Which of Your Ideas Should Be Free vs. Paid Content?

How to decide what content you should offer for free — versus what to charge for?

Over time my thinking on this has evolved. I initially championed that all content should be free… for its potential to accelerate societal progress, while also building oneself an audience.

While I still believe in the power of free content (and offer it as much as I can!) I now seek to emphasize the vital role of paid content too…

Teachers and Authors Deserve a Livelihood

If you thrive in teaching and writing, and yet you give all of your content away for free, you lose out on a potentially substantial income source. You would have to do other paying work, which consumes the time that you could’ve spent creating more and better content.

Not having a job is how I’ve been able to write so many articles and make videos to share freely — to benefit my audience no matter if they ever buy from me. My business also frees up several hours every week to keep improving my paid courses.

Think about the writers and video creators you admire. Wouldn’t it be great if they had more energy and time to create and improve their content? I hope that we all do what we can to support small creators.

Back to the original question — which ideas should be shared for free versus charged for?

Relaxed vs. Studious

Divide your content into two buckets — easy for the reader/viewer versus challenging.

When people consume free content, they’re mostly relaxed and in “free time” mode, not trying to be so serious at the moment. They are seeking something entertaining that also brings some value.

Therefore, free content should be easy to consume, not complex. It should barely require any investment of energy from the reader, just like it doesn’t require any investment of money.

If you create a challenging piece of content that requires some study and energy to parse and understand, then the reader should spend some money (doesn’t have to be a lot) to signal to themselves that they are ready to do the work, not only consume free infotainment.

Still, I believe that paid content should be as affordable as possible, since it is a scalable (ever expandable) revenue source. Make it accessible in price.

Will Free Content Cannibalize Paid Content?

I’ve discovered that even with lots of free content, my audience still buys paid information products, because it’s more thoughtfully organized than the free stuff.

For example, the chapters of all of my books are freely available on my blog and social media, if you were willing to go through years of my posts.

However, in my books, you get them in a sequenced and edited format.

Many others also do this. Prolific content creators such as Seth Godin and Alex Hormozi sell books that are essentially a curated collection of their best free content. And their books sell very well.

There are people like this in every industry, including yours.

The more free, good content you create and distribute online, the more people discover you and will buy your books and courses.

Keep your free content “white belt”

Picture a martial arts dojo. In a typical beginner (white belt) class, you’ll often spot a few dedicated black belt students practicing the same basic moves. The difference? The black belts are exploring these moves at a deeper, more nuanced level.

Advanced students know how important the basics are, and they review them frequently.

Therefore, make most of your free content “white belt” because even “black belt” audience members will appreciate beginner’s content. They’ll notice deeper nuances than what beginners see.

In regards to your “black belt” content — the more in-depth, complex, or difficult knowledge — keep them in your books, workshops, and paid courses.

Once students have paid something, they’re more ready to get serious and invest the required energy to parse and understand your more detailed or advanced material.

And you, in turn, are more equipped to support their deeper learning journey.

Zoomed-out Map or a Fun Small Section

Another way to think about your free content is that it’s either a zoomed-out map, or a fun detailed small popular section of town.

A zoomed out map gives them a quick overview of the landscape, illustrating where they are (their current problems, issues, situation, challenges, yearnings) compared to where they want to go (their dreams achieved, their challenges overcome.)

Sometimes, however, you may want to give, for free, a fun small section of the map, a popular part of town, for example, with some detail but keeping it easy to consume.

Your premium content, however, is the comprehensive and detailed map that connects everything together, and leaves no question about how to get from point A to B, including the helpful detours they might take, what they need to prepare for the journey, the pitfalls to avoid, and so on.

If you offer 1–1 services, this can be the GPS that leads them in a customized way.

Free = What and Why. Paid = How.

Another way of saying it is that your free content gives the What (the definitions and the philosophies) and the Why (the diagnosis of their problems, as well as the background of your philosophies.)

Your premium content gives the detailed step-by-step: How to solve their problems or reach their goals.

For example, in my free content I often talk about the importance of doing market discovery, but it’s in my paid course on Authentic Market Discovery that I go into detail of how to do it efficiently and effectively.

Infotainment to Education to Transformation

Remember: when people are consuming free content, they’re usually looking for some kind of picker-upper, something to entertain, inspire, uplift, give them energy and easy ideas. In other words, infotainment.

When they’re ready to really solve a problem or achieve a dream or study something in a step-by-step way, then they’re ready for premium content such as an online course. Now they’re looking for real education.

Sometimes, they can apply this education independently. Other times, they benefit most from personal interaction with the teacher through coaching or mentoring programs. This is often where the deepest transformation occurs.

Now it’s your turn — what content might you offer for free, and what might be worth charging for? The key is finding the right balance that serves both your audience and your business goals.

Originally written in 2017, updated in 2024.