How Good are You at Using Print to Drive Website Traffic?
Introducing the Mequoda Print Linkage Index (PLI) – a Simple Calculation that Measures How Effectively a Publisher Uses their Print Product to Drive Website Traffic
All publishers must have a plan for driving website traffic, whether that’s to beef up page views or to get people to purchase products, including access to a membership website.
- An Internet hub with free content attracts online traffic. Site visitors then register for, say, a free email newsletter and become part of the publisher’s email database. That can be used to sell products—including access to a membership website.
- Alternatively, a publisher can use editorial mentions in its own magazines and/or newsletters to drive traffic to its Internet hub or directly to the website’s conversion architecture, where the visitor can purchase products, including access to a membership website.
A simple calculation, which we call a “print linkage index,” will determine the percentage of editorial mentions that a publisher is devoting to driving traffic online. To determine the print linkage index:
- Add up the number of editorial pages in an issue of the print magazine;
- Add up the number of pages in the magazine that indicate the URL of the Internet hub; and
- Divide the result of #1 by the result of #2.
Based on our experience with publishers, a rule of thumb for a good print linkage index is currently 50 percent or better. Some publishers, such as August Home, score 100 percent, because they include their URL on the bottom of every page of the corresponding print publication. This simple action can double or triple a publisher’s website traffic.
Related Posts:
Permalink: http://www.mequoda.com/articles/increasing-website-traffic-articles/how-good-are-you-at-using-print-to-drive-website-traffic/
What Next?
- Read more Increasing Website Traffic articles.
- Get a FREE White Paper and receive updates from us by email.
- Contact us to come in and host a workshop for your online publishing team.
- Republish our Increasing Website Traffic articles. All of our articles are available for republishing as long as you provide a link back to the original article in the first third of the republished article, and as long as the author name and link to bio remains intact.
Would you like us to inform you when new articles are posted?