My series continues, looking at reasons why people would pay for information even when you can find it free on the Internet. As I have mentioned previously, this series was inspired by an article by Marie Forleo. If you have not read the article and seen the video, I would encourage you to do so.
In part one of this series, I introduced the idea and how I thought it applied to my business.
In the second part of the series, I talked about Results vs. Random information.
Yesterday, I talked about Sequence.
Today’s topic: Searching for Answers
It all comes down to a single question for me. How much is your time worth? Scouring the Internet for information is seemingly a never-ending task. You can search on a single topic literally for days on end and still only scratch the surface of the available information.
This part of the topic has always been my number one reason why I thought that even with a ton of free information out there, my business of selling information products is still a very viable business. Truth is, even if you spend a ton of time searching for information, you still have no guarantee that the information you find is accurate or current. Fact is, there is a ton of inaccurate information out there on the Internet. If you spent dozens of hours searching, then find inaccurate information, well, you might as well have spent $29 or even $99 to have gotten accurate information quickly and easily from the start!
Facebook Groups
About a year ago, there started to be a ton of different Facebook groups focused on the topic that I write about. For a while, it hurt my book sales, because so much of what is in my books was suddenly available for free. Or so it seemed. Trouble is that much of the information in those groups are:
- Inaccurate
- Provided by people with little experience
- Contradictory to other information being provided by the same group
Frankly, overall it is just not a good source of accurate and dependable information. A lot of people must have realized that after a while, because my book sales picked back up after a few months, and have been doing fine ever since.
How do you know who to trust
When you find a bunch of free information out there, especially if it is on a topic of great importance to you, you want to get the information from somebody who has built a level of trust. That way you can rely on the information and you are not wasting your time. I feel that I have provided that type of service over the years.
Also, on the primary topic that I write about, living overseas, I have a long history of living the things that I am talking about. I have lived overseas for a total of 17 years of my life, and the past 15 consecutive years. I know what I am talking about on these issues. I deal with these issues either personally or through talking with others every day, 365 days per year! Because of my deep experience in this area, I know what I am saying. So, getting information from me is nearly always accurate. I say “nearly always” because things do change from time to time. Maybe a new law or policy went into effect and I was unaware. But, this sort of thing does not happen often, and when I find out that there is new information to be had, I research it to make sure that I know the new regulations.
Over the years, this has been my primary basis when telling people that it is better for them to pay for the information that they are looking for instead of only relying on things they find on the Internet. I feel that I am right in saying that, if only because a lot of people who do search out free information end up coming back to me because they find the information they were relying on was inaccurate.
Check back tomorrow for my next installment in this series!
Hi Bob,
Searching for answers, tell me about it, lol.
I spent many, many hours last year researching my Family History, I was going from link to link to link until I ended up dizzy 🙂
I suppose, Chas, that in life we are always searching for answers of one type or another! 🙂