How To Make Money From Your Content

How do you go from free to fee?

That's a question thousands of content-based websites are asking themselves. And they are searching for answers fast - before the bankruptcy court takes away their companies.

The answer comes from an unlikely source: Major League Baseball, (http://www.mlb.com/). And their strategy could help you figure out how to monetize (make money) from your content so you can grow your business.

Let's look at the situation.

For the past zillion years, fans could listen to radio broadcasts of their local teams for free. Last year, those radio broadcasts reached fans in distant cities through ESPN.com, local radio stations' websites and even some teams' websites. As a displaced fan of the San Francisco Giants, I listened to dozens of games - for free - thanks to the Internet.

Now MLB wants to monetize their audience. They lined up their resources - forcing all teams to play by their rules - and offered one sales package that would include all radio broadcasts of all teams. No longer could you listen to the local station's website, or visit other sports websites for the live feeds. If you wanted to listen, you had to pay.

The fee: only $9.95. That's less than the price of a ticket to any ball park for one single game. What fan would think twice about paying that low fee to get every game broadcast from every team? It is an incredible bargain. I signed up immediately. I'm sure millions will too, although I haven't seen preliminary sales numbers yet.

By the way, MLB will give each subscriber a $10 gift certificate to their online store, so you really get the radio for free.

The result: MLB will derive income from an otherwise free source and make money from their souvenir stand as well!

In the process, they are growing a database of prospects for the future. I have no doubt the fee will increase next year. Will I pay it? I'll pay a reasonable fee because I want their product. I won't pay for if they charge an outrageous fee. Fortunately, MLB can look for guidance to other pricing models, such as DirecTV's broadcast of many - but not all - of baseball's games.

You might have heard some industry pundits say that you can never go from free to fee or that you can never raise a price, you can only lower it. That might be true for a commodity product, where price is the only issue. But the sky is the limit if you have a one-of-a-kind gem, or have a higher perceived quality brand.

So what are the lessons learned that you could take to the bank?

1. Create content that people want and can't get anywhere else. Without that uniqueness, you are offering the same mush as everyone else. No one will buy. If people can find material similar to yours for free, they will abandon you in a second.
2. Charge a small fee to make the purchase easy. You get them hooked and you learn who they are.
3. Service your customers so they are part of your team and want you to succeed.
4. Maintain your database so you can sell additional products and upgrades.

If you follow these tips, you just might hit a homerun with your website content!

About the Author

Daniel Janal is one of the world's most respected authorities on marketing on the Internet. Author of several books which have been translated into six languages, his latest is an e-book, "Branding the Net," which can be found at http://www.roibot.com/bn.cgi?IM7800_campaign0401

To contract Dan to speak to your group, call 952-380-1554 or see details below.


dan@Janal.com
http://www.janal.com/