For Magazine Publishers:
3 Tips to Convert More Site Visitors

Tip #1: Measure Subs Sold Per Unique Visitor.
This commonly-overlooked metric is also the most important: paid subs sold on your site as a percentage of your number of unique visitors. Also track total revenue the same way.

This global benchmark tells you both how effectively you as a circulator are getting your links and promotions onto the site, as well as how effectively you’re converting the people who click through.

The reality is that the more placements you can negotiate with your edit and ad sales team, the more subs you’ll sell. Tracking conversion rate by individual link alone doesn’t tell you the total picture (but is of course also important to track).

This leads to the next tip ….

Tip #2: Maximize Links per Edit Page.
You should have as many subscription links as possible on your edit pages. The typical successful site we track in SPARKwatch presents at least 6 or more, including text links, space ads and embedded forms, with at least 3 above the fold (more on that later). Try benchmarking your total count vs. your competitors’.

Tip #3: Get Text Links in the Right Places.
At a minimum, you should include text links in the most prominent places possible on as many pages as possible, including:

o In the vertical nav bar – try to get the top position.
o In the horizontal nav bar – get the far right-hand position
o Top right-hand corner of every page
o Include links for gift subs and renewals
o At the end of every article
o Adjacent to large photographs (especially the cover)