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What is the best way to restrict content through paywalls might be the most significant choice a creator of content can take. The optimal balance between creating content for free and monetizing can be tricky. You want people to find your website However, you need to build a sustainable business. Let's discuss the aspects of gating content and answer a few essential concerns.
What exactly is a paywall?
Imagine a paywall as a gate restricting access to information, just like a shared garden with locked gates. If you have a key to unlock this gate may access the garden at any time they like, but for those without keys that do not possess a key, they have to stay behind the locked gate.
Just as a garden gate opens to allow people to access a garden, a content gate or paywall allows users to access a portion of your content (which is also known by the name of gated content). The content could include an email, podcast or blog, course or similar and the key in this case is likely an account, password or passcode that allows access to specific people. The ability to gain access to a "key" could be accomplished through becoming a subscriber of the podcast, purchasing a course, or joining as a member of that blog.
Why use a paywall?
There are two main motives behind putting content behind paywalls. Both of them are linked to the growth of your business's success:
Placing content the paywall will mean that users will need pay for it which can be done by creating a subscription for a month or year or through a one-time purchase like a life-time membership or donation. It will open the door' to allow access your page, post or podcast. There are numerous software platforms out there which can facilitate the link between users and content that is paid for.
Gating content allows you to gather information about your site's customers, to gain a deeper understanding of them and foster stronger relationships. This information can be used to understand the audience you serve by creating an email database or customizing the experience of your website. You could, for instance, request a user's preferred language, and then show them content in that language. Of course, you'll need to clearly state that you're seeking their data with the intention of reaching them according to GDPR.
Why you don't make use of an online paywall?
Like all other decisions that are made, there are pros as well as negatives to restricting content. 'Hiding' content behind paywalls means that it's hidden from the Google crawling algorithm. If it's not done in a strategic manner, this could significantly impact your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) initiatives, which is one of the most important ways for searchers to locate your website. It's why it's not advised to restrict or gate all of the content you publish.
Also, in order for people to open their wallets, they need to trust the person you are working with and trust can only be built by someone engaging with your content. Give away a few of your top and (popular) content publicly and for free; this can help gain your confidence from readers.
When should you use the paywall?
There needs to find a compromise between what to give away for free and what to put behind the paywall. The process of finding this balance is about the most difficult and essential thing to do for anyone wanting to monetize their content.
Our customers and potential customers frequently ask us "How much content do I need to put behind the paywall?" but it's better to think about what contents should be protected instead of the quantity. When deciding what content should be gated then you must consider a couple of important questions:
What's your objective? When creating a blog post, article, or podcast, think about what is the (primary) objective of that piece of material. Are you seeking to improve your brand visibility, including establishing yourself as an authority in your industry? Do you want to make and earn income from your material? Are you trying to build your database (often called "generating leads')? Answering these questions will help you determine what data should be gated or restricted.
What is your competitor? There's no need to ask people to pay for something if they can get it at no cost elsewhere! When researching your next post look up if related content from the same area or subject is available and freely available. You shouldn't be afraid to write new content related to the theme but, as always it is important to make sure that the readers get something from you that others are not providing - this may be an experience that is firsthand or unique information that no other source can provide.
Do you have the right value? If your content doesn't add value to your audience, it shouldn't be considered for gated. It must provide content that can't be found anywhere else, or be in a format that offers high 'production value'. Examples of this are longer-length information such as detailed analyses as well as ebooks and downloads can be used as paywalled or gated information, while short content like blog posts of 1,000 words or less are usually better as ungated/free content.
How to make the gate
Another aspect to take into consideration when gated content and that's how much of the piece itself must be gated. Return to the analogy of a garden gate If you'd like to invite visitors to go to a specific section in your garden (perhaps a building within the garden), it's better to let them visit a small part of the garden to get them interested, then reveal the location that they require the key for.
It is then possible to 'upsell' a metaphorical ticket to the private zone. If you do this, you would construct the gate once visitors have visited the public garden, and not at the entry point to your property.
In the world of digital media, the alternative is to let a visitor read a few paragraphs of your content prior to the paywall gate gets activated. In this way, the user is already interested in the tale and more likely to share their personal information or buy a subscription in order to continue reading.
How do you block content that is behind a paywall
There are several different platforms to aid you in building the gateway'. Instead of giving you an exhaustive list but instead, let us stick with our favorite method of gating content on WordPress. There are a handful of well-established WordPress plugins that can help you gate your content:
If you'd like to know more, feel free to contact us. Click the red button to begin chatting with us now!