1. There are many meditation-related websites out there.
And there are many people searching for information on
meditation. Free meditation is a big keyword in search
engine statistics.
2. Why do people want meditation for free, and when are
they willing to pay?
3. Meditation is often seen as a self-help tool. It is linked to
spirituality in the minds of many. This is both its' blessing
and its' curse. There's a huge self-help/self-improvement
market out there. There's also a large percentage of the
population that doesn't like the idea of spirituality: it's all
too New Age for them. In their minds, New Age is the
equivalent of Hippy in the 1960s and 70s.
4. Meditation websites are often created for communities of
meditators and, as such, there is a strong leaning towards
meditation products being freely available for all members
of the community. Spiritual people tend to think that if
you want the world to be more spiritual, you have to make
products freely available to the world. Non-spiritual
people, on the other hand, tend to think that if you want
people to come to the party, you should charge them an
entrance fee.
5. People search for free meditation info because they know
it's out there. And it's out there because people are
looking for it. There's definitely a market for free
meditation products. But is there a market for meditation
products that aren't free? When will people pay - and
why?
6. There will always be a market for high quality products.
Just as there are people looking for no-cost products,
there are also those who believe that if you pay peanuts
you get monkeys.
7. People will pay for something when it has value for them.
If it's free, how does it have value? How do you get people
to pay for your products? And if you don't want them to
pay, how do you get them to cover your costs?
8. Often, donations are requested on free meditation
websites as a way of keeping the products free.
9. Some people don't want to ask for money because they
find it too hard or they don't know how to ask. Some think
all products should be free. And some think that nothing
should ever be free.
10. My suggestion would be to have a lot of information
available for free. Free downloads, free articles, links to
other sites. And I would also have a range of quality
products that cost money. I don't mean have a free item
and the upgrade will cost you. I mean, have a range of
products that aren't like the standard items. Provide a
guided meditation for free, then offer meditations using
brainwave entrainment and music, for a fee. People can
have the best of both worlds then.
11. It's nice to get something for free, but it's also nice to be
able to treat yourself, to be able to buy yourself
something. People who have healthy relationships with
themselves enjoy treating themselves as much as treating
others.
12. So give people quality: quality products for no cost and
quality products that cost. And watch what happens.
