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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
Untapped Goldmines We’ve talked about this before, but there is an undeniable truth that deserves some time in the spotlight: Your digital publication has a ton of content that is either being overlooked or underutilized. Think about it. You’ve spent years putting out article after article of solid, brilliant, valuable content. There’s no way that […]
Everybody’s Got Issues Publishers already work incredibly hard. Your attention is on creating brilliant content: finding the right audience, the right sources, the right angle, the right words. On top of all that, you have to do the actual publishing: the platform, the distribution, the promotion, the revenue streams. It’s a lot. In recognition of […]
Two Truths Digital paid subscriptions have been a bit of a trial-and-error gig since the invention of the internet. But two seemingly unrelated things have become indisputably clear: The reader needs to be in control of their browsing experience Email marketing is still the number one acquisition and retention channel for digital publishers So what paywall […]
Easy Doesn’t Have To Mean Basic Leaky Paywall is an easy tool to set up. It can be installed easily, you can input your baseline settings easily, and then it can begin increasing your subscriptions easily. Of course, we can make it fancier. We’ve recently discussed some of the ways we have tweaked and customized […]
The Challenge: Classified Ads De-Classified Advertising is often the lifeblood of a magazine, financially speaking. Whether it’s a full-page photo ad with an attached perfume sample or a veritable catalog of classified ads, advertisements are a source of income. To a certain extent, this is true of web-based publications as well. Though banner ads have […]
The Challenge: A Reason To Subscribe For more than 10 years, Soccer Coach Weekly has been the go-to digital publication for the mentors of The Beautiful Game. Replete with drills, training plans, and even personalized advice, Soccer Coach Weekly is an invaluable resource for the entire range of juvenile soccer coaches. Originally launched in 2006, […]
Learn how to quickly create a linked banner ad and publish it into your sidebar. This method breaks down into a few simple steps: In your Dashboard create a draft ad Page for this and future ad work Upload the display ad image and insert it into your ad page Link the image to your […]
The Digiday podcast this week talks with NowThis president Athan Stephanopoulos about his approach to capturing and keeping a digital audience. NowThis (formerly NowThis News) creates news videos for distribution to social platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Their average video receives roughly 750,000 views, and they’ve gotten there, Stephanopoulos says, by focusing on improving […]
This question came in last week from a publisher looking to start up. Let’s jump in… in order to get to 5000 subscribers you need to do 2 things very well: produce exclusive “can’t get anywhere else” content produce content your audience “can’t live without“ What subscribers will pay for Let’s take a look at a […]