Pay Walls — For Free or Fee

There are two ways to deliver content these days—for free or for a fee. Considering most of us have bills to pay, fee based is the preferred method.

But first, let’s talk about the free…

Giving content away for free does not mean that a seller has to give it ALL away for free. Think about samples at the local mall when hungry shoppers get “a taste” of that new chicken wrap to see if they are going to like it while perusing the food court. It works the exact same way with digital content… and offers the following benefits:

• Builds rapport with prospective clients
• Creates desire to purchase after the sample
• Builds word of mouth due to being “free”

In a nutshell, offering free content (so sellers can sell the “real” content) is a great way to get people excited about the free content and other products.

Now let’s talk about the fee…

The fee part is actually easier than the free part.  Why?  Because the only decision to make is the cost, which will depend on the type of content being offered. If the content is rare and not found “all over the web,” then sellers will want to charge more. If the content is just another take on previously released content, well, sellers won’t be able to fetch nearly as much for that.

A great way to read the barometer of fees to charge is to find or attempt to find content that is similar and see what the competition is doing.

Whether deciding to give the content away or charge for it, make sure to still employ the pay wall to gather information about people accessing the content. This will be important for future marketing efforts.

To Stream or Not To Stream — How To Offer Video Content

So the seller has selected the pay option…

Now it is important to distribute the video content in the proper format: will the video be downloaded, streamed, or both?

Allowing buyers to download is just that. A buyer can download and play the video anytime they want for ever and ever. It’s safe to say that if the seller has the right licensing in place, the video won’t be ripped off (although there are no guarantees).

Allowing buyers to stream is the other option. Streaming will allow anyone that pays the ability to watch the video on any device they choose (yes, including Apple devices). The streaming option is more robust than the download option because with streaming sellers can put a time limit on it.

Using Content Shelf as a Pay Wall

Content Shelf works as a pay wall for both free and fee based content delivery.

As buyers purchase content, they pay our sellers directly and Content Shelf will deliver content in a downloadable format, streaming format, or both, dependent on the seller’s delivery choice/s.

Content can be set to be accessible with time limits starting at 15 minutes up to forever.