Alternatives To Gated Content
A follow-up to our recent discussion on the pros and cons of gated content. What other options might your business have when discovering new leads?
As outlined in a recent blog, gated online content has become a contentious issue among marketing executives and content providers. In essence, this is the process of locking away content unless site visitors sign up or agree to provide certain information through a web form, such as a valid email address or answers to marketing questionnaires.
The New Trend
Gated content is becoming increasingly prevalent in an online environment where consumer cynicism and ad-blocking are undermining traditional advertiser-funded content models. It is promoted by advocates as an invaluable way of harvesting contact details and attracting genuine enquiries, yet gated content has been proven to deter all but the most committed of audiences by driving away nineteen out of every twenty potential readers. It also blocks search engine bots, with detrimental ranking results.
Fortunately, some alternatives do exist beyond the binary states of gated or ungated content:
Partially Gated Content
This isn’t as much of a fudge as it initially sounds. Newspapers are leading the way in leaving the opening paragraphs of articles ungated, but requesting some degree of engagement to unlock the rest of that feature. Since newspaper articles are always subbed from the bottom up, headline information is visible to all as an executive summary. People wishing to view the details beyond those introductory paragraphs can reveal everything else using conventional gate mechanics, such as answering a series of tick-box questions.
Limited Free Content
In a similar guise to partially gated content above, some agencies now permit a limited number of free reads or page impressions per user over a specified time period. The aim is to give flagship articles the widest possible audience, implying that unlimited volumes of equally high-quality content can be accessed once registered. There are no restrictions on which articles can be read, only on how many views are permissible for each IP address.
Secondary Content
Companies aiming to portray themselves as experts in a particular field can upload a certain percentage of their material with unrestricted access. No visitor counts, no ‘answer these questions to view more’ hover boxes, no cookies and no requests for login details. At the end of each unrestricted article, a teaser invites people to register for one of the following – related articles, more in-depth coverage, updates about related future content or one-to-one advice. Search engine ranking results are unaffected, and if people have enjoyed what they’ve read (or would like further details), they can voluntarily request this firewalled content.
Ad-Funded Content
This increasingly unfashionable option will remain a viable alternative to gating until ad-blocking becomes ubiquitous. Appropriate advertising is critical (rather than the tacky ‘trending now’ clickbait content that’s presently giving the online advertising industry a bad name), though respectable ad agencies won’t sign up to a third-party website without huge numbers of unique visitors.
Which To Choose?
The decision about which of these options to employ can often be gauged by reviewing a company’s overarching strategy. If a brand wants to establish itself as authoritative in a particular sector, or if it’s attempting to build a reputation from scratch, ungated or ad-funded content will be the best options. If lead generation is everything, gated or limited free content should prove optimal. However, standards must be equally high on both sides of a gate. Consumers will instantly defect elsewhere (taking negative brand associations with them) if secondary content turns out to be badly-written junk, or if the cookies that track limited free content become overly intrusive.