Paid content and silly surveys
The number of paid-content surveys to date that we know of is eight. Eight silly surveys and a total waste of money. This kind of hypothetical ‘Would you pay?’ question isn’t suitable for a general survey and it isn’t really valid for any kind of discussion forum.
Subscription site benchmark report 2010
The first 100% research-based guide for subscription, membership and paid content sites. Discover what social media and marketing tactics are working as you learn about online subscription trends, best practices, pricing models and conversion rates across all kinds of markets.
Media Week closes - no classified advertising
The original idea for Media Week was being touted around to prospective investors around 1981. The idea was to achieve a broad advertising base to take on The Guardian. But something went badly wrong …
Why subscription marketing?
All the current hot discussions on website business models, paid content, converting free-to-paid magazines, charging for news audience development etc., come back to one thing: subscriptions marketing.
Come on Cosmo!
Cosmo free e-letter sign-ups have just jumped from 30,000 to 84,399. But it took them 11 months to send a subscription promotion out!
The Web Wars
Our ongoing qualitative survey of marketing budgets and policy among our 400 registered marketers is not statistically perfect. Responses are personal and mostly from the bigger publishers. But they reveal an underlying marketing problem – you can hear a whiff of desperation in the words.
Google - just another publisher
When publishers discuss Google, they are mostly concerned with search engine optimisation and copyright issues. They see Google as a way of distributing and publicising their web offerings, or as a competitor. Those publishers are missing the point.
Website business models
Some people believe all they need to do to sell a product is to put a description on the Internet and purchasers will send in money. These are the people who are now busy debating what kind of website model will cover their costs and earn back the money they squandered over the years.
Paid content: the end of free websites
Cost cutting and creativity do not have to be mutually exclusive: you can reduce costs creatively whilst increasing efficiency. The first rule is to go where the money is – and the money has moved from traditional media: advertising pages are dropping by up to 40% year on year. Paid content is the business model to examine.
Converting your free publication to paid - part 1
Profitability would be increased if you converted free readers to paid-for subscribers. However, you are unable to convert your readers because you don’t have the money for that kind of marketing. Or do you?