News

So every consumer magazine has some sort of digital arm by now, but is the digital piece driving profits? Folio and CDS Global partnered to produce a report, Monetizing the Digital Revolution, which has some of the answers. Here are some of the most interesting findings: Digital-only still represents a small piece of the consumer publishing pie - only 12% of gross revenues in 2010, but that represents a 24% increase in one year. By 2016, publishers…

Think Groupon and Living Social have the market cornered on daily deals or group deals sites? Think again, especially if you are a niche publisher. Companies with niche publications are rolling out their own group-buying sites this summer. In late August, Hearst, which owns Road & Track as well as Car and Driver magazines, will launch offers aimed at the male-dominated readers of these two publications. Hearst will be using a deals platform built for big…

Think people won't pay for content that is already available for free on the Internet? Sure they will.  This example from Ars Technica is fascinating: Ars Technica's John Siracusa wrote a 19-page review of the new MAC OS X operating system. He offered it for free at his site (where it got 3 million views) and as a $5 ebook on Amazon's Kindle. In less than 24 hours, 3,000 copies of the ebook were sold bringing…

Software company Jumio today introduced a solution called Netswipe Scanning which will allow your subscription site customers to use their webcams as credit card readers. Basically the customer is prompted to hold up the credit card to his or her webcam and Netswipe scans it and inputs the data into credit card processing. Here are a few potential advantages of using this technology: Reduction in fraud. Netswipe turns a "card not present transaction" into an "online…

LinkedIn can be a major source of Web traffic for your subscription site and it should be a key part of your social media strategy. Just last week, LinkedIn surpassed MySpace became the 2nd largest social network (33.9 million unique visitors) after Facebook. And all that inbound traffic can lead to plenty of outbound traffic, i.e. TechCrunch reported a few weeks back that LinkedIn is its biggest source of social media traffic. So how to…

In a strategy shift from growing its number of users to getting its users to spend more time on Facebook, the social networking giant is getting ready to serve you your daily news right within the Facebook platform. Forbes' Jeff Bercovici reports Facebook is "asking a select number of news outlets to produce "Facebook editions" - basically, app versions of themselves that can be read and consumed right there on Facebook."Reportedly CNN, The Washington Post and…

We're always on the lookout for the best payment solutions for subscription sites. Braintree Payment Solutions has gotten lots of buzz recently. Just last month, the Chicago-based company raised over $34 million in Series A funding. Braintree also keeps signing on big name clients such as Living Social, OpenTable, Picknik, etc. Here are some things to know if all the buzz has you considering Braintree as a payment solution: Braintree is an all-in-one solution - offering…

Are you thinking of launching individual topic email newsletters for your subscription site? But you're not sure yet if there's enough interest in any one specific topic? We like the way Help A Reporter handles its new emails devoted to individual topics. There's the "Master HARO" list which has every topic in it but you can opt in to specific topics - the ones in dark print.But HARO also gives you the chance to opt in…

Testimonials are a key part of any subscription site, giving proof that your paid content is worth buying. Have your customers said great things about you on Twitter? Here's why SocialMediaExaminer.com says "Tweets" make for great testimonials: They're short, so they get to the point quickly. People write them in a moment of enthusiasm, so they're filled with praise and excitement. They're written for public review, so you don't need to ask permission to use a tweet as…

Everyone's talking about Netflix's price increase and the backlash around it. If you're in the same situation as Netflix and facing rising costs, what can you do to either make an effective price increase or find revenue elsewhere? Subscription Site Insider has the following tips: A/B test price increase: An automatic price increase should be the last line of resort for a subscription site, because it may lower acquisition and retention enough to lower overall revenues.…