Skip to main content

First Click Free - Opportunity For The Publishers To Promote Previously Undiscoverable Content

Nick has posted his analysis on Google's First Click Free . This free service allows the content providers to participate into it and promote their content by making the first click free when users discover the content via Google and subsequently enforce registration or subscription for the rest of the content.

I think this is a great idea! I am personally against the walled garden approach and do not believe in registrations and subscriptions just because content providers haven't managed to convince me so far to register or subscribe to for their content. This is a great opportunity for the publishers to showcase their content by making the first link free, demonstrate the value proposition, and drive traffic towards the paid content.

The discussion on the service has so far centered around:
  • Google making other search engine's users second-class citizens and not sticking to an unmediated role.
  • Users' ability to trick the content providers to get access to all the pages by acting as if the request is coming from a Google bot
I do not buy into the criticism around Google's unmediated role. No one is stopping the other search engines to build a similar service and work with the content providers. Though I would expect Google to somehow differentiate the first click free content from the always free content on the search results so that users don't feel that they are being tricked.

I also do not buy into the argument that users can trick the content providers by faking the request as if it is coming from a Google bot. Google can very easily solve this technological challenge to ensure that only the Google bot and no one else gets access to all the free content.

As much as I appreciate and value this service I suspect that the many publishers won't get it. I hope publishers don't ask Google to pay for the traffic instead of being happy that Google is sending them the traffic. I also see a challenge and an opportunity for the publishers to redesign their website to convert the first free click into a registration, subscription, or a future visit.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Emergent Cloud Computing Business Models

The last year I wrote quite a few posts on the business models around SaaS and cloud computing including SaaS 2.0 , disruptive early stage cloud computing start-ups , and branding on the cloud . This year people have started asking me – well, we have seen PaaS, IaaS, and SaaS but what do you think are some of the emergent cloud computing business models that are likely to go mainstream in coming years. I spent some time thinking about it and here they are: Computing arbitrage: I have seen quite a few impressive business models around broadband bandwidth arbitrage where companies such as broadband.com buys bandwidth at Costco-style wholesale rate and resells it to the companies to meet their specific needs. PeekFon solved the problem of expensive roaming for the consumers in Eurpoe by buying data bandwidth in bulk and slice-it-and-dice-it to sell it to the customers. They could negotiate with the operators to buy data bandwidth in bulk because they made a conscious decision not to st...
Post a Comment
Read more

Focus On Your Customers And Not Competitors

A lorry is a symbol of Indian logistics and the person who is posing against it is about to rethink infrastructure and logistics in India. Jeff Bezos is enjoying his trip to India charting Amazon’s growth plan where competitors like Flipkart have been aggressively growing and have satisfied customer base. This is not the first time Bezos has been to India and he seems to understand Indian market far better than many CEOs of American companies. His interview with a leading Indian publication didn’t get much attention in the US where he discusses Amazon’s growth strategy in India. When asked whether he is in panic mode: For 19 years we have succeeded by staying heads down, focused on our customers. For better or for worse, we spend very little time looking at our competitors. It is better to stay focused on customers as they are the ones paying for your services. Competitors are never going to give you any money. I always believe in focusing on customers, especially on their latent unme...
Post a Comment
Read more

Purple Squirrels

It is fashionable to talk about talent shortage in the silicon valley. People whine about how hard it is to find and hire the "right" candidates. What no one wants to talk about is how the hiring process is completely broken. I need to fill headcount: This is a line that you hear a lot at large companies. Managers want to hire just because they are entitled to hire with a "hire or lose headcount" clause. Managers spend more time worrying about losing headcount and less time finding the right people the right way. Chasing a mythical candidate: Managers like to chase purple squirrels . They have outrageous expectations and are far removed from reality of talent market. Managers are also unclear on exactly what kind of people they are looking to hire. Bizarre interview practices: "How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?" or "can you write code with right hand while drawing a tree with left hand?" We all have our favorite bizarre interview st...
Post a Comment
Read more