The first key in running a successful subscription site is to focus on a topic where people need solutions. You know, the age-old idea of knowing your audience’s “pain points” and catering to them. So if you’re looking to start a new site or make certain your current subscription site is providing the right content, how do you know what topics might work best?On the micro level, especially if you have a site already, reader surveys can be a fantastic tool. On the macro level, web traffic reports are full of juicy trends that give you a snapshot at what topics content consumers are searching. The April 2011 report of BPA’s audited sites just came across my desk assessing average monthly impressions, unique visitors and unique sessions on a variety of topics:
- Largest traffic increase: traffic for consumer-oriented business & finance for topics was up 60.5%. Is the recession continuing to create demand for financial advice?
- Traffic for newspapers was down 47.3%. That might be good news for smaller, online publishers as this trend may show the public turning to a variety of sources rather than just news sites with established names.
- Interestingly, traffic for metro/state/regional content was up 13.4%. We’ve heard lots of talk in the last year or two about focusing on the “local” market.
- Parenthood is still hot (hello, Mommy bloggers and Daddy bloggers too): up 13.4%
If you would like to find out what’s going on with subscription sites in your niche, our sister site Subscription Site Insider has a number of resources including a library of exclusive Case Studies on B2B and B2C subscription sites like Angie’s List and TradetheMarkets.
