Gated Content: What it is and the pros and cons

gated content

What is gated content?

Gated content is content that you want the reader to pay in some form for before they can read further. The payment may be monetary or in the form of data such as an email, title or other contact info. Examples of such content include blog posts, white papers, webinars, videos or ebooks. Content that is informative will incentivise prospects to give data in exchange for it. Having contact info can be a great way to start a sales conversation.

Cons

Content marketing should be about trust. It is about building up readers confidence in you so that they will read whatever else you have to offer. When content is gated by paywalls or lead magnets it is designed to withhold content from your audience. You’ll fluff up your first post with all sorts of great facts and tips, but then it might turn out that user has to sign up for an email list before reading the next paragraph. By user experience alone this is sure to turn away readers. If you would like people to return over and over again then write freely about everything that you are passionate about, relate information to reader’s needs, exercise moderation when adding affiliate links, pop ups etc which will distract the reader from the purpose of your blog.

Pros

Bated content is good to use when the info you want to keep private. While it may feel like your audience will just give up and leave, if they are  really intent on reading your article/page/bundle, then do not be afraid to ask them to pay or give up data. This way, you can offer truly valuable and powerful content and ensure that people don’t waste their time with a product or course that doesn’t deliver the results they want. Gated content is good for list building – particularly if you use it as a collecting tool for marketing specialist products such as webinars or ebooks.

You can combine gated pages with autoresponders to keep your subscribers engaged over a longer period of time. When done correctly gated strategies can be very lucrative. This is as long as you know what kind of content readers want before asking them for their email address. The best way to find out what puts butts in seats and keeps them engaged is always

Examples of gated content

Examples of gated content include news websites, such as AFR and ungated content example is Triggr’s blog.

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