We’re used to being able to access anything we want to read online for free, but there are sites like The Times who have a paywall enabled. Firstly – what is a paywall? It’s where you have to pay to subscribe to a site to be able to read the content on there. There are two different types of paywall – what is known as “hard” and “soft” paywalls. A hard paywall is where you can only view a few sentences of the story before you have to pay, while a soft paywall is where you can view a few articles a month (like the FT does)
So how does this relate to blogging? If you’re the sort of blogger that doesn’t like sponsored posts, affiliate linking or banner advertising, then turning your site into one accessed through a paywall may be a good option.
If you have a huge loyal audience already, then charging to read your blog could be the most effective way to make money, but would it turn off potential readers? How would you respond if one of your favourite bloggers decided that they were only going to share their writing with an audience who paid to read it?
What do you think? Is charging people to read your blog the new way of monetisation, or do more traditional methods work for you?
