We are happy to announce the release of more free content. Yes, now everyone will have access to content formerly part of the members only Mequoda Library.
One of the most popular topics searched at Mequoda.com is “Landing Page Templates”. In particular, our landing page reviews have become timeless guidelines for creating successful landing pages. Over the last five years, the Mequoda Research team has reviewed over 40 sales letter landing pages using the 12 essential elements set out in the Mequoda Sales Letter Landing Page Scorecard. … Continue Reading »
How less is often more, according to the results of a few landing page multivariate tests at Business & Legal Reports and Kiplinger … Continue Reading »
We’ve brought in two of our favorite “test junkies” for this webinar on how to test and measure your landing pages called Landing Pages that Work: Using a Proven Testing Method to Increase Conversion Rates. … Continue Reading »
It isn’t enough to know how to design a landing page, you should also understand why writing for the web is not the same as writing for print … Continue Reading »
Marketplace landing pages are the gateways to sales
A landing page is any webpage where a willing buyer and seller can start a transaction. It’s the first page on your website where a visitor enters the ordering process.
A dedicated landing page is an indispensable part of your online marketing campaign. It is dedicated to converting traffic. It’s only reason for being, is to get that order. … Continue Reading »
Effective membership websites employ an access challenge landing page that teases users with a snippet of the content that awaits them beyond the turnstile.
Private, exclusive, premium and paid-only vs. visible, available and accessible. The conundrum for membership website has long been how to have it both ways.
The idea of a pay-for-access website appeals to everyone who owns valuable, premium content. And it’s a viable business model for some publishers. But what if visitors and potential paying customers can’t find your site and its members-only content? … Continue Reading »
Author landing pages showcase your talent and boost SEO
An author landing page is a page dedicated to a particular author or editor on a website, listing all the content written by an author, usually in reverse chronological order. These pages came into existence when publishers started noticing on their internal search logs that a lot of traffic arriving at their site was coming in via organic search on one of their website’s authors.
So why not build a page dedicated to each of your site’s authors, listing all the content written by the author? Creating author landing pages is relatively simple. … Continue Reading »
Glossary Index landing pages capture user’s interest with specific terminology
A landing page is the first page a user sees when entering your site, and a user can enter and “land” almost anywhere. Therefore, every page on your website is a potential landing page, even the glossary index.
The glossary index landing page, as the name suggests, is a glossary on a website that lists dictionary-like definitions of words, phrases or concepts. … Continue Reading »
When you think of a landing page, what do you picture? A single page, long copy, highlighted text, lots of bolding and italicizing, strong headline?
That’s one design for a landing page, most likely a rapid conversion landing page or email capture page. Rapid conversion landing pages are used to entice a user to enter a low-risk (also known as a low-friction) transaction. Either with a free offer or delayed payment option (a bill-me-later offer). … Continue Reading »
Keyword Index landing pages expose your keyword universe and get you found
Many pages on your site are organic landing pages. If an internet surfer arrives at your site from a search engine, that person has naturally or organically “landed” on your site. Landing page optimization is an important part of your online marketing campaign.
The purpose of a keyword index landing page is to provide an entry point for your website that indexes all the content available related to your keyword universe. Individual hyperlinks (200-2000) connect search engine spiders and human users to meta tag pages which list all content available related to a specific keyword phrase. … Continue Reading »
Use Author Index landing pages to create a directory of your author landing pages
Looking for keyword phrases to boost your results in search engines? How about a name?
If you’re looking for quick ways to build your page count and add content that is easily indexed by search engines, don’t forget your authors and editors.
The author index page is a list of all the writers contributing content to the website, much like a contributor’s page in the front of many magazines. These pages came into existence when publishers noticed that a lot of website traffic was arriving via organic search of their website’s authors. … Continue Reading »
Article landing pages are search engine superstars
Article landing pages are most often associated with search engine optimization (SEO), but are also used for attracting any type of organic traffic. This would include any text link given by a webmaster or editor who is referencing one of your webpages as a source of good information on a topic.
Article landing pages are organic landing pages and contain narrative content, with the objective of being picked up by search engines, capturing the users’ interest and leading them to browse more content. … Continue Reading »
Tag landing pages help you organize your content for better SEO
A tag landing page lists all the content a site has about a particular tag, or keyword. The literal translation of a tag page is a page about other pages. The difference between a tag landing page and a topic landing page, is that a tag page doesn’t necessarily get elevated to the navigation level.
For example, People.com writes about celebrities. Almost every celebrity has their own tag page, where all the content that People.com has ever written about said celebrity would show up. But each celebrity wouldn’t get position in a site’s navigation. … Continue Reading »
With Topic landing pages, persistent navigation is the key to success
The key to success is to send users to landing pages that are specifically designed to fulfill their goals. Any page where there is a direct response transaction — whether or not money is exchanged — is a landing page. For every type of direct response transaction you initiate, there should be a landing page waiting for the user that is optimized to maximize its conversion rate.
A topic landing page, as the name suggests, is a page on a website that is about one particular topic, or category. This page is usually found in a site’s primary navigation, either on the right or left hand side of the screen. Occasionally, a user may also find topic pages in the horizontal site navigation, just below the nameplate, if the number of topics is limited (3-5). Topic pages are also often referred to as category pages, or section pages. … Continue Reading »
The Home landing page is your first opportunity to make a good impression
Organic landing pages are full of content that is designed to be attractive to both users and search engines. Essentially, an organic landing page is trying to be found by search engines.
Home landing pages are the first page someone sees when they type in your website address. The home landing page should tell your user exactly what you want them to do and how it will benefit them.
If your main goal is to get them to sign up for an email newsletter, the most important graphic, button or section of your homepage should be dedicated to collecting it. A floater can be a quick and easy way add unknown site visitors to your email database. … Continue Reading »
When the Mequoda Summit returns to Boston October 7-9, 2009, it will surely be a sellout. Don’t miss this opportunity to reserve your seat at the guaranteed lowest price.
… Continue Reading »
The priority code landing page lets you know where sales leads originate in order to control advertising expenses.
The priority code landing page is a hybrid dedicated landing page that’s part of the online order flow. A publisher might drive users to a priority code landing page where they can enter a proprietary combination of letters or numbers (alphanumeric code) in order to qualify for a special discount or express service. … Continue Reading »
I suspect that 50 percent of Mequoda Daily readers should not be launching their own Mequoda Method periodical website and daily email newsletter…
… Continue Reading »
Why it’s critical to have one authority page, ideally a Rapid Conversion Landing Page, as the reservoir for all your internal and external link juice.
We often write about the importance of researching, documenting and managing your keyword universe. It’s a process you must pursue and manage with discipline if you want any chance of getting Google to drive you consistent, targeted website traffic.
However, your keyword universe is only as good as the website architecture that supports it. If your site isn’t built according to and around your keyword phrases, your chances of attracting traffic from the search engines will be limited. … Continue Reading »
Landing Page Optimization: The value of A/B split testing for increasing response
This publisher’s “winning” titles routinely generate 50 percent more sales than the “losing” titles.
It was enough to make an experienced copywriter groan…
I have more than 25 years of experience as a direct response copywriter, but I recently had a rude awakening when the title I wrote for a paid report lost an A/B split test by a wide margin.
Here’s the story, with a few minor details changed to protect the victor’s identity: … Continue Reading »
February 2009 marks one of the select times where search engines help you index content yourself.
Earlier this month, Google told us “carpe diem on any duplicate content worries” in a blog over at Google Webmaster Central entitled “Specify Your Canonical”.
Before you go Googling “canonical” like I did, it means “reduced to the simplest and most significant form possible without loss of generality”. In this case, a “canonical” page is a page with the most authority, and the one you prefer to show up first in search results. … Continue Reading »
You can pay big bucks for SEO press release distribution, or you can learn how to do it yourself.
How can your press release compete with the thousands of press releases that go out every day? Well you can start by making them long-lasting in the eyes of search engines.
Posting press releases on your own site gives you control of your meta data, image ALT tags and other elements necessary for good search engine optimization (SEO). However, when it’s time to submit your press releases to external sites, you lose some of that control. … Continue Reading »
Creating websites that convert visitors to subscribers is the heart and soul of Internet database marketing
Making money online requires converting your casual website visitors into paying subscribers or customers. That means you must take all the traffic coming to your website and start relationships with those visitors that will eventually result in product sales.
Landing pages are the driving force for any successful Internet marketing program. A well-crafted landing page will maximize the possibility that a user landing there will take the action you desire and not click away. … Continue Reading »
A wrap-up of the best ideas from SiPA’s 25th annual mid-year marketing conference that took place this week in Las Vegas
We love the wrap-up sessions at the end of SiPA conferences. They allow us to hear the best-of the best that we may have missed, as there are always great sessions running concurrently. Here are the tips, along with supplemental Mequoda Daily content that can help put you on path to more profitability and success online. … Continue Reading »
Use the Google AdWords Keyword Tool to find niche keywords that drive targeted traffic to your blogs, press releases and landing pages.
… Continue Reading »
Think about every page on your site as a landing page and start converting all of your visitors into subscribers or buyers.
Many people think that a landing page is just one type of page. When you think of a landing page, what do you picture? A single page, long copy, highlighted text, lots of bolding and italicizing, strong headline?
Sure, that’s one design of a landing page, most likely a rapid conversion landing page or email capture page. Or maybe it’s a salesletter landing page selling a single eBook. … Continue Reading »
Online Market Analysis — Getting to Know Your Online Neighborhood
Discover how to do market analysis research, then choose or change your website business model, plus which competitors represent potential marketing or content-sharing partnerships.
Mequoda Pro Video Training Module #2:
Search Engine Optimization — Mapping and Tracking your Keyword Universe
Discover how to know, with certainty, the keywords by which web surfers find your website. Learn how to use the Google Keyword Tool to do keyword research, and how to use the Google search engine to quantify competition.
Mequoda Pro Video Training Module #3:
Website Strategy — Converting Visitors into Buyers and Subscribers
A well-crafted landing page will maximize the possibility that a user will take the action you desire and not click away. Learn the 9 website templates required to handle multiple sources of traffic to your website and understand how to implement the conversion architecture that will maximize site traffic and build strong customer relationships.
Mequoda Pro Video Training Module #4:
Editorial Strategy — Using Content to Drive Traffic
Discover the various sources, both original and recycled, that editors can use to aggregate and produce online content. Learn how publishers today are successfully recycling, reusing and repurposing their print content into robust online content that effectively drives traffic to their site and sells more product.
Mequoda Pro Video Training Module #5:
Business Strategy — Embracing Multiple Business Models
Choosing the right business model and supporting infrastructure is fundamental to online publishing success. Learn the 9 ways top publishers are monetizing customer relationships through several business models, as well as definitive website metrics that verify the results of profitable online publishers.
Mequoda Pro Video Training Module #6:
Email Strategy — Using Email as a Publishing Platform
For publishers in-the-know, those who generate 40-70% of their revenue in email, they treat email as a publishing platform. Learn how to create an email editorial calendar that aligns with your products and sponsorships and understand the role of service journalism and clever copywriting in generating serious email revenue.
Mequoda Pro Video Training Module #7:
Reporting Strategy — Managing by Exception
For websites, some metrics are more important than others, depending on the site’s business model. Discover how to measure and manage with a key metrics dashboard, and how to make decisions by regularly reviewing a standard set of daily, weekly, or monthly reports.
Mequoda Pro Video Training Module #8:
Organizational Strategy — Organizing to Innovate
While there is no single, perfect organizational structure for a multiplatform publishing business, there is a pattern that is best described as “organizing activities around the content.” Learn how to integrate your print and online media teams and how to hire dedicated writers, marketers and technical staff to run the online business units.
Join Mequoda Pro today at the special charter membership fee of only $197 and get answers to your questions about online publishing and marketing from Don Nicholas, plus unlimited online access to all eight Mequoda Pro Video modules — and more. This limited-time offer is exclusively for publishing professionals. Your complete satisfaction is assured with our 100 percent, money-back guarantee. But you must act now, because the low Mequoda Pro charter membership fee will soon increase to $697 annually.
I understand that I can review the initial Mequoda video training seminars risk-free for 30 days. If I am not completely satisfied, you’ll refund my investment in full. I also understand that I will automatically renew at the $197 rate a year from now unless I contact you beforehand. On that basis, here’s my order.
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Coming soon to Mequoda Pro:
Website Conversion Architecture — Converting Visitors to Email Subscribers
We’ve identified several webpage templates used by today’s top publishers that are built to attract lots of traffic and convert the most visitors. In this session, attendees will learn how to design and implement clean and intuitive website templates that are built to convert more visitors into subscribers, and more shoppers into buyers.
Tool you’ll receive with this session: Website Template Inventory Checklist
Landing Page Optimization—Multivariate and A/B Testing for Higher Conversions
Learn how to increase your landing page conversion rates by conducting multivariate testing using the Google Website Optimizer.
Tool you’ll receive with this session: Multivariate Testing Checklist
Online Content Management — Using Content to Sell Content
Determine the best practice guidelines for transforming previously published content — print newsletters, books, magazines etc. — into robust online content to maximize website depth and incoming traffic.
Tool you’ll receive with this session: Article Release Guideline Checklist
PR & Link Building — Marketing Free Reports to Build Links
Discover how to use free reports and search engine optimized rapid conversion landing pages to increase inbound links and build online friendships.
Tool you’ll receive with this session: Sample Inbound Link Report
Email Newsletter Marketing — Testing to Maximize Email Revenue and Profit
Email is a publishing and marketing platform and is proven to be a significant source of revenue for many publishers. Discover how to create an email newsletter publishing schedule and testing plan that will increase revenue per email sent.
Tool you’ll receive with this session: Sample Email Performance Report
Digital Product Development — Increasing Customer Lifetime Value
You can maximize your email revenue per subscriber with a bigger and better assortment of product offerings. Discover how to generate more income with digital products, including webinars, downloadable PDFs and membership websites.
Tool you’ll receive with this session: Digital Product Pyramid
Internet Advertising Basics — Maximizing Display Advertising Revenue
Are you maximizing revenue with your website advertising inventory, or is it time to re-examine your business model? In this seminar, taught by Internet Advertising export Dan Ambrose, you’ll discover how the two media — Internet and print — complement rather than compete with each other from the point of view of the publisher and of the advertiser.
Tool you’ll receive with this session: Advertiser Schedule Flow Chart& Internet Revenue Potential Worksheet
Structuring Online Jobs — Hiring and Training Online Editors
Discover how to conduct a multi-platform organization review that leads you through an in-depth analysis of the markets you operate in, and the number of unique job descriptions that exist within your organization.
Tool you’ll receive with this session: Online Editor Job Description
Key Metric Analysis — Managing Online Metrics by Exception
Discover precisely how effective website publishers track operating statistics using the Mequoda Key Metric Dashboard that alerts them to problems and opportunities in their online business.
Tool you’ll receive with this session: Sample Key Metric Dashboard
Business Plan Development — Creating a 5-Year Plan
Every viable publishing business, whether contemplated or existing, needs a business plan suitable for senior managers, equity partners and venture capitalists. Learn how to create a publishing model, including key statistics and a five-year financial forecast for your market.
Tool you’ll receive with this session: Sample Online Business Plan and Model
Subscribe to Mequoda Pro
Join Mequoda Pro today! For our introductory price of only $197, you will get unlimited instant access to our eight video training modules (based on our live Mequoda Summit).
You will also be able to participate in our interactive Q&A with your coach Don Nicholas.
Remember those “hit counters” you used to see on the bottom of websites (I’m digging back to 1999 here) that told the site owner how many people visited their website? Back then, it was exciting just to know that people did visit your website, but it’s 2008 now and there are dozens of landing page tracking tools out there that can tell you more about your audience than a number that increases every time you refresh the page. … Continue Reading »
Aggregate, Extract and Summarize your existing content to create products that will build your email file.
One of the questions we get asked most often by our clients is: how to create those complimentary products that we give away in exchange for an email address. Some publishers don’t realize how simple it is to create dozens of these products just from repurposing your existing content—not by creating original content.
We’ve identified three different ways to create complimentary products using your existing inventory: … Continue Reading »
A checklist of 9 must-haves for a list-building rapid conversion landing page
We call an email-capture or name-squeeze page a Rapid Conversion Landing Page. Call it what you want, but what this page does is capture an email address, normally in exchange for a complimentary gift like a report or other product. To create one that works, there is a checklist of things that every RCLP must be able to pull off. … Continue Reading »
Twelve new in-depth sessions… twelve downloadable tools that you and your team can start using immediately… dozens of fully updated Mequoda research trends and case studies… and a bonus SEO workshop on day 3…
DAY 1
1. Online Market Analysis — Getting to Know Your Online Neighborhood
TOOL: Sample Online Market Audit
Discover how to do market analysis research, then choose or change your website business model, plus which competitors represent potential marketing or content-sharing partnerships.
2. Search Engine Optimization — Mapping and Tracking your Keyword Universe
TOOL: Sample Keyword Benchmark Study
Discover how to know, with certainty, the keywords by which web surfers find your website. Learn how to use the Google Keyword Tool to do keyword research, and how to use the Google search engine to quantify competition.
There are several tried and true webpage templates used by today’s top publishers that are built to attract lots of traffic and convert the most visitors. Learn how to design and implement clean and intuitive website templates that convert more visitors into subscribers, and more shoppers into buyers.
4. Online Content Management — Using Content to Sell ContentTOOL:Article Release Guideline Checklist
Determine the best practice guidelines for transforming previously published content — print newsletters, books, magazines etc. — into robust online content to maximize website depth and incoming traffic.
5. PR & Link Building — Marketing Free Reports to Build Links TOOL:Sample Inbound Link Report
Discover how to use free reports and search engine optimized rapid conversion landing pages to increase inbound links and build online friendships.
6. Email Newsletter Marketing — Testing to Maximize Email Revenue and Profit
TOOL:Sample Email Performance Report
Email is a publishing and marketing platform and is proven to be a significant source of revenue for many publishers. Discover how to create an email newsletter publishing schedule and testing plan that will increase revenue per thousand emails sent.
DAY 2
7. Landing Page Optimization—Multivariate and A/B Testing for Higher Conversions
TOOL: Multivariate Testing Checklist
Learn how to increase your landing page conversion rates by conducting multivariate and A/B testing using the Google Website Optimizer.
8. Digital Product Development — Increasing Customer Lifetime Value
TOOL: Digital Product Pyramid
You can maximize your email revenue per subscriber with a bigger and better assortment of product offerings. Discover how to generate more income with digital products, including webinars, downloadable PDFs and membership websites.
9. Social Media Marketing — Building Online Community and Engagement
TOOL: Social Media Metrics Report
Which social media sites make sense for your online business? Can you use them them for marketing? Customer service? Driving traffic? Market analysis? There are thousands of networks you can join. We’ll touch on the social networks that work best for different niches, and how to manage your online reputation by becoming part of the conversation.
10. Structuring Online Jobs — Hiring and Training Online Editors
TOOL: Online Editor Job Description
Online editors stand at the core of your online publishing and marketing efforts. The desired skill-set is different than what we used to look for in traditional editorial roles. Learn the metrics online editors are now being held to and discover how to hire and train an editor for your online business.
Discover precisely how effective website publishers track operating statistics using the a simple Key Metric Dashboard. This high-level report keeps everyone in the organization on the same page and easily alerts them to problems and opportunities in their online business.
12. Business Plan Development — Creating a 5-Year Plan
TOOL: Sample Online Business Plan and Model
Every viable publishing business, whether contemplated or existing, needs a business plan suitable for senior managers, equity partners and venture capitalists. Learn how to create a publishing model, including key statistics and a five-year financial forecast for your market.
DAY 3
Bonus SEO Workshop (Optional)
Get trained in-depth on how to research your own keywords and related keyword universe using the free Google Keyword Tool and the Google search engine. Learn how to quantify volume and competition, plus discover how to identify and target potential keyword phrases that could be used to increase the amount of traffic you get from Google. Understand how to write SEO-friendly headlines, subheads and body copy and learn how to use a freemium-based SEO strategy to both attract traffic and to convert that traffic into email subscribers. Walk away with a list of keyword phrases that could be used to launch your first freemium-based SEO campaign.
HubSpot was recently recommended to us by a couple of our Twitter followers and has a free Website Redesign Kit we wanted to share with you. In the kit, there’s an e-book called Website Redesign for Marketing Results that lists these 7 website redesign tips. … Continue Reading »
Three ways to build a meta tag page and how other publishers are using them
A meta tag page is a page that lists all the content a site has about a particular tag or keyword. The difference between a tag page and a topic page, is that a tag page doesn’t necessarily get elevated to the navigation level.
The literal translation of a meta tag page is “a page about other pages”. … Continue Reading »
Seven Strategies that Successful Publishers are Using to Turn their Traditional Publishing Brands into Internet-Centric Media Companies … Continue Reading »
Maximize conversion rates with solo orderflows and independent information products
Solo orderflows maximize conversion rates on a single product. Imagine you are a travel publisher and you offer six books on these topics: cruises, safaris, island getaways, business travel, family vacations and Disney. Since you only have one book on cruises, not several books on the topic, then you should use a solo orderflow. … Continue Reading »
Harvard has opted not to use a traditional landing page to sell the Harvard Health Letter.
Instead, the main sales page for the Harvard Health Letter is a minimal transaction page with the barest of copy and graphics, and is devoid of the selling effort one would normally expect when promoting a paid subscription publication online.
Knowing the smart marketers at Harvard, we have to believe that this is a deliberate choice. As we recall, they don’t use this “bare minimum” approach in print promotions: their paper direct mail that we’ve seen consists of strong, long-copy sales letters that sell the publication and its benefits, and sell it hard. Why then would they opt for this “bare bones” approach online? This review really addresses a broader, more important question: are online and offline copy fundamentally the same or fundamentally different? … Continue Reading »
From the desk of Don Nicholas — Managing Partner, Mequoda Group, LLC
Discover the Revolutionary Internet Marketing System That Can Double Your Online Revenues Every 12 Months
Dear Colleague:
In August 1999, Rosemary Gardner* was a successful author, newspaper columnist and newsletter publisher. At age 47, she had worked long and hard to be recognized as an expert in the field of gardening — and to make a good living doing what she loved.
Rosemary was terrified the Internet would spoil it all.
From what she had read — her beloved books, newspapers and newsletters were all going to be replaced in a matter of years by the Internet — a vast offering of information that would soon be available for free to every man, woman and child in America.
She asked me what she should do to protect her life and her livelihood?
“Embrace the Internet,” I told her. “Use your knowledge of gardening and reputation to build a new media empire that is platform agnostic — one that can prosper even if print dies, one that does not rely on any single medium, channel, publisher or partner to build your brand and marketing your information products.”
“Take control of your publishing future by building direct relationships with your most loyal customers,” I told her.
Today, Rosemary owns a $75-million niche media empire that is highly profitable.
The Internet did not destroy Rosemary’s life.
To the contrary, the Internet is the nexus of Rosemary’s media empire.
Her email newsletter, Gardens Daily, ended 2005 with 2.7-million opt-in subscribers in 41 countries. While her email newsletter is free, the average Gardens Daily subscriber spent $25.48 direct-to-publisher on Gardens Media Group books, newsletters, memberships and tours in 2005. In addition, Gardens Media Group sold another 235, 403 hard cover books at retail bookstores and garden shops generating $5.9M in retail sales in 2005 and exposing Gardens Media Group to thousands of new customers.
A Mequoda Marketing Parable: Rosemary Gardner is a composite case study based on the 35 clients we’ve taught the Mequoda Marketing System over the past 12 years and the hundreds of publishers we’ve interviewed over the past three years for the Mequoda Daily & Library.
How Rosemary transformed her book and newsletter into a $75-million media empire is a process I’ve been studying, testing, refining and teaching publishers since 1995.
We call the process the Mequoda Marketing System.
Mequoda Marketing System Facts:
The Mequoda Marketing System is business model agnostic and can be used to sell information products, generate highly targeted advertising inventory or both.
The Mequoda Marketing System is massively scalable for any B2C or B2B publishing operation where there is a clearly identifiable group of like-minded individuals. Media entrepreneurs routinely use the system to double their online revenues year after year for several consecutive years.
Through hundreds of interviews, we’ve identified just 51 publishers who use the Mequoda Marketing System and average between $18 and $90 in online revenues per free email subscriber per year. We’ve identified one publisher who went from no online revenues in 1998 to $110-million in 2005 using the system.
Since 1995, we’ve taught the Mequoda Marketing System to 35 publishers. One large consumer publisher that was in a steady-decline during the late 1990s, embraced the system in 1999 and in 2005 topped $190-million in total information product revenues — a whopping 16-percent increase over 2004.
The Mequoda Marketing System is software and operating system independent. It is a set of seven business strategies that when practiced as a system, form an Internet-centric, audience-driven, database marketing system that can be operated by one person or a small team of marketing and publishing professionals.
How can you learn about and implement the Mequoda Marketing System?
1. Making Money Online Private Seminar & Workshop
In just one day, I’ll teach you the seven business strategies that make up the Mequoda Marketing System and I’ll scope the time, budget and resources that would be required to implement the system. We’ll build a simple three-year business model that will forecast revenues, costs and profits that you could expect the system to produce for your organization.
2. Mequoda Marketing System Training & Support
At your and my option, we can enter into a six to 12 month coaching relationship, where we will work on:
Exploring the information needs of your target audience
Creating a detailed version of our business forecast
Choosing topics for your email newsletter
Selecting sources to build email circulation
Setting your editorial and promotional contact frequency
Prioritizing your information product development efforts
Creating job descriptions and hiring required staff
Planning, executing and evaluating your first marketing campaigns
Communicating with staff, management, directors and investors
3. Mequoda Marketing System Architecture & Design
The Mequoda Marketing System Design Team, led by Aimee Graeber & Michael Phillips, can scope, architect, write, and design a complete Mequoda Marketing System and Website Network for your organization that may include:
A Mequoda Internet Hub and a high-frequency Mequoda email newsletter to serve as the 24/7 nexus of your integrated customer acquisition and database marketing efforts.
Multiple free information products, Rapid Conversion Landing Pages and Up Sell Order Flows to drive your email newsletter subscription acquisition efforts using both free and Paid Media sources.
Information product marketplace with multiple dedicated Product Marketing Websites and Subscription Marketing Websites and their associated Sales Letter Landing Pages and Up Sell Order Flows.
Information Product Catalog Marketing Website with multiple information product category pages, product pages and high-performance shopping cart with quick-shop functionality.
Classified Marketing Websites and Lead Generation Websites to connect buyers and sellers of products and services inside your user community.
Membership Websites to offer your audience a searchable, in-depth library of answers to their on-demand questions and a place to share information and inspiration with other members of the user community.
Explore how you can double your online revenues every 12 months:
I am available to teach Making Money Online privately 12 times a year or about once a month. We’ll spend three hours in the morning teaching you and your team the seven Mequoda Marketing System best practices and sharing in-depth examples of how other publishers use the system to double their online revenues every 12 months.
Then in the afternoon, we’ll explore exactly how the Mequoda Marketing System can work for you. We’ll walk the whole process on starting and running a Mequoda Marketing System including a three-year business forecast using the Mequoda Internet Marketing Model which will be yours to keep at the end of the day.
Then you and your team can decide how to proceed:
Engage me and the Mequoda Team to help you launch a Mequoda Marketing System that can double your online revenues every 12 months… or
Chalk the day up to an interesting educational experience and be done.
To apply for a private presentation of Making Money Online, email or call Julie Ottomano, our Consulting Services Manager. If you and Julie agree that your organization and ours can benefit from the day, Julie will schedule a FREE 30-minute conference call with me to discuss your online opportunities, organizational needs and information marketing strategies.
I encourage you to join Rosemary Gardner and the elite group of media entrepreneurs who have embraced the Internet and are now generating 20, 30, 40 or 50-percent of their revenues on the Internet.
You can double your online revenues every 12 months using the Mequoda Marketing System just as dozens of other savvy publishers have done before you.
I look forward to hearing from you.
All the best,
Don Nicholas
Managing Partner
Mequoda Group, LLC
PS: If you’re the type of person who wants to do lot’s of research before reaching out for help, consider buying the Making Money Online Video Seminar. It’s the next best thing to having me as your personal Internet marketing coach.
PPS: Still not yet convinced that you can double your online revenues every 12 months? Then consider these comments made by some of the Internet’s most successful publishers and authors:
Ask the Builder currently sells about 400 e-books and 200 checklists monthly, ranging in price from $6.95 to $47. This is equal to nearly $1,000 in daily sales of downloadable content.
“The Internet has completely turned upside down the old publishing model where the publishers made all the money and the writers had no power. Now, writers can instantly become publishers, and they need to do that. Anybody can be a publisher on the Internet. And if you take your time and publish really good content, it will be found. Most people don’t want to work. So if you decide to put your nose to the grindstone and you pick a niche and become the expert in that niche, it will pay off. There is just so much opportunity out there. There is this never-ending conveyor belt of people who need to learn about things. They don’t have a clue what to do. Find out where those markets are, where people need information and tap into it.”
— Tim Carter, Author and Publisher, Ask the Builder
Agora Financial Group, powered by the 500,000 circulation The Daily Reckoning, generated 73 percent of its total annual revenue online in 2005, primarily by selling print products linked to DailyReckoning.com.
“We actually think of DailyReckoning.com as an e-communication website. It is the ‘front door’ through which all our business activity passes.”
— Addison Wiggins, Publisher and Editorial Director, The Daily Reckoning
Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the 25-year best-selling Guerrilla Marketing series, said it best in an interview in How to Become Both Published and Profitable:
“Someone once asked me how much I made for my first Guerilla Marketing book. The answer I gave was $10 million… The book, itself, only paid me about $35,000 in royalties, but the speaking engagements, spin-off books, newsletters, columns, boot camps, consulting, and wide open doors resulted in the remaining $9,965,000.”
— Jay Conrad Levinson, Author, Guerrilla Marketing
For GoalsGuy Learning Systems, Inc., the Internet and search engine optimization are key to driving revenue and profit growth.
“We sell a lot of products. This just happened two days ago. We had a human resources executive for a large oil company who was looking for some material to teach their employees. As a result of searching the words ‘goal setting’ they came to our site, asked us to overnight a package, and anywhere from 30,000 to 40,000 books will be sold as a result. And that’s not a fluke.”
— Gary Ryan Blair, Author and Publisher, Goals Guy Leaning Systems
Some six million visitors per year show up on the Cook’s Illustrated website which has been the primer driver to grow Cook’s Illustrated paid circulation to more than 700,000 and facilitates the sales of more than 40 branded information products.
“We feel the publishing business is increasingly becoming a database business. Ultimately, that’s how we view the business side of what we do. But we don’t view our various businesses as separate universes. We have a single database of people with a strong interest in cooking. It’s a large database with lots of names from lots of sources, and we have lots of ways of sorting through them.”
— Chris Kimball, Publisher and Editor, Cook’s Illustrated
Schedule a 30-minute call with Don today!
Our Mequoda consulting team led by Don Nicholas provides coaching to some of the most prestigious publishers in the industry. We provide our clients with a plan for online success.
Using the Mequoda Method, which is a system derived from decades of experience working with publishers, we are well versed in turning single print brands into multiplatform online publishing empires. To do this, we conduct usability tests, provide in-depth project plans, do keyword research, brainstorm product ideas and editorial schedules, train your staff, and provide unrivaled research and best practices.
We are proud to say that we’re one of the most sought-after consulting groups in online publishing.
Contact us for more information and to schedule a FREE 30-minute conference call with Don Nicholas to discuss your online opportunities, organizational needs and information marketing strategies.
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“The Mequoda Summit is not an educational luxury, it’s a survival strategy.“
2009 may be the year that will make or break many publishing companies. Blogs and “free” information sites are blowing us out of the water in terms of profits and popularity.
The online environment is competitive and 2009 is the year that will make or break many publishing companies.
Where will you stand?
Save $800 when you register today!
Attention Publishers:
Learn how to Make Money Online in a Web 2.0 World at the Sixth Annual Mequoda Summit and Internet Marketing Conference, October 7-9, 2009.
12 information-packed sessions covering SEO, link-building, content management, email newsletter marketing, budgeting, staffing and more…
Organized and hosted by world-renowned authority on Internet strategy for publishers Don Nicholas…
A collaborative and unique environment to network with fellow publishing colleagues…
Hosted at a picturesque Boston location set along the banks of the Charles River, overlooking the Boston skyline…
Complimentary cocktail party and networking event on the first night…
Bonus SEO workshop following the Summit that gives an in-depth walk-through on copywriting, keyword research and optimization across your entire site (optional fee applies)…
Now in our 6th year, the Mequoda Summit is the most highly reviewed event for online publishers in the US. Whether you’ve attended our Summit in the past or not, you’ll surely benefit from this year’s Mequoda Summit 2009 in Boston. As always, our research is up to the minute and we’ve added tons of new sessions.
You’ve read about the layoffs at Time Inc., Conde Nast, and almost every other media/publishing company. Last year LIFE magazine made the transition to online-only and PC Magazine just made the same announcement.
2009 may be the year that will make or break many publishing companies. Blogs and “free” information sites are blowing us out of the water in terms of profits and popularity. How is it that a magazine with 50 or 100 years of content under its belt can build a website that is not even comparable to a 3-year old blog?
Social media? Web 2.0? eBooks? SEO? Free stuff? What are the online publishing kids doing these days?
We have the man-power, the reputation, and the resources to build online teams that defeat the newbies, but so far many publishers have chosen to keep content on lock-down, live by the rules of print and stay the same.
This new year is a whole different ballgame, it’s time to change or be left behind. In order to build your brand and product sales online, you must learn how to make money online in a web 2.0 world. At the Mequoda Summit, you will learn what your company needs to start doing now in order to make it through 2009.
We’ll show you dozens of case studies from successful (and not-so-successful) online publishers. Then we’ll teach you what your online competitors are doing and how to take what we’ve learned from thousands of hours of interviews, conferences and meetings with clients to turn it into a business plan for 2009.
If you want to succeed to 2009, you’re going to need to understand the new tools of the trade.
In the days of old, editors had one primary responsibility: writing great content. Now the rules have changed and in order to be a successful online publishing company, your editors must also be trained in SEO and must learn how to connect with their audience via blog comments and other online interactions.
Marketers also used to have one goal: push the word out through a handful of mediums. These days, if a marketer really wants to be heard, they must engage on social networks, build relationships with bloggers, publish digital press releases, submit events to online directories, and otherwise reach their audience more personally than ever before.
The new business models used by successful online publishers now include building an online audience that chooses them over the millions of websites online today. Five years ago, “online publishing” meant “PDF”; Now it means producing and delivering content that is optimized for search engines and may never even appear on a printed page. And in many cases, it’s free!
We didn’t say it would be easy, or fair—but it’s fight or flight.
Your audience now expects to find you on their mobile phones, in RSS feeds, on social networks and through content syndication. How will you keep up? What should be your first priorities? How can you be sure that all your efforts will ultimately translate into dollar signs?
Join us at the Mequoda Summit, happening October 7-9, 2009 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, MA to explore these and other emerging trends around online publishing, including:
Taking 20+ years of back-content and turning it into blog posts, eBooks, podcasts and other new media initiatives
Starting with a concept, instead of a story, and turning it into a multi-platform product
Marketing to the social web with personal branding and using consumer-driven communities to help build business
Creating business models and monetization methods with online media
Building online publishing teams dedicated to creating a robust website with a profitable product line
Search engine optimizing not just blog posts, but every element, of every page, of a website network
The Mequoda Summits have been so successful… and the demand has been so strong for encore performances… that we’re now hosting two each year!
Adams Business Media… American Medical Association… Aspen Publishers… Blood-Horse Publications… Crain Communications… Dow Jones & Company… Ebsco Industries… FDA News… Harvard Health Publishing… Highlights for Children… Infocom… J.D. Powers & Associates… Kiplinger… Lutheran Magazine… Manisses… Massachusetts Medical Society… Ogden Publications… Pinnacle Publishing… PRIMEDIA… Rodale… Scientific American… The Motley Fool… Time Inc… Unity World… University Health Publishing… Vance Publishing… Wiesner Publishing… Yoga International… and many others.
Spend a few days with the Mequoda Team in Boston…then go back to your office—and shift your online marketing into high gear!
During the Mequoda Summit, you’ll master a new methodology—the Mequoda Methodology—that has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in information product sales online for dozens of publishers, from start-ups to multi-million-dollar media giants.
At the Mequoda Summit Boston 2009, you will learn:
How to come up with ideas for new ways to package your products and services—and sell them online.
The most common traits of online publishing companies that have made millions on the Internet.
Why arrivals, conversion rates, email circulation, RPM and cost per new subscriber are important metrics for product-driven websites.
Why impressions, revenue per page, email circulation, RPM and cost per new subscriber are important metrics for ad-driven websites.
The keys to maximizing profit using your existing content and knowledge-base.
How to recycle, reuse and republish information in different formats.
How to identify the right archetype for your business, to ensure higher revenue, lower operating costs and happier customers.
How to optimize an organic landing page to help a user searching with Google, Yahoo! or MSN to find it.
How to increase conversion rates and improve the user experience with your brand online.
How to price your information products and test different offers to maximize sales and profits.
How to use meta pages to maximize website traffic and help users find your content more easily.
How to get your email newsletter through ISP filters and those that reside on the recipients desktop.
How to use the power of your brand to launch a TV show, radio show, or syndicated newspaper column.
How to use personalized content to enhance user satisfaction and increase page views and time spent.
How to measure the effectiveness of your websites.
How to get your email promotions opened and read.
The how, why and what to test for ad-driven and product-driven websites.
How to use multimedia and interactive technology to increase interest in email newsletters.
How to make your website’s interface more intuitive and uncomplicated.
How to generate massive traffic to your site—and capture each visitor’s email address.
How to use the 12 different types of landing pages effectively.
How to increase your site’s rankings with the major search engines.
Which tools are available to help make keyword research easy and effective.
The external media sources and database marketing channels that constitute a proven Internet marketing system.
How to up-sell and cross-sell online customers for maximum profits.
The key drivers that affect your website’s bottom line and how to implement a metrics-driven plan for your integrated online publishing empire.
How to build large, responsive email lists that generate huge cash flow—month after month.
How to generate multiple streams of income from a single book or information product.
How to create relationships and gain the trust of your prospects so that they will order from you over and over again.
How to get the biggest publishers in your market to actively promote your products to their lists—at no up-front cost to you.
How to precisely measure unique visits, click-through rates, conversions, orders, dollars per name, and other key metrics.
The bottom line: by the close of the Summit, you will have in your hands dozens of practical, specific, detailed, and realistic ways to build, manage, and get results from your online marketing program. And if you decide to opt for our bonus SEO workshop on October 9, you’ll get some invaluable hands-on training that will prepare you for the next step in the online success of your company.
To enroll in the Mequoda Summit call Julie Ottomano at 508-435-1005. Or click below now:
But I urge you to hurry. First come, first served.
Sincerely,
Don Nicholas
Managing Partner
Mequoda Group LLC
P.S. As of today, you can attend the Mequoda Summit 2009 in Boston this year for just $897. Bring along your staff and you can all attend at the low rate of just $797 per attendee! If you want to attend the bonus SEO workshop, it’s just $497 more.
P.P.S. We guarantee your satisfaction. If you are not convinced that the Mequoda Summit will absolutely revolutionize and transform your Internet marketing… and take your publishing company to a whole new level of sales and success online… just let us know by lunch time of the first day.
You can return your conference materials, leave, and get a prompt and full refund of all your money. That way, you risk nothing.
