A forum for the print and
digital publishing industries

• 9 Quick Website Changes You Can Make to Increase Quality Leads

Since your website is often the first touchpoint a potential client has with your company, you want to do everything you can to ensure that it yields real results from visitors. There should be a clear path to follow and a set of actions to complete. Without a fine-tuned and efficient website, you’ll miss out on a pool of potential opportunities. So, how does one fine-tune? With these nine quick but effective tweaks.

• How to Create a Better User Experience to Convert Fly-By Users Into Loyal Subscribers 

Encouraging existing customers to make greater use of your website is easier than attracting completely new visitors, and publishers are looking for ways to deepen their relationships with visitors so they stay on their sites for longer and click through to other stories, pages, and videos. If they have visited once or twice, chances are they can be persuaded to come again.

• BFFs Once More, Advertisers and Publishers Rediscover Their Alliance Amid Tracking Turmoil

Direct deals between advertisers and publishers are back, but then again, they never really went away. They’re just being pitched harder and considered more carefully now as advertisers see publishers as a valuable source of audience data in the absence of third-party cookies.

• How to Start A Magazine in 2021

Thanks to both their centuries-long resilience and progressive nature to adapt, magazines continue to be a worthwhile project to embark on.  If you’re looking to start a magazine or pivot to digital editions, read on. We’re outlining the basic steps of how to start a magazine in 2021.

• 7 Email Marketing Tips You Should Adopt Immediately

Every single second, 2.4 billion emails are sent all around the world. With your target audience’s inboxes constantly being flooded, it’s important to recognize that your business’s emails are competing for attention at all times…Embarking on your company’s next booming campaign takes time, consideration, and a lot of prep work. Before you hit send, read through these seven tips to help you ensure that your business is putting its best foot forward when that campaign email lands in your audiences’ inboxes.

• How to Make Subscription Models a Long-Term Success

The media landscape has transformed beyond all recognition. Now, some of the largest companies in the world – such as Apple and Twitter – are relying less on advertisers as their primary source of revenue and instead, leaning on customers, with paid memberships and subscriptions taking precedence.

• Publishers Rethink Their Value to Stave Off Subscription Fatigue Among New Paying Readers

In 2020, subscription revenue for publishers grew 16%, according to a study by subscription management platform Zuora; around a fifth (21%) of American adults now pay for at least one online news outlet in the U.S., according to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2021. The majority of those paying have an average of two subscriptions. But how many subscriptions can one reader pay for? And how many will they keep, especially without the rollercoaster of 2020 to keep them locked into the news cycle?

• The Top 5 CRMs for Magazine Publishers

A CRM for magazine publishers takes the specific needs of publishers into account. They include industry-specific features, like subscription management, ad invoicing, and even flat-planning, to separate themselves from generic CRM software…Are you ready to leverage the power that comes with a magazine CRM software?

• Here Are the Best Ways to Get Leads on LinkedIn in 2021

If you’re looking to attract interested bottom-of-the-funnel leads, LinkedIn is a great asset. In fact, audiences on LinkedIn have twice the buying power of the average web audience. The platform offers a variety of free and paid features to maximize your lead generation efforts on both your personal and business pages, but as with most things, you can’t dive in without some preparation.

• Apple Offers News Publishers a Commission Break… If They Join New Partner Program

In a move that also coincides with Apple’s just-announced, $100-million settlement of an antitrust lawsuit brought by developers — Apple is offering all publishers the 15% commission rate on first-year subscriptions… if they’re willing to agree to participate in a new Apple News Partner Program that has some advantages for Apple, and potential disadvantages for publishers.

• “The evidence is clear”: Headline Testing Continues to Drive Higher Engagement for Publishers

Headline experimentation has become an increasingly popular tool among publishers. Editorial teams often test several title variations for the same article, in order to find out which one performs the best. Testing identifies not only the headlines that are being clicked on, but also the ones that lead to engagement with the content. This is particularly significant for the global publishers that need to ensure they’re allocating time to optimizations with the highest reader impact.

• Your Guide to the Best Magazine Software for Publishers

When it comes to magazine media and digital publications, reliable software tools are a necessity. From publishing CRM and magazine design, to circulation and subscription management, this ultimate guide to magazine software is an overview of the most popular software tools in the publishing industry.

• How Website Visitor Tracking Can Help Your Marketing and Sales

Did you know that it takes about less than a second for a website visitor to form an opinion about your company? Whether they click around or contribute to your exit rate, you can use that data to your advantage. Based on these analytics, you can determine if your website and content strategy are effective.

• Digiday Research: Publishers Are Much Less Worried About the Coming Cookie Changes Than Brands and Agencies

Several months of preparation for the coming cookie-pocalypse appear to have brought publishers some peace of mind. They have not had quite the same effect on brands and agencies, according to Digiday+ research. As of the beginning of the third quarter of 2021, less than 50% of the publisher professionals Digiday surveyed said they were worried about their ability to target ads or measure their effectiveness without third-party cookies.

• The Ending of Third-Party Cookies: Big Tech Developments

Although Google claims its privacy sandbox solution, FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts), will produce 95% of the per-dollar conversions that third-party cookies previously achieved, so far it has met with widespread resistance. Although a number of companies are either testing the sandbox this year (AdThrive, CafeMedia), or working with Google on their proposals (PubMatic), the criticism is certainly gathering momentum. This is significant, as ostensibly, Google is designing FLoC to become a fundamental part of the web, not just Chrome.

• What’s Your Mix of Six? Alternative Revenue Streams in Digital Publishing

Nowadays, no single revenue stream is enough to sustain, let alone grow, a digital publication. Instead, online publishers are relying on a combination of revenue streams to ensure they can bring in sufficient capital… While most companies’ monetization strategies will include a combination of some, if not all of, these revenue streams, it’s important to have an understanding of each opportunity and current revenue trends to know which combination will work best for your publication — what’s your mix of six?

• 9 Quick Website Changes You Can Make To Increase Quality Leads

Since your website is often the first touchpoint a potential client has with your company, you want to do everything you can to ensure that it yields real results from visitors. There should be a clear path to follow and a set of actions to complete. Without a fine-tuned and efficient website, you’ll miss out on a pool of potential opportunities.

• Which Way Now? Publisher Options for the Ending of Third-Party Cookies

As a key part of the report, we have interviewed many of the leading tech vendors offering cookie-less solutions, and enquired into the latest thinking and innovations behind them. The purpose is to provide an all-encompassing report that publishers can use as a guide and reference point.

• Access Denied or Granted? Relationships with sources are more scrutinized and more complicated than ever

Fundamentally, access journalism occurs when reporters value landing a source more than the information gleaned from that source. But what do readers, viewers, or other members of the public mean when they use the term as criticism? Is it simply expedient and pithy, just a new way to disparage the press?

• No More Cookies: How You’ll Be Able to Survive Without These Dying Tracking Tools

In this blog, we’ll look at some of the modern, more common tracking practices, the takeaway if these techniques are ultimately taken away, and what those working in the publishing industry can do to craft and execute even more effective outreach plans in their wake.

• Is Your Business Taking Advantage of All Available Email Marketing Tools?

When it comes to managing relationships with your business’s prospects and existing customers, a customer relationship management software, or CRM, is a must-have. In this day and age, it’s no secret that data is the key to meeting your company’s goals efficiently and effectively…CRMs are at the heart of every growing business. In fact, CRM software is the biggest software market in the world, and the growth isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

• “We’re launching a new link spam fighting change”: Google’s New Algo Update, and its Effects on Sponsored, Guest, and Affiliate Content

“In our continued efforts to improve the quality of the search results, we’re launching a new link spam fighting change,” said Google’s Duy Nguyen, “the link spam update.” This algo change specifically targets “spammy links”, and is a global update that seems to affect links that are manipulative and unnatural…The search giant cautions that changes in rankings may be imminent for some site owners.

• How Publishers Are Converting a Spring Traffic Surge Into Sustained Growth

The ensuing global pandemic has impacted every publisher differently, but a few common challenges have generally emerged: the immediate shelving of long-planned initiatives or new launches, a total pause on live events—an increasingly vital extension for many, in normal times—and frustratingly, a dramatic yet difficult-to-monetize rush of web traffic and social media engagement.

• What’s Your Mix of Six? Alternative Revenue Streams in Digital Publishing

According to former head of Hearst magazines, David Carey, there just may be a magic number: “You need five or six revenue streams to make the business really successful.”… While most companies’ monetization strategies will include a combination of some, if not all of, these revenue streams, it’s important to have an understanding of each opportunity and current revenue trends to know which combination will work best for your publication — what’s your mix of six?

 

• Deeper Intelligence: How an Analytical CRM Can Benefit Your Business

When it comes to managing relationships with your business’s prospects and existing customers, a customer relationship management software, or CRM, is a must-have. In this day and age, it’s no secret that data is the key to meeting your company’s goals efficiently and effectively…CRMs are at the heart of every growing business. In fact, CRM software is the biggest software market in the world, and the growth isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

• 9 Ways Publishers Are Using Newsletters to Grow Paying Members

Email has been around for a while. Many smart “digital media people” believe it will survive for a while longer. There’s no debating it – this is the new golden age for newsletters… In the past few years, wherever I have looked for insights on building sustainable reader revenue, emails and newsletters have almost always been in the top three things to focus on.

• How Magazine Publishers Are Cutting Print Costs to Improve Profits

When it comes to improving profits at print magazines, there’s a tendency to focus on new ways of driving revenue. But while keeping a close eye on expenses can also have a significant impact on the bottom line, today’s environment often calls for a balancing act.

• How to Start a Magazine in 2021

We’ve come a long way since the very first American publication in 1741. Who knows if Benjamin Franklin and his chronicling competitors had any idea that their budding industry would blossom into something that, just last year, had an annual global revenue of approximately $67.56 billion?  Thanks to both their centuries-long resilience and progressive nature to adapt, magazines continue to be a worthwhile project to embark on.

• 9 Simple Lead Generation Strategies Using Inbound Marketing

According to HubSpot, lead generation is defined as: “Lead generation is the process of attracting and converting strangers and prospects into someone who has indicated interest in your company’s product or service. Some examples of lead generators are job applications, blog posts, coupons, live events, and online content.” The definition sounds practical, yet the practice isn’t as easy as it sounds. Lead generation strategies require an understanding of inbound marketing.

• Publishers: Are You Ready for the First-Party Future?

Last month, Google announced a delay for third-party cookie deprecation on its Chrome browser until the end of 2023. Despite this delay, using cookieless solutions today already shows better performance. Further, new research suggests that the marketing community is eager to embrace the ‘cookieless’ future and is looking towards the publisher community to keep pace with the privacy-first trend.

• B2B Marketers Increasing Use of Digital — Approaching $15bn by 2023, Says eMarketer

eMarketer released its U.S. B2B Advertising Forecast report on Monday that estimates that nearly half of the $30.6 billion spent on B2B advertising will be digital in 2023… For the first time, more than half of B2B marketers’ digital spend will focus on phones and tablets versus non-mobile devices such as laptops and desktop computers.

• The Highs and Lows of Publishing CRM, and How to Embrace the Complications

Sadly, magazine CRM systems are neither invincible nor undefeated. Keeping an exact score is difficult, as the CRM failure rate has been measured to be anywhere between 18% and 69% over the years… So when there is a failure, should blame be put on the system? The users? Those who thrust it upon the users? The answer to those questions may not be simple, but the solutions to overcome the larger contributing issues are entirely too easy.

• 16 Proven Ways to Build and Leverage Your Customer Database

Developing and leveraging your customer database is vital to digital marketing teams. A growing database of customers means more potential engagement, buying decisions, and more. The information you get from your customers is also incredibly beneficial to guiding your sales and marketing strategies for lead generation.

• The Importance of Tags in Online News Media

After all, Parse.ly found that 70 percent of digital media publishers use tags and that was back in 2015. The number is surely even higher in 2021. But as our research has shown, different publishers adopt wildly different approaches to tagging content, with very different results.

• A Cookieless World: Will Segmentation and Targeting Live On?

With the growing uncertainty on data privacy and skepticism towards Google’s proposed solution to the removal of third-party cookies, will we still be able to segment and target consumers in the same way? And how can brands prepare for the changes to data privacy and app tracking?

• Your Guide to the Best Magazine Software for Publishers

When it comes to magazine media and digital publications, reliable software tools are a  necessity. From publishing CRM and magazine design, to circulation and subscription management, this ultimate guide to magazine software is an overview of the most popular software tools in the publishing industry.

 

• Everything You Need to Know About Website Visitor Tracking

The average website receives about 1,000 new visitors per month. That’s 1,000 potential new leads, prospects, and blog subscribers. But what happens when these visitors leave your website without filling out a contact form?  How do you engage with them without a phone number, email, or even a name? This is where website visitor tracking comes in. It gives you a huge advantage in generating leads.

• “The strongest rise in over a decade”: Global Ad Spend to Reach $665bn This Year

Global advertising spend is on course for 12.6% growth this year to reach US$665bn, an upgrade from 6.7% initially projected, reports WARC, the international intelligence service. Further growth, of 8.2%, is forecast for 2022…

• Publishers: Google’s Extended Third-Party Cookie Deadline Should Not Affect the Search for a Replacement

When Google’s postponement of their third-party cookie policy changes rolled in, it’s fair to say the entire digital ecosystem took a collective sigh of relief. While the change could represent a temporary reprieve for some, publishers and marketers should not take the extended deadline — a gift — for granted by postponing much needed work to their data collection strategies.

• How Publishers Can Take Full Advantage of Their CRM

According to one report, 43% of CRM users use less than half of the features that their CRM offers …  and I’d say that number is conservative. And no matter if that comes down to difficulty in understanding the system or ignorance as to all its capabilities, it’s an issue worth addressing if only because there’s so much potential on the other side.