Premium Content: a personal choice!
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Being a blogger for almost a year by now in a platform like Coil has make me wonder about some aspects of blogging i was not aware until few weeks ago...or maybe i was aware, but was not taking it into real consideration until few weeks ago.
Coil is much more than a platform for blogging: it´s a concept, a tool an idea come true....is a disruptive technology that will change (and is changing) the way we see and use the content or the information monetization all over the Internet. Coil has created an entirely new business model around micropayments using the Interledger Protocol(ILP) and as a platform, allows people to have their own automatically monetized blog...without the need of annoying ads **:)**
Inside Coil, users or bloggers(i like to call them “coilers” **:)** ) have the ability to write a completely public post or article, offer them only for subscribers or “split” the content of the article having a completely public section and a premium section only for subscribers, all in the same article...It is a cool idea but it is not something new on planet Earth: other platforms(like Flote App as an example) use the same concept of splitting content or hidding it behind a paywall...the cool thing about Coil is the micropayments part and a fixed rate in subscription tiers(by the way: there is only one tier at Coil)
Writing an article publicly visible(full free of charge) or only for subscribers is sometimes hard if you want to keep a nice combo of quality and quantity when mixing your words but it is easier than writing a “splitted article” because of the “premiun section”. When times come when we must choose what to put into that section sometimes there's a lag in our writing creating a struggle into our heads:
...what should i write?
...what should i offer to my readers they would consider really valuable?
...does it need to be related to the main content?
...if my subscribers do not find it useful...will i lost some of them? **:(**
Fig 1. Many questions, many answers....only one article...and only one head.
The problem is we do not know what to offer in that part of the article because, althought we have planned, before starting the article even, that the article will have a premiun section, we do not know only one things: what to put there in order to people find it relevant, special and even more important...valuable!!!
Premiun Content...what is it exactly and how can i offer it?
Without being an exact science people always tend to think in premium content as an exact thing, or at least, as an ideal workaround to get an exact result: the commitment of people paying for it.
All over the Internet we have several concepts regarding to what premium content is. Basically and summarizing, Premium Content(in digital world) is a content thay may be accesed for a fee, usually higher in quality and sometimes in quantity and more desirable than free content, in some cases it is harder to understand or consume because it is focused on a particular audience.
So, that is, in few words, what Premium Content is in the Digital World according to most sources consulted and if you go, dear reader, to make a Google search, you will realize that most concepts given are all around the same idea. :)
It is usual to ask for a fee in order to gave access to the content we offer as premium. The fee varies, but usually we can find flat and low fees in editorial and blogging worlds ranging from few cents to a couple of dollars a month. Once paid the user can enjoy the benefits of being a “Premium Member” accessing all the content: that one that was free and the paywalled content as well.
Fig 2. Paywalled content in Yalls.org: user must pay $0.01 USD(over Lightning Network in this case) to be able to access the rest of the article.
Above figure shows us an example of paywalled content where user paying to access the rest of the article expects to find something valuable in the part locked down...that´s one way to offer Premium Content where that content itself is part(a continuation) of the free content already provided. Another way is the “Coil way”, or the “100+20 rule for premium content” where you can provide a complete free article(the 100), beautifully designed and planned and then give some “extra and valuable info”(the 20) that could be or not related to the main content of the article, keeping the free part independently useful while the paid portion holds the value of a subscription fee you expect the user pays to access that valuable info and supports you.
There are several ways you can offer Premium Content, no matter if it is paywalled or following some rule like the “100+20” rule exposed here. But at the end, all the problem content creators have regarding this is focused in only one thing: is my content “PREMIUM” for real?
The REAL Premium Content!
Most content creators are somehow worried about what they should offer as paid or premium content so the user base they are responding to finds something really valuable in exchange for their money. The problem is that bloggers and writers sometimes do not know what to offer because one single and tiny fact: all the readers inside user base are different, so each one of them or at least batches of them expects different things in exchange for their money...what someone finds really useful another one finds it extremely unusable.
So how to overcome this situation? :o
There´s no a simple answer to that question but, if i were to give an answer, i will tell you that you always need to trust your gut! That´s it!!! At the end it is a matter of a personal choice if you want to provide premium content or not and if provided, what´s gonna be offered it´s a matter of personal choices too, because, let´s be fair: there´s no way you can fulfill the expectations of a wider audience because as writers we need to think of the whole but at the end we are individually assessed...it means that every user following you expects something different in exchange for what they´re paying.
Fig 3. “It's all a matter of personal choice”
If you always write for a single niche(let´s say that you write always about Crytocurrency World or only about Photographic Advices) your job on selecting Premiun Content is somehow easier, because you know beforehand the audience will respond mostly positive to everthing you provide as paid content as long as the content is related to the main topic of you blog and writings. This happens because as you write for a centered topic you know your audience is, mostly, interested in that concrete topic you write about: you know your user base wishes and preferences.
But if you write about several topics(take me as an example **:)** ) choosing Premium Content becomes a nightmare because there´s no way to know beforehand your followers preferences due to over time, your different articles about different topics have brought to you different readers with different interests...a loooooot of “different” here **:)**
So the paid content you offer in an article related to topic A is viewed as valuable for, let´s say 50% of your user base while the other 50% blames you because they have paid for a content “not interesting or valuable at all”.
That's why you should always think that “everything could be Premium Content”. In fact, anything you want to offer as paid or subscriber content IS Premium Content; it depends on you to provide it for your users and it is up to your users to evaluate it and find some useful value: you will always have supporters and detractors!!!
Fig 4. *From my point of view everything could be Premium Content(https://meedia.de)*
But wait...Is there any CATCH here?
No, there's no any catch, plain and simple: everything is valuable, from a discount coupon to a simple advice or from promoting a given product to give referral links to access some products. There's gonna be always people finding some source of usability from what you give: it depends on them to assess what you offer and keep paying for it...or not....
There's no any catch, but there's a simple rule you need to follow when offering something as premium: do not give empty, garbage and nonsense content as premium...from my point of view this does not fit in the “ALL” category. (!)
You can offer anything as premium but you need to be aware that people is paying and money has a value so, people expect to receive something comparable in exchange. If they find an empty block of text or some nonsense you will loose forever those hard earned subscribers and the money will go away with them as well as
social recognition of a job well done: you will find yourself covered on dust on social media...Your best destiny will be: oblivion... **:o**
You should always think before you offer. The worst case that could be presented to us is when content creators or bloggers belong to a given platform: you can have 999 of them offering real content as premium and only 1 offering nonsense writings...for subscriber community the platform will suck and it will be a complete disaster. One bad apple doesn't spoil the others in short time, but it covers them with its stench!!!
Final thougths...by now
I am somehow reluctant to give advices, but will answer for myself the questions given at the beginning of the present article: take it as an advice or not, as i said, it depends on you(personal choices **:)** )
...what should i write?: write whatever you want, offer whatever you want to offer as long as it is not empty, offensive, garbage or nonsense content and offer it in a polite way.
...what should i offer to my readers they would consider really valuable?: everything that meets the above *☝☝☝* will be found some value by some people, it doesn't matter if it's just one: you will have his attention for sure.
...does it need to be related to the main content?: not necessarily, could be or could be not related to the main content but things related to the main topic covered by your article will be better accepted by your readers as premium, after all they “land” in a given article following a topic, so they expect to get as much info as they can about this topic for free or paid.
...if my subscribers do not find it useful...will i lost some of them?: sure you will!! You cannot fulfill everyone's hope and cover everyone's wishes so you need to be aware that offering Premiun Content will bring you followers and detractors as well....free content does the same, so, there's nothing bad in offering something that's not for free!!!
*✰* Remember:
- seek support in a fair way...
- offer whatever you want: but follow the rule...
- be polite and try to know your user base preferences as much as you can if you can...
- ... and never stop writing because haters they will return at some point in the future as loyal followers and supporters because people do not know what they want till they see it, it depends on you, on your personal choices to bring them back!!!
*☝☝☝* Advices, be careful with those **:)** *☝☝☝*
If you are an enthusiast of historical photograph and amazing discoveries do not forget to follow me at https://coil.com/u/deyner1984 because i will be releasing soon new and impressive contents about it!!!
...and if you valuate our work and want to support good and amazing content exclusively for you, do not forget to get a Coil subscription....it is a small fee to get great content for you and learn a lot!!!