I help people make and market information products for their home internet business. A common question that I receive is people want to know if they should still create a product if there is one for free on that topic. They want to know if it is still worth their time.
While some people believe free eliminates demand for paid, I have found the opposite to be true, especially in situations where the free product fails to cover as much depth as the paid product. You should be excited when you see a free product because that shows there is interest in your target market.
Keep in mind that there are several topics that you can locate information on at no cost. The challenge is that it would take a significant amount of time to locate the information. Convenience is worth spending money on. It is more convenient to find information in one location. The average person does not want to search on a bunch of websites and put the information together. They want it right now and in your home internet business you can provide it to them.
People have no problem spending money to save time. They also have no problem with spending money to pay for quality because if they are trying to learn about a topic they do not have the time to wonder what is good and what is bad. Therefore if you provide good information in one location you will make money.
It is a good idea to offer a free mini-course as a way to get the attention of prospective customers. If they like your free course, often some of them will want to purchase your paid ebook on a related topic. The higher the quality of the free course, the higher the perceived value will be for the paid ebook. Money makes it worth more. Do not feel you cannot compete with a free product because you can not only compete, you can thrive in your home internet business.