Digital publishing news for November 14, 2013
Parade has been a bit slow to make the digital shift but over the past year it’s made a few different digital publishing moves. Digiday’s Josh Sternberg writes, “In June, the publication revamped its website with a cleaner, more image-heavy design. It also introduced a contributor network to solve two problems: create more content and open up opportunities for brands to publish on the site. Parade embraced native ads this year, too, but is still experimenting with programmatic.”
Many of the papers that include Parade in their Sunday editions are also running Parade content on their websites. Sternberg adds, “Partner sites also run the odd Parade custom unit. The ad will have Parade branding on the top and have some type of creative — print, video or graphic. Clicking on the ad directs the reader to the brand’s page on Parade. McNally said that his focus is getting “persistent presence” on these partner sites, which will mean getting Parade’s editorial, photos and advertising on these newspaper sites more often.”
Parade has also implemented a contributer network that has helped them go from publishing six posts a day to 30. The contributor network helped them reach 1,000,000 visitors per month. Before implementing the contributor network they averaged 500K visits a month.
Twitter Sets Up an Ads 101 Portal for Businesses
The good folks at Twitter have published a new portal explaining how businesses can create successful Twitter ad campaigns. Twitter currently offers two types of ad products: “Promoted Tweets (in timelines and in search) help you get your content in front of the right customers at scale and Promoted Accounts help you quickly build an active community of customers and advocates for your business.” They also cover how Twitter ads are targeted. You have three options: interest, location and gender. This a great primer for anyone unfamiliar with Twitter’s ad products.
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Are Comments with Links Considered Spam?
Matt Cutts, head of search spam at Google, is back with a new video this week on Google’s Webmaster Tool YouTube page. A viewer asked if comments with links were considered spam. In the video, Cutts explains that it’s always better to leave comments with your real name instead of spammy anchor text. He also goes on to mention that leaving comments with links should not be your primary link building strategy. Companies who do this on a large scale are considered deceptive and Google would take action against them. Keep your comments organic and keep your anchor text free of keywords.
New CEO At IDG
B to B Online is reporting that Michael Friedenberg has been named the new CEO of IDG Communications. “Friedenberg was president-CEO of the company’s b-to-b media arm, IDG Enterprise, prior to being named to head IDG’s U.S. business and consumer media operations in August. As CEO of IDG Communications Worldwide, he takes the title previously held by Bob Carrigan, who became president-CEO of business and marketing information company Dun & Bradstreet in October.”
