Why Are You Publishing Online?

Are you able to answer the following questions off the top of your head? Why do you have a Web site? What is the purpose of your e-mail newsletter? These seem like simple enough questions, but for some reason, they’re incredibly hard for many publishers to answer – or, at least, it’s hard to answer them well. And, those companies that have difficulty answering these questions are usually the same ones with lackluster online media businesses.

Online media, just like print, must serve a reader need that cannot be fulfilled in the same way by someone else. It’s the golden progression of a successful media business: Deliver content that helps readers do their jobs (business-to-business) or helps them fulfill their passions/personal interests (business-to-consumer); aggregate an audience around that content; then sell advertising or market your own products to that audience to generate revenue. Way too often, however, we skip the first part and launch a Web site or e-newsletter that has no real value for the reader. It’s a house of cards.

Recently, a couple of editors contacted me – let’s say they were with Acme Magazine (forgive the Looney Tunes reference). They wanted to know why the open rate on their e-newsletter was so poor (13 percent) and what they could do about it. Despite its imperfections, open rate is a very good indicator of how important your e-mail newsletter is to your readers. If it’s really important to them, I have seen e-newsletter open rates average 40 percent to 50 percent or even higher. An open rate under 25 percent is a real indicator that your e-newsletter has problems. I had three questions for the Acme editors:

• What is the editorial mission of the e-newsletter? Answer: “We send out updates of things that are happening on our Web site … new products, previews of the upcoming magazine, upcoming webinars and highlights from our discussion forums. We don’t have a big staff and do what we need to do to get it done.”
• Why did you choose biweekly as the frequency? Answer: “Our magazine is monthly, so we thought we’d send out our e-newsletter twice per month. When we got enough ad support, we were told we could take it to a weekly frequency.”
• How did people get on the Acme e-newsletter list? Answer: “We added all of our subscriber e-mails and people who have attended our conference to the list. We also have a sign-up form on the home page of our site, but most of the people came from our print subscriber list.”

So here’s an e-newsletter with no clear editorial mission (e.g., must-read value), no editorial reason behind its frequency, and nearly everyone getting it didn’t ask for it. It’s no wonder the open rate was 13 percent.

The editors’ answers are similar to what most publishers would say and, granted, there are business reasons and resource constraints that must be factored into decisions you make about online media. But a successful online business – like a successful magazine – starts first with the needs and wants of the readers. Deliver what they want, how they want it, and when they want it, and you’ll rarely go wrong.

Step back, and take a look at what you are doing online and why. Ask yourself, “As a reader, why would I come to my Web site? Why would I subscribe to my e-newsletter? What would make me want to pass it along to my friends and colleagues?” If you cannot answer these questions to your or your readers’ satisfaction, then you need to re-think your online products quickly. Web sites and e-newsletters that fulfill a true reader need wind up having very few traffic or e-mail circulation problems. And when you have a passionate, engaged and growing audience, the revenue is sure to follow.