When we tell our clients to give away FREE advice on their website or blog or Twitter feed, sometimes they look at us like we’re crazy. ”I normally charge for that information,” they say. ”Why would I just give it away for free?”
There are a couple of reasons. First, it’s already out there. In our interconnected, Google-indexed world, all knowledge is available to anyone that can use a search box. People can figure out how to unclog their own sink, install their own ceiling fan or get coffee stains out of their own shirt (which I mention because I just spilled coffee on my shirt as I was typing this). They can even diagnose their own mystery rashes! (although I wouldn’t recommend it)
If they’re not getting their free knowledge from you, they’re getting it from someone else. Maybe your competition. Wouldn’t you rather them come to you, converse with you and get to know you as a reliable source of information?
That leads me into the second point I want to make. Free content can establish you as a knowledgeable source. If you give away your Top 12 Facebook tips and best practices for educators (link warning: shameless plug), those same educators may come back to you (and pay you this time!) for other services you provide. If you’re a business coach and you give away free business advice on your blog, one of your readers may offer you a fat check to speak at an all expenses paid conference in Hawaii. Someone might get free advice from you on how to install their ceiling fan, but who do you think they’re going to call when they need to hire someone to rewrite their entire house?
Third, free content can help your search engine optimization efforts. As much as we here at WorkSmart love posting on this blog and helping businesses and educational institutions master the art of online marketing, it’s not all philanthropical giving. Blog posts are fresh content for our website, which gives us more “Google juice“. It also helps us add more incoming and outgoing links (which Google also likes) and exposes the WorkSmart brand to people that may never have heard of us when readers e-mail or tweet these posts to others. (hint, hint)
If you’re looking to keep your name and knowledge ahead of your competition, establish credibility for your business, expose yourself to potential new clients, have an unpaid salesforce blogging and tweeting about your content, you may want to think about taking some of your closely guarded secrets and exposing them to the world.
“But wait, Jeremy,” you say. ”You can’t go on and on about giving away free content and then not do it yourself! Put your advice where your mouth is. Drop some knowledge on us. What free content are YOU gonna give US?”
You just read it.
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Jeremy, thanks for the shameless plug to my Facebook article!