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Online Newsletter

Subscription Websites: A Rose by Any Other Name…

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

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

12 Tips for Making a Good First Impression with Your Email Newsletter

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Aim to impress and engage your email newsletter subscribers every time you arrive in their inbox
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Achieve Higher Click-Through Rates by Testing Templates

Friday, June 12th, 2009

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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Hybrid Landing Pages: The Priority Code Landing Page

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

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 … Continue Reading »

12 Points for Membership Website Success

Monday, March 12th, 2007

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 Reading »

Six Reasons Why your Internet Marketing is Failing

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

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 … Continue Reading »

Creating a PDF File of your Membership Website

Monday, March 5th, 2007

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 … Continue Reading »

Fundamentals of Generating Website Revenue

Monday, February 12th, 2007

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 Reading »

Getting Started With a Co-Reg Campaign

Saturday, September 16th, 2006

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 Reading »

The Daily Reckoning Mequoda Case Study

Friday, July 14th, 2006

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 Reading »

MakepeaceTotalPackage.com Landing Page Review

Tuesday, May 30th, 2006

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 … Continue Reading »

Three Landing Page Optimization Tips and a Lesson in Advertising Copywriting from The Blaylock Wellness Report Landing Page

Tuesday, May 9th, 2006

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 … Continue Reading »

WineEnthusiast.com Website Design Review

Wednesday, April 19th, 2006

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 … Continue Reading »

A Website Design Example of What Not to Do

Wednesday, April 19th, 2006

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 … Continue Reading »

ManagingYourHR.com Website Design Review

Monday, April 3rd, 2006

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 Reading »

NicheADay.com Landing Page Review

Sunday, April 2nd, 2006

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 … Continue Reading »

AmericasTestKitchen.com Website Design Review

Tuesday, October 25th, 2005

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 Reading »

TheBookStandard.com Website Design Review

Wednesday, May 11th, 2005

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 »

The Blaylock Wellness Report Landing Page Review

Sunday, April 24th, 2005

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 Reading »

DeniseAustin.com Website Design Review

Thursday, April 14th, 2005

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

eDiets.com Website Design Review

Tuesday, February 15th, 2005

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 »

Landing Page Guideline #8: Improving Readability and Content Density

Friday, February 4th, 2005

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

Landing Page Guideline #12: Offering Multiple and Convenient Order Options

Friday, February 4th, 2005

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

A Healthy Membership Website for Baby Boomers

Friday, February 4th, 2005

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 »

Making a profit from a free subscription website

Friday, February 4th, 2005

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 »

Interview with Dr. Joanne Fritz, a marketer whose interest in the senior market has spawned a new membership website for companies that want to sell to seniors

Thursday, February 3rd, 2005

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 Reading »

Interview: Sam Knoll of MyVitaminGuide.com

Thursday, February 3rd, 2005

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 Reading »

Interview: Reg Hardy of BilliardsCrossing.com

Thursday, February 3rd, 2005

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 … Continue Reading »

Interview: Dan McCormick of photographytips.com

Thursday, February 3rd, 2005

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 Reading »

Interview: Chris Parker, Co-Publisher of an Online Newsletter for Innkeepers

Thursday, February 3rd, 2005

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 Reading »

Tips for increasing subscription website discussion forum participation

Monday, December 27th, 2004

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 Reading »

How to test the viability of your idea for a pay-for-access online newsletter before developing it

Monday, December 27th, 2004

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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Investigating the viability of your paid membership website niche by researching no-cost online resources for similar topics

Monday, September 27th, 2004

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 Reading »

How to evaluate a market niche for your member website or other information product

Friday, August 27th, 2004

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 … Continue Reading »

No cost copywriting lesson from a wildly successful membership website publisher

Tuesday, July 27th, 2004

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 Reading »

Readability rules for subscription websites

Sunday, June 20th, 2004

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

The 12 commandments of publishing a membership website or online newsletter

Friday, February 27th, 2004

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 Reading »

Do you know why your members subscribe to your website content?

Friday, February 20th, 2004

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 Reading »