Attempt to fix a problem when you choose the Big Promise headline for your landing pages

A great headline is really an advertisement for an advertisement. It grabs the reader’s attention with such force that they can’t resist reading the next sentence. They read your headline and think, “I need to know what comes next”, much like an episode of LOST.

OK, perhaps that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I can tell you that a bad headline won’t get your potential customers anywhere, and it most certainly won’t get them off “the island”.

Identify your landing page templates and discover why articles are your #1 best sellers

Landing page templates aren’t just for taking names and selling products. Those are steps #2 & #3. Some landing pages, like an article landing page, is the introductory first step that convinces them to move on.

There are lots of landing page templates out there. After all, when someone puts in a keyword, you’re hoping they’ll “land” on your site one way or another. If you’re doing it right, every page on your website also either captures an email address or sells a product.

New media trends show that the iPad is bringing magazines back to life – why are we still resenting it?

The iPad is everywhere. It’s being used at Posh NYC restaurants as wine lists and menus, and it’s being doled out at hotels pre-loaded with newspapers.

So why is it that publishers are still struggling to come up with ways to use this device to sell their products? There are a few publishers doing a pretty rockin’ job with the iPad and have totally embraced the interactive nature of the device.

Landing page optimization tips that can work for both B2B and B2C publishers

Would a name-squeeze page work as well if it went by any other name? Yes it would, and that’s why we call it a Rapid Conversion Landing Page, or RCLP for short. Some people call it an email capture page as well. All jargon aside, the point of this page is to collect an email address by offering away a free product.

The more value these landing page create—and deliver—the more effective they are at growing the database. A Rapid Conversion Landing Page can be long or relatively short. It can tell an entertaining story, as does the RCLP for the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law (link below).

A superb editorial management strategy is the key to a successful, organized online marketing system

We have a giant collection of best practices for online editors in our Editorial Management Guidelines for Online Publishers white paper, but while we were reviewing it this week, we thought it might be nice to bust out a few on the blog that we thought were particularly important.

1. Require double opt-in on your email newsletters.

Create a giant archive of robust free reports for optimal SEO Campaign Management

Sometimes publishers know that they should be giving away free content in order to build their email list, but have no idea what to use for content. Should they create new content? Repurpose old content?

If you’re repurposing old content (and we suggest that you do), it’s a whole separate battle to try and come up with themes for your free reports.

Add a few Facebook best practices to your social media strategy

Many companies are jumping on the Facebook bandwagon and creating pages for their publications and blogs on Facebook. There are good reasons for doing this (ie. driving more traffic) and bad reasons for doing this (ie. selling more products). One leads to the other, but Facebook on its own is not a big moneymaker in the publishing industry.

Before you launch a Facebook business page (or go any further), here are five things you should know about Facebook marketing.

Four quick tips from the professionals for turning your promotional email newsletters into leads and sales

The average email user gets dozens of emails per day, while others may receive hundreds of email messages per day. As a publisher I’m sure you’re aware of this.

An email subject line that fits the above criteria has a better chance of getting read. If you don’t follow specific guidelines while sending out email promotions, there’s a good chance your messages may be labeled as spam or end up in your recipients’ bulk folder. Pay close attention to the words you use as some words will trigger spam filters.

Membership websites require content and effort – don’t attempt building one if you haven’t got either

While a Membership Website can be a profitable addition to a publisher’s online strategy, the decision to launch one must be carefully considered. If the publisher has been sponsor driven print, a Membership Website may be a bad idea unless the publisher can come up with some clever way to populate both a free website and a paid membership website.

Your free website includes your blog. Some publishers only repurpose print content, while many others create fresh original content to publish on their website, or Internet Hub as we like to call it. Your Internet Hub is the face of your brand. It tells people exactly what type of quality your content has, and whether it’s worth spending money with you.

People Magazine Thinks Not

It’s funny. When everyone first thought that online subscriptions were a good idea, they coupled print and online subscriptions. It just made sense. When people are asking for a digital version of your publication, why not just increase their monthly subscription and include both versions?

Somewhere along the lines, many publishers saw how well this model worked and split the two subscriptions apart, leaving a digital-only subscription and a print-only subscription. Smart publishers let the combination package remain, but raised rates, forcing subscribers to choose.