Exciting Things We’ve Been Working On – Paywall Podcast

Working Together Building new tools and functionalities is a collaborative process at ZEEN101. Sometimes the ideas arise internally: trends we see in the industry, weather-proofing the software for changes in technology, and so on. But often, we build new tools because a publisher had a wild idea and wanted to see if it was possible. […]

February 2021 Monthly Update: New Tips For Existing Tools

New Uses For Old Things We’re well into the new year and it’s time to take a look at the things we have and think: How could that be better? The result is a host of new ideas for using tools you already have in new and exciting ways. Now you can do AB testing on […]

January 2021 Monthly Update: New Tools For A New Year

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 […]

Create meaningful revenue and content with paying advertisers

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 […]

December 2020 Monthly Update: Gifts For The Season

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: […]

November 2020 Monthly Update: Leveling Up

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 […]

September 2020 Monthly Update: Big Changes For The Changing Season

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 to generate new revenues through tiered subscription levels

“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.”

How we redesigned a website in 60 days to boost engagement and subscriptions

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 […]

The State of Subscription Management – An Interview with Vahe Arabian

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 […]

How To Create A Better User Account Experience

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 […]

How Generosity Can Generate Paid Subscriptions

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 […]

How To Create A Thriving Classified Section

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 […]

How To Protect Your Content With Category Restrictions

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 […]

Issue-based rockstars: 2 Folio awards for 2 IssueM publications

Take a Bow!  Many congratulations to Modern Drummer and Einstein Magazine (and if you can’t wait… see the Folio winners now). Their rockstar digital publications nabbed them a place among the prestigious Folio: Ozzie Awards, winner and finalist. Who are they? Einstein Magazine serves the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Modern Drummer is 40 years of […]

How A Local Newspaper’s Metered Paywall Doubled Its Subscribers In 18 Months

The Challenge: Valuable News Hidden Away The Austin Monitor is an online news publisher dedicated to the local political and business happenings of Austin, Texas. Though their content was prolific and valuable, their original hard paywall severely limited the growth of their readership. After all, it’s hard to court new readers when they can only […]

Traffic Surges and Web Growth: A Year With ZEEN101

A Year of Effort, A Year of Reward 2017 was The Year of Modern Drummer’s Digital Magazine. Originally a print magazine with a decent news blog and articles hidden in PDFs, Modern Drummer expanded to include a true, issue-based online publication. ZEEN101’s Anvil suite of products played a significant role in the process. Over the […]

Focus On The Users: Technology Lessons From ‘WordCamp For Publishers’

What’s Good For the Tech… WordCamp for Publishers was a treasure trove of information for the publishing space, both on the marketing and technical side. In terms of marketing, ZEEN101 learned a lot about the value of subscriptions over ads as a revenue source. The technical lessons were, well, technical but they had some broader […]