listopada 19 2008
The Price of Free (Clint Watson)
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Fine Art Views Daily Newsletter
ISSUE #272 - (Sponsored by FineArtStudioOnline)
Straight Talk about Art, Marketing, Inspiration and Fine Living
The Price of Free
by Clint Watson
TODAY:
“Everybody loves free services. Free is good right? Consider this:
there’s an old adage that says, “You get what you pay for . . . .”
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
San Antonio, Texas
IN THIS ISSUE:
* The Price of Free
* Will They Come if You Build It? (Marsha Robinett), Revisited
* From the FineArtViews Blogs
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Latest Ruminations from Clint’s Blog
The Price of Free
Pirates in our Midst by Lori Woodward Simons
Be Selfish With Your Time by Linda Mikulich
Why I’ve dropped Google Adsense
New FineArtStudioOnline Artist Websites
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The Price of Free
by Clint Watson
Dear Oil,
Everybody loves free services. Free is good right?
Consider this: there’s an old adage that says, “You get what you pay
for . . . .”
Free Services are Great . . . . Until they Disappear
Recently we ran across a post at Barney Davey’s Art Print Issues blog
about the death of Blog Rush
. Some bloggers (like Barney)
liked Blog Rush and were dismayed to see it go under. But the death of
Blog Rush underscores an important point that artists need to consider
when they choose online services to rely upon . . . . for your most
important marketing efforts, make sure that you work with companies that
you know will still be standing tomorrow.
Free services are great . . . . until they disappear. When you work
with a free service, you are not really that service’s customer. You
are a means for them to generate page views that they hope they can
eventually “monetize” in some way. But many free services (like Twitter
and Facebook) haven’t really yet figured out how to get profitable. And
in this economy, they had better figure it out fast.
Barney’s post also references an article by Rafe Needleman, on CNET
News, titled, 11 troubled Web companies: The next Kozmos?
Needleman lists
11 companies that he thinks have the potential to disappear during this
economic downturn. Take a look at the following list and ask yourself
if any of your serious marketing efforts rely on them: Twitter, Skype,
Pandora, Meebo, TripIt, Second Life, Zillow, Ask, Daily Motion, MySpace
and NetVibes.
Free Services Can Make Your Life Difficult if You Have a Problem
Of course you could always use a free service that is backed by a big,
solid company, right? What about working with a service provided by
Google or Yahoo?
Think about what our friend, artist Marsha Robinett wrote on her
FineArtStudioOnline blog a
few months ago, because she was inexplicably locked out of her Google
Blogger blog:
My blog on Google’s Blogger has been shut down as SPAM . . . I know it’s
hard to understand why, but they did . . . This process of unlocking my
blog has already lasted four days and could take weeks to unlock it. The
scary part is the longer it remains locked, the less chance it will ever
be unlocked. It’s sickening to be going through this right now…I feel
as though I’m at war with an invisible enemy and the only way to say
anything to Goggle Blogger is through their forums!
“The Extraordinary Pencil…blogspot” is NOT a “spam blog,” it could
just sit there inactive and slowly DIE. I’ve worked so many hours on
this blog…if it dies, I may just die too. This is such an unfair way
for Blogger to handle things. It seems they have no regard for the
innocent. They’ve created a breach of trust! (emphasis added)
Think about what Marsha wrote about being at “war” with an “invisible
enemy”, and contrast that with her experience with her website and blog
at FineArtStudioOnline . Since
FineArtStudioOnline is a paid service, we are profitable and we will be
here tomorrow. Since Marsha is a FineArtStudioOnline customer, we have
a vested interest in keeping her happy. If Marsha needs assistance or
help from us, she’s not a “war” with the “invisible enemy.” Nope. She
just picks up the phone and we’re there, ready to help. (Full
disclosure: Marsha now works with FineArtStudioOnline, but did not at
the time she had the issue with Blogger).
Here’s another important point to consider when dealing with paid
services: Since users pay, there’s no spam problem. Spammers won’t set
up fake blogs a paid service, because they would have to PAY. Likewise,
paid services don’t have to monetize through tacky advertising that
annoys you and your customers. In short, paid services usually don’t
become online ghettos.
Marsha did eventually get her Google blog unlocked and, in that
particular case, things worked out. We sincerely hope she has a backup
of her blogger data somewhere since Google could decide to lock her out
again in the future, or worse they could, conceivably (although we don’t
expect they would), kill Blogger completely.
Use Free Services for Non-Critical Activities, Pay for Critical Needs
We’re not saying not to use free services at all, we use Twitter
on a regular basis, we have a Facebook
profile (but before you send us a friend
request, remember that we basically don’t use Facebook
), we like Google Analytics, and
heck, we even use Gmail (but we can switch back to our own mail service
instantly if there is a problem and we don’t use our gmail address as
our public email address). But we could easily live without Twitter,
Facebook, Analytics and Gmail, if necessary.
Think about your core online needs: a website, perhaps a blog, a
reliable email account - now ask yourself what you would do if your
website or blog was gone, or you could no longer access or use your
current email provider. For most artists, that would be a real problem.
So our advice is this: Utilize paid services and companies you trust
for your most important online needs and relegate the free services to
things that you could, if absolutely necessary, live without.
Sincerely,
Clint Watson
Software Craftsman and Art Fanatic
PS - Remember, you get what you pay for.
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This article is reproduced with permission.
Copyright 2008 - Clint Watson.
To get more of Clint Watson’s insights into art, marketing, inspiration
and fine living, check out his blog at:
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http://www.clintwatson.net/blog
This Article First Appeared at the Following Location:
http://clintwatson.net/blog/6293
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Will They Come if You Build It? (Marsha Robinett), Revisited
Marina Sarto Wrote:
Truer words were never written; Showing up is half the battle; they
can’t buy what they can’t see.
Though I have been painting most of my life and my first career path
took me into healthcare, somehow marketing what I did was always a
component of the overall picture. The cliches we use, usually come from
truth so the article has reminded me to look at all the components of
being sucessfull. There is no shame in letting people know who you are
and what you do even if they don’t ask. You never know what will make
for interesting conversation.
More Comments >>
All Past Issues >>
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>From the FineArtViews Blogs:
The Vigor of Growth by Jean LeGassick
(Jean LeGassick Fine Art)
Posted: 11/19/2008 2:59:59 PM
Welccome by Tom Yezza Sr.
(GEOMETRIC ART)
Posted: 11/19/2008 2:41:00 PM
German Brush by Deborah O’Sullivan
(Deborah O’Sullivan’s
Art of the Horse)
Posted: 11/19/2008 2:22:01 PM
Holiday Party at Artists on Santa Fe, Denver by
(Marin Dobson Fine Art)
Posted: 11/19/2008 2:00:56 PM
Rome Part 2 by Sharon Weaver
(Sharon Weaver Fine Art)
Posted: 11/19/2008 1:14:44 PM
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