March 15, 2001
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ContentBiz from MarketingSherpa.com
(((((((((( March 15, 2001; Vol. II, Issue 11
Please forward *without* cutting.
Free subscriptions at http://www.contentbiz.com
1) Publisher's Note: Are the "experts" wrong about selling
subscriptions online?
2) CASE STUDY: How SellYourBrainFood.com Gets 1,200 Online
Subscribers to Pay $19.95 a Month for Non-Original Content
3) INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS: Bill Myers Explains How to Target, Price
and Market a Subscription Site
4) More MarketingSherpa.com Headlines
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Let's prove the Experts Wrong!
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Dear Subscribers,
I don't usually write notes in ContentBiz. But something's been
bugging me recently and I wanted to share it with you -- and to
get your feedback on a possible solution.
Seems like every time I turn around some pundit is being quoted
in the media saying, "It's impossible to sell subscriptions to
online content!" Then they cite Slate and TheStreet.com as their
same-old, same-old examples. Makes me wonder, since when do a
few failures doom an entire business model?
So, as you may have noticed, these past few months we've been
reporting on publishers who ARE selling subscriptions to online
content successfully. At first they were hard to find, but these
days it seems like we can't swing a dead cat without hitting
another one. Most aren't famous. But I can assure you that many
are profitable!
The new articles below are the latest fruits of our research on
this topic. Before you read them, I want to bring up another
idea:
I think it's time we all got together in person to hash out what
really works (and doesn't work) in this business model. So, in
partnership with the folks at Digital Publishing Data, ContentBiz
is putting on a day-long seminar, "Selling Subscriptions to
Online Content," in Washington DC on May 18th.
We're lining up almost a dozen speakers -- every single one with
hands-on experience selling subscriptions to sites and email
newsletters successfully. I want to make sure that you'll have
plenty of opportunity to get answers to all of your questions,
network with your peers, and get real value from the day. So we
are limiting tickets to just 50.
There will be more details shortly. In the meantime, if you'd
like to get your tentative, no obligation, ticket reservation,
just go to http://www.marketingsherpa1.com/seminar.html
Plus, please send me your input on the types of hands-on, useful
information you'd like to get from this Seminar. Any other
feedback you have for us is equally welcome. You can email me
at anneh@marketingsherpa.com
Thanks. Hoping to see you in person May 18th,
Anne Holland, Publisher
ContentBiz
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CASE STUDY: How SellYourBrainFood.com Gets 1,200 Online
Subscribers to Pay $19.95 a Month for Non-Original Content
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CHALLENGE
Book and eBook publicity consultant, Monique Harris
was, self-admittedly, "really burnt out" after co-authoring her
own magnum opus, "Make Your Knowledge Sell" published by Ken
Evoy's SiteSell (TM) in January 2000. However, she couldn't
resist trying to see if she could grow an ongoing subscription-
based product out of the publicity that surrounded her book's
publication.
CAMPAIGN
Harris already had a broadly focused site, SellYour
BrainFood.com, she'd run for about a year, the URL of which was
mentioned in the book several times. So, after taking a few
weeks off to refresh her batteries, she dug in, tightened the
focus of the site to specifically appeal to her target audience -
- book and eBook authors and publicists -- and relaunched it as a
subscription-based service at $197 a year.
Paid subscribers get access to a regularly updated online
database of resources for book and eBook publicity, as well as a
subscribers-only message board. Harris explains her content as
follows, "We write descriptions of existing sites and online
resources and point our readers toward them. We don't do any
original content. We don't write articles." Why are subscribers
eager to pay for this? Harris says, "The thing is, free stuff
online is not organized properly for people who need to use it.
We also give customized information so if you have a specific
type of book you're trying to promote, we'll do the research and
post it." Her site traffic logs bear out the value people find
in this. New subscribers often spend an hour or more in the site
the first time they enter it.
Harris markets the service passively through search engine
optimization, and actively by sending out a twice-weekly, free
"lite version" of email newsletter paid subscribers receive. She
says, "I create the paid version first, and then I take things
out to create the free one. The free one is really teeny, one or
two tips and that's it." The free version also contains
tantalizing glimpses of the resources readers will get access to
... as soon as they ante up for a paid subscription.
SellYourBrainFood.com also offers a premium, a $49 value special
report, to encourage conversions from free to paid.
In addition, Harris markets the site by offering an eBook, "55 E-
Book Marketing Resources," which includes excerpts of site
content plus a promo page for her free lite-version newsletter,
to related Web sites to give out to their visitors for free. She
gets the word out by emailing webmasters a brief note asking them
to offer the eBook to their visitors. (There's a copy of the
note below.)
RESULTS
SellYourBrainFood.com now has 1,200 paid subscribers
with more joining weekly, and less than two dozen cancellations
after more than a year.
Harris did find that her marketplace was not happy with the $197
annual fee; so, soon after launch she switched pricing strategies
to only offer subscriptions at $19.95 per month on a til forbid
basis. ("til forbid" means a publisher will charge a subscriber
until told not to, which eliminates the need for a renewal
series.)
The site's most successful sales method has been its free lite-
version email newsletter. Harris says, "We found that the free
newsletter was the bread and butter of it all. Every time we
send it out a couple of people convert to paid. Sometimes they
tell me, 'I've been on your list for awhile and I just couldn't
stand it anymore!'" About 4,000 opt-in readers currently receive
the free newsletter.
Harris was surprised by the fact that the site's message board is
one of its most popular areas. She says, "It gets a tremendous
amount of traffic. Way more than I anticipated."
NOTE: For those of you who like to steal good copywriting for
your "swipe" file, here's a sample of the simple note Harris sent
out to entice a site owner into carrying the promotional eBook on
her site:
Hi Kathryn,
My name is Monique Harris, and I recently published
an e-book titled, "55 E-book Marketing Resources,"
which features dozens of places where you can promote
an e-book online.
It's available free of charge at
http://www.PromoteYourEbook.com
Feel free to distribute it to your sites visitors, or e-zine
readers.
And if you need any other e-book promotional content,
let me know. I have a database with a TON of resources
at my fingertips.
Warmest regards,
Monique Harris
Editor, Digital Publishing & Promotion
http://www.SellYourBrainFood.com
FINAL NOTE: Harris has confirmed she will be speaking at the
ContentBiz Seminar on Selling Online Subscriptions in Washington
DC May 18th. If you'd like to meet her there, reserve a spot
today at http://www.marketingsherpa1.com/seminar.html
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INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS: Bill Myers Explains How to Target, Price
and Market a Subscription Site
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Bill Myers, CEO Hamilton New Media, has more experience selling
subscriptions to online-only content than almost anyone else in
the industry. He comes from a background in classic print
newsletter publishing; and, his last site, Bill Myers Online, had
a renewal rate of more than 80% for its $995 per year
subscriptions.
Myers folded this service two months ago to concentrate on his
software business (Hamilton New Media produces Membergate, a
product that publishers use to create and manage their sites.)
However, since all of his customers and most of his close friends
are online subscription publishers, Myers remains close to the
heartbeat of the industry. Here are the highlights of our
interview with him:
BEST QUOTE: "I have a friend who publishes an online newsletter
for 1950-51 Fords. He has 1,500 subscribers at $89 a year.
It's not even a newsletter -- it's a listing of parts available
for that car. Those collectors want those parts!"
1. Picking a Target Audience
Prospective subscribers must be online (obviously); comfortable
with paying for print or online information in the subject area
and price point you choose; and in a tightly defined niche
totaling 2,000-5,000 people interested in a very specific topic.
You don't want a site with millions of members who aren't
qualified or motivated to purchase a subscription. In fact it's
better to have 500 passionate readers who will pay a high price
for your content than thousands who will complain about paying
anything.
2. Pricing
Myers recommends publishers contemplating for-fee launches first
consider what their time (or their staff's time) is worth to
create and maintain the publication for a year. Then work
backwards from that amount to figure out how many units you need
to sell at a price-point that's reasonable for your niche
audience to pay. If you have to sell thousands of units, then
your idea may not be a workable one.
Remember it can take more effort for an independent publisher to
market a low-priced site than an expensive one. It can be
easier to sell and service 1000 customers at $100 a year versus
10,000 customers at $10 a year.
Myers notes Membergate's most successful customers charge at
least $97.50 per year, the average is $197-$297 per year. He is
strongly in favor of pricing annually vs. monthly when possible
because it's less work to charge subscribers' credit cards once a
year.
3. Topics That People Will Pay For
First of all, running a subscription-based site is work. It will
take 8-10 hours of your day, every day. So Myers recommends that
you pick a topic you feel passionately about. Something you
might want to write about even if you didn't need to earn a
living. Luckily, subjects that arouse that sort of passion in
you are also often topics that others are passionate enough to
pay for.
To get an idea of the type of niche that works in the consumer
marketplace, Myers brainstormed up a few topics, such as how to
make a living as a travel writer, or comprehensive news and notes
on using ground penetrating radar tools for treasure hunting.
4. Marketing a Subscription Site Successfully
Myers is very much against giving away content for free. Instead
he compares a subscription site to a gated community. Non-members
can stand outside the gate and watch the members drive in, but
they can't get in themselves until they've paid. In fact, he
blames TheSteet.com's difficulties in selling subscriptions on
the fact that that site allowed non-members full-access for a
free trial period.
His favorite home page format is to allow non-members to see
short summaries of the latest stories for free, but a "members
only" page comes up when they try to read the whole story. You
should also allow (and even encourage) non-members to use the
site's search function, but again only summaries would appear
instead of entire stories.
Myers believes getting site traffic should not be difficult
because if you have picked a niche that's tightly targeted
enough, there will only be 2-3 other sites online that focus on
that topic. Therefore you'll have an easy time getting good
search engine rankings. He also recommends promoting B-to-B sites
by speaking at related seminars and conferences.
5. Most Popular Site Feature
In Myers experience, his site's bulletin boards were its most
popular feature. In fact 70% of traffic went directly to the
bulletin boards, and some subscribers used the site as their
personal Home Page so they could keep tabs on the conversation
throughout the day.
Private bulletin boards have a different dynamic than public
ones. Members feel safer and more comfortable in private. They
also get value from the sense of community they have with their
peers who are also paid members. This feeling of community can
help keep your renewal rates high, because as Myers put it, who
wants to leave behind their group of friends?
http://www.membergate.com
http://www.bhmyers.com
NOTE: Myers called us yesterday to let us know he'll definitely
be attending the ContentBiz Seminar on Selling Online
Subscriptions in Washington DC May 18th. Again, the reservation
form is: http://www.marketingsherpa1.com/seminar.html
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More MarketingSherpa.com Headlines
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* 32% of Your Email Opt-Ins Will Move This Year: Here's How to
Follow Them
Depending on how long you've been gathering names, your list
probably contains at minimum 10% bad addresses, and that number
could be as high as 40-50%. Here are the top three vendors who
can help you clean your list:
http://www.emarketingtoher.com/sample.cfm?contentID=1517
* Myth Exploded: Yes You Can Merge/Purge Rented Email Lists
Guess what? Anybody who tells you that you can't merge/purge
rented email lists is wrong. In fact it's one of the biggest myths
in B-to-B online marketing today. Merge/purge, the art of checking
lists against each other to eliminate duplicate names, is critical
in email marketing because so many businesspeople are on more
than one mailing list. Here's how you can merge/purge:
http://www.b2bmarketingbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=1523
* How Customer-Focused is Your Company? Test Your Site with the
"We We Monitor"
Seems like every company in the world claims to be customer-
focused. But are they really? Many marketers don't realize just
how revealing the language they use to describe their company is.
Now there's a free, new, online tool to evaluate that language:
Future Now's Customer Focus Calculator (aka "The We We
Monitor."):
http://www.b2bmarketingbiz.com/sample.cfm?contentID=1526
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CONTENTBIZ INFO
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To subscribe (FREE!) or unsubscribe (Easy!), go to our Web
site at http://www.contentbiz.com
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To contact the Editor:
editor@contentbiz.com
Publisher:
Anne Holland
anneh@marketingsherpa.com
202.232.6830
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© Copyright 2001 MarketingSherpa, Inc.
