Monetize those freemiums!

People talk of ‘monetising’ (or if American, of ‘monetizing’); their blogs or websites. Why this verb? Let’s consider the options. ‘Making money out of’ hints at exploitation, ‘making money from’ suggests that money will actually be made (with blogs, about a 1/1,000,000 chance) To ‘monetise’ cleans up the process; it’s technical and neutral; neither ethics nor the possibility of success need enter into it.

Nothing wrong with making money. I just wish people would be more straightforward about it.

Consider the case of Nathan Rice, a prominent WordPress guru and theme designer. His conscience has been troubling him, he explains, because his work rests on a free platform, WordPress, whereas his themes are for sale. In his view the freebies out there aren’t up to much. (I wonder if his disdain extends to Cutline, or Tarski, the minimalist designs at plaintxt or indeed Oulipo.)

Anyway, Nathan felt he wanted to give away a really first-rate theme.

An Innovative Business Model

Ever since I first conceived the idea, I?ve wanted to toy with the idea of a ?freemium? model theme release site. I wanted to figure out a way to give away free themes, yet build a sustainable income from the site as well. In my opinion, unless an idea can indirectly monetize, eventually the project leader will burnout.

Elevate will be monetized in three ways:

1. Premium Membership
2. Theme Sponsorship
3. Community Job Openings

From my experience in other domains, Nathan is dead right about burn-out. But, y’know, ‘freemium‘?

If you give somebody a gift, that person will feel a small but distinct obligation to reciprocate. AVG, for example, gives away its very effective anti-virus program. Are they mad? Are they philanthropists? Or do they count on enough people upgrading to their paid version? Play ‘Find the Freebie’ on their website.

Terms like ‘monetise’ (or ‘social capital’) are small signs of the seemingly endless effects of Carlyle’s ‘cash nexus’. Looking back on the feudal era, he wrote: ‘Cash Payment had not then grown to be the universal sole nexus of man to man.’ (‘Chartism’ 1839) Looking back from here, we’re inclined to say the same of Carlyle’s own period.

Anyway, Nathan, all the best. Looks like an appealing theme, with sufficient complexity under the hood to guarantee that those who use it will pretty soon be paying for support. Sort of like Windows and DOS – and look at him today.