Now that we’re 5+ years into the advent of the iPad and responsive website design has penetrated to a point where it’s now a must-have for Google-friendly sites, it’s become widely accepted that online magazine subscriptions and native tablet editions are the future of publishing. One challenge remains: Few publishers understand how to architect and
Category: Subscription Website Publishing
Subscription Website Publishing posts focus on how to build and operate a premium subscription website, including how to best align and repurpose your content, increase subscription orders, and best practices for subscription website architecture.
Reader engagement is a key metric important to all publishers. Time spent, pages per visit and return visits are all numbers that every online publisher should hold near and dear.
The problem with the information overload of the internet is that website readers get lazy. When they come in from search engines, they often click, find
I’d like you to take a minute and decide the actions you’d like a user to take when they arrive at your website. If you were conducting any kind of simple usability tests, you’d want to do the same thing.
In a heuristic usability test, where you’re watching a user engage with your website, you are
There’s a lot to learn in Google Analytics, but unless you’re a business analyst or marketing manager, you probably don’t need to know all of them.
However, one set of metrics that every user of any capacity should know are your referring website analytics. Referring websites are those who are linking to you and sending you
Membership website publishers must recognize the value in their products. Not all subscription websites are created equal, but the best ones do have something in common.
The commonality that all great membership websites include is an affinity (free) subscription website, which could be a portal or a blog. This is a place where content can be
The answers are not always obvious, even to a seasoned print or digital publisher. Starting a new website is very different from running an existing property. Over the past 10 years, our team has worked on over 100 successful digital publishing startups, as well as several that were not successful.
Our understanding of website publishing is
Design is a delivery mechanism for content – nothing more and nothing less. The more elegant, the better, of course, but getting caught up in appearances is never a good idea no matter what you’re doing. When we talk about good design at Mequoda, aesthetics (as much as we love them) take a back seat
If at least 2% of your website visitors aren’t converting into email subscribers, then you’re reading exactly what you should be. And most publishers are averaging much less than a single percent, so odds are, you’re in the right place.
To develop a website that eagerly accepts email addresses, start with a freemium.
Your freemium is
Your website taxonomy is how you speak to those who are looking at your website. Publishers live in the visual world and have a habit of going for over-designed websites that overwhelm users more often than they inform them. If your readers are running in the opposite direction of your sales pages, then this could
If your website taxonomy is perfect, it means that your readers are never confused by the language on your site. It means they know what they’re clicking on and subscribing to, or unsubscribing to, based on the words you use. We often focus the taxonomy conversation around the primary website navigation, usually at the top
Website taxonomy needs to be clear and easy to understand so your audience members can find the information they seek. The mobile version of your website has to be even more concise and understandable since it’s displayed on a much smaller screen.
Did you go through all your online business’ topics prior to launching your
Here at Mequoda we can never stress enough the value of a free portal to any subscription website, no matter what archetype it is. It’s the key to driving website traffic, it helps you convert random visitors into email subscribers, and it keeps paid customers engaged with your content.
But just because it’s free to
Many subscription websites charge a fee to access the premium content found behind the paywall, which is why subscription websites are among the most profitable websites on the web. And it’s not just publishers who are creating them – although the brands and startups who are, might consider calling themselves publishers sooner or later.
Are you missing any of these cha-ching worthy event website elements?
Publishers aren’t strangers to events. B2B publishers often get more involved in audio conferences and webinars, but both consumer- and business-facing publishers host live events and often sell access to these with event websites.
Event websites have their own business models. They are built to sell seats
Digital events are quickly becoming a highly profitable Internet Business Model
The Mequoda Research Group has identified nine methods used by successful publishers for making money online:
The 9 Online Content Business Models include:
No matter how many website awards there are out there, no one website could ever win the battle for best website design of all, because there are so many factors that come into play.
For example, some might think they have the best website design because their website is “pretty,” with loads of white space and
One of the more popular paid subscription website models that Mequoda has identified is the paid membership website. Unlike some of the other models, it’s user-driven and content-based, and its unique minimum information unit (MIU) is content created by a member.
People concern themselves with the external factors (link-building, social media, etc.) of SEO, but those are nothing without website architecture that’s built to pass link juice through the website’s pipeline. Did you know that there are ways to build a website for great SEO that go beyond inbound links and even the words on your
Knowing how to build a website isn’t just about design, it’s about the business models behind every tab
If you’ve read Mequoda Daily before (I hope you have!) then you know we frequently speak about subscription website business models. Most people see these business models as different tabs on their websites, but we make distinct separations
If you feed a mouse a cookie, then it’s going to want some milk. If you own a magazine, then you’re going to want to build a website. If you do not yet have a website, or rather, if you do not yet have a good, profitable website, then your next steps are as follows.
And
If you publishing any kind of periodical, then you’re no stranger to subscription websites. This year we published more than fifty new posts about subscription website publishing.
Profitable combination of direct marketing, fulfillment, advertising and content expertise hits one out of the park
Some of you might be familiar with our favorite publisher, Rose Harper. Of course Rose isn’t a real publisher – she’s someone we invented as the embodiment of a typical publisher who we use as an example in teaching our
How many types of websites are there on the world wide web of sites?
At one time we were watching new ones popping up every day. But in the past few years, we’ve identified a solid nine subscription website archetypes for publishers to consider, depending on their business goals and their content. I’ve posted about all
Use these 13 best website design tools when designing a website
The most important goal when designing a website is to figure out the main funnel that gets a visitor to complete a transaction. That transaction may be monetary (a sale) or not (a subscription to your email newsletter).
Effective website design is based on efficiency, clarity,
PricewaterhouseCoopers released a study recently that projects digital ad revenue will increase 22.4% to $3.9 billion this year and hit $7.6 billion by 2018, Ad Age reports.
The MIT Technology Review’s new “Insider” subscription plan, which the journal debuted last week, offers three tiers of annualized content access, Folio: reports.
Ten years ago, most magazine publishers fell into two camps when it came to online magazine publishing. Some buried their heads in the sand and did little or nothing, apparently hoping this crazy fad would pass. We’ll call them “Reluctants.” Others jumped in, investing enormous amounts of time and money with little or no planning
Digital advertising spending is set to increase faster in the media and entertainment industries than in any others, according to eMarketer’s “The US Media and Entertainment Industries 2014: Digital Ad Spending Forecast and Trends.”
At Mequoda, we maintain the publishing industry’s most comprehensive database of website design best practices. These best practices are continually evolving and guide publishers to design and manage high-performance websites that deliver on three primary goals: using free content to attract, engage and retain users; selling and delivering premium content that generates revenue; and building
The subscription website publishing posts below get into subscription website best practices in design and monetization. They also dive into the many different archetypes that we’ve identified.
Last Thursday we took a look at subscription website publishing’s best and brightest – those with the 25 highest Online Media Index numbers. The winners weren’t much of a surprise, comprised mostly of the big names in publishing who have huge brand recognition and can drive traffic to vast websites.
The Newspaper Association of America reports that circulation revenues are up 3.7% to $10.87 billion, which might surprise you.
But these aren’t your father’s circulation revenues we’re talking about; rather, the figure is based on 2013 circulation as a whole. In other words, the revenue includes streams from print and from digital.
With the recent release of AAM’s biannual circulation data, it’s time to take a look not at circulation, but at the overall health of U.S. magazines’ multiplatform publishing efforts. In Mequoda world, we have a little number we call the Online Media Index (OMI) that measures just that, and the results are
Women’s Wear Daily reports that Vogue.com is revamping its site for the first time since 2010. The new and improved Vogue.com will debut during New York Fashion Week in September.
Today, Digiday studied the premium subscription plans of heavyweight publishers upon the debut of Slate’s membership program.
How many 100-year-olds do you know who are adept at using the Internet? Forbes, a leading business publisher for nearly a century, is a shining case study in digital expansion, according to a recent report from 360 Public Relations. Forbes.com was relaunched in 2010, and the result has been a 104% increase in unique monthly
Digiday reports that fed-up publishers are being proactive in addressing what for many are the scourge of the Internet. Some, like Popular Science magazine, have ditched such features altogether, while others are attempting to reshape them. The Chicago Sun-Times, for instance, has shut down its comment section until it can devise a more, shall we
It wasn’t long ago that The New Yorker’s website was an afterthought, lost in the long shadow of its weekly print issue.
Condé Nast launched Lipstick.com through its Glamour brand yesterday, while Hearst is rolling out Beauty Unbound across multiple properties this May, including Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar, and Town & Country.
Making the natural progression from the top of content pages to the bottom, publishers are scrolling down – way down – to find more spots for native advertising.
Digiday reports that The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Us Weekly, and Evolve Media are among those publishers pioneering the use of comment sections for the placement of
Have you heard of WhoSay? It’s a social network that’s basically exclusive to celebrities. According to Folio, “Time Inc.’s People and WhoSay, a digital-only social magazine powered by the celebrities it features, have teamed to develop a new branding opportunity for stars and advertisers. Launched March 26, about 200 of WhoSay’s 1,500 celebrity members were
It’s been awhile in coming, but niche publishers are having things their way at last. Mequoda has been preaching this sermon for a while, but now, it seems, the rest of the world – including all-important investors – are catching on, too.
Those living in non-Mequoda world were advised of this phenomenon recently in a post
Crain’s New York recently had a chat with President of Condé Nast Bob Sauerberg to talk magazine subscription pricing.
The conversation is so Mequoda that you’d think they were discussing this all over a lunch at the Intensive. In regards to pricing, Sauerberg says: “We’re shifting from selling a print subscription for a low price
It’s all good until you see that money still lying on the table.
That’s how we think of TIME.com here at Mequoda. Last week it unveiled its new website design, to the general praise and adulation of the industry.
The more content the better. That’s what ALM had in mind when they launched Law.com which features its own contributor network. Adding the contributor network will help law thought leaders share their views and insights on various topics while still reporting on breaking law news.
One of the most successful subscription websites in the world is The Economist, where the venerable news publication posts dozens of news articles every day, unique visitors from the US alone average 3 million per month, and its Online Media Index (OMI) is a healthy 3.61, meaning it has more than three times as many
If you’ve ever contemplated attending one of our Subscription Website Publishing Intensives, but the time – and budget – just haven’t been right, I have a new way for you to learn the proven, profitable Mequoda Method right now.
Introducing, the new Mequoda Pro. If you’re a member, you can log in right now. If you’re
One of Mequoda’s primary reasons for being is to help legacy publishers cross the digital divide.
And when it comes to Farm Progress, we’re talking serious legacy publishing – a company founded in 1819 which publishes, among many others, Prairie Farmer, the oldest known continuously published magazine, launched in 1841.
When the Internet burst on the scene and magazine publishers decided to get on the bandwagon, a lot of people simply shoveled their content up to the Web and called it a day. After all, there wasn’t a lot of guidance available in this brave new world.
TheLadders.com, Match.com and SSWUG.org utilize membership subscription websites to properly serve their audiences
The membership subscription website archetype is a very complicated model. It may be structured as a pure-play site, which does not depend on a primary relationship to, or experience with, an online or offline product. Or it may be structured as a companion