The Great Divide & The Real Value of Free
Value, simply put, is the price that someone is willing to pay for a product or service. Value is not the price that the manufacture suggests for the product and it is not the price a person actually does pay for the product.
Value is the price a consumer is willing to pay.
For example, if an umbrella is on sale from $10 to $1, neither of those numbers is the value. If you are willing to pay $5 then you purchased it for $4 less than it’s value. That’s a good deal.
I hate people telling me what something is worth.
When I hear that the Toyota suggested price for a tire rotation is only $40 and I know that the shop up the road has it regularly priced for half that, I laugh.
When I hear someone is giving away a service or a virtual product valued at hundreds or thousands of dollars and I know that they have sold few or none of them, I laugh.
Value is what people are willing to pay for it. If your not selling any of your product, then there is a disconnect between the value perceived by the producer (you) versus the value perceived by the consumer.
I call this disconnect The Great Divide and it exists everywhere…even with freebies.
When people stumble across your site, they immediately begin to negotiate in their mind whether or not it’s a good deal to stick around. You do the same thing when you visit a site.
Assessing the Value of Free
Often readers will ask themselves the following questions even if at a subconscious level.
- How useful is this article to my life, my goals and my development?
- How credible, authoritative and engaging is this article?
- How long is it going to take to read? How much of my non-refundable time is this going to cost?
- Is there something more valuable I could be reading, consuming or doing right now?
So you see, that even with a free product like a blog article, there exists that great divide between how the author views it and how a potential reader views it.
How to Honestly Assess An Article’s Value
Blogs are like babies. Nobody thinks that yours is as cute as you do. If you want to create something that people feel is valuable, you have to stop being naive and start viewing your material honestly and critically.
Use the questions below to help guide you in this process.
- Who will realistically benefit from this?
- What makes this more valuable than a similar article, product or service elsewhere?
- When will the reader be able to take action on this?
- Why would I take the time to consume this article?
- How can they practically implement into their daily lives what you’re teaching?
Don’t be naive. The value isn’t what you think it is as the producer. It’s the price your readers are willing to pay, the time they’re willing to invest, and the hassle they’re willing to go through to be a part of your article, product or service.
Here’s the challenge. Create something worth $100 and sell it for $10…and don’t tell everyone that it’s valued at $100 because unless you’re making sales at that price, it’s not really valued at that.
Get the point?
Amy said:
I just had an old Economics flashback.
Great article with some great assessment questions! Always enjoy the thought you put into your posts.
Nicholas Cardot said:
Thanks, Amy. I fear that far too often folks are chasing the push to hurry up and create a digital product and start raking in the fields of cash that are ripe to be harvested.
So many people I look at are simply focusing on that one aspect…let’s make as much money as possible. And so few are focusing on the reality of business that you need to provide something that is worthy of someone’s money.
This is why I launch so few products. I don’t want to sell something unless I’m confident that I can sleep at night knowing that it’s worth what I’m selling it for.
Steve Roy said:
Nick,
This reminds me of our conversation the other day!
Great points here. Like you said, people are very busy so why should they choose to spend their time or money on you?
Nicholas Cardot said:
Part of this post was inspired by our conversation and the other half was inspired by some contests that I’ve seen recently. I often see people giving away products for contests and they boast that the products being given away are valued at a certain price.
Why do they feel the need to tell what the product is valued at? I’ll tell you why. Because without a number slapping your readers in the face, they’re afraid that their readers won’t see the value in what they’re offering. And they’re right. Because the value doesn’t exist so they have to create a number to create the image of value.
Ron Leyba said:
I learned something from this article of yours Nick. I need to read more of this kind of subject. It will help me a lot for sure.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
That’s good, Ron. You should constantly be searching for articles that challenge you to think in ways that you don’t normally think. Challenge yourself to grow and develop the way you do things.
Michael Bertoldi said:
Great read Nick. It reminds me of Foursquare check-ins honestly, probably because that’s been on my mind lately. But look at what some venues offer for check-ins or mayorships. Some of them may be $1 off – wow. Some offer say, a free lunch on the 10th check-in – that’s valuable and much better than a buck off. Same thing goes for direct mail pieces. Someone I talked to today got a cd and $10 dollars off from Bonefish. She’s listening to the cd and will probably go eat there with that $10 off.
I know this is a little off topic from what you’re talking about with value, but it’s kind of the same. Hope it makes sense.
But basically, if you’re asking someone to check-in or use your direct mail coupon, it better have some value.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
The value of coupons is an excellent example. They’re literally offering people freebies and money off of products and still many people don’t feel like responding because the hassle of driving across town to the local Wal-Mart isn’t worth the value they would receive in the product the get.
Or in some cases, especially on days like Black Friday, we see companies working to provide amazing value and people line up hours before the stores open or they camp out in front of the store to ensure that they’re the first one through the doors.
It all depends on the price per value.
Keith said:
I don’t usually pay much attention to whether an article is useful to my life, goals and development. Nor do I usually care if is engaging and authoritative.
Does it hit an emotional nerve, is it funny, can I argue with any of it….. then you have something I will stick around for.
Nicholas Cardot said:
I think, however, that most people do, especially those with very busy schedules. I find that the busier I get, the more I’m forced to prioritize my time and I begin taking the time to only read the most important posts I can find.
Keith said:
I can agree with being too busy to read unimportant information which is why I am in the process of cleaning out my reader. Gone are the days of reading just because you are popular. I am discovering content that is coming from relatively unknown writers but they are expressing ideas and knowledge you wouldn`t find on hugely popular sites.
Arrogant, know it all blogs are slowly getting deleted from my reading list…..
Eli said:
This article is MONEY.
Nicholas Cardot said:
Thank, Eli.
Kok Siong Chen said:
Yes, there are a lot of considerations before we make any decision even to get the free things. Sometimes, I just feel tired to read many emails that claiming their products are worth to buy. I do not know how to judge the quality of the product. So, I choose to ignore it.
Nicholas Cardot said:
I think that a lot of people make that same decision alongside you. They see marketing email after marketing email and as a result people have numbed themselves to the ridiculous claims being made.
As a result, we all ignore tons of them.
Dana said:
Indeed, the real value is what market decide. In this term, market is always right so let market tell what the value of our blog. However, we need to make the market know our blog first.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
That’s really true, Dana. But the hard part is finding a way to connect with the market and come to the place where you can see your product as they see it.
Murlu said:
Right on man – I can’t stand the marketers and people (in general) that try to push value on me when I know it’s complete shite.
Another horrible part of it all is that even after you spend your time going through something, you may even be jipped for the value because you’ve spent your time consuming information that really didn’t give that value you expected.
As a content creator that doesn’t provide value – you’re doing everyone a major disservice.
It’s like, seriously? The web is such an awesome place for great content but there’s still those people that just want to run the game on others and do everything they can to push their own agenda.
At the end of the day, we, the consumer ALWAYS have the right to change our mind – people are waking up to this thought because these old, lame tricks don’t work any longer.
I like your idea of immensely lowering the price of a product Nick, really shake things up and give the middle fingers to your competitors that are trying to take everything they get from people – being reasonable with your community goes a looong way.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
I honestly think that many of the people who are offering lousy content to their audiences are incredibly naive. They think that their material is golden.
I have people ask me all the time, “How can I grow traffic to my website and gain more subscribers? And don’t tell me that content is king because my content is already awesome.”
Then I look at their site and I think to myself, “Really!? Was this a joke? This stuff is awesome?”
There are really two types of people in the world:
1. Those who don’t know what they don’t know.
2. Those who know what they don’t know.
I’m in the second group. I fully understand that my content isn’t that great, but that’s why I’m working around the clock trying to learn to be a more effective writer, a more fluent communicator, and more knowledgeable person.
Now I just find myself struggling to inspire others to wake up to this same realization and join me on the journey toward greatness.
Murlu said:
But Nick, your content IS great it’s just that people are so ready to listen to contrived voices; it’s a job in itself to convert people from reading the run-of-the-mill blogs and come over to these great posts like these because, in many ways, people want to keep a limited scope on everything.
It’s all just one step at a time to get people on board with unique content; you have to educate them to dig down deeper than what they find on the surface of the web.
Nicholas Cardot said:
Murlu, I decided to use the comment that I had originally posted here as the basis for a new article. I’ll have it up in a few minutes and we can continue this conversation then.
Thanks.
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing said:
The perfrect example of all this is the age old question, “How much is my blog worth?”
The ONLY true answer is the one no one wants to hear, “It’s worth what someone is willing to pay fr it”.
It may not help in the least, but it is the only honest answer.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
I’ve seen a lot of websites that allow you to insert the web address of your blog and they return a number that is supposed to represent the value of the site. Every time that I see the results for my sites, I laugh a little bit because I realize that what you’re saying here is right. A computer can’t determine the value of this type of content. Only the highest bidder can truly reveal that.
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing said:
Those websites amuse me. I’ve had blog of mine be anywhere from triple digits, to five.
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Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing said:
I just thought of something which may help me in the short term as well as long run.
When bloggers have contests, with prizes, and always write “value $50″ for example…..we really should write, “Selling for $50″, yes?
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Why state a price at all? When I see a prize, I don’t care how much it costs because I’m so used to marketers, companies and stores trying to manipulate me with it. Changing the wording of the self-assessed price won’t change its usefulness to me. I’d rather see a prize with a vivid description of what it is and how it can benefit me.
I would rather have a $10 item that is really useful and has the features and benefits that I’m looking for than to have a $50 item that will be worthless to me.
We use those price tags for no other reason than to create a sense of value in the mind of the potential taker. It’s alright to create value in their mind, but it’s far more effective to let the item build the value by actually being worth something to them with its features than it is to simply tell them that it’s worth so much.
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing said:
I’ve run a lot of contests, and seen many more; for what it’s worth, you’re somewhat unique in that thinking.
To answer your question though, there are a couple reasons…
1. The main point of a prize is the fact that it can’t be a general freebie found elsewhere. It must be worth something/sold somewhere/
At the very least, the contest host has to know.
2. For better or worse, contest prize are on the rise, astronomically in some cases. Participants want proof.
I can’t speak for all, but there is no manipulation in my contests. You tell me your prize is $50, you will show me a sales page.
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Steve said:
This post is a perfect example of perceived value. Zzzz….
You run out of ideas for posts?
Nicholas Cardot said:
I’ve read this comment like 6 times now.
I love it.
It’s so beautiful in its simplicity.
Thank you.
I promise to do better in the future.
Rael said:
I think asking yourself questions is a great way to think through things. It makes you realize the advantages and disadvantages of any situation.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
I agree. I’ve also heard that it’s beneficial to think in complete sentences. There’s something about slowing down and going through the entire logical breakdown of something that really allows you to see it more clearly.
Gibson Goff said:
Nick, you’re like the great old editor in the house that every article must pass by. Not mean or impossible.
Just that solid body of knowledge that keeps us all putting out excellent copy.
What a great article. Thanks, chief.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Thanks, Gibson. That’s incredibly encouraging to hear you say.
I’ve heard it said that a good leader can step on your shoes without messing up the polish. Although I feel like I fail at it, that’s ultimately my goal. I want to challenge, encourage and push people to do better, but I also don’t want people to feel like I’m criticizing or looking down at them.
Carolee a.ka. Blogging Biz Mom said:
Right on information…even FREE content doesn’t always go…
I had the opportunity to download 2 FREE ebooks just surfing around this morning. I didn’t.
I felt it was subject matter I already had a grasp on.
Although I know there is always more to learn, I wasn’t sure the time invested for one or two little nuggets was worth the time it would take to read the books.
I am working on an ebook right now…most likely no one here would download it, even being FREE…because it’s a basic blogging guide for newbies. You are not newbies.
I will probably offer it for free for a few months, then finish one I already started that is a natural to follow the first….will probably charge a small fee for that.
From a consumers standpoint, I like ebooks because one can get a lot of information quickly and save tons of personal time researching. And they are USUALLY free or low-cost.
From a publishers standpoint, it’s a great way to share your expertise and develop a following…….even if you give the book away.
It all pay’s off in the end.
Kimi said:
Nicholas,
I am starting to sell some products and services, article like this is exactly what i need.
Tips which are straight forward, need to implement and no BS.
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Jasmine Henry said:
This post is exactly why I think it’s very important to know your readers and that we must be knowledgeable of our niches.
When we write posts, we must set to write something that might be valuable to the readers, even if we don’t find it valuable ourselves as if they think our blogs can benefit them in some way, shape or form, they’ll obviously be more likely to
a) come back to the blog
b) subscribe
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Reza Winandar said:
“Free” is a word conquered by word “advertisement”. All freebies came up with ads
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