Sponsored emails are a big revenue generator for publishers. But the creative advertisers send us are usually horrible.

From single big images, to ultra complex HTML emails, advertisers and agencies often send creatives that:

• Don’t work on mobile devices.
• Aren’t compatible with popular email clients.
• Don’t solicit the kind of response that they should.

In this High Value Publishing session, I’ll show you a simple sponsored email template you can quickly implement to solve all of these problems.

Not only will it make your life easier, but it will make your advertisers more successful and encourage them to spend more money with you.

You’ll learn

• Why single image sponsored emails are bad for users, advertisers, and get flagged as spam.
• How complex HTML sponsored emails often don’t work as well as desired.
• A simple template that works great for readers, is simple for your operations team, drives more response for advertisers, and drives more revenue for you.

Learn more at https://nearviewmedia.com/

On July 1, 2023, Google will replace the current version of Google Analytics (also called Universal Analytics) with Google Analytics 4 (GA4). But I'm counseling all publishers to implement GA4 by July 1 of this year.

In just over a year from now, Google will no longer feed data from our websites into the current Google Universal Analytics And they will not bring over any data from the old Google Analytics into Google Analytics 4.

To see any trends or annual growth, you need at least a year's worth of historical data when Google shuts down the current Google Universal Analytics. That's why you need to convert now.

In this session you'll learn

• Key deadlines for converting to GA4 and saving data out of Universal Analytics.
• The biggest differences between Universal Analytics and GA4.
• What you need to do right now to prepare your site and your staff for GA4.

Learn more at https://nearviewmedia.com/

Are you considering a paywall or registration wall for your website? Are you having problems getting the kind of results you want from your paywall / regwall?

My guest during this High Value Publishing session is Peter Ericson, founder of Leaky Paywall and host of the Paywall Podcast. During this session, Peter and I talk about the keys to a successful paywall for publishers, hard versus metered paywalls, and the biggest mistakes we see publishers make when implementing a paywall.

We also talk about registration walls for non-paid publications.

Learn more at https://nearviewmedia.com/

As publishers, all of us want more subscribers while cutting the cost of subscriber acquisition. But our own subscription forms are often our biggest problem!

During this session we talk about the 7 biggest mistakes publishers make with their subscription forms. We then look at subscription forms from multiple publications to show you these mistakes and how to fix them.

Whether you have a paid or controlled / free subscription model, this is a session you don't want to miss.

Subscription Form Mistakes

• Order forms with no sales copy / benefits.
• Too many screens to place a subscription order.
• Too many subscription options / offers.
• Showing a field for promo / coupon codes.
• Distractions on subscription forms (navigation, content, advertising, popups).
• Missing Google Analytics and remarketing tracking and conversion tags.
• Poor mobile friendly design and missing mobile payment options.

Learn more at https://nearviewmedia.com/

Advertisers often have poor campaign alignment. The objective of the campaign doesn't match the creative the advertiser delivers. Or the metrics they use to analyze the success or failure of the campaign doesn't match the objective or creative.

As a result, the campaign doesn’t meet expectations and they (or their agency) blame you, the publisher. They pull their campaign and instead divert money to Google, Facebook, or other programmatic ad networks.

Do you want to sell more digital advertising? Then be sure you work with your advertisers / agencies to set the proper alignment of goals, creative and metrics.

During this session, me and my guest, Dan Affrick with Seamans Media, discuss:

• How to align advertiser campaign goals, creative and success metrics.
• The difference between direct response and branding campaigns.
• Common problems when advertiser expectations are not met.
• Direct response creative best practices.
• Branding creative best practices.
• When to work with advertisers on campaign alignment

Learn more at https://nearviewmedia.com/

In just a few short years, Sean Griffey and his team at Industry Dive have built an impressive B2B media company. But even if you're not in B2B, there is a lot that ANY media company can learn from their approach and success.

As a digital media company built from scratch, Industry Dive currently serves 23 industries with 53 email newsletters. They have over 2.5 million email subscribers and last year did over $100 million in revenue at a 30% EBITDA margin.

During this session, Sean and I talk about:

• How Industry Dive got started.
• How email is the key to their success.
• How they built an email database of 
  2.5 million active B2B email subscribers.
• How websites fit into the strategy and thoughts on the longevity of email.
• How Industry Dive chooses their business model and industries.
• Why they acquired a content studio as part of their business.
• What's next for Industry Dive and B2B media in general?

Learn more at https://nearviewmedia.com/

Email is the lifeblood for media companies. It's a revenue stream in its own right, but also drives web traffic, live and online event registration, and is the most effective channel for generating new subscriptions for paid, free, and controlled publications.

But I still see media companies make mistakes that hurt their deliverability, open rates and thus, revenue. I want to share some critical email tips for publishers to address the mistakes that I see most often.

In this session you'll learn how to:

1. Monitor your email reputation to ensure deliverability.
2. Check everything for mobile to make sure you don't lose readers.
3. Consider the exclusive sponsorship model for email newsletters.
4. Integrate subscriber upsells / renewals into your templates.
5. Do sponsored emails the right way and avoid common pitfalls.
6. Adapt to the impact of Apple iOS 15 on your open rates.
7. Consider implementing DMARC and BIMI to improve open rates.

Learn more at https://nearviewmedia.com/

With audience extension advertising you buy digital ad inventory from programmatic partners, remarket to your audience as they visit select websites, and then resell that inventory through your own ad system.

Some publishers already resell programmatic display advertising through 3rd party networks in order to supplement their owned media. However, this can create problems:

• There's a different sales process for programmatic ads that can be complicated.
• You use a different system to place the ads instead of your website ad server.
• Reporting comes from a different system instead of your own ad server.
• It's difficult to combine owned and programmatic inventory into a single campaign.
• There is no unique selling proposition as anyone can buy programmatic display advertising.
• Sellers can get enamored with programmatic at the expense of your owned media.

Audience extension advertising is a way for publishers to take advantage of programmatic display advertising, but overcome all of these problems. You can buy millions of high quality ad impressions at a low price, and traffick / report on them through your own ad system.

In this session, you'll learn how to launch audience extension advertising for your publication, how it works with your ad system, and some companies that you can work with to implement it.

Learn more at https://nearviewmedia.com/

When it comes to SEO for publishers, most of us still have a lot of room for improvement. 

Sure, we have some big advantages over other types of companies. We have a TON of content that often ranks well for unique search terms. And we get a lot of traffic and inbound links organically because we regularly create good content for our market niche.

But very few publishers take a methodical approach to search engine optimization. SEO is about building your publication's authority and trust in the eyes of your readers and Google. There are, of course, technical items that need to be covered. But there are also on-page optimization tactics by your editorial / production staff, as well as link building and management strategies.

This session gives you the structure of a good SEO strategy for any kind of publication. Make sure to watch this before yet another marketing firm approaches you with an "SEO audit" and tells you how they can improve your search ranking. 🙂

Topics covered in this SEO for publishers session

• The importance of EAT (expertise, authority and trust) to Google.
• How to improve the EAT of your publication.
• Technical SEO items that publishers should check.
• The importance of Core Web Vitals.
• How editorial and production staff can improve the SEO of content.
• How inbound and outbound links improve SEO.
• What toxic links are and how to manage them.
• The importance of Google News and Google Discover.

Learn more at https://nearviewmedia.com/

Despite wanting to be digital-first, most publishers are still stuck in a print-first publishing model. Our editorial calendars and workflows revolve around print production cycles. We may talk a good digital game, but if we take an honest look at ourselves, our web, email, social and other channels are too often afterthoughts or subservient to the print product.

For most publishers, print is the hub and everything else is a spoke.

But when I consult with media companies, I have one sure way to know if they have embraced digital and become a true multimedia company. They publish digital-first. Their website is the hub and print is a spoke.

For multimedia publishers like these, editorial calendars and production processes focus on delivering a steady stream of content to their website. They immediately push it out via other digital channels. They then compile the best digital content to create their print issues.

In today's High Value Publishing session, I go over:

• How print-first publishing hurts your business and puts you at a competitive disadvantage.
• How to move to a digital-first publishing model.
• How content should flow from your website to social, content distribution, apps, website notification, email and eventually to your print product.
• Common objections I hear from publishers and editors about moving to digital-first publishing.

Learn more at https://nearviewmedia.com/