Membership Site

Ideas for an editorial strategy that re-purposes content for additional revenue streams
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Don Peschke, founder of August Home Publishing, discusses how his company is meeting its mission of “surrounding our customers with service” … Continue Reading »

With traffic and sales doubling in the past year, Taunton’s Janine Scolpino discusses some keys to membership website success
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With advertising sales dropping, many publishers are considering charging for content. Will you?

After hearing Jim Malkin, CEO of SourceMedia spoke this week at FOLIO about how he intends to transform into a paid-subscription model, we thought now might be a good time to talk about membership websites and the Five … Continue Reading »

All SEO keywords are not equally important—volume and competition matter!

The most effective SEO keyword strategy is to compete vigorously for top placement for the most popular keyword suggestions returned by the Google Keyword Tool for a given root keyword phrase (Primary Keyword Phrase). … Continue Reading »

Questions to ask before you launch a Membership Website. Are you a traditional print only publishing company considering the leap to online publishing? Welcome to the era of the internet! You may be contemplating the launch of a Membership Website. After all, you’ve got years of … Continue Reading »

Contributing Editor, Mequoda Group, LLC

Roger C. Parker is usually either described as “a designer who also writes,” or a “writer who also designs.”

As a designer/writer, Roger helps information marketers profit from both perspectives. His numerous free resources include blogs, newsletters, and reports, such as:

Membership Site Content & Design … Continue Reading »

The Quest to Unlock the National Institute of Business Management Archives … Continue Reading »

Download our complimentary Membership report today and learn what every magazine, newsletter and book publisher needs to know before launching a Membership Website … Continue Reading »

Adapt to changing subscription models … Continue Reading »

How publishers are incorporating video where it fits for them … Continue Reading »

All online direct response transactions begin on landing pages

Mequoda research indicates that on most websites, a maximum of 20 percent of the traffic arrives at the home page. In fact, on many sites, as little as four or five percent of website traffic arrives at the site’s home page, with … Continue Reading »

The Motley Fool uses its powerful brand to launch seven successful print newsletters for personal investors that will generate $22M in 2005 revenues. Traditional advertising-driven Internet business model takes a back seat.

After the 2001 dot-com stock market crash occurred, The Motley Fool was forced to change its online business model. … Continue Reading »

Taunton’s Fine Woodworking launched in 1975 as a black-and-white quarterly, followed by books on woodworking.

A few years ago, they started publishing special newsstand editions, which they now do seven times a year. Most are created from repurposed content from the magazine.

They have been producing video for 20 years and with … Continue Reading »

Great testimonials can be very persuasive. The value of member corroboration and its ability to get new subscribers to your membership website cannot be under-estimated.

Know this about the buying process: Whether they know it or not, everybody has a personal strategy for rationalizing his purchase decisions.

All purchase decisions are emotional, … Continue Reading »

Mequoda views Internet Hubs as one of the most important website archetypes available to a publisher. Without a well-designed, well-marketed Internet Hub, an online publisher is forced to rely on other websites and other media to drive targeted website traffic. … Continue Reading »

Every good wordsmith approaches the task of writing a little differently. Some writers start with an outline or by making copious notes. Others write numerous disparate paragraphs at non-stop speed and then revisit their first draft, cutting and pasting to arrange them in a “logical” order. Still others agonize over … Continue Reading »

How America’s Test Kitchen’s Revenues have Grown from About $15 million to an Estimated $46 million in Just Five Years… Shouldn’t you be Using the Same Strategy for Selling your Information Products on the Internet? Doesn’t your Job Depend on it?

Chris Kimball, CEO of Boston Common Press, is master of … Continue Reading »

If what we learned in Psychology 101 is true, the basic motivators of human behavior are simple: humans seek pleasure and avoid pain. You either have something you don’t want (avoidance principle) or you want something you don’t have (pleasure principle).

Psychologists tell us that everybody wants: food, shelter, health, sex, … Continue Reading »

Key metrics are numbers that, when multiplied together, determine costs or revenues generated and their respective effect on profit and loss. For websites, some metrics are more important than others, depending on the site’s business model. Knowing which key metrics to use can be confusing—many site owners find themselves paying … Continue Reading »

With A’s in Strategic Intent, Relationship Building and Brand Preference, it’s Hardly Surprising that this Non-Profit is an Online Leader in the Paid Membership Website Category.

Consumer Reports’ successful membership website strategy has earned them over two million online subscribers (as of November, 2005). Averaging well over 20,000 new online subscribers … Continue Reading »

The Mequoda criteria for community building expect visitors to feel enthusiastic and loyal to the site. Are they inspired with feelings of belonging and encouraged to contribute?

Websites that encourage a feeling of belonging among users, that offer mechanisms for being involved in the site and that motivate them to become … Continue Reading »

The Hub for Internal Communicators is a membership website with research, information and tools for communication professionals. The product and the audience are identified in the tagline: The most comprehensive resource available for employee communication professionals.

Produced by Melcrum, an information and research company with offices in the UK, North America … Continue Reading »

An Online-Only Membership Website is a Good Idea for Melcrum, and The Hub is Taking the Right Steps to Bring the Promised Value to Both the Company and to the Audience.

The Hub for Internal Communicators is a membership website with research, information and tools for communication professionals. The product and … Continue Reading »

Boston Common Press, the Publishing Company that Produces PBS TV Show America’s Test Kitchen, Uses the Show’s Viewership to Drive Traffic to its Free Website, Building a Large Database in Which They Market Their Various Print and Online Products

America’s Test Kitchen is a weekly television show on local PBS stations, … Continue Reading »

Mr. Levinson has been busy practicing, developing and evangelizing guerrilla marketing since 1984, with great success. Many startups and small companies use Mr. Levinson’s techniques to produce tangible results with minimal cost. However, established companies such as Smirnoff and Vodafone have also integrated guerrilla techniques into their marketing mix. The … Continue Reading »

With 1.6 million paid subscribers, ConsumerReports.org has more paid subscribers than any other publication-based website.

That may not be a huge surprise considering their print magazine has a paid circulation of 4.1 million and growing. Yet we can’t help but wonder, while so many other magazine publishers are still so confused … Continue Reading »

The Mequoda criteria for community building expect visitors to feel enthusiastic and loyal to the site. Are they inspired with feelings of belonging and encouraged to contribute?

Websites that encourage a feeling of belonging among users, that offer mechanisms for being involved in the site and that motivate them to become … Continue Reading »

Is Jean Chatzky, the Latest Pop Personal Financial Adviser, Well Served by a Website that Confuses Visitors with Too Many Options and Stale Content? Jean Chatzky is the latest in a series of popular, photogenic (and telegenic) female financial advisors that includes Jane Bryant Quinn, Suze Orman and the … Continue Reading »

Laurel Touby started MediaBistro in 1997 in the dot-com heyday with the goal of creating a community for journalists. “We weren’t really sure how we were going to make money,” she confesses, “we just wanted to bring media people together.” While this may not sound like an auspicious mission for … Continue Reading »

Match.com Internet Marketing System Review

To draw traffic to your Mequoda Internet Hub—the place where people can sign up for your free, relationship-building, email newsletter—you need a catalyst, a free item that lines up with a topic that’s endemic to the audience in terms of their interest and on which the … Continue Reading »

Skillful Leveraging of Brand, Strategic Site Design and Continuous Attention to the Balance of Traffic to Gated Content Has Contributed to the Market-Leading Position Currently Enjoyed by The Wall Street Journal … Continue Reading »

Cooking Club of America is an efficient, user friendly membership site. We found this site by typing “Cooking Club of America” into Google, and this is the first page that showed up in the organic listings.

While this page serves as the home page of this membership website, it also serves … Continue Reading »

Two of the publishing industry’s leading membership websites, Internet Media Review and SWEPA (Subscription Website Publishers Association), have merged to create the Mequoda Library, the interactive resource for building better websites. The Mequoda Library (www.Mequoda.com) went live on June 3, 2005. (Jump to FAQs) … Continue Reading »

TheBookStandard.com describes itself as “the all-inclusive online destination for publishers, retailers, librarians, agents, authors, distributors, studio executives, screenwriters, publicists, book groups and more!” It’s an accurate description.

VNU Business Media, publisher of The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Computing, and other trade titles, launched TheBookStandard.com, its first solely online publication, in January of … Continue Reading »

With a final score of B, BLR.com is a site, or a “network” of sites, that is already far better than average, but could be truly outstanding if only they implemented a few simple changes. Creating an editorial hub alone would be enough to spiral more opportunities for traffic, revenues … Continue Reading »

Over the years, Holly and Larry Pike have each had numerous careers, but they eventually quit their jobs to become full-time online entrepreneurs. Today, as husband and wife, they own and operate a subscription website for needlework hobbyists that ought to be the envy of every membership website publisher. … Continue Reading »

The Accounts Payable Network serves its members very well. There is an enormous amount of content here, creating an invaluable resource. It’s hard to imagine an AP professional not wanting to join this member site or objecting to its $695 initial one-year membership fee. … Continue Reading »

eDiets Doesn’t Feed You Enough Reasons to Join Their Program. I had mixed feelings when Don Nicholas asked me to take a look at eDiets.com as my first website review for the Mequoda Library.
The reason is my weight. You know those height/weight charts you see in the doctor’s office? … Continue Reading »

A subscription to an online database or software application could generate significant income and create long-term customers. This app-on-tap website devoted to legal forms and contracts invites you to model its success. … Continue Reading »

This membership website is an online community for embroidery enthusiasts to meet and exchange ideas, discuss new design and software releases, chat about life and make new friends … Continue Reading »

What hands-on, take-charge-of-your-own-health Baby Boomers really want is reliable information about alternatives to the traditional model of practicing medicine. One tireless medical detective is betting they will pay a premium to access his subscription website for answers. … Continue Reading »

Perhaps the best way to sell volumes of information products, including subscriptions to member websites, is to follow fads and trends. Anticipate what the market wants, and then create custom products to satisfy the demand. … Continue Reading »

Not all financially successful membership websites require a paid admission or subscription fee. If you have the right content, you could start a complimentary members-only website that throws off a generous profit. You don’t even have to be the first one to find and avail yourself of the niche. … Continue Reading »

This is an online matchmaking service with unlimited profit potential. It enables you to advertise your rental home to more than one million annual visitors to its website for a mere $148, and takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information. … Continue Reading »

When Cherice Calhoun started Black in Los Angeles in 1999, she did it to fulfill a personal need: the ability to find “at the drop of a hat” an African American physician, lawyer, organization or event without having to remember 20 different web addresses. … Continue Reading »

I admit it. I’m beginning to have “senior” moments when I momentarily forget well-known things. The experts say not to worry, it happens to everyone from time to time. I prefer to worry. … Continue Reading »

Motocross, if you are not familiar with it, is a cross-country motorcycle race over a closed course of rough terrain with steep hills and sharp curves. … Continue Reading »

YesLetter.com, founded by students at Princeton University and the Wharton School of Business, offers an extensive online library and discussion network—all developed and run by students in a number of Ivy League and other top-tier schools. … Continue Reading »

The International Code Council (www.iccsafe.org), a membership association dedicated to building safety and fire prevention, develops the codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings, including homes and schools. Most U.S. cities, counties and states that adopt codes choose the International Codes developed by the International Code Council (ICC). … Continue Reading »