Google may still be offering its employees a free lunch, but for many companies free isn’t the way to make money. Blogger Allen Stern writes this morning that “most startups give away so much for free that users have no reason to upgrade.” Many people on the Internet have begun to feel entitled to free stuff: free music, free movies, free software, free information, etc. But free is potentially taking us down a dangerous path.
Google可能仍在为员工提供免费午餐 ，但是对于许多公司而言，免费并不是赚钱的方法。 博客作者艾伦·斯特恩( Allen Stern )今天早上写道 ：“大多数初创公司免费提供了很多东西，以至于用户没有理由升级。” 互联网上的许多人已经开始感到自己有权获得免费的东西：免费的音乐，免费的电影，免费的软件，免费的信息等。但是免费可能使我们走上一条危险的道路 。
Michael Galpert, one of the founder of online image editing tool suite Aviary, has a great post up on the company’s blog today about getting people to pay in a world dominated by free. Galpert lays out a list of 5 things he thinks that people are still willing to pay for. These concepts can be applied to almost any product or service:
在线图像编辑工具套件Aviary的创始人之一迈克尔·加珀(Michael Galpert)今天在公司博客上发表了一篇精彩的文章，内容涉及让人们在免费为主导的世界中付款。 加尔珀特列出了他认为人们仍然愿意支付的五件事清单。 这些概念几乎可以应用于任何产品或服务：
Convenience – People are lazy, says Galpert, which is why they’ll still pay for music tracks on iTunes, rather than get it from a P2P network. If you can offer them convenience over free alternatives, they’ll pay for it.
便利性 –人们很懒惰，Galpert说，这就是为什么他们仍然愿意在iTunes上为音乐曲目付费，而不是从P2P网络获得音乐。 如果您可以为他们提供免费替代方案带来的便利，则他们会为此付费。
Quality – Access to higher quality content, products, support, or community features is something that people are willing to pay for. If a subscription fee keeps spammers out of a forum and makes it more attractive to industry professionals, then people will be willing to pony up the dough, for example.
质量 –人们愿意为获得更高质量的内容，产品，支持或社区功能付费。 如果订阅费将垃圾邮件发送者拒之门外，并使其对行业专业人士更具吸引力，那么人们将愿意例如花钱买面团。
Additional Functionality – Galpert cites 37signals, who have pioneered the “freemium” model on the web by giving away a free appetizer, but charging for the full meal. The danger, as Allen Stern points out, is knowing how much to give out so that your pay product is still an attractive upgrade for enough users.
附加功能 – Galpert引用了37signals，后者通过提供免费的开胃菜，但收取全餐费用，率先在网络上推出了“免费增值”模式。 正如艾伦·斯特恩(Allen Stern)所指出的那样，危险在于知道要付出多少，这样您的付费产品仍然是足够用户吸引人的升级。
Customization – Customization is a great value-added feature for many products, and people are willing to pay for it. Galpert uses WordPress.com as an example. The site offers free blogs for anyone, but to customize the CSS or use your own domain name you have to fork over some cash.
定制 -定制是许多产品的重要增值功能，人们愿意为此付费。 Galpert以WordPress.com为例。 该网站为任何人提供免费博客，但是要自定义CSS或使用您自己的域名，您必须花一些钱。
Privacy – While privacy should be built into any service at any pay level, additional layers of privacy are something that people will pay for. Galpert talks about GoDaddy, which offers a premium service that allows people to mask their information on WHOIS searches.
隐私 –虽然应该在任何收费级别的任何服务中都内置隐私，但是人们需要付费购买更多的隐私层。 Galpert谈到GoDaddy，它提供了一项高级服务，使人们可以在WHOIS搜索中掩盖其信息。
Galpert’s list is helpful for anyone offering a web product or service that has to compete with free offerings. Competing with free is difficult, but as the example above show, it is not impossible.
Galpert的列表对任何提供必须与免费产品竞争的网络产品或服务的人很有帮助。 与自由竞争很难，但是如上面的示例所示，这并非没有可能。
What would you pay for? We’re interested to know. Give us your thoughts in the comments.
您要付什么钱？ 我们有兴趣知道。 在评论中告诉我们您的想法。
翻译自: https://www.sitepoint.com/better-than-free/
