Howard, you give a LOT of great, free advice on this blog. I don’t have to pay for it, and you don’t require registration to read it. I assume you do this to develop thought leadership for yourself and for your business (I think it’s working, by the way – full disclosure to other readers, I’m a happy Connect Direct client).

But that exchange has value to you. You may see that dozens of people have visited your blog today, but you don’t necessarily know who they are. You trust that a % will like what they see, figure you’re a smart direct marketer, and contact you for your services.

In many cases, that free exchange is worth the effort. In other cases, you’ll want something in exchange for value-added info. The key is understanding precisely what you want back from the exchange, how you’ll measure it, and how you’ll evaluate – at the end of day – whether it was worth it.