The debate for and against gated content has been raging particularly fiercely the last few years. Marketers have arrayed themselves on both sides of the issue in a climate where business owners are constantly claiming that users just want everything for free and content marketing doesn\u2019t have a clear ROI.<\/p>\n
The fact is that content costs money to create, and in business there needs to be a focus on results and return on investment – ultimately both gated and ungated content can result in exposure to potential clients, leads, and sales if implemented correctly. We\u2019ll show you how.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The debate on gated vs. ungated content is silly, there is no one right answer for every situation. <\/span>It\u2019s really all about your end motives and balancing the investments you make externally with internal needs for exposure and leads.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n As a rule of thumb we often recommend against using gated content. If you need exposure or realistically want more conversions you\u2019re better off using ungated content, and the best of leads will still come through (if not more).<\/span><\/p>\n If you run a well known company, with a strong conversion path and a unique piece of content that is legitimately exciting or useful, then gated content may make sense. But there should be some kind of content that steps users into the funnel. See for example how Sonatype has an <\/span>infographic<\/span><\/a> and full on <\/span>eBook<\/span><\/a> for its yearly report on the supply chain. Or Search Metrics <\/span>infographic<\/span><\/a> and full on <\/span>ranking report<\/span><\/a> ranking factor report. In both of these case an infographic is shown for free and used as \u2018bait\u2019 to drive downloads of the ebook – the gated content.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re a thought leader in a niche with little chance of mass-market appeal anyways, gated content may make more sense as a general rule since there you\u2019re really not losing out on exposure – You aren\u2019t going to get a lot of shares and buzz by giving away something for free, but those who <\/span>are<\/span><\/i> interested will find your content and do what it takes to read it – whether it\u2019s buying \u00a0or submitting their email address.<\/span><\/p>\n For anyone else, more exposure – especially surrounding high quality content – should lead to more conversions. <\/b>If you must gate content, aim to do so selectively around content that is part of a conversion path and is actually likely to be downloaded by prospects. Offer part of this content, preferably presented in a creative medium like a infographic, slideshow, or video, as a teaser to build interest. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This comes down to the basic balancing act is between maximizing your attempt at exposure with your need for leads<\/b>. While exposure could lead to leads in the long term, the short term implication of all of this is balanced out by whether or not you have an audience already. Even if you\u2019ve made a significant investment in content, if you don\u2019t have a solid amount of email subscribers, a built-in blog audience, or just need traffic and industry exposure you\u2019re better off just getting more people on the site (and more net leads) than turning everyone that downloads a resource into a lead.<\/span><\/p>\n In most cases sites actually see more leads through ungated content<\/strong>. I would say that is heavily contingent on the quality of content and whether people like it enough to share and enjoy it enough to convert in the long run, but if they do, you\u2019re better off getting as much traffic out of your content as you can.<\/span><\/p>\n Here are some wins from ungated content from around the web:<\/span><\/p>\n At the same time:<\/span><\/p>\nWinning with both strategies<\/b><\/h3>\n
Do you need exposure?
\n<\/span>Don\u2019t Gate<\/b> Your Content!<\/span><\/h3>\n\n
![infographic<\/span><\/a> and full on <\/span>ranking report<\/span><\/a> ranking factor report. In both of these case an infographic is shown for free and used as \u2018bait\u2019 to drive downloads of the ebook – the gated content.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nIf you\u2019re a thought leader in a niche with little chance of mass-market appeal anyways, gated content may make more sense as a general rule since there you\u2019re really not losing out on exposure – You aren\u2019t going to get a lot of shares and buzz by giving away something for free, but those who <\/span>are<\/span><\/i> interested will find your content and do what it takes to read it – whether it\u2019s buying \u00a0or submitting their email address.<\/span><\/p>\nFor anyone else, more exposure – especially surrounding high quality content – should lead to more conversions. <\/b>If you must gate content, aim to do so selectively around content that is part of a conversion path and is actually likely to be downloaded by prospects. Offer part of this content, preferably presented in a creative medium like a infographic, slideshow, or video, as a teaser to build interest. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThis comes down to the basic balancing act is between maximizing your attempt at exposure with your need for leads<\/b>. While exposure could lead to leads in the long term, the short term implication of all of this is balanced out by whether or not you have an audience already. Even if you\u2019ve made a significant investment in content, if you don\u2019t have a solid amount of email subscribers, a built-in blog audience, or just need traffic and industry exposure you\u2019re better off just getting more people on the site (and more net leads) than turning everyone that downloads a resource into a lead.<\/span><\/p>\nDo you need exposure?\n<\/span>Don\u2019t Gate<\/b> Your Content!<\/span><\/h3>\nIn most cases sites actually see more leads through ungated content<\/strong>. I would say that is heavily contingent on the quality of content and whether people like it enough to share and enjoy it enough to convert in the long run, but if they do, you\u2019re better off getting as much traffic out of your content as you can.<\/span><\/p>\nHere are some wins from ungated content from around the web:<\/span><\/p>\n\nDavid Meerman Scott <\/span><\/a>(of Newsjacking and The New Rules of PR Fame) has said ungated content netted him 20-50 times more downloads than previously gated content.<\/span><\/li>\nIon Interative found <\/span><\/a>that their gated content was 33% less effective at converting visitors.<\/span><\/li>\nObility saw<\/span><\/a> a 2,785% increase in organic traffic to case studies pages in 8 months after moving case studies from PDFs to web pages.<\/span><\/li>\nVertical Response reported <\/span><\/a>that ungated content led to a 7% increase in downloads within a month.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nAt the same time:<\/span><\/p>\n\nWilson & Ellis Consulting found<\/span><\/a> that ungated content lead to 47 times the downloads but 100% of the generated leads <\/span>came from gated content.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThat\u2019s right, ungated content will definitely get you more eyes on your piece, and in some cases more leads. (But not always!)<\/span><\/p>\nWhen you gate your content you take away the opportunity to make a connection with customers.<\/span><\/p>\nFinally when you leave content ungated it can get indexed by Google and continually grow traffic for you.<\/span><\/p>\nGood Reasons to Gate Your Content:<\/span><\/h3>\nIf you\u2019re going to gate your content make sure you do it well. The trick here is to make sure that you\u2019re walking customers into your funnel and using gated content only for the most qualified customers \u00a0– and as such, offering content to customers who need your expertise. The reason why this strategy works is because a large piece of content worth gating clearly demonstrates authority by its very existence.<\/span><\/p>\nConclusion<\/span><\/h3>\nUse gated content wisely. For the vast majority of businesses who are new to producing content and trying to get their name out there, gating content is going to lower your exposure and ultimately slow lead growth.<\/span><\/p>\nAs a rule of thumb you should use this criteria: Is this gated piece of content the only item in your funnel? Then don\u2019t gate. Otherwise be conscientious of the fact that <\/span>gated content is best used near the bottom of a funnel where leads have already been qualified.<\/b>](\"http:\/\/www.searchmetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/searchmetrics-ranking-factors-poster-US-Web.jpg\"){kind=link}