There’s no denying that building a subscriber base for your magazines, catalogs or professional content requires a lot of hard work. In fact, standing out is a big part of the challenge to grow your subscribers!
In this article, we’ll explain the strongest strategies for attracting subscribers to your publications. Plus, get tips on how to manage them with ease using Calaméo.
Use Digital Publications
Because more and more people access their content solely online, it would be unwise not to have a digital presence for your magazine.
Calaméo offers an excellent Platinum plan that enables you to convert your print publications into multimedia digital publications. Designed specifically for professional use, its exclusive interactive features help to enrich your documents and set your publications apart from the rest. Getting creative with your digital content will make it more engaging and more likely to draw new subscribers.
Adapt your content to your audience
First and foremost, your magazine must be seen as a valuable source of content to your audience. Therefore, be sure that your publications are targeted specifically to your readership. For example, the Washington Post was able to grow its ‘digital only’ subscriptions 145% in just one year. This rise was partly due to the fact that it broadened newspaper’s opinion and politics coverage, two areas that the Post’s subscribers were particularly interested in.
Be consistent
No matter what the theme of your content, your readers still need to know that it is coming from you. You can achieve this by making sure that your content and visuals maintain the same look and feel of your brand.
To put these measures in place using Calaméo, insert your brand logo and upload a consistent and professional background image in your publication viewer. Such steps will help to make your digital publications more professional, inviting and trustworthy. And as a result, you’ll increase their potential to grow your subscribers.
Rely on detailed insights
Calaméo provides statistics that let you see where your readers are coming from and track how long they stay on each page. These insights are essential to identify the content that works best for your audience. Once you know what engages your readers, you can build on this information to improve your subscriber numbers.
Share your content
If you want to get noticed, consistently promoting your publications on your blog, website or social media channels is important. Readers see the value in online visibility and will subsequently be more inclined to browse, share and subscribe. Need ideas on how to develop your strategy? Check out our Digital Publisher’s Guide to Social Media for tips and trends.
Subscription forms and pop ups
The simplest way to add to your subscriber count is to ask your audience to subscribe. It’s as easy as that! In order to achieve growth, your website or blog needs to be a subscription driver. Although pop-up subscription forms on your website may be a nuisance to some, they are often very effective in increasing subscriptions. Create a compelling call to action for best results.
Never underestimate the power of exclusivity to grow your subscribers. In other words, subscribers value knowing that they are the only ones who can get this privileged information from your content! Calaméo offers you the possibility to assign exclusive access to your subscribers. While exclusivity can keep subscribers happy, it also has the ability to attract a lot of new readers and can give a definite boost to your chances of building a loyal subscriber base.
Here’s how:
Control the Distribution
You can further control the distribution of your content on Calaméo by limiting the way your readers can view to your content with individual usernames and passwords. Calaméo allows you to assign three types of access:
Single – the subscriber is assigned access to selected individual publications
Period – the subscriber can access all of your publications published between two chosen dates For example: all publications between January 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021
Series – the subscriber will have access to a set number of publications published from a specific date onward For example: 12 publications beginning on January 1, 2020
Read more on how to manage your subscriber sessions here.
For more tips and ideas to inspire your digital publishing, have a look at our review of the year’s top strategies.
Digital publishing is an excellent tool for communication, marketing, sales, personal projects, and more. (Take our quiz to find out if digital publishing is right for you!) But if you really want your publications to shine, read on for the top insider publishing tips from the pros!
Account settings
Before publishing your document, we suggest that you check to see that your account is set up properly and that all of your personal and professional information is correct. Within your Account Settings, you can:
Fill out an account description in the box provided (more on that below)
Choose your account name (if you are using Calaméo for professional purposes, this is where you enter your company name)
And more!
Once you have filled out all the necessary information, you are ready to move on and start publishing like a pro!
Getting in touch
If your publication is meant to reach a wide audience, or your digital publication includes sales or marketing information, you will want to make sure that readers can contact you easily.
Contact information
If you’d like your contact information to be visible in your publication, or you’d like readers to be able to get in touch with you, be sure that your contact details are in a noticeable spot. You have a few options for displaying your information prominently:
Put your information (website, email, social media) directly in your publication. Use the Links feature in our Editor to send your readers directly to your website or social media page when they click on the link(s) in your publication. Tip: turn your external link into a contact link if you’d like to send your readers directly to your email address. Take a look at the example from our Guided Tour; it includes a clickable contact link that sends readers right to our email:
Include your website in the description of your account. This will make it easy for your readers to get in touch with you. You can add this information in the text box labeled “Website”. You will find this in your Account Settings, under Account Info. See the example from Calaméo’s account:
Put your contact details in the description of your publication. That way, only the readers who click on this publication will be able to see your information, rather than all the people who visit your Calaméo page. You can add these details in the “Description” field before or after publishing. Check out the example from Trans Tasman Media’s Our New Zealand magazine:
Visibility
Calaméo is the perfect resource for sharing your newsletter, magazine, annual report, or any other content you’d like to publish! Some users may want their publications to be widely available, and others may wish to keep them private. You can choose who sees your publications and how people interact with them.
When your publication is set to “Public”, anyone can see your content. If you don’t want this to be the case, make sure that your publication is private.
On the other hand, if you want your publication to be read far and wide, sharing it is easy! You can use a link to share your publication via social media or email, and it only takes a matter of seconds. Make sure that your publication is set to “Public” and then you are good to go. Don’t forget to include your contact information if you want readers to be able to get in touch with you.
The text in publications with the “Public” setting is indexed by search engines. This is an element to take into account when choosing to make your publications public.
If you are a PREMIUM or PLATINUM member, you can allow readers to download and/or print your publications. If you do not want readers to be able to print or download your publications, simply update your preferences by unchecking the relevant boxes under the “Sharing” tab when you publish your document:
Embeds
To go even further with your publications, take advantage of our Embeds feature to seamlessly integrate your publications into a blog or website. We’ve embedded the Calaméo Magazine here as an example:
If you want your publications to be public but they are not suitable for children, you can use our “Adult only” setting.
When you upload your document to Calaméo, there is the option to mark your publication as “Adult only (18+ years old)”. If you have content that follows our Terms of Service but is not suitable for children, then the “Adult only” feature may be a good option for you.
💡TIP: Oftentimes, users employ the “Adult only” setting when they actually mean to make their publications Private. Double check your settings before publishing, especially if your publication contains personal information
Bells and whistles
After your account settings, contact details, and sharing preferences are all taken care of, it’s time to focus on the publication itself.
Optimize
Before publishing your document, you will need to make sure that it is correctly optimized. Your document should be one single document containing all the pages of your publication. Each document uploaded is converted into a separate publication – it is not possible to assemble separate pages of your publication on Calaméo. It is important that your document does not consist of different page spreads; if your document contains a mix of different page spreads (for example a single page for the front and back covers and double page spread for the rest), blank zones will be added during conversion to compensate for the discrepancies.
Another insider publishing pro tip? Think ahead while creating your documents! For example, if you know that your document will be read both online and printed on paper, anticipate the user’s experience. Add a clickable video as well as a QR code to the same video. The reader viewing your publication online can click on the video itself, and the reader viewing the print version of your publication can scan the QR code and see the same video. That way, whether your publication is read online or in print, readers will have the same experience.
And final optimization tip: leave space in your original document if you know you will be adding videos or other enrichments. If you will be inserting an element such as a GIF in your publication, ensure that you have enough space around where the element will go so that it does not obscure the existing text or visuals in your document.
💡TIP: Of course, you can always upload a new version of your document without changing the URL or erasing your links!
The Calaméo Editor
Ready to make your publication pop? Take advantage of all the bells and whistles via our Editor tool! Add sound, images, videos, links, and other enhancements to enrich your publication.
Make it yours
The best publications are the ones that are entirely unique! Read our tips on making your digital publications unique and wow your readers with your finished product.
Logo
If you have a company or personal logo, PLATINUM and PREMIUM account holders can display it in the publication viewer. This will create useful brand awareness and readers will instantly recognize your publication as belonging to you.
Our final insider publishing tip: use our White Label feature! PLATINUM members can use this feature and make their publications stand out. The White Label feature removes all Calaméo branding and allows the publisher to insert their own branding, colors, logo, and visuals.
What’s next?
Now it’s up to you! Use these tips from publishing pros and take your digital publications to the next level. We can’t wait to see what you create!
The first thing you need to know about digital publishing is that it’s simple. So simple, in fact, that you might already be doing it! Professionals, teachers, entrepreneurs, aspiring creatives, students, freelancers and people everywhere with something to share online turn to digital publishing every day.
That’s why the second thing to know about digital publishing is why it’s such a popular choice—and how to do it better. In this article, we’ll explain all the most important basics, tips to help you find the right solution and a few special extras to make the most out of your publications online. Read on to learn more about:
Digital publishing means using online tools to make media of all kinds available via the Internet. Instead of traditionally printed books, magazines and newsletters, digital publishing makes ebooks, blogs and online publications. Readers access this content on computers, smartphones or other digital devices. In short, anyone who has documents to distribute online can benefit from digital publishing technology.
Because digital publishing covers many genres and formats, there are plenty of different options to consider. From specialized content management systems to bespoke applications, there’s something for everyone. However, digital publishing platforms stand out above the rest: They offer a convenient, fast and easy way to convert your files to online publications.
Benefits of HTML5 publications
Although a few platforms still use Flash technology, the gold standard is now HTML5 for online publications. But what exactly does it mean to make an HTML5 publication?
Let’s imagine you have a Powerpoint that you need to get online and send out to colleagues. Using a modern digital publishing platform, your PPT file is converted into a browsable publication built with HTML5 and hosted at a unique address on the web. Then to send to your coworkers, simply copy the link and share.
Effortless sharing is just one advantage of HTML5 publications. More key benefits include:
Visibility. Unlike a basic file upload, your HTML5 publications are easy to optimize for search. Help searchers find your content thanks to smart keywords, structured data and automatically indexed text.
Compatibility. Never worry about problems opening your documents again. Your HTML5 publications work with all devices, all operating systems and all browsers. Better yet, there’s no extra software, downloads or plug-ins required.
Versatility. HTML5 publications are ready for anything. You can enrich them with audio and video content, add links and images, and embed them in your own website or blog. Plus, customize the presentation with your own logo, branding and design.
Usability. Above all, your HTML5 publications are always available online. View, share and update from anywhere, anytime.
Want to go beyond email attachments and plain PDFs? No matter what type of content you have to distribute online, digital publishing can help you get more out of it.
Why businesses use digital publishing
The name might make you think it’s all about novels, but digital publishing is actually a powerful tool for a wide range of businesses. Since an online presence is essential for companies in every sector, having smart digital content matters. Depending on your goals, the best reasons to take advantage of digital publications may differ. Here are three of the most common businesses uses.
Marketing
To create irresistible online materials. Traditional marketing formats like brochures and modern channels like video work together perfectly in digital publications. Marketers can mix and match to produce content that works for their target audience. A light footprint and detailed analytics make it practical for A/B testing, too.
Communications
To connect content with people. Newsletters, magazines, how-to guides and employee handbooks need to be online. Digital publishing platforms make it easy not just to upload content, but also to manage it. Advanced privacy controls and distribution features help communications pros get their message out there, the right way.
Sales
To modernize the sales funnel. Today, content and sales are closer together than ever. Both sales teams and ecommerce operations can make good use of digital publications. For example, email a personalized prospectus for leads to browse on the go. Or transform a PDF catalogue into an interactive, shoppable experience for customers online.
Education and digital publishing
One of the biggest challenges currently facing education is adapting to virtual learning. However, online publishing offers a user-friendly solution for digitizing teaching material. All that students and teachers need is access to an Internet connection to exchange documents securely. Because the best digital publishing platforms can handle multiple file types, converting assignments, tests and more to HTML5 publications is simple.
As a result, digital publishing can be used for many virtual learning materials like:
Study guides and lesson plans
Activities and homework
Presentations and projects
School newspapers and yearbooks
In addition, educational publishers often make sections of textbooks available online as digital publications. Expect this trend to grow while virtual classrooms continue to evolve.
Independent digital publishing
Before the Internet age, a creative career usually started with finding a talent agent. But now, online tools like digital publishing have opened the ability to produce and distribute to everyone. Authors and artists in every genre can choose to publish their work independently in digital formats. For instance, portfolios and media kits help show off your projects and skills, while previews and collections let audiences sample your creations. Even a whole book can easily become a multimedia digital publication to share or sell—no agent necessary.
Advantages of an online platform
Digital publishing is an important part of the online ecosystem. So it’s no surprise that there are many options to help you make and publish content digitally, including traditional software. However, there are several serious advantages to an online platform.
First, your digital publications are accessible 24/7 on the web. Second, you don’t need to take care of hosting your publications. In other words, there are no finicky details for hosting set-up and maintenance to handle. And finally, you don’t have to deal with separate software to download, install and keep updated.
A true online platform should offer you all the features of digital publishing right on your favorite browser. To sum it up, these three advantages add up to major convenience for your content.
Choosing a digital publishing platform
Once you’ve decided to begin using digital publishing for your online content, it’s time to decide which tools are right for you. If you’re searching for a platform to produce and host HTML5 publications, start by considering your main needs. For instance:
Storage. How many digital publications are you planning to create? How large are the files that you work with?
Reliability. How fast do you want your publications to load?
Security. What privacy options would you like to have for your publications? How do you want your audience to be able to access them?
Support. What guidance would you like to receive? What kind of assistance is available if you need help with your publications?
Of course, there are many other potential questions you might ask according to your specific objectives. Say that you have high-quality video content to include in your digital publications. In that case, you may want to make seamless integrations with YouTube a priority. When you have a good idea of what you’re looking for in a digital publishing platform, you’ll be well prepared to find the best fit.
Digital publishing UX
A good digital publishing platform will provide you with smart options to optimize the UX of your online documents. An important part of web design, UX or user experience covers everything that shapes how people interact with digital products.
In this case, there are key UX elements to consider in the publication viewer. Most of all, you want to ensure that your audience can read your publications comfortably. Choices like Right to left reading, scroll and slide views, sharp zoom and full screen availability allow you to always define the right UX for your publications.
But another big factor to keep in mind is how flexible these and other UX options are. Since everyone’s needs are different, watch out for platforms that limit you to a “one size fits all” solution. In fact, with just a little basic tech know-how you should be able to customize the UX of your publications. From the viewer to embed options, online publishing gives you an incredible opportunity to enhance the reading experience for your audience.
Publishing in multiple languages
Thanks to the Internet, the world is growing more connected every day. Even small businesses can serve global customers with ecommerce tools and online communication. However, it can take some extra effort to make sure you’re speaking your audience’s language.
For successful multilanguage publications, prioritize platforms whose features help you organize and manage your online documents. Double check that the languages you publish in are supported for display and search so that your readers aren’t frustrated by text mistakes and missing results. And don’t forget to match the viewer language to your publications—or create your own.
Ready to start?
We think you’ll love digital publishing on Calaméo. But don’t just take our word for it! You can start publishing today. It’s free, fast and easy to join.
To see great digital publishing features in action, browse our Guided Tour.
