While creating amazing content, such as e-books and printables, can take a lot of time and work, people give it away for free all the time. Why would they do that when they could just as easily sell it? Today we’re going to explore the advantages of giving away some of your best content for free and why you should do it if you’d one-day like to sell digital products, such as e-courses, e-books, and downloads. Bottom line: if you’re not giving away freebies, you could be hurting your marketing strategy.
Here are three reasons why you should give away free content if you plan to sell digital products or want to grow your readership:
1. It will build your audience.
People love free stuff. While I’m not suggesting you give away something of no value, you can pretty much give away “anything” for free and people will get excited about it. Your readers also have the opportunity to share their new freebie with friends, which will drive even more traffic to your site. Additionally, if you include other people in your freebie, such as quotes from leaders in your field (with their permission, of course!), then those people will likely share your freebie with their audiences as well.
Pro Tip: When you create a freebie, include your website’s URL at the bottom. For example, take a look at our Branding + Blog Naming Worksheet. Including The Nectar Collective’s link at the bottom helps people find us, even if the freebie gets passed around the internet.
2. You will become a trusted resource.
The more you create on-point freebies and useful info for your audience, the more they will begin to see you as an expert in your field. People will begin to look to you for answers on the topics you write about. When you’re known for giving honest and valuable content away for free, people consider you to be a resource. You’ll have the opportunity to become the go-to online library for a specific niche.
For example, if you’re a vegetarian food blogger, you can create free downloads, e-books, and meal plans for your vegetarian audience. That way, when people are searching for any of the above, they immediately think to visit your site, since you’ve handed out so many valuable, credible resources in the past.
Pro Tip: Your freebie should be fun and/or educational. It should be valuable to your audience.
3. You will increase your profits in the long run.
Offering some sort of freebie to your newsletters subscribers is a great way to build your email list. I believe that emails are a form of currency. Why? Because when you’re finally ready to sell your digital products, not only will you have a full list of subscribers, but you will have many people who value and trust your work. A person’s inbox is sacred — if they allow your messages to pop up week after week, they more than likely enjoy what you have to say. And the more you give away, the more your audience will see you as a trusted expert.
In addition to creating a pool of potential buyers, giving away free, digital products allows your audience to see the level of quality they can expect from you if they choose to buy your products in the future. If they loved that free e-book you gave away recently, imagine how excited they’ll be when you offer paid products!
What kind of free digital products should you give away?
Coming up with ideas for your freebies can be difficult. Try the following tips to begin brainstorming:
- Ask your newsletter subscribers what they’d like to learn from you.
- Ask your Twitter or Facebook followers [in your field] what they’re struggling with. A great way to do this is by joining Facebook groups for people in your field and asking the other members.
- Search for freebies on Pinterest to see what people are drawn to.
- Gain inspiration from your favorite content-driven blog.
- Don’t recreate the wheel. You can create content based on information you already wrote in previous blog posts — just spruce it up.
Need ideas on what to create and give away to your subscribers? I created a free, printable checklist with lots of ideas to get your juices flowing!
>> Download the free checklist here <<
What is an awesome, my-audience-would-love-this freebie you can give away this month?
p.s. Want access to our library of free e-books and printables? Subscribe to our newsletter for an email invitation!
A big yes to becoming a trusted resource. It’s a huge part of the process that I feel is often overlooked.
Ooh so helpful! I want to give something away just don’t know what yet x
ZoesSecretStyle.blogspot.co.il
A way to very Easy with thenectarcollective < my classmate's step-aunt makes $72 hourly on the laptop . She has been fired for 7 months but last month her payment was $17104 just working on the laptop for a few hours..
pop over here SEE MORE DETAIL
As a consumer, I completely agree with this! I have definitely gone back and purchases from sources that have shared something for free, especially when I know they could have easily charged for it.
Kristi
http://www.beloverly.com
Excellent advice! I write about building strong communities, which is more abstract than a blog that offers design services or recipes on a regular basis. I do focus on food access, public space, and civic engagement, so I’ll use those to work through your bullet points. Can’t wait to brainstorm!
I offer design freebies on my blog quite often! Who doesn’t love free stuff? Plus, it’ll keep people coming back for more!
– Lauren Schroer // http://www.laurenschroer.com
Great post! I sell printables and give away free ones very often – on my blog and in my newsletter. It’s a great way to market my business and people love sharing it too.
I SO agree on this, Maya + I tell my clients this all of the time! I often get the, “Well, then what will I give them when they pay?” response but I have almost always had returning clientele when I’ve given away some of my best advice for free in blog posts or otherwise. I hope more people read this!
This made me completely rethink my 30-Day Vegan Challenge I was going to do in a few months on my food blog! I wanted to attempt it to see how it fared with avoiding certain allergens, which basically puts me on a vegan diet, and looking for recipes alone is difficult… now, I’m going to first focus on developing tasty, allergen-friendly recipes for meals, snacks, desserts, and drinks, and then I’ll create a meal plan freebie for it, with links, so my audience can already be prepared… and so I will also already have more content on my blog… and it has also made me realize the route I want to take with the newsletter I’m planning.
Thanks so, so much for this post! I’ve heard this sort of advice before, but never in this context… it feels fresher, and that’s why I enjoy TNC so much. 😀
This is awesome! I’m now wishing I added some questions about free products to the reader survey I made recently. But I am excited to be releasing some freebies later next week 🙂 I can’t wait to work on some other content to use strategically in the future! Thanks so much for this inspiration!
people do love free stuff! I think the trouble for a lot of us is finding the right “thing” to distribute. I released some free handwritten fonts on my blog a while back and they did really well, but aren’t very relevant to the rest of my content. but this has me thinking of ides for how I could create something that IS relevant 🙂
Just wondering how you can set the line between something to give for free vs to sell.
Belindq | https://alittletypical.wordpress.com/
Ah you’re killing lately lovely 😀 love this advice! xxx
Sarah | More Than Adored
Again, perfect timing with this blog post. I’m in the “brainstorming” stage of building my own freebie! I have an idea of what I’d like it to be but that checklist gave me a few more ideas.
When I first started, giving things for free was THE marketing strategy for me. I mean, what else can you do when first starting? Worked SUPER well, in my case. =)
This is a great point. I’ve seen more growth in my traffic and overall sales than ever before since I released a valuable freebie. I think the key is to make it -valuable- i.e. something that you’d sell for full price anyway.
Yes, yes and YES! One of my goals this year was to start creating awesome digital products for creative entrepreneurs and I’ve just started creating helpful, FREE resources for people. My audience has already increased four times over. 🙂
xoxo
Allison
http://www.livelaughwonder.com
Thank you for this! 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
I offer a free booklet just to celebrate life, 100 questions to ask yourself to get to know yourself better. it is fun to answer the questions.
That sounds like an awesome freebie idea, JC!
Great advice! I created a free WordPress theme for my newsletter subscribers. Not only have I seen an increase in subscribers, but they’re a lot more targeted now as well (WordPress bloggers are my ideal audience/customer).
That is so awesome, Tiffany! And what a fun, unique freebie! 🙂
I definitely agree! It is so important to give away free stuff! That is why I created (on your advice) a resource library!
That’s so awesome, Chelsea! Keep up the great work my friend 🙂
Thank you so much for this post, Melyssa! I’ve thought about selling an e-book about my experience with generalized anxiety disorder for the passive income and thought about what I could give away before that. I’m stuck at the freebie part of the process but I know I’ll get it figured out eventually when the time is right to focus on it. I have faith in myself and that’s what counts, right?
Great idea to sell an e-book! Mental health is an underrated topic and anxiety is something that so many people struggle with. Good luck with your e-book, Lisa, and keep me posted on your progress! 🙂