Don Nicholas

Founder & Executive Publisher

Don Nicholas serves as Executive Publisher for Food Gardening Network and GreenPrints. He is responsible for all creative, technical, and financial aspects of these multiplatform brands. As senior member of the editorial team, he provides structural guidance, sets standards, and coordinates activities with the technology and business teams. Don is an active gardener whose favorite crops include tomatoes, basil, blueberries, and corn. He and his wife Gail live and work in southern Massachusetts surrounded by forests, family farms, cranberry bogs, and nearby beaches. Don is also the Founder of Mequoda Systems, LLC, which operates and supports numerous online communities including I Like Crochet, I Like Knitting, and We Like Sewing.

Articles by Don Nicholas

Protected: Executive Council Update: Increase Revenue with a Credit Card Recovery Program

Sometimes the revenue you're missing doesn't come from new customers at all, it comes from your existing ones through the reprocessing of failed credit card renewal transactions so that they become

New Super Club Bundles Magazine Clubs, Video Clubs and Recipe Club to Create Blockbuster Product Launch

We recently wrote about why magazine clubs are on the rise. A magazine club is reminiscent of the book club model where you pay one price and gain access to a

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Subscription Website Publishers Start New Membership Initiatives

Major subscription website publishers at The Atlantic, New York Times Co., and CNN are putting more attention into subscribers We're seeing some of the biggest subscription website publishers reaping the benefits

Digital Magazine Publishing

Web Magazine Worst Practices: Are Your Digital Strategies Dooming Your Magazine?

The magazine industry has lost their way. It's been a long time since the dawn of digital publishing and publishers bringing their content online, but at this point we hoped that

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Some Digital Publishers Growing as Others Experience Decline

Digital publishers shuttering Gothamist, DNAinfo; Condé Nast closes print side of Teen Vogue; BHG experiences new growth Movement can happen quickly for digital publishers, especially in a space where evolutions in

5 Best Practices in Digital Magazine App Publishing

Digital Magazine Publishing

5 Best Practices in Digital Magazine App Publishing

Now that so many publishers are issuing digital editions, it’s time to take a look around and quantify some best practices that we’ve noted in researching apps and digital magazines. First,

Protected: Executive Council Update: Spend Less Time on Spambots

There are good ways to spend your time in business, and really wasteful ways that can be prevented. We know of more than one client who has recently been attacked by

Audience Development Strategy

5 Ways to Test Floaters and Improve Email Capture Rates

Your floater, also referred to as a pop-up is most likely the most effective conversion element on your website. For most publishers we know who have floaters, they see 60%

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Audience Development & Millennials: Paying for News is Becoming More Popular

The millennial demographic is one publishers often wonder about. Considering millennials into an audience development plan is a great idea for publishers, and we're now seeing some interesting evolutions in

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Multiplatform Publishing Options Expand Through Partnerships, Products and Services

Multiplatform publishing options continue to grow for digital publishers. Today we're looking new strategies being used by publishers for tapping into new revenue streams and audiences.

Audience Development Strategy

The Only 3 Link-Building Strategies You Actually Need to Raise Domain Authority

Last week we talked about how to measure your domain authority, and this week I'd like to talk about how to improve it through link-building strategies. A client of ours,

Protected: Executive Council Update: How We’re Increasing Site Speed and Decreasing Load Times

Over the last year, we've made major steps to make your Mequoda System run as quickly as possible by increasing site speed and decreasing load times. The benefits aren't just

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Subscription Websites Testing New Grounds with Targeted Membership, Social Options

Publishers of subscription websites are warriors. They constantly work to improve their standings, even when there are forces working against them. Up until recently, social networks and search engines were

Digital Magazine Publishing

5 Ways Your Web Magazine Design is Failing Your Readers

I have complete confidence in saying this: "your web magazine design is not very good." And why does this roll off the tongue so easily as such a blanket statement? Because

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Digital Publishers Partner for Greater Audience Access

Opportunities for digital publishers develop through new technology and partnerships, even some that appear to be unlikely candidates for a cooperative venture. Today we're looking at some unique partnerships being

Protected: Executive Council Update: Your New Learning Management System Can Do All This

When considering launching a video and course-based product, many publishers are failing in a big way by using a third-party learning management system. You're likely familiar with these third-party systems

Audience Development Strategy

How to Measure Domain Authority and Improve it without PageRank

Link-building. It seems like that term is as old as the marketable internet. Since publishers have been developing content, we have known that we need traffic to our websites, and

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Video Grows as an Audience Development Tool for Publishers on Twitter and Snapchat

The technology behind digital video has come a long way. Now, the ability for publishers to use digital video as an audience development tool has reached new heights. Today we

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Using Content Recycling to Increase your Audience, Revenue and Profits

12 ways to make an old magazine article new again through content recycling The VP of The Taunton Press was quoted a few years ago as saying, “We can’t afford to pay

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Multiplatform Publisher Hearst Makes Big Moves with Content

We're pleased to share news on an acquisition that many in the magazine industry believed was coming. Multiplatform publisher Hearst has agreed to buy Rodale Inc., a publishing company we’ve

How to Generate Additional Publishing Revenue Through Your Website Portal

As a publisher, you should make your website's top goal to maximize your NOPX (New Orders Per Ten Thousand) page views by making sure that every page on your website

Protected: Executive Council Update: Get More Control Over Your Imports

If you are on an upgrade retainer, you probably already know about Ultra Subscriber Uploader because it you got this enhancement as part of your monthly expense. However if you

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

3 Subscription Websites Seeing Major Growth

Subscription websites can be a major revenue stream for savvy digital publishers. Today we're looking at some examples of this from major publishers. We begin with The Atlantic, a subscription website

Why the Website Architecture of a Landing Page Matters

When you set a goal, you probably have an idea in your head of how you're going to accomplish it. For example, if you have the goal of running a marathon

Digital Magazine Publishing

5 Ways a Web Magazine Library Will Save Money While Generating More

Recently Google publicly told publishers that they strongly encourage flexible sampling with their paywalls, through the use of metered paywalls and lead-in. You're likely familiar with metered paywalls where the

Digital Magazine Publishing

Publishers Reimagine Digital Strategy for Continued Success

Today we begin with a look at Working Mother, which has seen a big growth in traffic since a recent digital strategy adjustment. Folio: reports, "Working Mother’s new digital strategy

Don’t Waste Your Pageviews

Page views are a precious thing, and you should try not to waste them. In today's Strategy Spotlight, Don Nicholas, Chairman & CEO of Mequoda explains the goals of a "smart

Audience Development Strategy

Emoji for Email: Should You Use Emojis in Subject Lines?

Have you been seeing emojis in subject lines lately? They're not just the earrings of the inbox, they actually serve a purpose— increasing open rates! And since several of our

Protected: Executive Council Update: Best Practice Blockbuster Management Improves GVI by 34%

How you manage, update, and optimize your blockbuster articles can make or break your organic traffic growth. Although blockbuster management is core to the Mequoda Method - and a topic

Audience Development Strategy

Publishers Driving Website Traffic Through Social Are Making Changes

Driving website traffic happens beyond Facebook in the world of social; Meredith launches brand for Facebook and hubs; Google outlines Flexible Sampling for publishers Driving website traffic is always on the

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Intention Setting in Multiplatform Publishing: 5 Ways to Attract More and Make More

Maybe you've heard that Amethyst is good for protection if you wear it, or that Aventurine will help with confidence if you hold it while public speaking. Perhaps you've read

Multiplatform Publishers Hire Marketing and Content Positions

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Multiplatform Publishers Hire Marketing and Content Positions

The multiplatform publishers at Meredith and Condé Nast continue to make changes to their teams for maximum potency in the digital age. We begin today with Condé Nast and the

Digital Magazine Publishing

A Newsletter Platform Worth Investing In

The newsletter platforms you may be familiar with are often print and PDF formats, as most newsletter publishers haven't gotten hip to the newsletter app format, and neither have their

Protected: Executive Council Update: Your Portal Revenue Scorecard

As a publisher, you should make your website's top goal to maximize your TOPX (Total Orders Per Ten Thousand) page views by making sure that every page on your website

The Advancement of Website Redesigns Includes New Strategies & Tools

Website redesigns come from Salon and ProPublica; Harvard Business Review utilizes new website tool Content publishers who make website redesigns and try new tools as part of an evolving digital strategy

The Most Profitable Websites Have Mastered this Simple Advertising Strategy

Forbes contributor Benjy Boxer recently warned, “The combination of free publishing, social distribution, and the commoditization of advertising will eventually wipe out almost all of the advantages of a large

Digital Magazine Publishing

The Best Digital Magazine Software Isn’t What You Think

How you think about digital magazine software needs to change if you want your subscriber base to grow “Eventually, they’ll become like sailboats. They don’t need to exist anymore. But people

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Digital Magazine Publishers Bolster Staff with New Hires

Digital magazine publishers Condé Nast, Rodale, and New York Times fill major roles with new talent

Digital Magazine Publishing

How to Write Native Content Advertising for a Magazine Sponsor

Learn how to write more effective native content advertising for a sponsor and start getting paid more for content According to Business Insider data, the amount advertisers are spending on native

Audience Development Strategy

6 Tools to Create Data-Driven Content Ideas

Consider the rise of talent shows on TV like America's Got Talent and American Idol. When it comes down to it, they're simply performing good old-fashioned market research. Why sign

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Google Ends First Click Free, and Beats Amazon on Product Discovery

Keeping an eye on Google's changes is one way digital publishers are able to stay up-to-date on the best audience development strategies for the market-leading search engine. Today we're looking at

Protected: Executive Council Update: Using Emojis in Subject Lines

Have you been seeing emojis in subject lines lately? They're not just the earrings of an inbox, they actually serve a purpose— increasing open rates! And since several of our

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Multiplatform Publication Rolling Stone is Up for Sale

Rolling Stone is an iconic multiplatform publication that has been around since the 1960s. After decades of success, the publication has now reached the open market. Today we're taking a look

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Diversify Your Revenue Mix Today

Who worries most about the money in their bank account? The person with three jobs, or the person with one? Because you can get fired, laid off, or your industry

Protected: Executive Council Update: 9 Ideas Shared at the Mequoda Summit

The best part of attending a Mequoda Summit is that you get to sit in a room and have conversations all day, for two days, with the brightest niche publishers on

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Website Redesigns and Product Launches for Subscription Publishers

We constantly pay attention to the changes subscription publishers are making to gain ground in the digital landscape. Today we’re sharing stories of three publishers and their methods for expanding

The Mequoda Newsletter Content Business Model

The newsletter subscription website model is simple, clean and editorially-focused Newsletter publishers, particularly those on the B-to-B side but also those with consumer titles in the finance and health fields, were

Magazine Clubs are on the Rise and Here’s Why

Digital Magazine Publishing

Magazine Clubs are on the Rise and Here’s Why

There's a new trend happening in the magazine world, and it's the magazine club model. Publishers everywhere are adopting magazine clubs, an all-inclusive membership model that can offer everything from

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

Digital Magazine Content and the Impact of Social Networks

Digital magazine content can find great homes online, especially when it's offered throughout a variety of popular channels. Today we're looking at some offerings for digital publishers that are coming from

5 Most Recent Google Changes That Have Affected Publishers

Audience Development Strategy

5 Most Recent Google Changes That Have Affected Publishers

In the words of Heraclitus, “the only thing that is constant is change." And working in publishing, you probably find this especially true. Google changes every day, and so do

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