eMedia Strategist

Revisiting the 30-Day, $1K Web Site Challenge - Mission Accomplished!

October 2, 2008 – 1:05 pm
A while back I wrote a post claiming I could launch a full-blown publishing web site in 30 days and for under $1K of hard cost to me. I got too busy with my consulting business and never got around to actually doing it. I'm not complaining as I was doing really well as a consultant, but it still gets under my skin that I never did it. Until now... I can't get into too many details because of confidentiality, but I just helped launch a full-blown publication web site in right around 30 days and $1K of hard cost. I can, however, share some of the keys that made such a launch possible: Use an out-of-the-box CMS. A good publication web site that supports continual updating, news, new products, magazine archives, video, blogs, community, social networking, informational pages (media kit, contact, etc.) and more can all be put together using basic CMS systems like vBulletin, ...

Posted in Development | 2 Comments »

Presenting at Oct 15 min Webinar: Monetizing Content Online

September 29, 2008 – 4:45 pm
I'm honored to be part of a panel speaking at an upcoming webinar by min called "Monetizing Content Online: Turning Editorial & Eyeballs into Real Revenue." The topic is a bit generic, but the panel min has assembled is excellent: Kevin Gentzel, Chief Advertising Office, Forbes.com Jim Berra, Senior VP & General Manager, Rodale Interactive John Alderman, Publisher, Slate.com And, of course, yours truly Key issues will include: Using content to create unique advertising opportunities and other revenue streams Creating content that readers want to use and share The role of social networks, gaming, and video Monetizing blogs and e-newsletters Expanding client reach via widgets and social media What size your online properties should be Just about every online media buzzword is being used here and I don't know how we'll cover all this ground in 90 minutes.  ;-)  I'll be bringing both a B2B and a consumer enthusiast perspective to the discussion. Be aware that this is a paid webinar ($325), but there ...

Posted in Personal | No Comments »

I Suck at Blogging

September 29, 2008 – 4:31 pm
What's one of the most important keys to a good blogger? Well, the fact that they actually write a blog post now and then certainly would help. The reality is that I have been so busy both professionally and personally that my blog has fallen to the bottom of my priority list. I still want a life after all and given a choice between spending time with my wife and family or spending time writing my blog ... well, the wife and family will always win out. The problem I have with keeping my blog updated is that I'm just not one to throw a lot of fluff out there. If you're going to take the time to read my blog, then I want to take the time to give you something worthwhile to read. Maybe I need to lower my personal expectations a bit and focus on more snippets than full-blown analysis. However, I ...

Posted in Personal | 3 Comments »

Effective Email Newsletters Webinar

June 12, 2008 – 3:35 pm
Back on May 2nd, I co-hosted a webinar on effective email newsletters (produced by Publishing Executive and sponsored by Campaigner). It was at a pretty high level, so I didn't get to jump into a lot of detail, but there is some good info in the webinar that anyone doing email newlsetters should check it out. Key areas that I covered in my part include: Content, style, and frequency considerations for B2B and consumer e-newsletters What to look for when choosing and email service provider What can prevent your email from getting to your reader How image filtering impacts your newsletter and advertiser and how to get around it The 8 keys to making sure you're CAN-SPAM compliant (or "how to avoid a multi-million dollar lawsuit") Opt-in vs. opt-out, list cleansing and renewal, and collecting demographics How to get the most revenue from your email newsletters What metrics you should focus on (and how some of them mislead ...

Posted in Personal | 2 Comments »

An Easy Way to Publish Media Kits

April 14, 2008 – 4:16 pm
Sales teams are always looking for ways to publish media kits, sales sheets, and other marketing collateral. It's often a challenge getting the documents on your web site and even then, they are usually PDF documents that take a long time to download before someone can read it. There's also the bandwidth required to host and deliver large PDF documents. I've discovered an elegant solution to the problem: Scribd's iPaper. It's quick and easy solution that is 100% free. I downloaded the Aviation Week media kit in PDF format (it's freely available on their web site) and put it into the iPaper format. You can see the iPaper version by clicking this link. What I like about this is: It loads very quickly into the browser window (much faster than PDF) It looks great It can be downloaded as a PDF or printed It can be kept private (e.g. only people you give the URL to) or ...

Posted in Personal | 3 Comments »

Enjoy High Online Margins While You Still Can

April 9, 2008 – 5:03 pm
Many media companies who have successfully embraced online media will tell you that margins online are significantly higher than those in print. One would expect this from an incremental business that leverages an existing brand, existing content and sales teams, as well as corporate infrastructure. Personally, I expect the incremental online business of any media company to generate at least 40% margin. This is one reason why we see such high multiples for media companies who have solid online media businesses. Even if total revenues are rather static, as long as the company has a solid, growing online media business, the company is making a greater profit from the same markets and assets. It is dropping a greater percentage of each dollar earned to the bottom line which is good for cash flow and enterprise value. Despite being a legitimate media for well over 10 years now, online is still transitional and ...

Posted in Sales | 2 Comments »

Publish Web First, Print Second

April 2, 2008 – 6:59 pm
So many publishing companies still do it backwards. They create content for their magazine, assemble it once a month, ship it to the printer, then convert it to HTML and dump 20-30 articles on their web site in one fell swoop. At least it;s better than some publishers who amazingly still don't put their content online, but it's still not the best way to maximize your print and online opportunities. There's a reason print magazines are called periodicals. They only come out monthly, weekly, etc. But online has no such constraints. New information can ... and is expected to be ... put up on a continual basis. So what do we do? Whip our editors harder, demand they create content for our magazines and expect them to also put up daily content on our web sites without increasing staff size and expense? It won't work, but I believe there's a much simpler solution. Take a product ...

Posted in Editorial & Content | 1 Comment »

Live from Publishing Business Conference

March 9, 2008 – 2:08 pm
I'm heading out to the Publishing Business Conference this evening in New York. I'm honored to be part of three panels on Monday. Beyond Webcasting - Revenue Opportunities with Rich Media - 11:15 AM. I'll be part of a panel presenting on various revenue opportunities around rich media. Personally, I plan to talk on creating low-cost, high-impact, and strong revenue producing streaming video programming via sponsorship. But we'll also cover video ads and a variety of other rich media opportunities. Emedia Roundtable Part 1 - 2:30 PM. This session will use my eMedia Revenue Pipeline article as the basis for discussion. We'll look at the various potential choke points that could be hindering you from making as much revenue as you could online. Emedia Roundtable Part 2 - 4:00 PM. In the second session, we'll take questions from the audience on where they see their chokepoints are to generating more online revenue and the panel ...

Posted in Personal | 1 Comment »