Archive for Press Releases

2018 Mequoda Magazine Consumer Study predicts digital magazine readership as a percentage of all magazine readership will break 40% in 2020.
BOSTON, JUNE 15, 2018—Mequoda ran its first ever digital magazine consumer study in 2014, polling US adults with Internet access. At the time, the biggest finding was that 20% of respondents reported currently reading or   Continue

September 1, 2016 – BOSTON — The 2016 Mequoda American Magazine Reader Study & Handbook, conducted in Q2 2016, one year after their 2015 study, polled 3,241 US adults with Internet access. The study found that the number of US adults reading digital magazines has increased 13.8% from 2015, with nearly 42% of US adults reporting having read one or more digital magazine issues in the last 30 days.   Continue

July 21, 2015 – BOSTON — Five years after Apple introduced the iPad and the magazine industry latched on for dear life, digital magazine consumption has reached 43% of print magazine consumption and is climbing rapidly.   Continue

BOSTON, MA, January 30, 2015 – Don Nicholas, a journalist-turned-publishing consultant-turned novelist, has just published his first novel, Homecoming, a mystery inspired by many of his favorite writers and characters – and also by small-town politics, social life and true crime.

The book is now available on Amazon at $19.97 for print and $4.97 for the   Continue

In the I Like Crochet case study, the report outlines the decoy pricing strategy that Mequoda has championed, a strategy that drives more orders to the highest price point and more orders overall for all of the Mequoda clients who use it.

Also profiled is LED magazine, with a website, print/PDF edition and app edition. This case study demonstrates how much discreet advertising inventory can be generated in the new digital age.

Finally, the report takes a look at The New Yorker, which bucks the trend to either charge different prices for discreet products, or to use universal pricing, by offering three separate products, but all at the same price.   Continue

Niche publisher launches groundbreaking website magazine, revealing future of digital magazines
NORTHBROOK, IL (August 13, 2014) – Prime Publishing, publisher of 17 free craft websites and 13 free cooking sites, has just released what Prime and multiplatform publishing consultants Mequoda Group believe is the magazine industry’s first-ever true website magazine, along with an associated app edition   Continue

March 14, 2014 – BOSTON — A complete, painstakingly documented handbook on audience development for Internet publishers has just been released. The 260-page handbook, Organic Audience Development Strategy: 68 Audience Development Strategies for Building a Robust Audience Development Plan, was written by Don Nicholas, a leading magazine industry consultant and CEO of Mequoda Group.   Continue

January 31, 2014 – BOSTON — Subscription website publishing is one of the hottest entrepreneurial ventures on the Internet, both for novices and for legacy publishers struggling to make the leap from print in a digital age.   Continue

January 10, 2014 – BOSTON — Following the recent release of his new Multiplatform Publishing Strategy handbook, Don Nicholas, a leading magazine industry consultant and CEO of Mequoda Group, has just published his second free handbook, Digital Magazine Publishing: Digital Publishing Tips for Creating Digital Magazines in a Tablet Magazine Publishing World.   Continue

Don Nicholas, who has spent 30 years as a publisher and consultant in the magazine publishing industry, has released a free 100-page handbook titled Multiplatform Publishing Strategy as a followup to his 10-year-old book, Internet Marketing Strategy for Publishers. “Ten years and one tablet revolution later, my newest professional goal is simple: To help each and every publisher successfully cross the new digital divide,” says Nicholas.   Continue

23% of tablet users currently prefer to read digital magazines on their tablets as opposed to print — by 2020, 65% of all U.S. Adult Internet users will feel the same way   Continue

A one-day intensive program designed specifically for publishers teaches how to successfully start and run an online business

Mequoda Group released details that its Digital Content Marketing Bootcamp will take place on January 24th, 2012 at New York City’s McGraw-Hill Conference Center.

The Digital Content Marketing Bootcamp, limited to 25 attendees, offers online publishers the opportunity to learn how to start and run a digital content marketing system through a detailed, step-by-step process featuring proven digital strategies for driving website traffic.
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Stephen Reily of Vibrant Nation accepts the annual Mequoda Rocket Award, which honors the fastest growing Mequoda Gold Member website

September 20, 2011 (Waltham, MA)— The Mequoda Group awards growing special-interest online publishers each year with the Mequoda Rocket Award. The award is given away to the Mequoda Gold Member who has experienced the highest growth in total website traffic over a year’s span.

At the fall Mequoda Summit East 2011, Stephen Reily, publisher and CEO of Vibrant Nation received the award for leading an organization that experienced an 87.04% growth in website traffic between July 2010 and July 2011.   Continue

Learn How to Start and Run a Successful Online Business at the Mequoda Summit East 2011, September 13-16th

Discover first-hand the techniques used by online publishers and content marketers for supercharging your online business

(Boston, MA)—The Mequoda Summit East 2011, a hands-on program featuring keynote presentations, panel sessions, interactive workshops and networking opportunities, will take place September 13-16th, 2011 in the greater Boston area.

This Mequoda Summit will feature a new three-track format, new speakers and all the networking opportunities Mequoda Summits are famous for. The agenda for the Mequoda Summit East 2011 includes the following:   Continue

The Million Dollar Landing Page Templates free report uncovers landing page templates that use best practice guidelines and have generated upwards of one million dollars

Optimizing landing pages and designing landing page templates properly helps online business build larger audiences, experience more website traffic and generate more website traffic.

The Million Dollar Landing Page Templates free report from Mequoda Group was created to help online publishers develop landing page templates that successfully attract, engage and convert casual visitors.   Continue

The Million Dollar Landing Page Templates free white paper from Mequoda Group includes landing page examples, best practices and free downloadable landing page templates

Properly designed and optimized landing page templates allow companies to perform an array of tasks, from getting a casual visitor to convert to selling a product.

The Million Dollar Landing Page Templates free white paper incorporates landing page template best practices and examples of successful landing pages. The free report also includes a link to download free customizable landing page templates.   Continue

This free report discusses the value behind subscription websites, including the nine most profitable subscription website business models

Download a free digital copy of Building Subscription Websites: The 9 Most Profitable Website Business Models now

Subscription websites are becoming a more valuable component to online publishers. In fact, subscription websites are among the most profitable websites on the Internet.

As mobile and tablet devices become increasingly popular, subscription websites are being used at the core of the modern publishing revolution.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses principles of a successful content marketing strategy that online publishers and content marketers are currently utilizing to create communities around their content

(Nationwide)—The Internet has become a media-rich landscape ripe for content marketing. Users can find content that interests them in many different formats, from written pieces to audio and video.

This is part of the reason why the Internet’s popularity continues to increase. Online publishers and content marketers can take advantage of this landscape by engaging in content marketing on many platforms.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses the seven principles of the content marketing strategy that successful online publishers and content marketers are using

Content marketing has become a token of the special interest media experience.

In fact, it’s been reported by the Meltwater Group that Internet marketers will be working to make content marketing a priority of theirs in 2011.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses the content marketing strategy that successful online publishers and content marketers are using

(Nationwide)—Studies have shown that content marketing is going to be a main focus for Internet marketers and online publishers during 2011.

This is so because content marketing is an informative, unobtrusive way of promoting products while forging long-lasting relationships with an audience.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses how online publishers can begin building subscription websites

(Nationwide)—There is a renewed interest in subscription websites. Online publishers and content marketers are seeing the value behind subscription websites as they are among the most profitable websites on the Internet.

Any content producer or online publisher that has a lot of great content to offer should consider whether or not a subscription website would be of benefit to them.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses rapid conversion landing pages and how they can benefit online publishers

(Nationwide)—Successful online marketing often involves building a database of potential customers. This database is then used to market to them, both on the website and with editorial and advertising email messages.

Online publishers engage in this activity because email can account for up to 60 percent of online revenue.   Continue

This free podcast from Mequoda Group discusses the various types of websites that publishers can build, which includes subscription websites.

(Nationwide)—There are a variety of website archetypes that can be utilized by online publishers to generate revenue.

In some of these website archetypes, the audience pays for the content. The audience members that end up paying for this content may be purchasing specific products, services or subscriptions to content that can be printed out and kept in the physical form.   Continue

This free podcast from Mequoda Group discusses search engine optimization tips and components of both SEO copywriting and SEO campaign management.

(Nationwide)—Paying attention to search engine optimization is the difference between getting high organic rankings in search engines and not being found by your audience members.

Search engine optimization is the process of improving visibility of a website and its web pages by incorporating your specific keywords in the page’s copy. Content marketers and online publishers engage heavily in search engine optimization in order to rank higher in search engines because the higher up in search results a listing appears, the better chance that publisher has of generating new email subscribers and overall revenue for the website.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses SEO campaign management components including link building and ways of gaining landing page visibility

(Nationwide)—The best SEO keyword strategy for SEO campaign management is not necessarily about picking the most popular SEO keywords. If an SEO keyword strategy targets only highly popular and competitive terms, the odds of SEO success are minimal.

Instead, it’s important to aim for smaller targets; ones that that can be won and owned by a publisher.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses ways to boost ROI by doing business on Twitter

(Nationwide)—Twitter has something similar to a search engine. It’s a website that is still unknown to many people, both Twitter users and outside observers who aren’t a part of the popular social network.

Search.Twitter.com is the URL address of the Twitter search engine. It can be used to search for a topic, brand, person or anything else and see what is being said on that topic.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses email copywriting tips every email copywriter, editor or publisher should learn to maximize email conversion rates.

(Nationwide)—Utilizing email copywriting best practices helps email copywriters, editors and publishers maximize email conversion rates and generate more revenue.

Some of these email copywriting best practices are as follows:   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses 5 deadly membership website mistakes that should be avoided by online publishers

(Nationwide)—A membership website may appear to be an easy moneymaker for online publishers. Although membership websites can be very profitable, they are websites that require a great deal of forethought and evaluation before they can be created successfully.

Mistakes in membership websites are referred to as ‘deadly’ because they can kill a membership website’s success. However, by taking note of these common mistakes, it can be determined whether or not investing time and money in a membership website is a good idea or not.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses 14 guidelines and 13 case studies for designing subscription websites

(Nationwide)—Some of the most successful websites let their users generate 99 percent of their content. The websites that can do this become leaders in building communities that draw in users and get them to read and post.

Websites with frequent postings are not only encouraging constant traffic due to fresh content, but they also generate thousands of pages of content. Generally there is a new page created for each topic covered. This massive amount of content and pages helps to drive search engine optimization through the roof.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses essential tips for designing a website homepage and mistakes to avoid in the process

(Nationwide)—It can be difficult to balance between attractive graphic design and quick load time when it comes to websites. Engaging aesthetics are important as they do add feel to websites while creating personal connections with visitors.

However, the load time of a website is also very important. If a website loads too slowly, then it’s likely that visitors will end up navigating away from the page and going to a competitor’s website.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group a valuable metric for email marketing, methods for building an email marketing list and ways to increase website traffic.

(Nationwide)—Knowing what an email marketing list subscriber is worth is important to the health of any online business. There is a single ratio many email marketers use to figure out the amount of money that can be made from each subscriber while engaging in email marketing.

This ratio is one that will be used often as the size of an email marketing list changes. Ideally, each time this ratio is used the total revenue per subscriber will increase. That’s a hope all online publishers and email marketers have. If you adhere to the Mequoda best practices for online publishing and Internet marketing, then the chances of increasing revenue will be very possible. We have seen results where revenue per subscriber for clients doubled, and even triple, within 12 months.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses tips on successful methods for SEO copywriting

(Nationwide)—The ultimate goal in SEO copywriting, regardless if it’s for a sales letter landing page, an article page or a topic page, is to choose and include the right keywords, attract targeted website traffic and optimize the page to ensure it gets found within search engines.

In order to decide on relevant keywords to focus on, the Google Keyword Tool should be consulted. It will show the search volume of the specific keywords while giving suggestions of additional related keywords.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses 33 ways of increasing website traffic and building email marketing lists.

(Nationwide)—Linking to pages within your site is a good way of defining the pages you own. By doing so you, publishers are telling Google which pages are considered to be priority within a website.

While deciding on which pages to link to, consider all the pages within a website. The best pages to link to are ones that have proper conversion architecture and can either produce a new email marketing list subscriber, a lead or a sale.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses strategies for online publishing that can help develop multiplatform brands

(Nationwide)—These are a few questions to ask when working on a keyword strategy. For instance, what are people searching for online that your product or service will help them answer? To understand to the fullest what people are searching for and where you can fit in with the competition, it’s important to do keyword research.

There are a few different methods online publishers can use to determine keyword popularity, competition and strategy.   Continue

This free handbook from Mequoda Group discusses how to create landing pages that successfully engage users and sell content

(Nationwide)—It’s hard for great products to stand on their own or sell themselves. They often times need a story that heightens the desire for the product and prompts a purchase decision.

To create a compelling story, start by picturing an ideal customer; someone who is a member of the audience that is being catered to. Write directly for this person as if speaking to him or her in person.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses 12 landing page templates and how to maximize Internet marketing conversion rates by using the correct one

(Nationwide)—Many pages of a website are landing pages. If users are coming to a website via search engines or via targeted traffic, they are “landing” on the website through any number of pages.

Landing pages are necessary components of your entire online marketing strategy. For online publishers and Internet marketers, a landing page should be looked at as any webpage that begins a transaction or relationship.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses tips on mobile publishing strategies for usability, design and content distribution

(Nationwide)—For online publishers, mobile page views and clicks can mean more revenue. For online retailers, mobile ecommerce is emerging for smart phones and portable devices like netbooks and tablets.

Mobile is a hot topic. New technology is being created and purchased by users who thrive on the advancements. Online advertising is everywhere, and focusing specific content towards your audience can help create stronger relationships with those always on the go.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses eight steps landing pages that maximize email conversion rates

(Nationwide)—The Internet has changed traditional journalism. Nowadays writers are responsible for creating and marketing their work when placed on the Internet. Writing the copy for a rapid conversion landing page is no exception.

To engage in proper landing page optimization for a free report’s landing page, it’s important to start with a keyword analysis. This is an exercise in determining what your audience is interested in and what they search for.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses how the content marketing strategy can help sell digital content

(Nationwide)—The time of content marketing is now here. With content marketing comes three types of websites that can utilize a content marketing strategy. These include:

Website type #1: Online Publishing: This type of website is used to bring content to an online audience. Online publishing websites involve the creation and publishing of content and the creation of webpages to house that content. In order to grow the audience of an online publication, publishers use blogs, web pages, email, PDFs, podcasts, video, RSS feeds and other digital media content.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses 40 tips for creating successful email newsletters

(Nationwide)—Publishers of email newsletters surely want their content to be read. Two of the most important components of all email correspondence is the subject line and the “from” line.

The following tips will help online publishers create the most effective email newsletters by focusing on the subject line and the “from” line. These tips include:   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses how selling sponsorships can be used as one Internet Business Model that’ll help develop your online media business

(Nationwide)—Multi-faceted sponsorship opportunities are valuable commodities for online publishers. For instance, if a publisher has a core of editorial topics, they can potentially sell sponsorships for each individual topic.

The best way to approach this is to offer complete exclusivity on any of the given topic pages. The sponsorship package may include promotion on the leaderboard, a large ad box, a medium ad box and a skyscraper advertisement.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses how online PR is a way of gaining visibility from online communities

(Nationwide)—Online PR can help reach a big, direct audience online that is interested in the topics covered. Successful online PR has to be very focused. It needs to be designed specifically for the news being promoted and it should contain specific keywords that people are searching for. If it does not involve these two important components, chances are that the press release will not be picked up by search engines or seen by a large audience.

To begin engaging in online PR campaigns, start by creating a press release. Make the release between 250 and 400 words and newsworthy.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses ways to properly engage in editorial management for online publishers

(Nationwide)—Successful online publishers include different types of emails into their editorial strategy. For instance, an editorial calendar created by a successful online publisher may dictate that an editorial email is sent five days each week, a promotional email sent twice per week and a week in review sent each week.

The days and times of these email campaigns should stay consistent from one week to the next. This way, audience members who rely on the content will be able to rest comfortably knowing that it is released at the same time each week.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses how to build free reports, promote them and use them to convert visitors into email newsletter subscribers

(Nationwide)—Creating a free report, setting up a rapid conversion landing page for the free report and promoting it is a great way to build your email newsletter subscriber database.

Free reports are a big part of SEO campaign management because the information in the report is what will intrigue visitors. They will then need to enter their name and email address to receive the free report. You can use that contact information for future correspondence involving editorial content and related products.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses marketing tips you can use to boost ROI by doing business on Twitter

(Nationwide)—Online publishers need to be careful when using Twitter as a marketing device. Becoming too promotional and not being social enough can become an issue.

Branding on Twitter is an important part in using the social media platform. We originally branded our Twitter feed 100% as Mequoda Daily. Doing this does not help in growing an audience since Mequoda Daily sounds like a publication and many members of Twitter may automatically assume that we were only going to promote ourselves.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses tips for better email copywriting that will maximize email conversion rates

(Nationwide)—Email is a major way online publishers generate revenue online. Studies have shown that most people decide whether or not to open an email by quickly glancing at the subject line and the sender’s name. In order for publishers to generate the potential revenue that’s available through email marketing lists, they need to get their email delivered, opened, read and converted.

Email copywriting is a factor in whether or not an email is opened, read and acted upon. Listed below are three tips for consumer email copywriting:   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses membership websites, which can be a revenue-generating tool for online publishers

(Nationwide)—A membership website is an online information product. In order for users to access the information found behind the gated site, they need to register and pay whatever fee is associated. Users often times become members of membership websites because they contain an excessive amount of content that is typically updated regularly. For users interested in the content, it’s like being able to access an online library 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

A membership website would be a good product to create when publishers have an excess of content. This content may come from an associated print publication, newsletters, books, back-issues, or simply content that never reached the audience.   Continue

This free report from Mequoda Group discusses 14 guidelines for subscription website design

(Nationwide)—A website that meets the goals of both the users and the publisher is said to have a strong strategic intent. Users typically have one goal: to answer a question they have or fulfill a need of theirs. Information or products can usually help them achieve the goal.

For publishers, there is usually a combination of three goals: generating ad revenue, selling products and building an email marketing lists.   Continue

This free report on website design guidelines from Mequoda Group will teach you mistakes to avoid while creating a website and best practices to utilize

(Nationwide)—A poorly designed website will discourage visitors and often spur them to leave the page and never return. It is very important to make a good first impression to users because it may be the only chance you get.

The following three website design mistakes should be known to anyone building a website. Acknowledging these mistakes will stop website designers from falling into the wrong traps.   Continue