Paid Content, Free Content and Freemium Content

Paid Content, Free Content and Freemium Content Paid Content, Free Content and Freemium Content The differences between paid content, free content and freemium content can make your website a success or spell financial and branding doom. While new media platforms give traditional media outlets a boost, many companies are having to decide whether to charge visitors for online content. Several factors should be considered as you weigh the pros and cons of paid versus free content and the go-between called freemium.   Website Design Whether youre just starting your own news website or your site is already an established online brand, every media websites goal is to build traffic  and make money, adding paid content affects your site design and how youll sell readers on your content. FreeThe focus is on content and building stats. Convince people your media site is worth their time. What can they find from you that’s not somewhere else online?Paid  Money and time will be spent to build a paywall. Will you restrict all of your content or offer a freemium service, which includes some free content? Assure people your site is worth their money, especially if they used to get your content for free. Cross-Promotion to Other Media You started a website as an extension of your traditional media platform. But the usual cross-promotion can be more complicated when your content comes with a price tag. FreeEven if content is widely available on other sites, it can still be used to cross-promote to your other media, such as cross-promoting your TV stations coverage. A story on your local school systems performance can simply include the basics on one platform and a complete report on the other.PaidExclusive content is critical. Visitors will be unwilling to pay for the same news they can find elsewhere, like the school system report. You could lure readers with a sneak peek of the story thats only available to website subscribers before offering it on the free part of your site or in your traditional media outlet. Business Model Traditional media businesses have spent years coming up with web strategies to make sure theyre not spending $1,000 to make $100 on their site. The business model changes dramatically when you add paid web subscribers. FreeYour site is completely ad revenue-driven. Ad rates are based on your stats, just as a TV or radio station would sell commercial time using the rating book as a guide.PaidYou receive ad revenue, plus subscriber fees. While that sounds like more dollars, the number of visitors to your site will likely take a hit when you erect a paywall. So you may lose advertisers who want to reach the biggest audience possible, and your subscriber base will have to make up for that lost revenue. Site Positioning Against Your Competitors If you and your competitors are on the same playing field everyones content is free, or theyre all paid sites positioning your online brand is straightforward. That changes if youre the only one in town requiring a paid subscription. FreeIf your site is free, youre not at a competitive disadvantage as long as your content is updated and the site looks and performs well.PaidYou will fall if people leave your site to get free content from your competitors. Your rival could tout that theyre the biggest site in your market, leaving you without a comeback line. Reader Interaction Even your interaction with readers is affected with the switch to paid media. You have to be careful not to lose out on building your overall brand. FreeThere are unlimited opportunities to connect with your audience. You want people to interact with you through your site and social media platforms, and you can use social media to drive readers right back to your site.PaidYoure cut off from some of the media outlets. They may not want to have to pay to post their photos in your web gallery or to comment on the news. You may also lose your Facebook fans and Twitter followers as a result. Impact on Your Community Your readers are the reason youre in business. Their expectation is to get web content for free. Any change will affect you from a public relations standpoint.  They may not initially understand the differences between paid content, free content and freemium content or accept that some content may not be free. FreeA free site builds goodwill in the community and can drive people to your offline product. Its especially helpful to media platforms that have a heavy focus on local content as opposed to national content.PaidYour image could be hurt in your community, especially at first, with people blasting you for charging them. But your most dedicated readers need to be reminded why they trusted you as a source of information when your content was free.