Blog

What your ecommerce website design should look like from the first page to the thank-you page

Publishers sometimes forget that they are retailers; publishers do sell subscriptions, memberships, books, ancillary products, events, etc.

It’s smart for a publisher to think like a retailer: Get people into your store, where they can become your customers. And when they … Continue

What should your email marketing service provide?

Email is technology’s gift to marketers. For good or bad, it allows companies to send word of their products and services into the inboxes of millions more people than your average direct mail sent to households at street addresses – 3.3 billion accounts, with more than 90% of Americans … Continue

Publishing is at a crossroads. Are you ready?

No one is in business to fail. But with demand for digital content off the charts, no one can afford to put off making the transition to online publishing. Why, in just a few weeks, Newsweek will publish its last print edition ever. Are you ready to make … Continue

Aggregating great content is just as valuable as creating great content

Content aggregation is often given a bad name, because it’s often done incorrectly.

The best content aggregators approach the process as the valuable art form that it is. Content aggregators recognize the web is all about content aggregation, and their work allows users to reach … Continue

We tend to spend hours upon hours optimizing our sites and articles and rarely give a thought to who’s competing for those same keywords. Competition has gotten fierce since the last Penguin update and it’s more important than ever to check your rankings and try to capitalize on those niche keywords.

So how can you find … Continue

The website design process hasn’t really changed in the last ten years. You come up with a wireframe, a designer mocks it up, a developer makes a test site and after weeks of going through each agonizing detail you deploy your new design. It’s a fairly static process; however, there’s an endless supply of questions … Continue

The Internet Marketing Intensive is characterized by the comprehension of its parts

The Internet Marketing Intensive is a holistic program. It’s designed to take all things digital, and put them in the context of your overall digital publishing strategy. This program isn’t a tactics course; it’s a strategy program.

If you must meet the needs of current … Continue

Good website copywriting doesn’t grow on trees*

I spent years perfecting the art of making my words reader-friendly, clear and informative.

Then I had children, who went to high school and college, where they were forbidden to write words that are reader-friendly, clear and informative. … Continue

What are the attributes of a blockbuster subscription website?

Every now and then, I’m asked to facilitate the creation of a new subscription website. While a subscription website is the thing we’ll build, a premium content subscription is the thing we’ll sell, or perhaps even more importantly, what the customer will buy.

Deconstructing the phrase “premium … Continue

Using website analytics to determine your top keywords and then what to do with them

When a client first comes to us, one of the first questions they ask is, “What are my top keywords?” And what they’re usually talking about are the keywords they should be ranking for, but so many times we forget that … Continue

Obvious email newsletter layout elements that publishers often forget to style

The reason you create white papers and special reports is to build a large and thriving email list. Since you’re putting so much effort into creating that list, it only makes sense that your email newsletter looks its best, right? … Continue

… as long as you answer the million-dollar question

What’s in it for me?

This is more than just a popular refrain among toddlers and politicians. This is the question you must answer with every landing page letter you write. Great landing pages will convert visitors to members, and members to subscribers or buyers, only if you … Continue