Article on the Free Business Model

[Rob]

Not much new here but it reinforces what is generally accepted in Webcomics.

http://tinyurl.com/238hux8

[Gibson]

Actually, this guy's ideas don't seem to be translatable to webcomics, since he says outright that relying on advertising never works and that you have to have a pay version along with your freebie. I guess we could argue that print versions are a pay version, but near as I can tell, this relates only to programs and applications.

[artcurmudgeon]

Actually a really good presentation I have found is by Howard Tayler of Schlock Mercenary.

http://www.opensourcetv.tv/video/7.html

I really think that he breaks down the business of webcomics into a very understandable format.

[Rob]

Art I've actually linked to that speech a couple times here on the forum already. It is simply one of the finest pro webcomics business model speeches EVAR!

Gib I don't think the guy was saying you have to have a premium area along with the freebies. In fact I thought he made a pretty good point that it's a tough balancing act as to how much exactly to give away.

But many webcomics do have premium areas that make them money. There are webcomics doing animation. The webcomic Sore Thumbs has Cecenia's Private Beach Party (I think that's the name) which has exclusive comics and other stuff.

Just the other day I told Dynagirl they should do a PDF of their other property Fallen Justice. That's similar in that they are offering something for money similar to what they are giving away for free.

It isn't a perfect match I'd agree and it certainly doesn't apply to all webcomics but it does apply to some so I thought it worth mentioning.

[Gibson]

What mistakes do you see small businesses make in their free business model?

They give away stuff with no business model whatsoever. They count on advertising to pay for everything, and that rarely works.

Yeh, he is kinda saying you need a premium along with freebies. Yeh, sure, a bunch of webcomics are doing pay area and such, but most don't. That's not to mention that there are a lot of sites aside from webcomics that rely on advertising. An easy example is how many free porn sites there are. There are others like most of what's done by MSN, Yahoo and Google. The guy in this article is espousing ONE idea that is, quite frankly, a fairly standard business model in the digital industry.