How to Decide About Open Versus Exclusive Content

This is a question that confounds content creators of all kinds.

In a world where information is freely available via platforms such as Wikipedia, Google Search, and ChatGPT, what content does it make sense to provide freely, and what should be restricted behind a paywall or sign-up page?

The quality of one's answer to this question will determine how successful a creator can be in developing an internal community as an owned asset (e.g., an email list) and monetizing some of their content (e.g., via a course or community).

I've been considering this question regarding my email list. In this post, I'll share my latest thoughts on dividing what I plan to publish in an open public forum versus what will only be shared with my email subscribers.

Five Models for Free versus Exclusive Content

I see five main models being used to approach this.

For this discussion, I mean consumers "paying" for access by providing money and/or their contact information (in exchange for a freebie, email list, course, or community).

Note that these models are not self-contained; there's some overlap among them, and they're often used in combination. Nevertheless, it's useful to divide them into these ideal types to consider different approaches to dividing free and exclusive content.

Give away everything; charge for structure and community.

This is where you publish most or all of your content to YouTube, blogs, social media, etc., but restrict (or charge for) a course or community that organizes everything coherently in one place.

Showcasing your best material is a great way to gain visibility and build credibility among a vast audience. Creators like Ali Abdaal and Sean Cannell have had success with this approach.

Give away small bits of curation, but charge for the whole.

This is a variation on the above model but with the distinction that the material is curated rather than original. It does not do much to build the creator's reputation as an expert; however, with so much information out there, people do value curation as a service. Alex Llull uses this method to grow his email list with The Steal Club, and Jake Thomas has used it to expand his Creator Hooks newsletter.

Give away "do it yourself" content, but charge for anything else.

This is where you offer content that helps people do things themselves (DIY) for free but restrict content that includes a "done with you" (DWY) or "done for you" (DFY) element.

This method's advantage is that it's evident where to draw the line between paid and unpaid content, which is why it's so popular among coaches and other service providers such as Katie Steckly and Ed Lawrence .

Give away "the what," but charge for "the how."

This was once a popular model for course creators, who would create content about "what to do" (in general) to get fit, grow your business, etc., but then tell people the "full systems and/or secrets" are in the paid course.

However, this approach has now fallen out of favor. Because so many creators publicly share detailed information about their systems, it's more challenging to build trust and credibility with highly generic content. At least within their freebies or lower-cost content, most creators realize they have to offer some decent value to prospects before expecting them to be prepared to buy. Secondly, partly because of that, people are more wary about trusting creators who aren't transparent about their methods. It's as if the creator "wants something for nothing" in these cases.

Share "wins," but charge for anything else.

This is where you mainly share promotional materials about the amazing transformation people have had with your program but charge for any core content.

This is not working effectively in today's environment, where restricting content is difficult. Your program's "secrets" will be revealed, one way or another.

Also, building trust this way is only possible if you have many credible testimonials to share in the first place. But even then, testimonials alone are often insufficient to close many sales. Especially in something highly personal, like content creation, buyers want to know if you and your system will work for them. They can only find that out by getting to know you and learning about the specifics of your approach.

What this Means for My Newsletter

For my newsletter, I was very close to adopting the model used by Abdaal and Cannell. It's proven to work, so why not?

The thing is, I think those creators are at a stage where they're able to create something with all of their vast content that's much harder for smaller creators to replicate: fear of missing out (FOMO). Creators like Abdaal and Cannell already have a lot of credibility because of what they've accomplished. They've also got other team members supporting them, meaning they can produce more quality content at scale.

So if you're not signed up for their email lists or communities, there is a good chance you'll feel like you're "missing out" on some of what they're providing and the connections with the many other creators who follow them.

As small, part-time content creators, we cannot generate FOMO in the same ways. So, what can we do?

What I've settled on is a combination of models, whereby I'll give most content away via my podcast, YouTube channel, and this blog. So, the main content of my blog posts and Newsletter will be the same. However, I will offer some "extra bonuses" to subscribers of my free newsletter in exchange for signing up for the newsletter. This will include but not be limited to special offers (such as the one below), curated content, and shoutouts for list members. Plus, subscribers will get the email, so they won't miss out on the bonuses or miss any of my posts.

My hope is that this offers enough of a bonus to incentivize sign-ups for the email list, which, as I've discussed in an earlier?post ?and in other?content, is an important part of the infrastructure that I think all creators need for audience connection, market research, risk management, and monetization.

If you're a smaller creator like myself, I also hope this post provides you with some ideas for how you might approach the question of free versus exclusive content for your newsletter, course, or community-building efforts.

This Issue's Bonus

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a central platform where you could earn affiliate income while sharing your recommendations for different products or services? Well, it's here because Beneable is building such a platform right now.

It's invite-only at this time, but if you're?signed up ?for my email list, I can send you an access code to skip the waitlist.