publishers | Internet Marketing Blog

Is group buying a good fit for Yelp?

If there's a sexy space on the consumer internet right now, group buying is it. Although there are arguments about whether or not market leader Groupon's first national deal with Gap was really as successful as it appears on the surface, one thing is for sure: companies large and small smell big money in group buying deals.

One of those companies is Yelp, and although it has plenty of competition, Yelp may be one of the few upstarts with the potential to put a dent, even if slight, in Groupon's rise.

by Patricio Robles 27 August 2010 13:24pm 2 comments

Is Forbes.com the next Huffington Post?

The Huffington Post, with its legion of unpaid contributors, has provided a controversial model for journalism and publishing in the digital age. Despite the controversy, it's hard to argue that the Huffington Post hasn't had some success with its model thus far.

The model has apparently worked well enough to interest stodgy old publishers to get in on the act. According to a tweet from Forbes editor David M. Ewalt, Forbes.com will soon see its own brand of the HuffPo model: standard journalistic fare supplemented with "a level 2 bottom of the pyramid: 1000s of outside contributors."

by Patricio Robles 17 June 2010 13:01pm 1 comment

Publishers, group commerce and private sales: a match made in heaven?

Yesterday, Sugar Inc., an online publisher focused on women's media, purchased FreshGuide, a group buying startup similar in nature to Groupon.

According to Sugar Inc. CEO Brian Sugar, the purchase was a no-brainer for his media company: "We believe the winning business model for next generation media companies must include diverse revenue streams...we believe that FreshGuide will provide local advertisers the ability to advertise to Sugar's large audience in a high-quality and cost-effective manner."

by Patricio Robles 08 June 2010 10:28am 2 comments

Do publishers really need an iPad app?

The iPad has been talked about as a potential saviour by publishers eager to find new ways to monetise their content, and a number have already launched apps for the device.

However, while iPhone apps are useful to make the content more accessible on a small screen, is this really necessary when standard websites already work well and look good on the iPad?

I've listed some of the pros and cons of iPad apps for publishers. I'm sure there'll be more, so please let me know below...

by Graham Charlton 03 June 2010 09:54am 5 comments

ComScore tries to befriend small publishers, startups

When major advertisers and agencies are looking to buy media online, they typically turn to companies like comScore and Nielsen for audience measurement data. That makes these companies extremely important to publishers.

Unfortunately, smaller publishers and startups in most cases simply can't afford to jump in bed with the comScores and Nielsens of the world. That has created opportunity for upstart competitors like Quantcast and Compete, which are aiming to away at their positions in the market.

by Patricio Robles 27 May 2010 11:30am 1 comment

The top seven Facebook tools for publishers

Facebook may increasingly be on the receiving end of criticism related to its stance on privacy, but the world's largest social network is still one of the top places to reach consumers online.

With more than 400m registered users globally, Facebook is the world's largest social network, and publishers looking to stay connected with their users and acquire new users have plenty of Facebook tools at their disposal to do just that. Here are seven of them.

by Patricio Robles 14 May 2010 10:46am 3 comments

Five ways publishers lose ad revenue

Despite the fact that paid content and premium services are back in fashion today, a significant number of online publishers still rely wholly or partially on advertising revenue.

Yet many of them shoot themselves in the foot by engaging in behavior that limits their potential to generate ad revenue instead of boosting it.

by Patricio Robles 10 May 2010 09:35am 2 comments

Publishers beware: audience targeting is not your friend

According to the 2010 Display Advertising Study conducted by Advertiser Perceptions on behalf of Collective Media, the number of advertisers planning to increase their spend this year on site-specific ad buys is greater than the number planning to increase their spend on ad networks.

The study, which was based on interviews with 420 advertisers, found that nearly half of the advertisers interviewed planned to spend more money this year with "spending increases limited to vertical content and video sites". While ad networks are also set to be the recipients of greater spending, the number was closer to a third of respondents.

by Patricio Robles 07 May 2010 12:17pm 6 comments

Yahoo throws in another towel

Yahoo has been forced to throw in the towel quite a few times over the years. From search to music to travel, getting out of markets may arguably be the one thing Yahoo still does well.

And the list of markets Yahoo gets out of continues to grow. Yahoo's latest shuttering: its AdSense-like ad network, Yahoo Publisher Network (YPN).

by Patricio Robles 01 April 2010 12:30pm 4 comments

Is ad blocking really devastating to the sites you love?

Ken Fisher, the founder and editor-in-chief of popular online tech publisher Ars Technica has a message to readers who use ad blockers: you're killing us.

In an effort to defeat ad blockers, last Friday Ars experimented with a technique designed to prevent Ars readers with ad blockers from viewing Ars content. According to Fisher, the experiment was a success "technologically" but not surprisingly, a "mixed bag" socially.

by Patricio Robles 08 March 2010 09:13am 8 comments