Tag: online newsletter

Online newsletters are the secret you’ve been searching for

If you’re looking for an easy answer to online publishing success, stop reading. We don’t have one.

We know dozens of publishers who have made online publishing a large part of their revenue stream.
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Don’t expect to increase landing page conversion rates without following these four simple rules

Posting a landing page with a confusing or inadequate order mechanism is like opening a new Wal-Mart, but forgetting to install cash registers. What’s the point?

In direct mail advertising, one of the two most important elements of the package is the order … Continue

Phrasing, lettering and style best practices for attracting seniors to your website

“I hope I die before I get old.” –The Who, My Generation

One of the most famously quoted lines in rock history, written by Pete Townshend, apparently has nothing to do with age, but rather, is speaking out on becoming rich and apathetic. So if … Continue

SIPA’s LinkedIn Group Attracts Good Conversation

You might not be aware that SIPA has a big following on LinkedIn. The group is under “Specialized Information Publishers Association” and there have been interesting discussions of late. A question was recently posted by Molly Joss, owner of the Seybold Report in Philadelphia. “We deliver one of our e-newsletters … Continue

Email copywriting is only a small ingredient in the grand scheme of email marketing

Why do you send email promotions? Why do you send email newsletters? The answer is that you want the user to complete a task. Maybe the task is for them to click on an ad, or to click through to an article … Continue

Four tips for getting more people to read your email and buy your product

Back in the day, you’d get an elaborate direct mail piece that may have lasted three to five pages. With the luck of a talented copywriter, you might even get people to read the entire letter, but they might at least skip … Continue

Discover how WSJ.com and TheEconomist.com are using a periodical subscription website model

Periodical subscription websites may also be called news sites, online newspapers, online magazines, online newsletters, or online journals. The MIU is an individual news post, and the content is organized by date and keyword topic (category). Adding photos, audio, video, or other documents enriches … Continue

Offer multiple and convenient ordering options

Posting a landing page with a confusing or inadequate order mechanism will almost certainly fail. Your customers should be able to fill in the fields of an online screen and check boxes to select their preferences. Simple and brief; ask only for the information you need to process the order.

Landing … Continue

Texting Becoming Bigger Part of Business Communications

Melcrum had an excellent blog on Monday about text messaging as a communications channel. Their focus is on internal communications—so Mike Berry, their head of content, worries about “hard-to-reach and non-wired employees, perhaps on production lines, factories or distribution centres”—but there are lessons to be learned for external messaging … Continue

Your Pass to Building Profitable Subscription Websites

When you log onto MLP Profits, you immediately see substance—and potential. (MLP stands for Master Limited Partnerships.) The substance lies in the weekly articles in the left column and features such as How They Rate and Alerts and Getting Started in the middle. A welcome video from the co-editor … Continue

The Holy Grail of Revenue Generation for many successful online content marketers, producers and publishers. … Continue

Aim to impress and engage your email newsletter subscribers every time you arrive in their inbox
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How to increase revenue per thousand emails sent
The Mequoda Email Performance Report measures your split tests to help maximize email revenue and profit
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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 … Continue

Does your membership website measure up in all these important areas?

A membership website is not a shortcut to Internet riches. In fact, unless you consider all of these elements and execute each with precision, your membership website or online newsletter will probably fail. … Continue

Any one of these Internet marketing mistakes can doom your online sales

There are plenty of ways to fail at Internet marketing, but six of the most common mistakes are these:

1. Wrong product—If no one is looking for the product you sell, your Internet marketing strategy is fatally flawed and you won’t make many sales. … Continue

If you’re promoting your online newsletter or membership website in person at a trade show or seminar, you might want to hand out CD-ROMs to potential members.

CD-ROMs are not expensive to duplicate. And they can enable a prospective membership website subscriber to experience a portion of your site’s content without having to logon to the … Continue

Internet publishing profitability boils down to four elements

If you serve a small niche market, then generating website revenue may require creating additional information products, doing joint ventures with other entrepreneurs, and joining the affiliate programs of other Internet publishing businesses that offer quality products and services. … Continue

Launching a co-registration campaign is not difficult. The publisher supplies their co-registration partner with his company’s logotype (60 x 120 pixels) and about 10-20 words of concisely written web advertising copy. … Continue

Agora Financial Network: Understanding the Seven Strategies that Drive the World’s Most Successful Special-Interest Website Network

The Mequoda Group estimates that the Agora Financial Network will post top-line revenues for 2006 of $55 million, with $41 million being generated online. This makes each of its 500,000 domestic subscribers worth about $82. … Continue

Clayton Makepeace is a legend in the direct response advertising business. He has the respect of both his clients and peers—the hallmark of a real professional.

He has a huge portfolio of winning direct mail packages, commands top dollar for his work and in April of 2006 conducted a $5,000-per-seat, how-to seminar for aspiring copywriters. I … Continue

With the demand for information about illness and health, it’s not surprising that many physicians and traditional publishers have teamed up to begin online newsletters that address these issues. Many of these publications are highly specialized and focus on a single topic or ailment.

Others take a shotgun approach and attempt to address the public’s infolust … Continue

The Publishers of the Wine Enthusiast Magazine Have Done it Right. They Have Created a Series of Websites that Complement Each Other and Effectively Lead Visitors to Make a Buying Decision.

WineEnthusiast.com is an online catalog that offers a comprehensive selection of all things wine related. The only thing the site doesn’t offer is wine. But … Continue

Media experts tell us that the average consumer is bombarded with hundreds of advertising impressions every day. That’s a lot of competition for our attention. As a result, most of us have developed an anti-advertising defense. We tune out when we sense someone is trying to sell us something. Even when we’re actively searching online … Continue

Our Campaign to Stamp Out Bad Website Design Turns Ugly with a Visit to ManagingYourHR.com, Which In No Way Resembles What This Reviewer Imagines it Should=

For me, the two most important of the 14 Mequoda System Website Design and Usability Guidelines address strategic intent and aesthetics. … Continue

The fundamental mistake made by many entrepreneurs is the classic chicken-and-egg scenario in which the inventor first creates a new product and then seeks a market for it.

Experienced product developers do the opposite. They anticipate the changes in society. They assess the evolving problems, requirements and desires of consumers, and look for opportunities that have … Continue

America’s Test Kitchen Website, a Network Hub Positioned to Extend Visitors from the Television to the Web to the Printed Word, Demonstrates Extraordinary Website Architecture in Satisfying Users’ Need for Added Value and Publisher’s Desire for Additional Revenue … Continue

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 2005. … Continue

If the advent of the World Wide Web and the superabundance of information it puts within easy reach has done anything for me, it’s made me a much better consumer of medical services and a greater participant in my own healthcare. … Continue

Waterfront Media has developed a series of profitable websites, one of which is Denise Austin’s fitness and health website, DeniseAustin.com. … Continue

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? Well, according to that chart, … Continue

There are a Few Common Factors that Contribute to Improving Landing Page Readability—Notably, the Choice of Typeface … Continue

If You Get Everything Else Right and Blow the Order Mechanism, your Sales Letter Landing Page will Almost Certainly Fail. … Continue

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

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

America is getting older. The immediate post World War II generation—Baby Boomers—are approaching retirement age. Smart companies are creating and marketing products to this affluent group. Her subscription website helps show them how. … Continue

Sam Knoll knows his way around the business world. He has had a number of successful careers including in manufacturing, mail order, and retail. His latest enterprise is an online newsletter devoted to health and dietary supplements. … Continue

Reg Hardy brings a background as a print journalist, editor and publisher to his paid subscription online newsletter and uses his Palm Pilot to create volumes of content for four websites. In this exclusive Mequoda interview, he reveals how he gets it all done and reminds us of the importance of customer service. … Continue

Interview with Dan McCormick, publisher of a subscription website for photographers. A Canadian with a diversified business background, Dan McCormick has taken his love for photography and turned it into a popular membership website for both amateurs and professionals. … Continue

Interview with Chris Parkin, co-publisher of an online newsletter for innkeepers and others in the hospitality industry. He began as an apprentice in the Savoy in London, and 36 years later has his own country inn—plus a subscription website directed to helping others run a successful bed and breakfast. … Continue

Membership websites benefit by adding social networking

Your discussion forum could be the most valued feature of your membership site. But if many members only lurk around, reading the posts but reluctant to make their own contributions, you could have a problem. Here are some ideas for stimulating more activity. … Continue

In this scenario, inspired by Frank Kern, you send up a trial balloon and let your potential subscribers tell you what they want, if anything, from your proposed information product.

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Before the Internet and the world wide web provided us with easy access to a plethora of information resources without charge, print newsletters were the dominant medium for publishing specialized subject matter. … Continue

The key to success as an online information marketer is feeding a starving crowd.

A starving crowd is any group of people who share an enthusiasm for a topic and are passionate enough about it to spend their money to learn more. They’re “starving” for more information.

This creates an opportunity for you, the information provider. … Continue

Jim Laube publishes one of the most successful special niche membership websites on the Internet at RestaurantOwner.com. There are a lot of reasons for his success, including that he is an authority on his topic and a very savvy marketer. … Continue

Making your online newsletter easier to read is a matter of both writing style and formatting technique. Here are some helpful hints. … Continue

Like immutable laws of nature, some rules are ironclad. Follow these directives and you can expect to succeed. Ignore even one of them and your business and personal achievements will be significantly diminished. … Continue

Not everyone joins your site for the same reasons. In fact, the differences in what motivates people to join may surprise you. That is one reason why you need a positioning statement. … Continue