value option for those who are looking for more.
What else is there that we need to consider on the "internet culture" side?

----------


## Vincent

Dave:
I was at a networking evening yesterday, and I posed the same question. The general consensus seems to be, give for free, but have an added value option, pretty much the same as what you have said. 

The decisions that I've had made are:
1. webpage to change and reflect the work I do - seminars, change management,  business rescue, comprehensive business valuation and turnaround.

2. use the open source concept

3. Provide docs for free - link up with another internet site that offers free docs.

4 Seminars - co-brand with other business

It has been an enlightening experience writing all this out and talking to and meeting people who you 'don't know.'

----------


## Dave A

Thanks for the feedback. Let me know when you've got your site redone so that I can admire the fruits of your labour.

Although my exerience is it's an ongoing thing.
A little addictive even  :Wink:

----------


## QUINN

> This could turn into quite a long thread if a few people participate, because it cuts to the core of the value (and saleability) of information in the internet era.
> 
> I know Paul Jacobson was contemplating the same dilemma not too long ago. Should he just make a substantial collection of legal documents available free, and then live off the inquiries of people needing or wanting personal attention? I tried to visit his site to get a link to the actual blog post, but he seems to have server problems just at the moment.
> 
> Obviously I've gone the free route with this site, so it might seem I've got a predisposed bias here. But that particular decision was more Gung Ho than carefully structured reason. So I'm quite interested in trying to analyse the issue in a more structured way.
> 
> I'm tempted to hare off down a particular line of thinking, but I suppose the first thing is to ask a few questions. Off the top of my head, the first two are:
> 
> What is the environment?
> What is the objective?


Dave I would have gone with the Business Warrior model, small fee access to a lot of free advice.
But thats me......... :Wink:  always ready to make a bob.

----------


## Vincent

> Dave I would have gone with the Business Warrior model, small fee access to a lot of free advice.
> But thats me......... always ready to make a bob.


QUINN:
I would agree with you, but it's not what my business is about. I'm not there to sell documents, but rather build a client base to whom I can sell my services. The documents are all freely available on the net, if you take the time to search.

----------


## Dave A

> Dave I would have gone with the Business Warrior model, small fee access to a lot of free advice.


This site certainly was not based on the BW model  :Wink: 

Pete's site is well worth the subscription by old style value systems - no doubt. But the low cost/high volume nature of the internet has turned those old style value systems on their head. Not to mention the idea of building closed information resources. 

One big change I'd have made if I had gone that route would be to carve off a slice to go back to the major contributors. It's something I have back of mind if ever we get huge here too.

A different path.

----------


## QUINN

> QUINN:
> I would agree with you, but it's not what my business is about. I'm not there to sell documents, but rather build a client base to whom I can sell my services. The documents are all freely available on the net, if you take the time to search.


I am thinking along the same line but I have found you end up giving a lot of free advice and people take up much of my time and then just DIY the issue.

----------


## Debbiedle

It has been my experience that you can give it for free and sell it and you will still have sales!  People are bone idle and or stuck for time and learn in different ways.  In the past it was said never sell anything on the net that can be found for free, I believe that the net has become so big that there is little you cannot find for free.  So I would look at it from a different angle.  What do I want to sell, what is easy to deliver once paid for and then give the rest away if necessary?

----------


## Chatmaster

Hi Vincent

My contribution to this is the following. You must have free information. The Internet is very different in that way, because you obtain more and more targetted traffic, which will result in more sales and a handy database of people interested in your topic.

How it works is simple. You have an information website, right? Now in terms of information 93% of all people looking for information on the web will make use of a search engine. Take for example Jim Novo (good read btw),  he gives alot of valuable information on his website for free. But to understand the full concept you will need to buy his book. Now by just providing the information he does for free on his website, I personally have referred his website to countless of people, getting the viral thing going and I just linked to him because  know this guy is good, scoring him another backlink. 

The web is all about reputation, you can tell millions of people that you know something, they will only believe you if they witness it for themselves.

By not making free information available, search engines cannot find the information and therefore you miss out on all those valuable searches. People have no idea who you are and that you are for real, because they cannot discover you as a person. You cannot collect a database and therefore your online marketing strategy becomes so much harder to accomplish.

Some writers also makes use of other techniques to get the points over.
Writing a complex article and making it very difficult to understand without proper explanation. The explanation is then available in the book.Writing content that are dependent on information available only in the bookTaking extracts from the book and making it available.Publishing researched articles motivating the need for the book known.

I personally suggest that you divide your content into three sections.
Completely free content with valuable information without registration. The articles has 2 goals and that is to get information freely available for search engines and to serve as a conversion tool for the "registration required" articles.Articles that requires registration for access but are free for download. This provides you with a database of people interested in your topic, that leads to the next step...Sale of books

----------


## Vincent

Thanks for the tip and your input, much appreciated- this is something that I never knew. I thought search engines searched for anything and everything.




> Hi Vincent
> By not making free information available, search engines cannot find the information and therefore you miss out on all those valuable searches.



I like this idea as well, will definitely consider when redoing my webpage



> I personally suggest that you divide your content into three sections.Completely free content with valuable information without registration. The articles has 2 goals and that is to get information freely available for search engines and to serve as a conversion tool for the "registration required" articles.Articles that requires registration for access but are free for download. This provides you with a database of people interested in your topic, that leads to the next step...Sale of books

----------


## Dave A

Chatmaster is something of a guru on this.

I was pretty blown away by his international reputation as I've been tip-toeing around the SEO world picking up tips. There' something special about seeing a South African make an impression on the global stage.

I'm pretty sure he's worth his fee if you want to enlist his personal professional help  :Wink:

----------


## Chatmaster

Thanks Dave, appreciate the compliment!

----------


## Dave A

Just telling it like it is. Obviously you can't blow your own trumpet and not everyone hangs around those circles - so they'd never know.

----------


## Ann Williams

What the USA gurus say on what to give away on the internet...

Give away a part of something - but make sure that the part given away is useful. For example, you have some wisdom to give, say: "The ten best ways to market your business." Give away three of the points for free - the whole points. There must be some solid information in them. 

This is in preference to giving away a touch of everything - but nothing really useful.

The other point they make, is that ideally you shouldn't actually give away anything for free. All readers should 'pay' for the stuff they get by giving you some of their details, and preferrably specific permission for you to contact them on occasion. (To allow you to build a relationship with them.)

www.Entrepreneur.co.za (nothing to do with Entrepreneur Magazine which is www.entrepreneurmag.co.za) is a good example of this. They have free articles but you have to sign up for free membership first which involves giving some of your details, including your e-mail address. Brian then sends out e-mails to this membership base on a regular basis. (Although permission given here is tacit.)

So ideally you should give away some (or all) of your forms; but don't just make them downloadable from the site. Rather tell your visitors that they are available, all they have to do is fill in an online request for the forms they wish to have (get this done through an autoresponder), and the forms asked for will be sent to the requester's e-mail address.

Then, on occasion, send them an e-mail telling them about your new e-books or reports etc. Also ask them if they would like to receive a regular newsletter from you. Just don't be too pushy... getting three or four e-mails a week from you from thereon out will just get on their nerves rather than building a relationship of mutual benefit. (Which is after all the main reason for making the offerings in the first place.) 

(More ideas like this on our Electronic Marketing course; next being held in Centurion on Wednesday, 6th February 2008. For more details see:
Workshop marketing )

----------


## Vincent

Thanks for that piece of advice. 

I've been a bit lazy on that webpage and have let it slide slightly. I will definitely add an auto response to the outgoing email.  Before anyone can download a document, they need to fill out a form, and then an email is sent which activates the download. The activation is done on each occasion, which gives me an idea of how many people are downloading. 

I have also added a forum ('stole" the idea from this forum), which I hope will increase traffic to the webpage.

Hopefully all will be ready by the end of the month.

----------


## Karenwhe

This is a very interesting thread with lots of good ideas.

IMHO is not about free or not free but more like what you want to give free why and what you get in return. 

There is no free lunch. So question: what do you want in return for your ebooks? (e.g. leads? lists? etc). I can't remember who said this, but someone called it Moving the Free Line. Entering the arena of lists and newsletters is very much "permission marketing". Personally, I would never suggest to anyone to start anything in permission marketing unless it is their primary business, as it is time consuming, long term and most give up before they see the rewards of permission marketing. I also hear of a new term to this with a twist called "education marketing". Still long, time consuming, very rewarding but only for those that have a good business model behind it and the time and resources to execute.

I think that one needs to think through strategy before deciding to sell or give something free. In that strategy one should work out what is the return for the free stuff, how much does it cost you to get a qualified lead, what is life value of a customer and then how much is the data worth?

In general imho, one should have both.

I also recommend reading the book by Jay Abraham: Ã¢â¬ÅGetting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the CompetitionÃ¢â¬Â  (it is on amazon)

It is full of ideas.

On a different note, I also do not think that people DIY on advise, that is of course from my personal experience, you tell people what to do and they still want you to do it for them.

Also imho the pay for subscription model is not out of date at all. Finding valuable paid subscriptions that have absolute and undisputable value to the customer are few and far between. As Trout says, there are too many "me too" products that is why the old model seem so outdated, because there are no new distinctive or innovative products and services with true value to customer/consumer so the model seems outdated. Wherever there is TRUE value people pay, how many will pay and how much they will pay and how much can the owner of the site make will depend on many things, but one of course is the size of the market.

----------


## Vincent

Hi Karen, I agree with a lot you say. First off I must say that my webpage was a first attempt, although that's no excuse. The most fundamental mistake I made was not to research what I wanted to do, so my webpage became a 'me too' with a price tag. I just wanted to sell documents, as a side-line.

The ebooks, they are all available on the net for free, one or two of them are on this forum. Most documents that I have are available on the net for free as well. The ones that are not, such as my 'full and resale franchise agreements,'  which are comprehensive will not be available, a fee will be charged.  If people want changes made to the document, this will be done for a fee.  But primarily the web site is now to generate leads, which is picking up nicely, with some work starting to come through. 




> I also do not think that people DIY on advise, that is of course from my personal experience, you tell people what to do and they still want you to do it for them.


I agree, I offer the docs for free, but my service and time is charged out.

This thread and the input from various people has been great, and I would like to thank everyone for their ideas and suggestions.

----------

