Oct/090
Should Publishers Charge for Their Content?
In a comprehensive article for Advertising Age, author and seasoned advertising veteran Judy Shapiro discusses the question of whether publishers can best monetize their site by charging for their content (the "gated" model) or by offering it for free and relying on ad revenues.
She concludes that charging for content is outdated and futile: "Most people can get most content one way or another and circumventing the gated-content model is not that hard for users. Media companies trying to figure out how to plug all the naturally leaky ways content gets out there is like trying to win at whack-a-mole. Frustratingly unsatisfying."
The following are Shapiro's suggestions for how to best monetize your blog while using the free content model:
- Use content to attract audiences
- Create a community to coalesce audiences
- Leverage the power of your community to drive revenue
Follow these suggestions and (in Shapiro's words) hear your "content monetization engine roar." Read more about Shapiro's suggestions and the rest of her article here.
