Bill Dugan

Senior Vice President

Bill Dugan is Senior Vice President for Mequoda Systems and the Mequoda Systems Content Network which includes more than 60 websites and serves more than seven million daily email subscribers. Bill and his team market more than 200 premium subscription products including magazines, newsletters, memberships and clubs for systems that include the Biblical Archaeology Society, Cabot Wealth Network and University Health News. Bill is a veteran subscription marketer with more than 30 years of experience. Prior to joining Mequoda Systems, he held senior positions at a number of leading subscription marketers including Center for Science and the Public Interest, publishers of Nutrition Action, the world’s largest subscription-based premium health advisory service.

Articles by Bill Dugan

The Best Online Directory Software for Publishers

What to look for in online directory software, from Haven, to Wordpress, Joomla, and third-party products The directory website business model still has a lot of upside for multiplatform publishers. When

18 Website Development Tools to Try

There's a never-ending stream of new tools that pop up every day to help us become better web developers. We have a dashboard of tools we look to for ideas,

Magazine Subscription Websites: 4 Huge Mistakes You Might Be Making

Magazine Subscription Websites: 4 Huge Mistakes You Might Be Making

"Do your job." Those are the famous words of New England Patriots' coach Bill Belichick, and the mantra of the whole team, who I imagine you already know just won their

Subscription Website A/B Testing Tools & Tips For Improving Conversions

How to use A/B testing tools for creating subscription landing pages that turn more visitors into subscribers How many times have you been in a meeting where you and your colleagues

How to Reduce Magazine Overhead with a Subscription Website

How to Reduce Magazine Overhead with a Subscription Website

The one-time cost of building a magazine subscription website could reduce overhead indefinitely For $3 per month or $36 per year, there is subscription service called The Sink that will automatically

A 2017 Resolution for Subscription Website Publishers

Resolve to investigate the possibility of added revenue with a club-style business model in 2017 Every publisher and subscription marketer should recommit in 2017 to customer relationship building and asset leveraging—after

Reduce Subscriber Churn: How to Keep Subscribers Entertained & Engaged

Reduce Subscriber Churn: How to Keep Subscribers Entertained & Engaged

How to reduce subscriber churn by providing new opportunities to engage with your content on a regular basis People love subscriptions these days. Beyond magazine subscriptions, there are now box-of-the-month subscriptions.

Mequoda’s Top Subscription Website Publishing Posts of 2016

Mequoda’s Top Subscription Website Publishing Posts of 2016

Our most-read subscription website publishing posts of last year show an interest in building profitable subscription websites and improving the usability and site speed of existing websites. In 2016, toward the

The Best Social Media Management System for Publishers

What to look for in a social media management system from Haven Nexus, to Hootsuite, SproutSocial and TweetDeck As a publisher, you're publishing multiple pieces of content every day. Most Mequoda

The Best Online Shopping Cart System for Publishers

What to look for in an online shopping cart system, from Haven Nexus, to Shopify to WooCommerce Ecommerce has become a core part of any multi-platform publishing business. Even publishers who

Nail Down Your Magazine Experience and Combat the Publishing Recession

By all means, launch many content business models and diversify your publishing portfolio. But start with your magazine experience through your magazine subscription website. We're in a recession. Maybe you're feeling

How Amazon Is Helping Publishers Make Money with Video

How to make money with video on your own subscription website and beyond Many multiplatform publishers have turned to e-learning platforms to make money with video and help subscribers either increase their skills

The Best Live Event Management Software for Publishers

What to look for in live event management software from Haven Nexus, to Bizzabo, CVent, EventBrite and Event Ready. As publishers have struggled with print revenues during the last 10 years,

Why We Always Pair Free Subscription Business Models with Paid Magazines

Why We Always Pair Free Subscription Business Models with Paid Magazines

Why "free" is a subscription business model of its own and why every magazine should have one Since the beginning of time, or at least the beginning of consumerism, businesses have

Choosing the Best Lead Management Software for Publishers

Choosing the Best Lead Management Software for Publishers

What to look for in lead management software, from Haven Nexus to Eloqua, Marketo, Hubspot and others Make money by giving content away. That statement sounds odd to many people in publishing

7 Ways Your Subscription Website Could Fail

7 Ways Your Subscription Website Could Fail

If you're thinking of launching a subscription website, don't skimp on preliminary research. So you've decided to start a subscription website. We get requests weekly from entrepreneurs, veterans and newbies, who

The Best Marketing Automation System for Publishers

Publishers require a marketing automation system that works in tandem with a highly efficient content management system In the last decade, marketing automation has become a hot topic for niche publishers.

How to Boost the Value of a Subscription Website

How to Boost the Value of a Subscription Website

The more you can give a member of your subscription website, the better. And it appears we're not the only ones who think so. Earlier in the week we talked about Condé Nast’s

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

How to Turn a Single Magazine into a Multiplatform Magazine

A basic overview of how a single magazine can turn into a multiplatform magazine through revenue and content model planning Over the last few weeks we've gone over our a collection

Choosing the Best Learning Management System for Publishers

What to look for in a learning management system, from Haven Classroom, to Edmodo, Moodle, Teachery and Blackboard. Many multiplatform publishers have turned to e-learning platforms to help subscribers either increase their

11 Profitable Content Business Models Publishers Are Using to Boost Online Revenues

Coming up with the right content business model(s) can be the biggest stumbling block for those looking to grow a publishing business. Choosing your content focus is a business-critical decision, as

The Best Online Calendar Management Software for Publishers

What to look for in online calendar management software, from Haven Calendar, to All In One Events Calendar, The Events Calendar, My Calendar, and Booking Calendar. Online calendars are used by all

Choosing the Best Publication Management System for Publishers

What to look for in the best publication management system, from Haven Nexus, to WP Member, MemberGate, aMember, and SubHub If you are a magazine publisher, it behooves you to remember what makes the

Plug in a Classifieds Content Business Model to Boost Revenue Easily

The classified content business model is the modern day equivalent of what used to appear in the back of many newspapers and B2B magazines Listings for products, services, and jobs are

How Successful Subscription Based Websites Do Marketing

No publisher can hope to have a successful subscription based website without getting the marketing right. So if you have, or plan to launch, one of our three subscription website

Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

The Directory Content Business Model Is a Win-Win-Win for Ambitious Publishers

The directory content business model is a three-fer The directory content business has some pretty unique benefits. If executed correctly, this model can be a win-win-win for any ambitious publisher. Not

Choosing Website Color Schemes: 16 Tools for Designers

Branding comes into play when choosing colors for your website. Most brands stick with their main colors. However, some businesses go through an entire rebranding when they launch or

The Event Content Business Model Generates Dual Revenue

This content business model drives interest in live events while also driving revenue from attendees and sponsors Who would have imagined in the internet age that people would still yearn for

Best-Practice Font Tips for Effective Website Design and More Readable Content

A recent Digiday story on publishers' new approach to site redesign reveals that in place of the customary massive overhauls every few years, magazines are now outfitting their portals with

9 Subscription Website Mistakes That Could Ground You

Because we quantify everything, Mequoda has identified nine (coincidentally) deadly subscription website mistakes that are commonly made when publishers build their online presence.

Syndication: An Audience Development Strategy Used Carefully

Audience Development Strategy

Syndication: An Audience Development Strategy Used Carefully

When syndication is used for audience development, magazine publishers should be wary of duplicate content Publishers have a long history of building audiences around specific topics, or niches. But the internet

Creating Renewable Digital Revenue With a Course Content Business Model

Creating Renewable Digital Revenue With a Course Content Business Model

When you have a course content business model, you organize a series of courses for paid subscribers that are updated regularly – but not frequently Every successful publisher we know launched

Increasing Profitable Platforms With the Book Content Business Model

Increasing Profitable Platforms With the Book Content Business Model

The book content business model can give you a variety of items to sell that can be sold digitally for a large profit When developing strategic plans for CAROTME (content, audience,

Increasing Time on Site With the Community Content Business Model

The community content business model can bring in users and keep them on your site When developing your strategic plans for CAROTME (content, audience, revenue, organization, technology, measurement, and economics), it's

Creating Traffic With the Calendar Content Business Model

The calendar content business model can provide a useful, linkable resource that keeps visitors coming back It's necessary to know the most ideal business model(s) for publishers, to be able to

Understanding the Freebie Content Business Model

The freebie content business model is one website we build for all of our Mequoda Gold Members Choosing your content focus is a business-critical decision, as the focus you choose pretty

Don’t Build a Subscription Website Until You Identify Your MIU

Don’t Build a Subscription Website Until You Identify Your MIU

Before any Mequoda client will build a subscription website, they first identify the most fundamental content their users will digest At Mequoda, we talk a lot about your minimum information unit,

Website Architecture vs. Web Design – Which Comes First?

Website Architecture vs. Web Design – Which Comes First?

Website architecture refers to the funnel that leads your customers from a page, to a point of interest, like a "buy now" button, or an email subscription form. It refers

How to Prioritize Building New Website Business Models

Before building out new website business models, inventory your existing content assets Author and efficiency expert Stephen Covey writes about how difficult it is to reach goals that you don’t have.

How to Perform a Quick Mobile Website Analysis

If more than 50% of your traffic comes from mobile, it's time for a mobile website analysis to see if you're looking as sleek as you think you are In an

A Website Architecture Map From Search to Sale of a Subscription

A visual website architecture map to show how we get from attraction to monetization When we talk about our signature ACEM methodology (Attract, Capture, Engage, and Monetize) it's easy to stop

Subscription Marketing: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

As long as you’re selling to humans, you can’t go wrong with classic strategies. The more I read and write about the future of magazines and subscription marketing, the more

The Revenue Benefits of a Subscription-Based Business That’s Run Efficiently

The Revenue Benefits of a Subscription-Based Business That’s Run Efficiently

The successful user-driven startups of today are the ones who offer subscription-based services. As a magazine or newsletter publisher, you know a subscription-based business takes the revenue of one product

The Best Subscription Business Models Are Based on Your Minimum Information Unit

As we always say, a publisher’s minimum information unit (MIU) is the bedrock on which the best subscription business models are built. Any online publisher who doesn’t bother to understand

What to Consider Before Setting up a Subscription Website

Setting up a subscription website could be a costly test if you don't think about these three things first The answers are not always obvious, even to a seasoned print or

Website Affordance and Usability Tips To Make Users Feel Smart

Want to know a great way to confuse, distract and drive away new users? Design a website like a print ad. Go ahead, throw underlines under things that aren't hyperlinks.

10 Reasons to Launch a Responsive Newsletter Website

A responsive newsletter website brings accessibility to the table Totally unrelated to publishing, you may have heard that Patagonia recently ditched their app. If you open it, it will tell you

5 Places to Test Video Landing Page Templates

Mequoda has been testing video landing pages for the past few years with great success. In fact, our Intensive attendees have told us repeatedly that our video is what convinced

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