The Lifecycle of an All-Digital Magazine In Episode 7 of the Paywall Podcast, ZEEN101’s Jeremy Green talks to Todd Moen of Catch Magazine. The Official Journal of Flyfishing Photography and Film, Catch has been an all-digital, high-resolution publication for over a decade. In that time, the magazine has weathered every storm and survived every evolution of […]
A Lifetime of Knowledge It shouldn’t be a surprise that outreach tactics can be shared between print and digital publications. The two formats are inextricably linked in many ways. In this episode of the Paywall Podcast, Pete chats with Greg Wolfe of Four String Media, who has spent an entire career helping magazines of both […]
Consider selling individual access to live stream concerts as Deutsche Grammophon does with Leaky Paywall
Happy New Year! It’s a new year for the world and for your publication. We’ve got some great new tips and tools for boosting your revenue and optimizing your publication. Now you can easily create a paid newsletter or charge individually for premium content. You can track your revenue on the dashboard and find new […]
A Different Kind of Content Strategy Wouldn’t it be nice if someone else generated some of your content for you? Wouldn’t it be even nicer if they paid you for the privilege? The richness of your content is what draws and retains your readers. Valuable content that caters to the needs and interests of your […]
Gifts That Keep On Giving The holidays are right around the corner and to help you spruce up your publication for the season, we’ve got a few new tips and tools. Add a flipbook, run some promotions, reduce your stress with simplified processes or new information, find some inspiration in the journeys other publications have taken: […]
More subscriptions, less stress Paid subscriptions are a key revenue source for most publications. Fortunately, there are any number of easy promotions and strategies a publisher can run to increase those crucial subscriptions. In this episode of the Paywall Podcast, How To Generate More Paid Subscriptions With Promotions, Pete, Jeremy, and Tyler go through a […]
In this video Nick Pataro from MagHub and I go over the strategy to building a strong email list that, in turn, attracts paying subscribers and advertisers. Follow along step-by-step to understand how to develop a free registration capture for your publication to rapidly build your email list, then convert paying subscribers, and also become […]
A profile of a successful publication Every profitable publication is born out of a wealth of experience that can be shared. In this episode of the Paywall Podcast, Interview with Street Photography Magazine, Pete sits down with Bob, the founder of Street Photography Magazine, to discuss the journey and strategies that built its success. Listen […]
Fine-Tuning For Fall You already have a fully-stocked tool kit for the success of your publication. But are you using every feature and function to its full potential? With a handful of updates, small and large, new integrations, and a whole bunch of tips on optimizing what you already have, it’s time to take your publication to the […]
Our WooCommerce add-on can cater to the payment needs of your specific region without disrupting the smooth subscription experience you’ve crafted for your readers.
Find Your Cornerstone This month, we’re focusing on perfecting the fundamentals. The first step to a profitable publication is getting the basics right. We kick it off with a few words on Leaky Paywall’s full compliance with SCA regulations. Then we unveil our new Paywall Podcast and a couple new integrations to simplify your workflow, […]
Looking to generate more subscribers with your paywall? We discuss paywall strategies and tactics for news and magazine publishers. With over 900 publishers running our subscription platform we have learned quite a bit about what works (and doesn’t) in digital publishing. Join Pete, Jeremy, and Tyler for a deep dive that will help you grow […]
Grab a pencil and a couple of sheets of paper… this (true) story starts with a person I call the frenzied publisher. A big content mess Some time ago I walked into the office of this publisher who was scanning a conference room table (with about 30 pieces of paper on it) in order to […]
There’s Something About MailChimp… Your email marketing isn’t just a sales funnel, it’s a sales vortex. It doesn’t just direct your readers to a paid subscription, it sucks them in. A reader on your email list is 10x more likely to purchase a subscription. Which is why, this month, we’re all about MailChimp and its […]
How would you like to add 1000 new email addresses to your list in a week? Or 7000 new in just a few months? This is exactly what happened when The Business Journal launched their free registration wall, and new subscribers continue to sign up. After limiting access to free subscribers they turned on Leaky […]
The Welch News, a small paper serving McDowell County, West Virginia for almost a century, nearly buckled under the weight.
“We already had a digital magazine going out once a month that people were paying for,” he says. “But we also felt that the content we put out daily was of sufficient value to people that they probably wouldn’t be completely adverse to paying for that as well.”
An Overloaded Site Total Football Analysis provides exactly what’s in the name: in-depth analysis of the current world of soccer: its leagues, its players, its tactics and strategies. It’s an embarrassment of football riches. Between the monthly magazine and the daily site content, Total Football Analysis was providing so much material that their old site […]
Let your subscribers select their topics of interest with a low profile custom news feed.
From Casual To Committed The key to winning the subscription game is capturing the attention of your casual readers. Most of those readers will find you by searching for a specific topic and finding a specific article or through a recommendation on social media. (That’s why you have a metered paywall, after all: to make […]
Strong Content, Strong Protection The Heisenberg Report is a digital publication of real-time political and financial news. They pride themselves on content that is current, accurate, rich with information, and just snarky enough to be engaging. All of which means that the Heisenberg Report has much to protect with its paywall. And that is why […]
Stepping Up The Tempo Of Subscription Success Modern Drummer Magazine is at the top of their game for growing subscriptions. As a veteran print publisher who successfully made the leap to a digital issue, they’ve also mastered the art of setting their pricing to increase both print and digital subscriptions. Now they’ve found a new […]
An Essential Process Time and experience (and even a formal study or two) have proven that growing your email list is an indispensable part of growing your subscriptions. Readers who join your email list are 10x more likely to become subscribers. It follows that building that email list should take a more proactive approach than […]
This year, ZEEN101 observes its 10th Anniversary. That’s a full decade of providing publishers with the tools they need to be a true and vital presence on the web.
A Long History True West Magazine is a veteran publication, publishing a highly visual magazine on the history of the American West since 1953. They started adding their content on the web fairly early, before the evolution of the digital issue. At the time, it was a fairly natural decision for President and Executive Editor […]
There’s Always Someone… The success of a leaky/metered paywall is tied to the ability to offer a few free articles per browsing session so that your content is fully indexed by Google and can be shared in social media. Generally publishers are enjoying paid digital subscriptions by metering the content and accepting the fact that […]
Value & Simplicity Publishers focus their efforts on crafting valuable content for their target audiences. That’s their main purpose. But the revenue comes from making sure that people are seeing and paying for that content. Making your content easy to access gives readers more reasons to subscribe. Making the subscription process frictionless increases the likelihood […]
New Research and New Regulations On September 12th, ZEEN101’s Pete Ericson and Jeremy Green hosted our third Profitable Publishing Webinar. This edition of the webinar kicks off with Pete’s tutorial on how to set your paywall correctly to grow your subscriptions. Then, Jeremy gives a guided tour of new settings in Leaky Paywall and compliance […]
Creative Use on an Ad-Free Publication The Texan is a young publication that focuses on political news from the Lone Star state. The publication prides itself on being advertisement free, as part of its mission to focus solely on the news and on the reader experience. As a subscription-based service, it is not surprising that […]
A Different Kind of Content All content is valuable. Fortunately, just about any kind of content can be metered. Take a look at Automobl. Automobl is a new Canadian car comparison site. Founder Paul Webster has spent a lot of time compiling data on every trim available of more than 175 cars currently on the […]
Chatting With the Experts Digital subscriptions are an issue critical to the world of publishing. So it’s not surprising that it would be a popular topic for discussion. That’s why ZEEN101’s Pete Ericson sat down for a chat with Vahe Arabian of the State of Digital Publishing podcast. The podcast runs for about 50 minutes and […]
The Finishing Touch Most of our efforts are focused on convincing readers to become subscribers. It’s easy to forget that there is still one last step: actually purchasing the subscription. Most subscription checkouts are an afterthought: one long, scrolling page collecting all the vital information at once. As if the publication is afraid that the […]
Don’t Panic! The idea of transferring your entire print subscription database to a digital edition can be terrifying for an established publication. Fortunately, you don’t have to. Just ask Louisiana Sportsman. Louisiana Sportsman has been catering to Southern fisherman and hunters for nearly 40 years. They’ve had a long time to build up a subscription […]
A New Sales Engine The transition into digital publication has been rough on newspapers. (This year’s New York Press Association Spring Conference has made that clear.) Your digital front end isn’t just a supplement to your print edition – it’s the engine that drives all your sales, digital and print alike. It’s time to put […]
A Rough Season Newspapers are caught between a rock and a hard place. That’s the takeaway from this year’s New York Press Association Spring Conference. We had the honor of attending the Albany gathering on April 5th & 6th and between the speakers and our conversations on the showroom floor, we got a clear picture […]
The Black Market of Content You spend a lot of time and effort on crafting amazing content. You want your subscribers to be excited about it. You want them to talk about it and share it. A good metered paywall like Leaky Paywall will allow just that: broad scale sharing over social media without compromising […]
Everybody Loves A Bargain There’s a quick, easy way to encourage people to subscribe: add a coupon. Coupons are compelling to readers – everyone loves a good deal. They reduce the friction of sales funnel, giving your readers an excuse to finally subscribe. And they’re incredibly easy to create. Digiday, which publishes content on digital […]
Personal Generosity What goes around, comes around. It’s not a new philosophy and it comes in many forms and phrases, but the general idea is this: do the right thing and rewards will find their way back to you. The Coloradoan – the main news source for Northern Colorado – has hit upon a great […]
Theoretically Valuable Classifieds are an effective resource for a digital publication when bundled with a subscription. They are particularly salient for the readers of Small Boats Monthly – a publication for the aficionados of small watercraft. Small Boats Monthly’s audience is primarily the type of people who fix up or build or experiment with one […]
Leaky Paywall Makes Your Life Just A Little Easier A metered paywall is a necessity for a digital publication. It protects your content without locking away its value from the search engines and social media outlets that drive reach and visibility. A flexible metered paywall like Leaky Paywall can do even more. It allows you […]
An overlooked Weapon You have subscription cards. It’s a necessary part of the process – bring them in with your awesome content and then you have a page that tells them how to get more and how much it costs. But, used correctly, this simple necessity can actually become part of your sales pitch. We’ve […]
Leaks Aren’t For Everyone Your content is your currency, so it’s not surprising that an entire industry has arisen around keeping it safe. Leaky Paywall is hardly the only metered paywall out there. But it is the most versatile. For most publishers, the strongest selling point of a paywall is the leaky bit. Allowing readers […]
Everyone needs an Ad-blocker Strategy Advertising is a time-honored part of the publishing world. The digital space, however, has changed the game. ‘Banner blindness’ keeps readers from registering the content of banner ads. And for any kind of pop-up ad, over 30% of site visitors have installed ad-blockers. Many browsers now build in ad blocking. […]
The Digital Dilemma In an increasingly digital world, it’s difficult to fathom staying afloat as a print publication. But the transition into digital hasn’t been easy either. First, there’s the slow evolution of exactly what a digital issue means (don’t worry, we have an answer for you). And then, there’s the problem of advertising. Digital […]
A Universal Truth Your readers are, in many ways, the most important part of your publication. They’re the source of your revenue and the driving force of your content. And while you are the common thread they share among them, they come to you for different reasons from different backgrounds at different stages of their […]
Apps Are Not Optional This is probably something you’ve heard before, but it bears quite a lot of repetition: You must have an app. It’s not just how ubiquitous they are. (And they are: can you remember the last time you saw someone out and about without their smartphone? Can you remember the last time […]
Foundations Are Just Beginnings You can’t attract an audience to your digital publication without first creating amazing content – and fortunately, that’s your wheelhouse. Once you’ve got the content, you can protect it (but not too tightly) with a metered paywall, allowing readers a taste of their choosing, without giving away the whole feast. That’s […]
Every Hero Has An Origin Story We’re always happy to talk about how Leaky Paywall works for you – how it helps you reach your readers, grow your audience, and increase your subscription revenue. Have you ever been curious about more of the details, technical or otherwise, of how Leaky Paywall came to be and […]
And now for something completely different… We talk a lot about how to woo your subscribers. But before you can start growing your digital subscriber base, you must answer a very important question: How much should my subscription cost? Pricing a digital publication is a crucial starting point. You have to start in the right place. […]