[epub] UTOTD: Subscribers-Only vs. Free-for-all

[Ravi Jayagopal <ravi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My main motive for my ezine is to not only get more
subscribers,  but *quality* viewership at that.

Just plain eyeballs (casual surfers) is *definitely not*
what I'm after.

Casual surfers will always remain what they are - Casual!

I'm not after 'page-views'. I want people who *want* my
content, and I want to know 'who' they are! Nothing less!

In a free-for-all newsletter - almost another page on your
site - there is no commitment from the visitor's side,
which makes it difficult to have any kind of an
interaction with them and makes the relationship highly
impersonal - which means you just can't build a
relationship with your reader over a period of time - which
means you can't gain their trust or confidence - which
means you cannot sell them much (probably not at all!)
- which brings us to the main point behind your web site.
(I will discuss this in tomorrow's post - but for now,
that is a highly arguable topic - why one is publishing a
newsletter - but in the broader sense, I'm generalizing the
scenario that most people publish a web site/newsletter to
make some money off of it - in one way or the other.)

So, coming back to my point of making my newsletter
'subscribers only', my personal take on this is that
this is more like making it a sort of 'community',
which gives my subscribers a sense of belonging
- to a group or user community - increases loyalty,
increases 'focus' on your newsletter - which means high-
quality qualified opt-in loyal readers - which will make it
worth your time, money and effort, regardless of whether
you make money from your ezine or not.

Also, it gives your subscribers a sense of satisfaction -
a bang-for-their-time - that by doing you the favor of
giving you their personal email address, they are getting
some exclusive content in return - something not every
'casual' visitor has access to on your web site!

For instance, I have never felt comfortable posting in a
'Bulletin Board' forum where you're not required to login,
because I am never sure if at all my post will get read or
will get lost in the barrage of 'Free-for-all' posts by
a zillion users.

Even this very forum, epub, is what it is, because
1) It requires a membership
2) Even your membership needs to be approved
3) Your posts are moderated.

How much more restrictive can a list get? But are there
any increase in 'unsubscriptions'? I don't think so.

Imagine what epub would be without the above 3 policies.
It would lose its respect, the kind of quality members
it has now, and the high quality content that gets
passed around. (for one, there would be a thousand porn
and mlm posts per day :-)

I for one, would not be taking the trouble of writing
this long email, if this were a free-for-all forum.
The same goes for my ezine too.

Also, I'm not willing to put in hundreds of hours every month
researching and putting together what 'I' think is a quality ezine,
for someone who won't even at the least commit their
readership to me (and its not even a privacy or safety issue I'm talking about)

So, to summarize my thoughts, I think restricting access
to my content by making my visitor 'subscribe' to it
(my ezine is still Free!) will, in the long run,
increase its credibility, increase its respectability,
increase exclusivity and increase customer loyalty
and readership.

Strictly my opinion and my 2.0 cents :-)

Ravi Jayagopal
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