How do you determine what content is free vs paid?
Looking for some advice as I am validating my idea, so I don't get too far down the rabbit hole and realise I've gone the wrong way.
The idea I'm validating is a subscription-based learning service for Google Apps Script, very much in the vain of egghead.io.
There would be both free and paid premium content. It would mainly be short-form tutorial videos, all targeting topics within the Google Apps Script/G Suite ecosystem of development.
I've done a bit a research into these types of companies and other similar education/course businesses but haven't found many good answers into how they determine what's free content and what's paid.
If I was doing purely courses I feel it's a bit more of a clear distinction:
- Free content is very basic introduction to a topic
- Course content is far more in-depth and structured
However, the as the model I'm going for is short-form video tutorials rather than large courses (although I'd like to do those as well), so I'm not as clear where to draw the paid line.
Perhaps I'm overthinking it but I would love some feedback from the community if you have any experience or knowledge on guidelines for determining how to make that call. Thank you for any and all feedback!
How about letting the engagement determine which gets paid for.
The content that gets most clicks/ views / time spent automatically switched to paid for future users.
So early users get it free, but future users pay
Instead of the distinction being easy contents for free and advanced contents for paid, another model to try out could be creating easy and advanced content for both the categories. You can, of course, come up with a ratio like for every third content you create in each difficulty is free for example.
Pros for this model
That's an interesting model. Thanks for sharing!
A free and simple way to validate, any idea, is to start a newsletter. You'll have the same messaging you'd have if it were a subscription service. And you would capture emails from day one.
Substack provides the tech side for free. No need to get a domain. Just get GoogleAppsScript.substack.com and start firing off emails. Post videos on Youtube for free.
And then point different social media posts to Substack archives or YouTube.
You can turn on paid at any moment by just linking Substack to a stripe account.
I did this with a free mailchimp account two years ago with Influence Weekly before I built a site.
Currently with bettersheets (which you know of). I started with a carrd landing page because I had already been paying for Carrd. If I just wanted to validate the idea, I'd start a Substack. I would tell myself that I would send an email if there's 1 subscriber in 6 days.
Then set a goal of 100 subscribers before I go to daily.
Then set a 1,000 subscriber milestone for launching a paid version (Fridays are free, and Monday to Thursday are paid)
Great advice.
My focus has shifted slightly from subscription service to online courses. I think it'll fit my market better to start with (beginners wanting to learn the basics from scratch).
I'm thinking something similar to your model. Focus mainly on free YT videos to build an audience. Direct them to the website with opt-in to sign up to newsletter. Build the email list and offer things like a free course. Build up to larger numbers and then work on a paid course.