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4 Ways Publishers Can Get More from Their Content Management Systems
October 5, 2020
Are you making the most of your content management system? Most publishers don’t demand enough of their CMS. They’re using just basic features, leaving opportunities – and revenue – uncaptured.
In many cases, basic content management systems won’t do the trick for the level of functionality publishers need. But how can you know if you’re getting the most from your system or if you’re missing out?
When you fully explore your system’s capabilities, you will grow more quickly and operate more efficiently. Here, we’ve identified several opportunities publishers should take advantage of if they aren’t already. And if your CMS doesn’t support these opportunities, it may be time to consider upgrading to an enterprise-level solution.
Do you personalize reader experiences?
Not every reader has identical interests, even if they are all part of your niche market. Your CMS should enable you to use insights on user actions, demographics, behavior and interests, so you can personalize content and advertising on a more individual level. It should track everything from the articles they read to the events they register for.
Do you “productize” content?
When you “productize” your content, there are more benefits than increasing revenue per reader. It also allows you to develop a better picture of customer behavior. Subscriptions to high-value content such as industry data, niche newsletters, webinars and podcasts often equate to return visitors and customer loyalty (so long as you deliver on your promise).
With metering, you allow readers to access a certain number of articles before requiring registration or a subscription. With gating, you lock premium, high-value content behind a similar requirement. You can also offer site licenses, which are used to monetize your archives. A trove of formerly free content and past news can become an invaluable resource to organizations in your market. You can also productize content without selling it to build your marketing lists, as in creating one of these items for download or on-site access.
Examples of products you can create from your content include:
- Articles
- Reports
- eBooks
- Whitepapers
Do you use directories and buyers’ guides?
Directories and buyers’ guides give your advertisers engaging virtual storefronts. They can drive more traffic to your site and strengthen your relationships with advertisers, giving them greater opportunities on your site. An effective buyers’ guide:
- Makes your site the definitive resource for all companies in your market
- Enables self-serve listing management for advertisers
- Follows an intentional taxonomy
- Allows for advanced search
- Enables use of media, RFQs, maps and more to engage readers
Do you capitalize on SEO?
SEO is essential in today’s digital-first publishing world. Because SEO is one of the most effective ways to drive traffic to your site and gain readership over the long term, it’s worth regularly assessing your optimization strategy.
A good CMS will offer a level of SEO automation, intuitively selecting meta-data that you can adjust as needed. It will also offer Structured Data capabilities to further optimize your site for Google. Having Structured Data helps Google classify your content and display it in context-related searches, which leads to better ranking.
ePublishing, for instance, has automated SEO tools that generate the browser title and meta description. It also has a form for modifying SEO as needed, a mechanism to automatically update the SEO when you update content, and Structured Data.
Are you leveraging your CMS for maximum success, or does your current CMS have these capabilities? Get a demo of how ePublishing is helping publishers increase efficiencies, engage readers and make more money today.