Like many digital offerings and publications, Crunchyroll is in a niche industry: a global video service for streaming Japanese Anime and Asian media (animated videos). Whether you publish articles, how-tos, or other content, Crunchyroll.com’s methods work. Crunchyroll.com has a tiered membership model: a free level of service which serves up ads to viewers with free memberships […]
If you are considering or implementing a metered paywall you need to read this article. The New Yorker magazine has some very compelling data about the success of it’s metered paywall. As of today they offer 6 free articles before you need to pay to subscribe. At article 4 they interrupt you to promote their […]
In 2014, blogger, Shannon George, wrote a detailed article comparing two online payment processors, PayPal and Stripe . The article, Paypal vs. Stripe, is a great read to understand the differences, pros, and cons of each. If you are using the WordPress platform for your digital publication, both processors can handle subscriptions (recurring and non-recurring). It’s nice to […]
Q: How do you take an existing online magazine (using WordPress and lots of custom functionality) and upgrade it with the most up to date subscription services for users and for writers? A: A great WordPress tech, of course, – some great custom work, top-notch plugins and patience. The on-line periodical, Chronicle of Social Change, […]
Harper’s is the second oldest print magazine in the United States and is making their way in the digital world. They recently decided to employ our Leaky Paywall to give readers 1 free article from their publication before requiring them to subscribe. This gives Harper’s three important benefits: Allows readers to sample a full article […]
Your reader has reached the end of their free article meter and your nag to subscribe pops into the article. What can you do to motivate readers to subscribe? Here are 3 easy to setup nags that work. 1. Embed an image that sells your subscription View a few articles on http://dynastyfootballwarehouse.com until your trigger […]
#4 Ad Blogging – letting advertisers promote 24/7 on your site One of the best kept secrets in advertising is simply giving your advertisers the ability to blog their promotions on your website’s homepage. Let’s call them “ad bloggers” Instead of filling up premium space with banner ads, go ultra premium: let advertisers publish their […]
#3 Your Paywall – readers try before they buy If you think your content solves a pain point for your audience that motivates them enough to pay then you absolutely should be running a metered paywall. What is a metered paywall? Simply a metered paywall lets your reader view X number of articles over a […]
#2 Native Ads – preserving the trust What is a native ad? Remember the advertorial in magazines? Well, native advertising is the same thing. You publish an article that is sponsored or paid as if it were a regular article. The difference is you must flag it to the reader as “Promoted or Sponsored” and […]
Your audience is always willing to “pay” to read your publication. How much they are willing to pay is the unknown you must uncover. Let’s explore the possibilities and put an approach together for your publication. Before we begin, consider what your audience will tolerate: Your reader will always pay by Accepting ads, Subscribing with […]
You run a metered paywall. Your articles are getting found in Google search and they are getting shared in Facebook. Your readers arrive at your site and comb through more articles. They are interested. They might subscribe. How do you encourage them? Do what the Austin Monitor does: Make them want to read the blurred […]
Profile DKonPittsburghSports is a Pittsburgh sports news site run by the award winning journalist Dejan Kovacevic (DK). DK offers readers 2 free articles using a metered paywall. The paywall is integrated with his iOS and Android apps for centralized subscriber management. After a reader views 2 articles either on his website or in his apps, […]
Why are readers drawn to content decades or even centuries old? The answer is a simple one: Articles that were once popular as cutting-edge news are now highly valued for their historical content. Digital archives are typically being made available through premium multimedia subscriptions that command significantly higher rates than print-only subscriptions — while still […]
“Going digital” has been the publisher’s catch-cry ever since the web started to take hold but for many small publishers it’s always been a costly undertaking. In the last few years, that’s all changed as low-cost, often free, products have once again levelled the publishing playing field. Now, the problem is not one of cost […]
