DISQUS

Social Times: Don’t Make Your Product Free. Charge for it!

  • Jonathan Dingman · 1 year ago
    That's actually a really good business model because simple advertising is not cutting it anymore. There is more out there than just advertising and it's coming down to what you can offer that people are willing to pay for.

    Create a great service, but don't give it away for free -- people may not value it as highly.
  • Raoul · 1 year ago
    It's refreshing, and somewhat ironic to read this. Before this whole web "revolution" took place, it was quite normal for businesses to charge for their products. As a matter of fact, it was the only way to do things. Now it seems that we're coming back to that practice. I can't help but smile. Who'd have thought, right? You pay for a service that you enjoy using... How novel! :-)
  • Elroy Jetson · 1 year ago
    Brilliant way to deal with spam and those content consumers. Of course if the service isn't valued enough the content creators won't pay.
  • Griff McGrath · 1 year ago
    I was very happy to read this article. It seems that during the rise of web 2.0, people have thrown out conventional business models and tossed their products into the mix for anyone to use. Many have become very wealthy on this model, but it is going to be hard to maintain. I love free services, but if there's something that I really want to use, why not pay?
  • BizWriter · 1 year ago
    Just when i thought that "$0.00 is the future of business" (yeah right!).

    Thoughtful post.
  • Thibaut Thomas · 1 year ago
    Its a refreshing view in this era of free economy, and definitely a great advice for entrepreneurs to be more careful about their "customers" !
  • pyrillix · 1 year ago
    Though I agree with the premise, if you build it and they want it, they will pay for it, (within reason). One issue tho, as I recall (since I was an early devotee) I remember Ustream actually being out before Justin, inparticular witht thier free, come one come all policy!