Those of us who were surfing the Internet back in the old days (1995) remember a time when it was expected that all digital content would be free. After all, the Internet was supposed to be the last bastion of freedom and equality. Free digital content was the rule rather than the exception, which was not all that unusual considering that the driving force behind the new medium was primarily academic researchers seekign to share their work with colleagues around the nation and world.

But something funny happened along the way to becoming a cyber-utopia. Namely, capitalism came sniffing around and it was all the liberal socialists could do to keep them out. Actually, after a while they couldn’t keep them out at all. In those early days entrepreneurs had yet to establish how they were going to make a buck online but had the most solid of convictions that there was indeed money to be made.

Fast forward to 2012 and we find a recent survey by Digicareers that, on the surface, seems to portend bad news to pay sites. 52% of consumers who encounter a request for payment while casually surfing immediately leave the site. But the second most popular choice on the survey, selected by a full 42% of respondents, said they would explore prices and actually consider a purchase decision. This second number is likely to make advertisers out there sit up and take notice. It’s a significant slice of the pie.

Not surprisingly, consumers are more likely to pay for entertainment-focused content than any other kind. A full 47% reported having paid for movies, 36% for digital magazine access, and 35% for music. Contrast these relatively robust numbers with only 13% paying for online news or newspapers. Is this another nail in the news industry’s coffin? Maybe, and maybe not. There will always be an insatiable demand for news, it’s just that there are tooo many free quality sources of news online at present, with many publishers turning to ad-based models to try to earn a profit. When you consider the effect of national and international portals, hyperlocal sites, blogs, social networks, etc., there’s just not much room left at the table for the old-fashioned method of news delivery.

Even the daily evening news television broadcast, long the staple of American culture, has become something of a national joke, though even that is being generous. Other than Baby Boomers raised on the stuff, most of the rest of the world simply doesn’t care about national network news because they’ve never watched it. For them, the Internet has always been there to keep them up to date.

So what do all these numbers mean for the average mortgage professional trying to earn a living? The main thing it means is don’t waste your time advertising your services on the evening news. The market there is dwindling fast. At first glance, it might seem that a real estate professional doesn’t have the option to provide much digital content that provides entertainment for consumers. Actually, at second glance it doesn’t seem to be the case either. While some highly specialized advisors might be able to charge for investment content, the vast majority (90%) is still provided online free of charge.

So why are we even wasting your time talking about paid vs. digital content approaching a key barrier? Here’s why.The reality is you can throw all those percentages out the window and simply look at this. The cumulative amount of money people spend online is increasing in a big way. Your task is to figure out a way to position yourself in front of the wave. One method proving successful for Jason Hartman, founder of AIPIS and several other popular brands, is to give lots of quality content away for free, like this blog for instance, but have a variety of digital products available on the backend for people to buy.

For an example, take a look at the store on Jason’s primary website, where you’ll find a variety of digital products and services beginning with modestly priced books and ranging all the way into the thousands of dollars for premium level services and acces to Jason’s personal advice.

The important take away point here is to understand you’re not simply a real estate or mortgage professional any more. You’ve got to think of yourself as a digital content specialist as well. If you don’t have any digital content to sell yet, it’s time to start thinking in that direction. We’d be willing to bet that there is some valuable information in your head waiting to be pulled out, packaged, and sold. As far as free digital content, it’s time to start creating some!

The AIPIS Team