The Harvard Health Letter was launched in 1975 under Harvard University's Harvard Health Publications. Today, total circulation of the Harvard Health Publications newsletters exceeds 650,000.

Harvard Health Publications expanded into mass market book publishing about 10 years ago. In cooperation with Simon & Schuster and McGraw-Hill, it publishes 25+ titles, including The Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide, and launches about eight new books annually.

Harvard Health Publications also maintains a premium access, membership library at health.harvard.edu and a searchable database for all of its newspaper articles, magazines, books, newsletters and special reports.

Harvard Health Publications’ website is a single portal for all of its publications. An informative interview with Ed Coburn, Publishing Director, Harvard Health Publications, provided valuable insights into a profitable business model whose highest priority isn't profits.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Multiplatform Publishing Strategy.

• Handbook: Multiplatform Publishing Strategy
• Chapter 9: Harvard Medical School Mequoda Media Brand Study

The Internet has transformed every print publisher into a possible television producer, radio broadcaster, writer, blogger, CD publisher and website developer. The affordability of offering all these platforms is lower than ever and it has provided a huge opportunity.

Instead of delivering one product to one audience, your potential audience size has exploded. You can market to readers through print while making video and podcasts with the same content online to reach your non-reading audience.

Best of all, you can take a chunk of information, alter it, put it into a different platform, and voila, you have a new product to reach a new area of your market while keeping costs under control.

This is called multiplatform publishing strategy, and it is an extremely profitable way to turn your print publication into an online revenue machine.

This introduction is part of a handbook titled Multiplatform Publishing Strategy.

• Handbook: Multiplatform Publishing Strategy
• Introduction: Introduction to Multiplatform Publishing

Little was simple about the launch of Real Simple back in 2000, but after about a year and a half of tweaking, Real Simple hit its stride. Within the first few years, the magazine became profitable, and that gave the publisher an opportunity to see what else the brand could do for its readers.

One of the first places they expanded in was in books, which go deeper into a subject area. They now boast a syndicated newspaper column, a relationship with XM radio, a TV program on PBS, physical products like home office accessories and live events.

They are a great example of a successful multiplatform operation and now have a heavy focus on how they will make their website any easy to use, one-stop shop for everything Real Simple.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Multiplatform Publishing Strategy.

• Handbook: Multiplatform Publishing Strategy
• Chapter 13: Real Simple Mequoda Media Brand Study

Beyond being a mere household name, Martha Stewart has become synonymous with home decorating, cooking and gardening—bringing beauty to all things domestic. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc (MSLO), is an integrated media company distributing the "art of everyday living" to us in many different channels.

All these channels circle and promote each other, as Martha talks about her paint color used in the kitchen on her show, advertisers buy across the media outlets, content can be re-purposed in books and DVDs, and so on.

Martha’s multiplatform strategy is one of the most robust we’ve seen. Getting her website optimized to make it easy for the user to find and consume her entire suite of products should be priority number one for Martha’s team.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Multiplatform Publishing Strategy.

• Handbook: Multiplatform Publishing Strategy
• Chapter 11: Martha Stewart Mequoda Media Brand Study

Tim Carter started as a building contractor and decided one day to tell homeowners about remodeling and residential construction by writing a newspaper column. The column started in 1993 and continues today. In 1998, he launched AskTheBuilder.com.

In addition to that column, Carter expanded Ask the Builder’s reach into radio, television and the Internet. He now sells ebooks, DVDs, sample blueprints, bid sheets and house plans.

He uses the Web as the nexus to sell all those products and relies on the Google Adsense program to generate lots of advertising revenue.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Multiplatform Publishing Strategy.

• Handbook: Multiplatform Publishing Strategy
• Chapter 3: Ask the Builder Mequoda Media Brand Study

Taunton’s Fine Woodworking launched in 1975 as a black-and-white quarterly, followed by books on woodworking.

A few years ago, they started publishing special newsstand editions, which they now do seven times a year. Most are created from repurposed content from the magazine.

They have been producing video for 20 years and with the advent of DVDs, finally turned a profit on their video content. They also have a membership website at FineWoodworking.com.

They are now putting more emphasis on the advertising component and plan to use the same multiplatform model (or a variation of it) for their other brands.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Multiplatform Publishing Strategy.

• Handbook: Multiplatform Publishing Strategy
• Chapter 7: Fine Woodworking Mequoda Media Brand Study

To date, we’ve identified 20 platforms publishers are using to deploy and monetize content. Most publishers we studied began as traditional print publishers. But thanks to the explosion of the Internet, platform origination now becomes less important than most publishers would like to admit.

What’s more important is the willingness to explore and extend a brand across multiple platforms to meet the varying needs and habits of their audience.

This chapter describes the 20 platforms and provides examples of each.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Multiplatform Publishing Strategy.

• Handbook: Multiplatform Publishing Strategy
• Chapter 1: 20 Platforms Publishers are Using to Deploy Content

This Computerworld Mequoda Case Study is derived from one-on-one interviews with Pat McGovern, IDG's founder and Robert Carrigan, the CEO of US Operations. The case study outlines Computerworld's story from the beginning, and explores how they're making such a successful shift into the digital world of publishing.

As a way to introduce where IDG and Computerworld stands today, we thought we'd share excerpts from a recent blog post by Colin Crawford, IDG's Senior Vice President, Online. The post is titled "The transformation of IDG."

"For over four decades we’ve had print blood running through the veins of the corporate body. But over the last few years we’ve seen dramatic change. Today the absolute dollar growth of our online revenues now exceeds the decline in our print revenues."

"With this change in the revenue mix and the higher margins from our online businesses—the company is more profitable today than it has been previously."

"In the US, our online revenue now accounts for over 35% of our total US publishing revenues. Next year, for many brands, online revenues will be greater than print revenues, in fact they already are at some of our key brands and by 2009—approximately 50% of IDG’s US revenues will come from online."

"To drive this change and to focus on online revenue we’ve changed the business mission of our organization away from print. Going forward IDG Communications will define itself as a web centric information company complemented by expos, events and print publications."

Mequoda uses the term "archetype" to help understand and categorize kinds of sites. An archetype is a pattern or design upon which all other similar things are patterned. The Mequoda Research Team has analyzed more than 2,000 media websites and concluded there are seven primary archetypes. Each of these seven archetypes has many sub archetypes that represent significant variations in information architecture on the primary theme.

Another common media platform to better understand the concept of a media archetype is television. Television is a media platform that was born in the 1940s. Early television shows were based on media archetypes borrowed from stage, film and radio.

Today, TV producers draw on a rich array of television archetypes that include situation comedies, reality shows, dramas and news magazines. Each archetype can be represented best by an actual show or a collection of shows that are best practice examples for the format, and the same can be done for websites.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Generating Website Revenue 2007.

• Handbook: Generating Website Revenue 2007.
• Chapter 1 : Using Website Archetypes to Optimize the User Experience

A membership website is a user driven, content-based website satellite that generates the majority of its revenues from user access fees.

B2B publishers often convert loose-leaf information services and their monthly updates into membership websites for ease of updating and easy user access. B2C publishers often convert their back issues into a special-interest library categorized by topic.

Membership websites are used as reference tools by users who seek a trustworthy answer to a specific question—often as part of an immediate decision-making process. We’ve profiled two Mequoda best practice websites, the B2C site, Consumer Reports and the B2B site, The Accounts Payable Network in this chapter.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Generating Website Revenue 2007.

• Handbook: Generating Website Revenue 2007.
• Chapter 3 : The Membership Website Archetype

Every Retail Media Website has two business goals. First, the website must allow users to buy products. Second, the website must begin a user relationship with both buyers and non-buyers that will lead to future sales.

There are two information architecture strategies that can be used to balance these two goals. Both strategies require two things: a product to sell and free information to give away, usually in the form of periodic email communications (aka: a free email newsletter).

The user has three goals in mind when visiting a Retail Website; find a product that meets their immediate need, discern whether the product meets their need at an acceptable price and purchase the product and ensure its successful delivery. In this chapter, we will discuss the three Retail Sub-Archetypes we’ve identified to date; Retail Catalog Website, Retail Product Website and Retail Subscription Website.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Generating Website Revenue 2007.

• Handbook: Generating Website Revenue 2007.
• Chapter 4: The Retail Media Website Archetype

Classified websites generate revenue by facilitating commercial transactions between buyers and sellers of products or services. There are at least four major variations of the Classified Website Archetype; Classified Retail Websites, Classified Directory Websites, Classified Employment Websites and Classified Service Websites, all of which we will discuss in this chapter.

The user goals when visiting a Classified Website include: find a product or offer that meets their immediate need, discern whether the offer meets their need at an acceptable price, complete the transaction and ensure its successful delivery.

Classified websites generate revenue from listings fees and commissions for facilitating transactions between parties.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Generating Website Revenue 2007.

• Handbook: Generating Website Revenue 2007.
• Chapter 5: The Classified Website Archetype

Lead Generation Websites generate revenue by providing sponsors with qualified leads.

Users shop for products and services in an effort to save time and money, while the seller pays for content creation and co-branding value. Plus, the seller pays a transaction fee for each qualified lead.

In this chapter, we profile two very different lead-generation sites: Lending Tree in the B2C financial space and Computerworld, a B2B technology website network that provides leads for technology companies hoping to sell to information systems executives.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Generating Website Revenue 2007.

• Handbook: Generating Website Revenue 2007.
• Chapter 6: The Lead Generation Archetype

Hybrid Websites come in many variations as they successfully and often unsuccessfully merge functionality from two or more of the other website archetypes and sub archetypes into a single (often confusing) user interface.

Magazine and newspaper companies often build Hub, Retail Subscription and Membership functionality into a single user interface. The lack of a dedicated, open architecture, content rich, search engine optimized Internet Hub sometimes limits their overall website traffic and revenue generation capability.

In this chapter, we profile both B2B Hybrid Websites and B2C Hybrid websites.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Generating Website Revenue 2007.

• Handbook: Generating Website Revenue 2007.
• Chapter 8: The Hybrid Website Archetype

This Mequoda review of successful publishers, best practices, and the seven predominant models for designing media websites is comprehensive but not final.

Just as advances in technology have produced new media and spawned new strategies for disseminating information, we expect to see additional media archetypes evolve.

Whatever the future holds, whatever new business models emerge, the Mequoda Group will continue to help publishers master the Internet.

This handbook draws heavily on the more than 450 research reports contained in the Mequoda Library, a membership website. This chapter of the book lists all the references.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Generating Website Revenue 2007.

• Handbook: Generating Website Revenue 2007.
• Conclusion: Generating Website Revenue Conclusion & References

How do you introduce a topic that is redefining the publishing industry in ways that most of us do not fully comprehend?

For those of us not yet ready to retire, new thinking is required. We must redefine ourselves as media professionals and redefine the way we meet the information needs of our audience. Instead of publishing a single magazine or newsletter, we need to offer users information and entertainment on a variety of platforms using a variety of business models and marketing channels.

The Web is key to this strategy as it represents the 24/7 nexus for all the information and entertainment we have to offer. And whether the user’s media experience will be virtual or physical, online or offline, the user expects to find current information about the experience on the World Wide Web any time, day or night.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Generating Website Revenue 2007.

• Handbook: Generating Website Revenue 2007.
• Preface: Redefining the Special-Interest Media User Experience

Mequoda views Internet Hubs as one of the most important website archetypes available to a publisher. Without a well-designed, well-marketed Internet Hub, an online publisher is forced to rely on other websites and other media to drive targeted website traffic.

An Internet Hub is very robust, offering tons of useful information for free. It is designed to maximize online advertising inventory. State-of-the-art Internet Hubs offer users email newsletters, blogs, email alerts and RSS feeds that are all designed to directly and indirectly generate more page views and website revenue.

Internet Hubs generate value from both the users and the sponsors. The user pays with time and information. They spend time viewing web pages, emails and RSS feeds thus creating advertising inventory that can be used to sell the publisher’s products and/or that can be sold to third party sponsors.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Generating Website Revenue 2007.

• Handbook: Generating Website Revenue 2007.
• Chapter 2 : The Internet Hub Archetype

Brand Websites are used by all manner of non-online product and service organizations to build brand preference for the organization’s offline products and services. Brand Websites exist to alert consumers to online and brick and mortar retailers where purchases can occur.

On Brand Websites, users get product or service information and the revenue model is to increase retail spending, similar to other non-direct response advertising.

Brand websites, while not transaction based, are still essential for any company hoping to establish credibility and preference with its customers. A B2B and a B2C brand website are profiled in this section.

This chapter is part of a handbook titled Generating Website Revenue 2007.

• Handbook: Generating Website Revenue 2007.
• Chapter 7: The Brand Archetype

Choosing & Using the Right Information Architecture For Your Media Website Network

Gas stations, supermarkets and bookstores are all retail businesses, yet the specifics of their business model and their physical infrastructure are very different. Building the right infrastructure supports higher revenue, lower operating costs and happier customers.

Online publishing also supports different business models and each business model requires specific infrastructure to optimize the user experience, maximize revenue and keep costs low. Unlike a physical gas station or bookstore operator, the successful online publisher interacts with their customer in a virtual infrastructure. The nexus of this virtual infrastructure is called a website and is defined by its information architecture.

In this report, we’ll consider the ways in which you can design media websites that will best encourage users to interact with your media brand, develop a trusted relationship, and generate website revenue for your organization in the process.

FDAnews is the premier provider of domestic and international regulatory, legislative and business news and information for executives in industries regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

There are numerous "80/20 rules" that business people quote to explain the relationship between effort and results. One 80/20 rule says that 80 percent of your sales are derived from 20 percent of your customers. Another says that 80 percent of your revenue is derived from 20 percent of your products.

In a brand and audience focusing exercise, FDAnews president Cynthia Carter launched FDAnews.com when she recognized, immediately and intuitively, that the FDA information at her new employer's publishing company was a small portion—perhaps 20 percent of the entire content—but accounted for 80 percent of revenues.

That was in 2000. Today, FDAnews has in excess of 75,000 unique names in its marketing file. Each of these is a subscriber to at least one of seven free email newsletters and is worth an average of $65. In the past six years, the publishing company has increased revenues four-fold, aggregating 80 percent of its new business from online marketing.

The Gray Lady has been tweaking its online subscription model incessantly over the past few years. With its latest version, TimesSelect, casual visitors can't get access to the vast online library of past articles without making a $4.95 to $49.95 purchase.

The TimesSelect access challenge landing page is one of the best we have seen. And it's clearly working, generating more than a half million new subscribers in its first 12 months and adding more than $6 million in revenue to the New York Times bottom line since January 2006.

With 2006 revenues estimated at more than $510 million, up from an estimated $460 million for 2005, the newly formed Forbes Media Network is on a roll.

Forbes Media currently includes print, online conferences, radio and TV properties. At this time, an estimated $330 million still comes from the American edition of Forbes Magazine, however, senior executives Steve Forbes and Jim Spanfeller both tell Mequoda that online publishing revenues will pass print in 2008 or 2009—if the current growth rates for both print (up 6% for 2006) and online (up 57% for 2006) hold for 2007, 2008 and 2009.

This would the first time in media history that an online publishing business using an existing media brand would surpass the revenues of its successful print sibling. It will happen sooner or later. The question is simply which media brand will be the first. Forbes is an odds-on favorite for accomplishing the feat. And the feat will be all the more impressive because Forbes Magazine is continuing to grow its revenue and profits while Forbes.com makes its impressive climb. The milestone will prove that a wildly successful dot.com brand extension does not hurt the print sibling from which it sprung. In fact, the power and synergy of the integrated brand strategy may give the existing magazine a competitive edge on several fronts.

Online sales represented a tiny 2.2 percent of total retail sales in the first quarter of 2006. That means publishers who want to prosper selling ancillary products to consumers should look to broaden their retail distribution channels rather than simply posting additional product offers on their e-commerce websites.

Some publishers already use retail distribution channels in the same way they’ve historically used direct mail or public relations. Rather than trying to generate revenue, they view product sales as a loss leader or breakeven source. Their primary objective is to build a database of qualified customers to whom they can sell directly.

Their reasoning? It’s a lot easier and less expensive to market your products if you can identify your best customers. And capturing customer information on your website is easy, inexpensive, and effective.

To drive website traffic via retail distribution:

• Find a third-party retail message channel and ride along on that medium with a product containing a great offer.
• Include a response mechanism on the product itself or in the packaging that entices readers, users, viewers, listeners, or buyers to visit your website and register for additional useful information or a free download.
• Install appropriate conversion architecture on your website to capture the registration data and also offer a free email newsletter or other regular contact device that allows you to begin a relationship with each new site visitor.

That, in a nutshell, is a successful deployment of the Mequoda Internet Marketing Strategy.