When you’re running a content-based membership website or posting content online to build you brand, one of the first things you’re going to have to decide is the format of the content.

Will it just be text? Will it be audio, in the form of recordings or interviews? Or will it be a video of you talking?

The two most important things to evaluate for each choice are its ease of production and its perceived value.

Ease of Production 

What should you consider when you’re trying to gauge how easy or hard the content is going to be to produce?

First, evaluate any “additional” tasks that need to be done in order to fulfill on one product.

For example, with DVDs, you’ll need to edit the video and coordinate with fulfillment in addition to filming the product. Text, on the other hand, doesn’t have that additional task.

Then consider whether or not outsourcing is possible. Video, especially of you, pretty much can’t be outsourced.

Audio, on the other hand, can take the form of interviews or even audios of other people, so long as they’re recognized or are perceived as a credible source of information in your industry.

In other words, if you can have someone else do the hard work every once in a while, that can make it a lot easier in the long run.

As a rule of thumb text will be the easiest to produce, followed by audio and finally video.

Perceived Value 

There’s an almost inverse relationship between perceived value and the ease of production.

In other words, a video has the highest perceived value, audio next and text the lowest.

People will only be willing to pay as much as they believe something is worth; usually a bit less.

In other words, you need a perceived value of at least $50 a month if you want to charge $35 for a membership site.

If your using content to build your brand, (which you should), then you can get a competitive advantage by posting more videos then text.

The videos can give you and your brand a higher value rating, vs you just posting text or some pictures.

A solid strategy would be a combination of text, images, audio and video with video being the highlight and a video posted at a minimum once a week. The other days you can post text, images and audios.

What else influences perceived value?

After all, one subscription might charge $20 a month for content, while another charges $200. It’s not just the format.

First and most importantly, what is the solution worth to the subscriber?

If you can solve someone’s marriage problems, that’s worth a lot more than teaching someone to perform magic, for example.

Who you are also plays a big role zithromax cena. How well known is your name in your industry?

A no-name financial analyst might only be able to charge $50 a month for a newsletter, while Warren Buffet could easily charge $5,000.

All that said, the actual format still plays a big role. You’ll be able to charge as much as quadruple for video than text.

At the end of the day, the two questions you should ask yourself are:

• A) How much money do you want to make? And
• B) How much work do you want to do?

Based on these two answers, pick the format that makes the most sense.

There are two ways to approach the process of building wealth: Through “make money quick” schemes, or by creating value in the world and solving problems.

Businesses that work in the long run tend to fall in the latter category.

Is it Possible to Make Money with Quick Money Schemes?

I’m not going lie to you. It’s absolutely possible to make money with quick money schemes. In fact, some people make a lot of money from it.

That said, there are a few deadly drawbacks:

• It doesn’t last. No matter how brilliant the scheme, if you’re taking value rather than providing value, if you’re creating problems rather than solving them, at some point the revenue will completely die out.
• You’re hurting your reputation rather than building it. In the long run, your reputation in the business community and marketplace is more important than the short-term amount of money you make.
• You risk permanently damaging traffic sources. For example, many blackhat marketers in the last few years have had their accounts with AdWords shut down, entire networks of sites delisted from Google and even personal Facebook accounts deactivated for violating Facebook PPC terms.

That said, let’s take a look at the “Solving Problems” mentality.

The Problem Solving Mentality

At the end of the day, people who solve problems and create real value are the people who make the most money. There are more benefits than pure profits, however.

Other people want to deal with you. You’ll be invited for interviews, to speak at conferences and to appear in other people’s products. In short, you’ll have both respect and money.

You’re also increasing your long-term prospects rather than decreasing it. A strong brand in and of itself brings in traffic and increases conversions.

People who think in terms of creating something valuable tend to think long-term. Instead of trying to find a loophole somewhere that’ll make some quick money for a couple months, they’re thinking of creating real businesses that’ll help real people and continue to bring in revenue for years and years to come.

Every highly successful business today, from Google to Facebook to Intel, all started with people who wanted to create something. They weren’t trying to make a quick buck; instead, they aimed to create something unique and valuable that the marketplace has never seen.

Take on this mentality for yourself and your business. It’s better for your customers, it’s better for you and it’s more profitable for your bank account.

Although it is important to understand the technical aspects of making money (i.e. conversion rates, SEO rankings, etc) it’s also crucial to have an underlying product that creates real value.

Do so and in the long run, you and your business will prosper.

If you need some help identifying, crafting and communicating your value proposition, then be sure to check out our Rainmaker Summit. We can help nail down the value you offer, craft your message and communicate it in a way that can have people literally banging on your door to do business with you.

Just give us a call at 866-238-5920, or go here to learn more about the Rainmaker Summit.