As I have mentioned before in earlier posts, I have a series of guest blogs hosted by the Real Estate, Design and Construction network called UPworld.com. (UPworld has moved to an invitation-only model, but if you are interested in checking it out, I would be glad to e-mail you the link – just let me know.)

Most of my blog posts at UPworld.com have been on the topic of netgiving – a term I use to describe the enlightened online interaction that reaches beyond mere networking. There is one aspect of netgiving I’d like to highlight here, for readers who are developing their own professional architectural blogs. It is the counter-intuitive practice of offering a product or service for free.

 
You may have already noticed this trend; some professionals now offer free material online that they once would have held in reserve for their paying clients. Some free offerings I’ve seen range from industry white papers, newsletter subscriptions, downloadable e-books or instructional videos. In some cases the free item may take the form of an hour of consultation or some other one-on-one professional evaluation. Due to download technologies, the printed or recorded giveaways don’t cost the giver anything beyond the time and effort to produce the original content, while ongoing newsletters and offers of free services could amount to a real time commitment (time away from billable tasks!).
In most cases, all that is required in exchange for the free material is the reader’s name and e-mail address. 
The idea behind such giving is to establish one’s credentials, to build trust, to display expertise on a given subject – specifically, the goal is to cultivate relationships with potential clients.

 
Does your practice lend itself to netgiving? What could you offer online to potential clients (or even to fellow professionals)? While you don’t want to simply give away your lead product or service, there is probably some content you could part with that would be benefitial to your readers. Let’s discuss this (please leave a comment below).

If you’d like to know more, here are four books (in order of publication dates) that address the concept of “free” as an essential online marketing principal:

• Free Prize Inside: How to Make a Purple Cow by Seth Godin
• Marketing 2.0, Freemium & ROI by Luca Grivet Foiaia
• Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide by Amy Shuen
• Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson

Now, add your own content and make this a conversation; please comment below.