Paywall platform: It’s NOT about the money

Dipping your toe into the content creation game, you must constantly consider the future. So many redundancies wasting your time to sift through. Free is easy. Paid is premium.

Albeit risky and controversial, an eye toward the future is introducing a paywall, or to position it more friendly, let’s call it a membership model. It’s not about making money. It’s about a good product, and how it affects consumers’ psychology. As a reader, if I’m paying $10/month (or $2/article), I’m engaged. I’m reading it all the way through. I’m challenging this content differently than if it were free. Without (a financial) investment in the article, I’m off to the next search result if my questions aren’t being answered quickly or well. You’ll get me agitated if baited early on only to pay for the end of the article. I’ve just wasted my time. If the auther has been transparent and the paywall spoiler is clear up front, there’s no surprise or groaner later on.

As a content provider, you’ll get meaningful engagement when you meet your users halfway. Don’t overpromise or be the begging blabbermouth, answer the question when someone is looking for it. You’ll be remembered quality, not quantity.

For those who are confident in their content and want to test the waters with a paywall (crowdfunded content), I recommend patreon. A small percentage (10%) to deduct gets you into this community. You can even be made aware if a commenter on your post is a patreon subscriber. You can then take a deeper interest in that user as a target to stay aware of for future intent.