Protecting Content from AI Circumvention with Smart Paywalls
Bots are grabbing your best work. What if the fix also grows your list and subs? Learn the simple paywall plan inside.
Category: Strategy
Scaling Local: A Publisher’s 104% Subscription Playbook
From “flip book only” to whole‑site funnel: free registration, steady newsletters, and on‑site checkout with automatic renewals turned this local site into a reliable engine for traffic and subscriber revenue.
Case Study: Similar Paywall Setups, Two Very Different Outcomes
Two WordPress publishers run the same paywall stack but get very different results. This case study breaks down the tweaks behind each win and the flywheel that blends them.
Cloudflare’s Pay-Per-Crawl: Sustainable Income or Just Spare Change?
Cloudflare’s Pay-Per-Crawl sounds great, but bot pennies won’t match real revenue. Email capture, solid newsletters, and fair subscriptions still win. Here’s the playbook.
Surviving Google’s AI Overviews: A Simple Playbook for WordPress Publishers
Google’s AI snippets are stealing easy clicks. Learn how first-party data and a flexi-meter can turn fewer visits into more loyal subscribers.
The Truth About Paywall Evasion, AI, Google, and Passwords
Worried about AI scrapers, “remove-paywall” hacks, or shared logins? Learn which threats really hurt—and the simple tweaks that protect revenue without killing reach.
Subscriber Retention Playbook For WordPress Publishers
Keep more of the readers you’ve already won. Discover WordPress-friendly strategies that lift subscriber retention and protect recurring revenue.
The Flywheel Framework: Turn Readers Into Revenue
Build email, boost traffic, turn readers into revenue—spin up your Flywheel Framework today.
Moving Past the Fear of Paywalls: Lessons from Four Publishers
Launching a paywall for the first time can feel intimidating. This blog walks through how four publishers—each starting from a different place—faced the fear, took the leap, and found what works.
18 Innovative Tactics To Grow Your Subscription Revenues
It’s time to consider adding revenue streams. Check out these new tactics that are actually working for our publishers.
Developing a Winning SEO Strategy for Paywalled Content
Let’s explore how a leading publisher is future-proofing their traffic growth strategy in the age of paywalls
Publisher Mastermind webinar: How to easily set up your subscriber-only newsletter
Publisher Mastermind – Learn why and how to set up your free and subscriber-only newsletters
What percentage of your audience should be paid subscribers?
Paid digital subscriptions are becoming the largest share of revenue for publishers including the New York Times.
Special Episode: Pete stops by the Powered By Coffee podcast to talk paywall monetization strategy
Pete drops by the podcast Scale, from the Powered By Coffee team to chat about paywall monetization strategies with Stewart Ritchie.
3 ways AI will shake up your reader revenue
How do you target different types of readers? What registration setups work better than others? Find out…
How to convert more readers with targeted messaging
How do you target different types of readers? What registration setups work better than others? Find out…
Motivate your readers to become paying subscribers with a drip email campaign
Have a free registration wall and want to improve paid conversions? A nurturing drip email campaign plays a key role.
Is Your Free Registration Hurting Your Paid Subscriptions?
In this videocast, Pete and Tyler discuss different types of free registration approaches and how some free registration setups work better than others.
Can a pay-per-article option actually boost subscriptions?
Pay per article allows readers to purchase single articles. Offering a pay per article option can help drive readers to subscribe if both options are shown in tandem with each other.
It’s your subscriber. It’s time to control your data.
It’s important to take control of data, be able to export it, transfer it easily from one system to another, etc., so that you have full access/control over your information & subscribers at all times.
Subscriber Behavior: What insights do you need?
It’s time to identify the articles that convert your new free and paid subscribers. By digging into this single metric, you can quickly learn more about what readers actually value and will pay for.
Do Flipbook E-Editions Really Work?
Flipbooks (or e-editions) were an early development in field of digital publications. It was a logical step: they were a perfect replica of the print magazine, right down to the flipping pages (and sound effect).
As the digital world has advanced, flipbooks have fallen out of favor for many good reasons. But that doesn’t mean that they are completely obsolete.
Subscription predictions for 2023
Tyler Channel and I talk about trends that we have seen put into action as well as what publishers said they were planning on in 2023. This episode turned into a ‘recommended major themes’ discussion… actions that you should consider adopting this year.
Upgrade your free newsletter with paid subscriber benefits
As a publisher, it’s important to have a newsletter to drive your visitors back to your website.
How your paywall can help you build reader relationships
Join Pete and Tyler in a discussion on how your subscription system should actually be improving the relationship between you and your readers… with the end goal of building your subscription revenue.
How to turn your password sharing problem into a revenue opportunity
Password sharing doesn’t have to be a publisher’s worst nightmare. You have a few options to turn paywall dodging into revenue.
Sell more subscriptions with member benefits
Pete walks through a few actual publications, offering advice on how to find and phrase your best member benefits to sell more paid subscriptions.
How we would build a local news publication
Pete and Tyler discuss how they would build a viable local news publication in the digital age, with practical tips and tactics.
Should local news publishers ask for donations or require subscriptions?
Weigh the pros and cons of subscriptions v. donations as revenue models for local publishers in a continuing conversation with Pete and Tyler Channell.
How to succeed with digital subscriptions as a small local news publisher
Tyler Channel has a long history of helping small, local news publishers survive and thrive in the new digital world. The head of the Paywall Project and also head of Success here at Leaky Paywall, Tyler sat down with Pete to offer his wisdom on how local news publishers can succeed in the digital era, including two major success stories and a load of good tips.
Will selling an ad-free subscription boost revenue?
Selling an ad-free subscription has given Swedish publisher Samnytt a significant boost in revenue.
How many articles should you give away for free on your publication’s website?
Let’s answer the question: What should I set my paywall meter to? In other words, how many free articles should I give away before prompting a visitor to pay for a subscription? This is a question we get all the time from both news and magazine publishers.
An interview with Eric Shanfelt on subscription strategies
Eric and Pete dive deep into free registrations and paid subscription strategies. Make sure you check out Eric’s High Value Publishing podcast (where this interview is also published).
How to target (and convert) free registered users into paying subscribers
Learn two ways to target and promote paid subscriptions to your free registered users
How to attract a sponsorship for your free registration level
You’re giving away something for free. So you’re giving away your valuable content. So there’s a good match here between an advertiser to sponsor the free registration level and what you can tell anybody that’s new.
How to set up your email newsletter to boost paid subscriptions
Get the rundown on why an email newsletter is important to your paid subscriptions and a tour of a successful newsletter, in under 3 minutes.
Digital Subscriptions for Print Publishers: A Deep Dive
In this MACMA webinar, Pete offers a deep dive on digital subscription revenue, with a template for success based on best practices and publisher examples.
Your #1 strategy for growing paid subscriptions
Invest 6 minutes to learn the most important step in growing your paid subscriber base. We have implemented this strategy throughout our publisher base and the results are impressive.
Increase Subscription Revenue with a Family Plan
Adding a family plan increases your revenue options by offering readers a compelling alternative to password sharing.
March 2022 Monthly Update: MultiPass and the WordPress REST API
This month’s update brings you a few quick updates just to make your life (and subscriptions) easier, as well as a new product preview.
How to reduce customer churn with a dynamic menu
Customer service is a major overhead expense that can be reduced by creating a dynamic menu.
How apps actually increase digital subscription revenue (yes, really)
Having an app can increase your paid subscriptions by 10-30%. It opens up a whole new base of subscribers and improves reader experience.
Easy ways to level up your website to build paid subscriptions – Part 3 – Paywall Podcast
Learn how to create new, revenue-generating products with features that already exist on your site, in Episode 15 of the Paywall Podcast.
Easy ways to level up your website to build paid subscriptions – Part 2 – Paywall Podcast
This episode of the Paywall Podcast walks you through the different ways of targeting your subscribers and what to say to them.
Why you need a flexible subscription platform
Leaky Paywall is built specifically for the needs of news and magazine publishers that use WordPress. In fact, you can generate more revenue streams than you thought possible by taking advantage of its core flexibility. Flexibility = More revenue streams We thought it would be a good idea to showcase how different publishers are using […]
An Interview With Wally Wallace of 50Fish on Social Media – Paywall Podcast
Episode 10 of the Paywall Podcast is a primer on social media and email marketing from a career expert, based on real life successes.
How To Create A Subscription-Based Paid Newsletter With Leaky Paywall and MailChimp
Easily add a paid newsletter subscription with Leaky Paywall and MailChimp… complete with automated payments and expiration cut-offs
Local News Publishers: Subscriptions v. Memberships v. Donations – Paywall Podcast
The Question of Revenue Should your publication be seeking subscriptions, encouraging donations, or offering memberships? The three main revenue models are a hot topic in the publishing world at the moment. The simple answer? All three. Episode 8 of the Paywall Podcast is a roundtable discussion between ZEEN101’s Pete Ericson, Jeremy Green, and Tyler Channell […]
How to grow your paid subscription and advertising revenue – a MagHub interview
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 […]
An Interview With Street Photography Magazine – Paywall Podcast
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 […]