Welcome to the Digital Publishing Strategy Academy Classroom

Welcome to your Digital Training Academy programme

2012-12-31T14:59:00Z

At Digital we help web publishers achieve more: more engaged readers, more enticing content, more advertising sales. We’ve been doing this since 2000 and have delivered training in more than 20 countries. Whether you’re a newcomer or experienced internet publisher, the Digital Training Academy is a great way to boost your knowledge and skills, helping you and your team get the most from your sites and their energy. We hope you'll enjoy your Digital Training Academy, and also that you'll instantly be able to achieve more in your firm. This learning programme includes online lessons before and after the face-to-face parts of your Digital Training Academy, and there's also an opportunity for direct tuition in your Digital Classroom.

Now take a moment to find out how your Digital Training Academy works

Classroom discussion space for digital publishers

2007-12-31T14:58:35Z

Here is the place you can discuss issues with your tutor and other Academy participants.

Do you have questions for your tutor? Is there something that was not clear in your Digital Training Academy? Is there a new point you would like to make? Are there any new issues that you have discovered now you are applying your knowledge? Use this space to make your comments and to ask your questions. Give your comment a short title to make it easier for other students to scan, or include the title of the Academy Lesson your question relates to (if there is one). The classroom is open for three weeks following your Academy.

Web audiences in media properties

2007-12-31T14:58:32Z

Subject: http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/guardian.co.uk

Alexa provides a fast and convenient snapshot of online audiences that anyone can take a look at. The data analysis tool, now owned by Amazon, tracks the trails of a massive panel of users by recording each and every page they visit. The panel lacks the representation of the higher end online measurement tools, but provides a useful starting point for measuring the relative reach, page traffic or user levels between sites. In this case the daily reach in the UK for five online newspapers is compared.

Additional questions from Publishing Expo participants

2007-12-31T14:58:31Z

If you joined us for the Digital publishing Strategy Clinic at Publishing Expo, then here is the place you can post the questions you would like to have answered.

]]> This page is where you can post your questions. It could be about how to use Web 2.0, or the models for online advertising sales, how to write for the web or manage your content and data - the topics are up to you.

Digital Lesson: Online adspend leaps (with audio commentary)

2007-11-20T12:00:00Z

In this lesson we explore the growth of online advertising spend in the UK. As the world's fastest adopting internet advertising economy, the experiences here can be used to anticipate the next steps in other countries. Discover how the growth of search engines have swelled to account for half of all advertising, and why online is set to become the biggest advertising media channel by 2010.

]]> Having problems seeing the wood from the trees? When markets move this fast, getting a clear understanding of them can be tough. Audiences keep growing, advertisers keep changing their behaviour, and metrics keep adjusting. In the Digital Research Academy we give you a download of the latest numbers and show how the markets have moved so far. Use these principles to delve deeper into your own market intelligence and look for data sets within your markets that will give clearer guidance during the next two years.

This lesson explains:

How the market has developed
The implications for media spending shift
How you can translate all of this into sales messages
The key trajectories it’s on
Where it is now

(Your lesson notes will appear in a few moments in the space below)

Digital Lesson: Online adspend leaps

2007-11-20T11:00:00Z

This lesson explains:

How the market has developed
The implications for media spending shift
How you can translate all of this into sales messages
The key trajectories it’s on
Where it is now

(Your lesson notes will appear in a few moments in the space below)

Workshop activity: Information is changing (video)

2007-11-17T15:00:00Z

Whether developing a single web page or a whole campaign microsite, marketers become publishers and need to understand the essentials of online publishing. This short video presents some of the ideas around the nature of information and the provision of digital content. Developed by Kansas State University, this is stimulus material designed to get participants thinking about what makes for effective content. It explores the differences between digital information and classic printed formats, and how information for the web can be most effectively thought of.

For participants on the Digital Publishing Strategy Academy programmes this is a compulsory stimulus video. Our thanks go to Kansas State University for sharing this content.

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Workshop activity: HTML, and what words on the web can do that words on paper just can't

2007-11-17T12:00:00Z

Writing for the web isn't just about tuning your style and making your headlines catchier, it's understanding how the medium works and writing in a way that makes the most of what you have at your fingertips. As part of the Digital Design Academy see what this video shows you is possible and think about ways to harness the ideas on your site.

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Workshop activity: Helping web publishers focus on data that counts

2007-11-15T16:20:00Z

Many publishers constantly wrestle with the challenges of counting online metrics. In this Analytics Academy we review some of the common metrics and look at which matter most and why. We look at the ways they can be counted and why the metrics need to be grounded in business process. There are tips for key metrics and ways to find out more from the Digital Analytics Academy online classroom.

Download the report

Workshop output: What influences how many advertising impressions an online publisher has available to sell tomorrow?

2007-11-15T16:15:00Z

Unlike newspapers, outdoor or magazines, the volume of potential advertising impressions is directly proportional to the number of pages viewed and the number of people interacting with the media. This means internet companies need to be able to forecast their online advertising volumes very accurately to avoid over-selling or missing possible revenues. Here are ten examples of why web advertising inventory is less predictable than classic media…

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News agenda
A big story means big traffic.

User generated discussion
If there’s a topic our audiences want to talk about it, the volumes of impressions increases.

Search engine optimisation
If it is working well, our audiences rise.

Volume of advertisers
The more advertising slots that are sold, the less inventory is available.

Existing advertising
CPC / CPA deal performance is hard to predict and couple demand more online inventory than planned

House ads
Internal traffic and promotions can quickly boost traffic, but if some of that space is needed for commercial clients, or for the sales of other company-owned products, then the space available for sales teams will be less

Marketing
If we promote the site effectively we gain more viewers – this could be an online or offline campaign.

Linkages
If bloggers suddenly link to us we gain more traffic.

Google news
If we suddenly gain high rankings then we’ll gain much more traffic.

Weather
It’s true: if it’s raining our traffic goes up.

…plus the usual issues about seasonal and daily patterns.

These are only a few of the issues. If you join us on a Digital Publishing Strategy workshop then we’ll explore them in more detail.

Workshop output: Building great website publications

2007-11-15T16:10:00Z

The internet product development workshops Digital Strategy Consulting runs have been helping media groups since 2000 to learn about how to build powerful online services. In this exercise you can download we apply Digital Strategy’s customer journey analysis to how people buy cars. This helps uncover the messages advertisers need to deliver, and the tools internet sites need to provide to help their audiences make decisions. It’s an approach that helps web publishers develop powerful online services. Get your internet product development right and the audiences accelerate.

Download workshop notes here

Workshop output: Case studies - Brands engaging audiences effectively

2007-11-15T16:00:00Z

The world of marketing has changed and suddenly brands are having to face up to the reality that not every customer wants to be interrupted by the messages they have. Like an annoying pop-up, even if television, radio and print advertising is hitting the right person, when the messaging is not requested by the user, the effects can be neutral... Click here to read further

Shift happens: Did you know?

2007-11-15T15:59:07Z

We’re living in exponential times. Created by a North American teacher, the Did You Know video is a marvellous way to explain to kids how society is changing and the scale of media and technology change. Sometimes in the digital media industry we are so close to the change and the technologies that we fail to appreciate the scale of the change happening around us. This little video is a great reminder of the scale of change.

Shift happens: Did you know?

2007-11-15T15:58:30Z

When the story about the growth of technology is drawn together, it’s an incredibly powerful picture: a society tumbling into the most rapid and unpredictable change as social network explode and information travels at the speed of thought. Just think about your own life and what this could mean for you, your family, your business and the people you work with.

Insight: Building powerful travel site: using the toolbox fully

2007-11-05T18:21:06Z

These notes are the write-up from a product development discussion about the travel sector. They reflect key elements media brands would want to consider in developing travel-focused online services, and also underscore the challenges in getting the formula for product development right. In the web environment, consumers can have many needs met without relying upon classic media brands, so as publishers and broadcasters complete their migration to multi-channel providers, they need to broaden their proposition and reposition their role. If the business model relies on acting as intermediaries between buyers and sellers – bringing together focused audiences that become value in the advertising proposition - then the formula for success online means developing services that are so strong and compelling they draw in audiences time and time again through a 'must-have' proposition.

Download report