How Much Does Free Cost?
Filed under: WordPress - Blog Tips, Plugins & How-To
WordPress is free. Facebook is free. Twitter is free. If I can do or get it for free why should I pay you? 
The most frequently asked question I hear — often not verbalized aloud.
There are a host of responses. Here are a few…
As easy as some aspects of WP are, there’s no way somebody could set up a site like this without a good knowledge of html to start with. The navigation links, tables, bookmarks and IDX would drive anyone else insane. -Linda Slocum
Social media is not free or easy, but if you employ the right people who can utilize these tools effectively, it can be an efficient choice to augment your other efforts. We should focus less on selling people on shiny new tools and more on building strategic plans and how tools can help us achieve the goals we have established. -Cara Keithley
I tell clients that I conservatively think I spent well over 500 man-hours learning Social Media and that was just to get started. I probably spend 2 hours a day learning each and every day… so at their salary, what is all that time worth? Funny how it makes the large number I just slid across the table seem not so large anymore. -brandmarken
If you want to trust your brand with someone who’s spammed their way to 100k Twitter followers in the last 6 months, then you weren’t the right client for me anyway. On the other hand if you’re serious about exploring the possibility of entering the social media space and are willing to dedicate the resources to ensure success, then we’ve got something to talk about. -Scott Schablow
Social Media isn’t free–depending upon the goals and size of the brand, executing Social Media strategies and programs may require monitoring, research, third-party software and services, development, planning, and resources to work effectively. – Augie Ray
Those “inexpensive” efforts take specialized knowledge and a lot more time to manage and execute. Things like public relations, guerrilla marketing, event marketing, and viral have always been more labor intensive and require a special kind of daily hands-on management. Same with social media. -Michelle Tripp
Wondering… How do you, as a buyer, determine the value of a service? Is it monetary? Time saved? Share your thoughts in the comments.
