Posted by Adam T. Sutton in Website Design Tips	June 13, 2007

If your website does not bring in enough revenue, focus on what it's lacking

By Adam T. Sutton, Managing Editor, Mequoda Group, LLC

Bringing your publication online is not easy, but it's absolutely necessary.

Audiences are going online to find information now more than ever.

Global Internet use grew 214 percent from 2000 to 2007 and there are now more than 1.13 billion people online, according to Miniwatts Marketing Group.

That's why your publication has a website, right?

But does your website generate enough revenue?

Out of the thousands of websites we've studied and reviewed, only a small minority contribute more than 10 percent to their parent company's total revenue.

There are many possible reasons for a website to have a meager offering.

1) It might not be pulling in enough traffic.

This frequently happens when publishers decide to hide all their content behind a firewall and sell access for a fee.

These publishers forget that no one is going to frequent their website—and certainly not pay for a membership—without some incentives.

2) A website may not have a clearly defined reason for existence, what we call a "strategic intent".

Ask yourself, why do people visit my website? Can they complete those tasks easily?

If not, your website probably needs design adjustments to clarify its strategic intent.

3) It may not have enough sources of website traffic.

Website publishers are lucky. They can use everything from books, to pay-per-click ads, to direct mail, and everything in between to drive traffic.

You should be using every method you can.

4) The website's publishers may not have a profitable online publishing strategy.

The 21st century has arrived and publishing has changed forever. Using a print-based publishing strategy online is limiting and ineffective.

With digital content, it's easy to recycle parts of your products to create new ones, driving production costs to new lows and customer satisfaction to new highs.

Overall, how is your website doing? Does it contribute more than 10 percent of your revenue stream, or is it just floating in cyberspace, wasting money?

Research what your website needs and start working on it. The future of your publication depends on it.