If the user is expected to execute an action, use a button with a clear, unambiguous label, placed in a logical location for the desired outcome. Text links should be underlined and change in appearance once the user has visited that page.
Category: Articles
Mequoda has previously covered the Boston Common Press’s media network in America’s Test Kitchen Media Network Case Study by Jane E. Zarem. The membership website (and print magazine) Cook’s Illustrated is an important part of the business strategy. With 80,000 paid online subscribers, this site’s recipe is worth a try.
The primary requirement for a site owner is to understand the site’s overall goal, the important tasks the user expects to complete on the site, and the ease and urgency with which that can be accomplished satisfactorily. Most users are not going to just browse around a site—they want to get in, do what they
Online Publishing Tips from SiPA
Early this week, more than 570 publishers gathered at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC, for the Specialized Information Publishers Association’s (SIPA) 30th Annual International Newsletter & Specialized-Information Conference. This year’s theme was: “Get Creative! Right-Brain Thinking for Publishing Profits.”
Mequoda Media Pyramid is the core of Mequoda System
Building a Mequoda Media Pyramid is the core of the seven Mequoda System habits—an exercise through which you dig down and determine exactly how you’re going to run your company. In a Mequoda media enterprise, the commonality is not the platform; rather, it is the expertise in,
Landing Page Optimization Tips from ThePowerofPositiveHabits.com
Perhaps you think self-help gurus such as Dr. Phil, Dr. Laura, Tony Robbins and John Gray are a godsend to troubled Americans. Alternatively, you may believe that many motivational speakers and their how-to books and other quick fixes often eradicate personal responsibility and do more harm than good. Either way,
Website Design Tips From MarthaStewart.com
You almost can’t have a dinner party without someone making a “Martha Stewart” comment at some point during the evening. Beyond being a mere household name, Martha Stewart has become synonymous with home decorating, cooking and gardening-bringing beauty to all things domestic. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc (MSLO), is an integrated
Persistent navigation is the simple concept of ensuring that the navigation to complete an online activity is the same experience each time that the user returns to the site to pursue that activity. Five years ago this was a real problem, as site navigation changed frequently. As a result, the user was constantly lost or
We are back now with another offer from her highness, Alexandria Brown, “The Ezine Queen.” “The Queen” has brought you into her kingdom earlier by selling you her ezine course. This is good. This is how you get folks into your funnel. NOW, Ali is joining other Internet Marketers and upselling them to a hands-on
Knitter’s Review is a six-year-old site run by a small group of enthusiasts. Their story in the About pages tells of publishing veteran Clara Parkes, who left the rat race where she produced large scale websites and escaped to the peace of rural Maine to focus on doing something she loved. She has two compatriots
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 involved are good at community
Setting up a strategic management system simply means determining your core values, defining your vision, stating your mission and then clearly and effectively communicating those basics to everyone inside and outside your organization. Employing a strategic management system means setting clear objectives that align with your organization’s values, its vision and its mission—then supporting those
s there any married person reading this who has not, at one time or another, had a huge fight with his or her spouse? Of course not.
And with half of all marriages ending in divorce, the market for the marriage advice Amy Waterman is selling on her SaveMyMarriage.com landing page is enormous.
In this landing page
Reader’s Digest is so well known and widely read that almost everybody has picked up a copy at some point in their lives. Founded in 1922, the family friendly, feel-good favorite is also the flagship of a billion dollar public company. The Reader’s Digest is the largest-selling magazine in the world, and the company uses
Website success depends largely on providing an incentive-i.e., a free email newsletter-to encourage visitor registration and an email address. Acquiring those email addresses is the first step toward creating lasting relationships with site visitors. If a website does not attempt to capture the visitor’s email address, the individual may never revisit and the relationship is
The Mequoda System is a collection of media management behaviors
When operated as a repeating cycle, creates an audience-driven, continuous-improvement media management system. To discover and document the Mequoda System, the Mequoda Research Team has studied the management strategies and habits of hundreds of successful (and not-so-successful) media organizations to arrive at seven best practices, or
Perry Marshall is something of a Renaissance man—engineer, advertising copywriter, technical writer, marketer and philosopher.
Among Internet marketers, he has ascended to the rank of high priest of Google AdWords. As one of the world’s leading specialists on buying search engine traffic, he has published a very popular how-to book, conducted high-ticket seminars and is a
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 and Australia, The Hub for
More than 80 independent publishers attending this week’s MPA-IMAG Leadership Conference for Independent Publishers in New York City were thinking deeply about staffing and the challenges they face in “getting the right people on the bus.”
For publishers who embrace multi-platform, media-agnostic publishing, staffing takes on a whole new meaning. New media job descriptions are much
Publishing on the Internet is different from publishing a book, magazine or newspaper. And it’s different from presenting content/products on TV, at a live event or in a brick-and-mortar store. The Web is a unique medium that, unlike a printed page, TV show or live situation, puts no constraint on content length in order to
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
Woodcraft Supply Corp. is a leading seller of woodworking tools. The company has been around for 75 years and sells via retail, online and in over three million catalogues globally. Expanding the woodcrafting empire, the company publishes a magazine, licenses franchises, offers classes with certified continuing education credits and acts as a trade organization for
Job Posting from Aspire Media.
They’re looking for a VP of Consumer Marketing, someone who can provide leadership and strategic direction to managers of the company’s consumer marketing departments, which include Web marketing, circulation marketing, direct-to-consumer sales of books and consumer events
If you, or someone you know, would fit that description, please read on.
Usability and design are two key factors in publishing great websites. You may have a clear strategy and great content, but if your site is unusable and unattractive, it will be difficult for users to find what they’re looking for, difficult for you to get users to do what you want them to do and
When a first-time user lands on your homepage—or any webpage, for that matter—it should be immediately obvious to that user, by simply scanning the screen, what can be accomplished, seen or found on that site and/or that page. Clearly and prominently focus on the action(s) that you want them to take and that they expect
In business it’s location, location, location. And of course online, it’s your list, list, list. Back when there was no Internet, the only way to communicate with your prospects or loyal customers was to contact them through mail, fax or phone.
Today, anyone with an online presence that has an in-demand product or service can set
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 that’s just fine, as the publishers of this site depend on a motivated visitor who is enthusiastic enough about wine to want the very best in wine accessories.
This site is
We at the Daily try our best to provide content that will be useful and educational to our readers. One way we hope to accomplish this goal is by occasionally spotlighting ads for jobs that are available in the industry. We hope that these ads help you find the appropriate people for your organization—and perhaps
There is no mistaking the current success of Craigslist with their extremely basic website design.
Craigslist (CL) was a simple community classified site started in 1995 by Craig Newmark. The originally-non-profit site was incorporated in 1999. There are 190 versions of the website—localized by city—throughout the world, featuring free classified advertisements (jobs, housing, for sale, services,
Even before the Internet took over our lives, there were marketers who made a great living offline promoting their products and consulting services.
One man, speaker/copywriter/consultant Dan Kennedy, was someone who took this “old school” knowledge and parlayed it into a strong cyberspace presence. The copywriters on my team have studied Dan Kennedy’s work and he
Brevity is the soul of wit, according to the Bard. And all the more so online. So of course, someone created rules for you to follow when writing for the Web. OK, so maybe they are more like guidelines than hard and fast laws of cyber language. That said, here is what you want to
Usability and design are two key factors in publishing great websites. You may have a clear strategy and great content, but if your site is unusable and unattractive, it will be difficult for users to find what they’re looking for, difficult for you to get users to do what you want them to do and
First impressions really do count, especially online. If the look of your site doesn’t immediately gain the respect of visitors, you are in trouble.
Studies have shown that visitors decide within the first 10 seconds whether they will investigate further or move on. That’s how long it takes to run the look of your site through
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
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
Google AdWords is the #1 way to test and quickly increase targeted website traffic.
Unlike most other sources used by the Mequoda Internet Marketing System to drive targeted website traffic, Google AdWords can be turned on and off quickly, and when managed properly, produce very predictable results.
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 form (the other being the outer envelope). If you get everything else right
These pithy statements about the psychology of buying and selling did not originate with me. Most were gleaned over the years from my various teachers—from their books, seminars and audiotapes.
I owe a debt to many, and at this juncture, it’s almost impossible to know accurately which of these “truths” to attribute to whom.
Among the many
On December 8, 2005, AOL’s expected press release announcing the launch of the new entertainment site, TMZ.com, hit the buzz-makers.
The commentary? Only that AOL needed a massive influx of traffic, and that even in the crowded online entertainment space the subsidiary of Time Warner should be able to put up enough interesting new tidbits to
With gardening season upon us, it seemed like a good idea to have John Clausen do a landing page review of GardeningSecretsandTips.com.
John points out that there are few hobbies or avocations that rival gardening when it comes to the need for secret methods and helpful tips. And there are few activities that attract more avid
One of Google’s corporate missions is to promote the creation of original content on the Internet, so finding a revenue model for quality content was a completely aligned goal. In June 2003, Google launched its AdSense program, through which a network of online publishers makes money directly off their content. Using its proprietary software, Google
How can you decide on the right design for your landing page?
Beauty is relative, cultural, genetic and ever-changing. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and aesthetic judgments are subjective.
The answer is to know your target market and create an appearance that conforms to your visitors’ expectations. We call it the “user’s mental model.”
In a recent website design review for the Mequoda Library Mequoda Editor-at-Large Peter A. Schaible takes a look at WritersMarket.com.
WritersMarket.com is a pay-for-access, online database for freelance writers that cross-sells print publications and other products owned by its publisher.
Peter notes that online databases sold by subscription are big business for LexisNexis, R.R. Bowker, Thomson and
n our Motley Fool Media Network Case Study, we chronicled the company’s admirable history from its humble beginnings as an America Online discussion forum in 1994. And we cited the Gardner brothers’ remarkable business model change in 2001 after the dot-com bust, which enabled the publishing company to rise like a phoenix to do $23
Usability and design are two key factors in publishing great websites. You may have a clear strategy and great content, but if your site is unusable and unattractive, it will be difficult for users to find what they’re looking for, difficult for you to get users to do what you want them to do and
Consumer Reports revenues top $190M in 2005 by pursuing a simple integrated media strategy driven by three simple concepts and the world’s largest membership website.John Sateja is a happy guy. The man in charge of information products for what may be the most trusted media brand in America is on a roll.
The idea behind affiliate marketing is simple.
The concept is basic “pay for performance.” You recruit other Internet marketers to help you sell your website’s products or services in return for a portion of the gross.
When an affiliate enrolls in your program, you give her an affiliate identification (name or number) that she uses in the
Here’s a shortcut to membership website success: find online businesses that are working for other people and model them. Study what they are doing correctly and do likewise. To help build and maintain your own successful site, make a habit of analyzing other sites for form, function and design.
Sharply focused on a niche market of hip, young, women shoppers who reside in major cities, Daily Candy proves that publishers can make money selling online advertising.
In a recent website design review of DailyCandy.com, Mequoda Editor-at-Large Peter A. Schaible outlines the site’s business model and shares a few website design tips and suggestions he pulled
In a recent landing page review in the Mequoda Daily, John Clausen asks: is there any subject more mulled over and carefully considered than our health and appearance? If you can do something to make the population more slender and likely to live longer, you should be able to make a fortune—shouldn’t you?