A new service allows you to charge people a fee whenever they read your blog. Is this the worst idea you have ever heard?
I'd pay for some blogs, yes. It's not much different from paying for newspaper subscriptions or other premium content.
I am dead against paying to view any newspaper content online as well. If it stops 50% of people reading the content then they will probably lose more in terms of advertising revenue than they gain in subscriptions. And then there is the minefield of cloaking/hiding the content from the search engines.
True, in some ways they'd shoot themselves in their feet. The current trend seems to be free + ad supported so it's somewhat counter productive in that regard. If there's a convenient way of doing micropayments it could work well for readers and publishers. That's why I spend fortunes on iTunes. 79p is nothing.
No, as I can't imagine their content being something that I "must have" in order to enrich my life. There are a few sites that have charged access to portions of their site, the New York Times is one that comes to mind. I believe they since pulled back from that requirement.
I think that people get hung up on the word blog. Charging for premium content is definately a viable option for making money on the web. Take a look at Webmaster World Forums for example. I don't think that they struggle to find people willing to pay their yearly fee. I would be willing to bet that if ShoeMoney said that he was going to start a premium blog telling everyone exactly how to make money with their websites that more than enough Digital Point members alone would join to make it a very profitably venture.
I wouldn't pay to view anyone's blog. I don't pay WMW to view their secret threads, either. This is the internet. Live free or die.
Nooo way am I gonna pay for viewing a blog.. if some one doesnt want to share info for free then... leave him alone
Blogger writes and asks $$ for people to read his crap? There might be many great bloggers who share their contents to be read for free then why would someone pay to read it? I would never pay
It depends the content on the blog. If the content on the blog is unique and could help me .I'd pay! It's not a bad idea at all,like the http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/ Who believed that the owner could earn 1M when the site started?
Yeah? I didn't pay that guy any money either. And it was only a great idea for him... all those people who thought they were buying PR weren't getting a damn thing. "There's one born every minute." ~ P.T. Barnum
If the blog was good and they kept good up-to-date information and really helped me learn stuff then I would have to say that I would pay for it. Not alot but I would pay some!
it's an idea ahead of its times - the time is not yet right when people would pay for reading a blog but wait a year or so, and we might see it actually happening. also, it would depend on who owns the blog and what type of blog it is - I am sure self-help type of blogs and tutorial blogs could make some money
I can see plenty of ways in which you could charge for certain aspects of a blog. Just as you would charge membership fees or charge for an eBook.
Its a catch 22 situation. A new blogger with no reputation can't start charging for people to read the blog or nobody will read it. An established blogger will upset 75% of their readers at least if they suddenly tell them they have to pay.
I completely agree. My perspective is that you had a free and premium section from the start. You release free snippets and charge for content that has premium value.