If you are a regular reader of my Online Profits blog, then you'll know that I am a big fan of Ryan Deiss. (There are three people I play close attention to - Ryan, Rich Schefren and Glenn Livingston - we've only got so much time and attention and these are the three who regularly deliver great content to me.).
There are plenty of others who consistently deliver good stuff but you can't keep up with everything from everyone.
It just isn't possible.
And that's why I am interested in what Ryan Deiss has just done.
Ryan had a very successful blog called Driving Traffic with an Alexa ranking of 14,540
Today I got an email saying that he's killed his blog - dead.
Why?
And even though you'd like to think that by providing valuable content, you'd stand out like a beacon on a dark night, you're morre likely to get dragged down into the crap.
Sadly people don't put much value on "free".
Sure it's nice to get stuff for nothing but I keep making this point on launches.
Don't get taken in by all the launch bonus freebies because the chance is, 80% of the time you'll never look at the stuff and if you do, then 80% of the time you'll be going over stuff you aalready know and of the new stuff, 80% of it will contradict what you thought you knew so you'll end up more confused.
That gives a 0.8% chance of getting some good stuff you can use. Not a great return compared to your time and the negative feelings and guilt that builds up when you don't spend time looking at the stuff.
Ryan Deiss is moving from being a free blogging to paid blogging.
If you want to share his latest thoughts and ideas, it's going to cost you.
Not a lot.
Just ten bucks a month.
This is an interesting idea.
It keeps the focus on quality and also implies that anything out there for free may not be up to standard.
Sure you can get lucky with some Internet searches and Wikipedia is a modern miracle.
But I bet you've got frustrated when you've gone off searching for stuff and found half answers, or the truth, rumours and lies all mixed in together.
So would you pay for content?
Some of the newspapers - like The Times - have switched to paid content only. It's stopped me reading the football section but I haven't had the slightest desire to buy membership. I still pick up my news from elsewhere.
Will I buy membership of Ryan's new paid blog? It's called Driving Traffic Insiders Monthly.
Maybe.
I wasn't a big reader of his old blog to be honest, even though I'm a fan.
Ryan wasn't a big one for sending out emails about his new blog posts and you know what they say...out of sight, out of mind.
I'd occassionally find it by accident through a search engine and the content was always good
Strangely the lure of "secrets" that I don't know and the general public can't get, has its attractions. The money is insignificant - it's only $10 per month - although I can see that it could add up as other blogs move from free to paid content.
One paid blog is fine. Ten blogs and you're looking at some serious money.
Ryan's email was titled "I just MURDERED my blog - DEAD" and his new page is headed "Blogging Is Broken".
I wonder if blogging is more broken than Ryan thinks.
Perhaps the idea of pushing content at people, whether they want it or not, ready or not, is outdated. It lacks a customer focus.
The search engines have started a revolution about getting the content we want, when we want it.
Sure quality is dubious but at least it's relevant to our current needs and thinking.
Perhaps the model of the future isn't "10 bucks a month" but "$1.29 for access to this extensive article".
Paying ensures quality but you only pay for what you want, when you want it.
What do you think?
Is free blogging dead?
Is there a future in paid blogging?
Paid content, in my view, is a very risky proposition indeed. You have to be absolutely certain that the info you share is difficult to find elsewhere or ensure that you've done enough research in your marketplace (and your position in it) to be confident that your readers will pay.
From my point of view it would have to give ROI that's well over what I spent on such content.
Cheers,
Karl
http://www.businessinpolitics.com
Posted by: Karl Craig-West | March 07, 2011 at 12:29 PM
Ryan Deiss has come back and admitted that his experiment to kill off his blog didn't work as he's hoped.
There's a great video where Ryan eats humble pie and explains why it didn't work as part of his Digital Marketer Lab launch.
http://businesscoaching.typepad.com/online_profits/2011/05/digital-marketer-lab-by-ryan-deiss.html
Posted by: Paul Simister | May 31, 2011 at 05:07 PM