Free is a good price, but might not always be the best.

The book “Free” by Chris Anderson was free for download. It was rare that a complete book was available for free, especially for an established author like Chris, who is the editor of “Wired” magazine and the author of the 2006 best-seller “The Long Tail”.

In this article though, I’d like to talk about why FREE might not always be the best price for you.

Most Information is Free

As you notice, this blog is free, as do most other blogs. If a blog were to be successful, a lot of time and very likely money are invested. Then how do we earn money? The information is free, but the branding, advertising, and affiliate marketing take place in the back scenes to keep the blog running.

Many successful bloggers go on to become established speakers and consultants on the topics they blog about because they’re the reputable experts in the field. The more you’re seen as an authority, the more you’ll be paid by people who need the expertise.

Pay For Value

So yeah, you can provide information for free, while earning money on the side. But sometimes, you should still PAY for value.

But there’s a barrier – paying for information on the internet is a nono to many people. Information should be free! Right?

Not exactly. You need to realize that a lot of exclusive and valuable information is only available for a certain price because a lot of research and preparations must be done beforehand.

Why don’t they give it out for free? Well, simply because the value of the information is worth more than the price.

Say, if you pay $10 for a piece of information on real estate that would save you thousands of dollars, would you pay for it? Assuming you might be able to get the same information from a real estate expert, you should still pay the 10 bucks because it’s often difficult and time-consuming to reach out to one. Similarly, you might be able to dig through the search engines and the library for the information, but is it worth your time and effort? You could be using the same time and effort to work on earning more than 10 bucks!

Also, often for the same $10, you’d get a lot more than one piece of valuable information. You’d get a lot more, because information products with a price tag normally comes packed with information, plus bonuses to increase conversion rates. Some e-books might do the same, but those are probably very general information that everyone else already knows (because it’s free!). Do you see the problem here? By being free, the seller/author has the right to make the product as good or as bad as he wants. You can’t complain.

Personally, I’ve hugely benefited from many purchases and subscriptions, that some people might consider expensive or unnecessary. I paid $299 for “Six Minutes 2 Success” personal development program, and paying about $9/month for “I Will Teach You To Be Rich” Scrooge Strategy, and $19/month for Aweber Email Marketing Software. I’ve also just paid $47 for Ittybiz’s Summer Camp.

These programs and softwares have provided me with a lot of valuable tips and advice on personal growth, money management, email marketing facility (so I could send you great stuffs like the 10 confidence building tips and my free newsletter), and also ideas about how to build a business.

And really, if I break the $299 down into days, it’s like a dollar a day to get a morning dose of motivation and success lesson. You’re paying way more than a dollar a day to go to the gym or to buy nutritious food for your body, why not invest a dollar for your mind? That’s how I look at it when I pay for something.

Invest Money Before You Make Money

If you’re into money-making business, it’s crucial for you to spend money first, make money later. Yet people always want to make money without spending a single dime on anything. Of course that includes me!

But the reality is that if you’re not willing to take the risk and invest the first dollar into your money-making venture, it’s much tougher to make money down the road. To start making money, you have to start thinking like a business owner, not a consumer. A consumer wants to get the price down as much as possible (read: FREE), but a business owner would raise the price as high as he could and then justify the price with solid value.

Stop Missing Out on Opportunities

If you’re not willing to pay for valuable information even if your Grandma tells you to, you’re probably not in the seller’s niche market and they don’t really care. Tons other people would pay to get on the bandwagon of opportunities.

Before I end this post, I need to come clean: I haven’t read most part of Anderson’s “Free” book. But my opinion will still hold true: expect more free stuffs in the future, but still pay for value.