(Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes)
It’s another Saturday morning, and you’re surfing through Website In A Weekend to see what’s new.
Hrm… what is new?
Well, lot’s actually. Josh Kohlbach (Code My Own Road) and I were plotting and scheming (’cause that’s what we do) over email a couple of days ago, and he asked about my rationale for pricing my 3 page, $57 ebook.
Take a look over there to the right. Whitepaper 3: Create Thesis Theme Custom Page Really Fast.
I think I sold one of those for $0.99, another for $4.99. Wasn’t a lot of interest in the product.
Now it’s $57, and comes with 30 minutes of my time. Basically, the right customer gets a little bit of consulting, where the consulting report is already written.
That’s pretty good deal, really.
The reason I’m doing this is because I absolutely do not want to be bothered by people wasting my time.
So, prices around here are creeping up to reflect the actual value of my work.
And it’s nothing personal. Anyone is free to spend their Saturdays and evenings teaching themselves the same material, just as I have.
At $57, Whitepaper 3 is a no-lose for me. When I can’t give it away…
And beside, I know how I am.
I would end up giving any customer 30-60 minutes of my time regardless of the sales price. High prices make great boundaries.
And truthfully, I outline most of what anyone needs in the blog post, which is in my top 5 blog posts for traffic.
Here’s the deal, exclusively free cannot continue. But…
Just as promised back in 2009, the paywall is going up.
But enough about me. I’m boring. You’re far more interesting.
Where’s your paywall?
We’re at a really interesting time in society. At least in the USA, there’s a lot of jobs, good jobs too, which have departed from our shores. Permanently. I suspect this is true for Canada and Western Europe as well.
Which means there is a whole bunch of you reading this wondering WTH the next couple of years are going to look like.
Now, for some reason you got here, and you’re still reading along, so you have some notion of creating a bit of financial independence for yourself.
How you gonna do that?
Let’s talk about it. What kind of help do you need?
I don’t think the pay wall will ever go up at my site. The extra money would be nice, but I would definitely lose readers. I’m more concerned with getting my message out than making money from my site.
I don’t think there is any thing wrong with charging for the great content you and many others provide. It’s just not the best option for me.
.-= Dr. Kal´s last blog ..How To Lose Weight Fast =-.
DR. K, you have a great site!
I don’t agree, I believe your readers will be happy to purchase products and services from you.
It’s a funny thing. You can give and give and give, but few will value until they pay and pay and pay.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..How To Publish The **** Out Of Your Blog Post =-.
Here, here. Value (price) and value (worth) are two different things.
People respect the value (worth) of products and services that they have to pay for (counter-intuitive I know).
Free is always going to gain less respect in my humble opinion.
Everyone should take a leaf from Dave’s book…
Look at your top 5 posts, package them up in a PDF, present it nicely, add some more value (Dave’s doing this by adding his time), add more sparkle to the content (audio?, video?) and put that damn thing up for sale.
Honestly, this will be your most respected content. You won’t know what hit you.
PS. Dave, maybe add a “(includes 30 minutes consulting)” to the side of that price so it doesn’t look like the odd one out? Like Heather said below.
.-= Josh Kohlbach´s last blog ..How To Set Your Price: Value vs. Value =-.
The pay wall on mine is non-existent at the moment (as you know) but that’s looking to change over the next month. At which point I’ll be doing something slightly sneaky, but that’ll overall help the people buying from me. Not sure of the actual prices yet though, still working on that.
As a thought though, why not raise prices a bit on some of your other whitepapers as well? The lone $57 looks a little weird surrounded by $1.99 things. Think its great that you raised it, and wouldn’t it be interesting if sales increased now? You’ll have to update us at some point. :)
Heather, I have a couple more I’m thinking about which will have premium pricing.
If I take the time to reformat these others (margin, whitespacing, etc), I’ll raise the price on them again.
That’s cool, as I said it was just a thought. :)
Depends on what I decide to sell. If it’s internet/computer type stuff, then it’s much lower since I’m not expert only self-taught. If it’s accounting, bookkeeping, etc., well, that’s a horse of a different color. I actually know a little something something about that. Okay, I would help anyone who wanted it probably for nothing as I think everyone should learn good financial management, but I haven’t marketed myself in that manner – yet. Still working on the motivational pep talks to build up some self-confidence. I’m beginning to think my brother did me a disservice by telling me to not be so full of myself. {sigh}
.-= Anne Bender´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday ~ Flip Flop Fail =-.
Is your brother paying your mortgage?
Anne, I really like your tenacity, and I am really sure you can leverage yourself up into some serious money.
Anne, I agree with Dave, is your bro paying for your groceries, your mortgage? There’s nothing wrong with promoting yourself.
When others call me an idiot for saying “I’m awesome” (or more likely: “Goddamnit I’m good looking..”. Lol.. sadly, yes, I do say that to myself).. I say to them:
“Well, if I don’t tell myself, who the hell will?”.
Sometimes you gotta pump yourself up, I think the accounting, bookkeeping stuff would do well with your blog even if it’s only partially related.
.-= Josh Kohlbach´s last blog ..Self Promotion Isn’t Evil =-.
Deacon got an earful of bookkeeping on the phone this morning. 30 minutes saved him several weeks, possibly months of work and a do-over on his Chart of Accounts.
If that sounds a little over the top to anyone, I suggest signing up for Quickbooks free trial. Go spend a few hours teaching yourself how to set up an account structure…
It’s going behind the paywall. I’ll shine the light without hesitation, but I won’t cast the pearls.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..How To Publish The **** Out Of Your Blog Post =-.
$57 for a whitepaper and 30 minutes of your time is a killer deal.
Here’s what I think:
- we all need to get over the hesitation to charge. If we’ve got something to contribute, and it is good and useful, and people need or want it, then it will sell.
- we need to think about what our blogs/platforms are for. If our sites are made with the express purpose of attracting attention and adulation, then free is perfect. If, however, we need to make a living, (and be adored) then some combination of free and paid is absolutely necessary.
- and who is criticizing, anyway? And do we care?
- The stiffest resistance I meet when I think about my pricing is from myself. (Hi @Anne!)
- I only sell offline services (for now) and in the last three months I’ve tripled my prices. I have more work than ever before. When you value your work, others do too.
- that being said, money is not the only indicator of value (but it is essential, of course. Grocery stores don’t accept blog posts as payment). I get more of a thrill from hearing how some advice I gave helped someone, or that I wrote something that moved an immobile heart, or a five page case study I wrote for helped someone land three clients and year’s worth of revenue. That stuff rocks my world.
My stiffest resistance is definitely from myself!
This website is definitely about earning cash, that’s been the stated goal from the beginning. Time to start making that happen!
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..How To Publish The **** Out Of Your Blog Post =-.
$57??!! What’s wrong with that? We have all heard of the stories where when a product’s price was increased there were more sales … not just in revenue but in actual sales. Free is great but no one gives it its due and the value languishes.
@josh … I have started going over my posts and begun to gather some “bundles” for repurposing.
So many ideas swimming in my head, and new ops coming my way, and MasterMind Group that is pushing me — all great.
Dave, your output is amazing … have you by chance found a way to clone yourself? If so I need to know how soon.
.-= Valentina´s last blog ..Blog Hopping to Success =-.
If he’s found a way to clone himself I’ll order one “Content Generating Wordsmith” right now – hahaha
.-= Josh Kohlbach´s last blog ..How To Set Your Price: Value vs. Value =-.
Thesis 1.7 is out.
I’m going to basically double the price of this again. ($107). I took a look at the source code, and it’s quite a bit more flexible, but it will be quite a bit more work as well.
@Josh: You and I have business to attend to, buddy.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Basic Blogging Business: Do you know what you don’t know? =-.