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Who hasn’t heard the phrase “content is king”? It’s a mantra for marketing teams, but what type of content is the most effective?

Blogs are great at providing information for people who are digging deep to find the answers to their problems, but when there is a choice between reading a blog and watching a video, marketers are realizing that often times the video wins out.

But video marketing can quickly become an expensive project if a company does not know what it’s doing. Don’t let this thought dissuade you! These seven video techniques will make sure you don’t break the bank, but still end up with amazing video content.

1) Don’t Buy, Rent

First off, do not buy any video equipment. It’s just a waste of money and there are plenty of rental places that offer reasonable prices. The rental company you use depends on where you live, but make sure you choose one that offers equipment packages so you can rent in bulk.

The focus should be on the lighting equipment and the mics. They will enhance the quality of your film, especially if you have to settle for low-end cameras. It’s normal to rent three standup lights, but you can make do with two and a reflector.

For mics, don’t waste your money on booms. There are different kinds for different shots and putting money into all of the extra pieces that go with them will quickly add up. Instead, either use a zoom mic that attaches to the top of the camera for indoor shots or a small lavalier mic for both indoor and outdoor shots.

If you want to use an iPhone to save more money, you can still get professional quality film as long as you’re in control of the lighting. This is because there isn’t much outside of the automatic settings for phones. Just make sure the rental company has an iPhone specific tripod.

2) Develop The Story Yourself

Hiring a writer can get pricey and chances are there is a writer among your employees anyway. Sit down with your marketing team and determine what the outline of the story is going to be. Hit the points you want to cover and then assign someone to write it or storyboard it.

Storyboarding is more of an artistic approach than screenwriting because each scene requires a drawing, which can be very helpful with visuals. Start by drawing the opening scene and then draw the most important points of the video. Each drawing should be in sequential order. You can use free printable outline templates to organize the pictures.

If a person would rather write the script then there is no need to do a storyboard. Unlike with the pictures, the script must go through the details of each scene in order to be effective. This is much more helpful if the video requires a lot of dialogue.

If you’re worried the script or storyboard is not good enough you can send it to an editor for a few extra bucks. Marketing videos tend to be short and editors can be hired by the hour so this won’t break the bank. Beware of the overpriced editor though. They will take your money and run. Be specific with how much time you want spent on editing and hire accordingly.

3) Student and Amateur Actors

So you have the equipment and the story all ready to go. Now it’s time to hire the actors. If you’re thinking about using your employees instead of spending money on outside sources, think again! Unless you want really cheesy videos, you must hire people with experience.

This doesn’t mean you have to dig deep into your pockets and shovel out a large chunk of change. A lot of students and amateur actors will work for free to build up their resumes. All you have to do is provide snacks! You can find them on websites like Mandy, BackStage, and even Craigslist. If you live near a university see if there is a theater department. If there is, post flyers on their website or around their building.

Don’t worry, just because you aren’t offering a paying job doesn’t mean you can’t hold auditions. Set a day for an open casting in your workplace. Just be aware of any union actors that show up to the audition. They have specific needs that must be tended to or else you run the risk of being sued.

4) Use Free Editing Software

A lot of professionals use Adobe Premiere or Avid video editing software, but unless you want to spend endless amounts of hours learning how to use them and a lot of money buying them, the better software option is the one that’s already on your computer.

For Macs, iMovie is a great option and for PCs Windows Movie Maker is amazing. They’re specifically made to be user-friendly and have all the applications you need to cut together your film. If you are completely new to editing and don’t know one bit about the tools that the software provide, check out some quick and informative YouTube tutorials. 

Some free editing software comes with free music as well. If you want options other than the ones that are on your computer, here is a list of the greatest free editing software for 2016. Before choosing one, make sure it allows you to manually export and resize your video. That way you can manage the video quality.

5) DIY Animation/ Video Scribe

Maybe you want your video to be animated or at least have a piece of it be animated. But won’t that cost a lot? Not for those who use software like GoAnimate and Sparkol. They aren’t free, but they are cheap and effective options.

GoAnimate allows the import of personal images and music. It’s more of a collaboration product. Sparkol allows for an entire animation board to be used. That way there is no need for any real human to be put in front of the camera.

But if you have very little faith in your team’s animation ability, TrueScribe will do it all for you. They have experts on call with no set price so there’s room for negotiation during the consultation.

6) Free Locations

Don’t think ‘film set’, think ‘on location’. Remember, it doesn’t cost anything to film outside. Maybe you’ll have to get a permit, but don’t worry they’re cheap. When picking an outdoor venue, it’s important to take noise levels into consideration. Don’t film in the busiest area of a city or the touristy part of a park. There are many locations that can provide the same backdrop with minimal interruptions.

If the video calls for an indoor location, a lot of store managers allow filming at certain hours for a small price. Make sure to ask politely and explain the lack of budget so they know they aren’t being ripped off. Don’t go during their busiest times though so stay away from dinner/lunch/breakfast hours. Mid-afternoon is best.

If you’re thinking about filming on public transportation, make sure to look up their policies before you make any attempts. Many trains and buses have rules against public filming because it can be a security threat and it would be a waste of money to spend half a workday lugging equipment to a train station only to find out you can’t film there.

7) Keep Crew Number To A Minimum

The amount of outside people hired for a video shoot can add up very quickly. To keep the numbers limited, hire people who wear multiple hats. For example, if you hire a director, make sure they are also a videographer. That way you get the most for the amount you’re spending. 

This isn’t a Hollywood film so there is no need for a producer to keep track of things. Allocate different organizational jobs to your in-house team. The director/videographer will be able to instruct them on what they should do during the shoot.

If you’re intimidated by the idea of video marketing because you think you don’t have the funds, hopefully these 7 techniques will change your mind. Video marketing is an important part of content creation and can drive sales so don’t let money prevent you from staying in the game.

Think about all the times you’ve signed up for things in your life. Did you once download Evernote? Dropbox? Spotify? Maybe you’ve even taken a class on General Assembly.

Each one of these signups is likely a result of an effective call-to-action.

And it’s really important to guide your visitors through the buying journey using strategic calls-to-action (CTAs). Think about it: If you hadn’t been drawn in by the copy or design of the CTA, or been guided so eloquently through your sign-up process, you would probably use a lot fewer apps and websites than you do now. 

Download our full collection of 101 call-to-action examples here for even more CTA ideas.

To help you identify what’s effective and what’s not, we’ve listed out 30 examples of CTAs that totally rock. These call-to-action examples are broken out into three categories: simple and effective design, click-worthy copy, and balancing multiple CTAs on one page.

Full Disclosure: We don’t have data to know if these are all scientifically successful, but these examples all follow our best practices. If you decide to recreate these CTAs on your site, please remember to test to see if they work for your audience.

Download our 50 free call-to-action templates in PowerPoint here to start designing customized CTAs of your own.

Simple & Effective Design Call-to-Action Buttons

1) Evernote

“Remember Everything.” Visitors can immediately understand that message the moment they land on this page. The design on Evernote’s website makes it super simple for users to see quick benefits of using the app and how to actually sign up to use it. Plus, the green color of the main and secondary CTA buttons is the same green as the headline and the Evernote logo, all of which jump off the page.

2) Dropbox

Dropbox has always embraced simple design with a lot of negative space. Even the graphics on their homepage are subtle and simple.

Thanks to that simple design and negative space, the blue “Sign up for free” call-to-action button stands out from everything else on the page. Since the CTA and the Dropbox logo are the same color, it’s easy for the visitor to interpret this CTA as “Sign up for Dropbox.” That’s one effective call-to-action.

3) OfficeVibe

Here’s a slide-in call-to-action that caught my attention from OfficeVibe. While scrolling through a post on their blog, a banner slid in from the bottom of the page with a call-to-action to subscribe to their blog. The best part? The copy on the slide-in told me I’d be getting tips about how to become a better manager — and the post it appeared on was a post about how to become a better manager. In other words, the offer was something I was already interested in.

Plus, I like how unobtrusive slide-in CTAs are — as opposed to what my colleague Rachel Sprung calls the “stop-everything-and-click-here-pop-up-CTA.” I find these CTAs offer a more lovable experience because they provide more information while still allowing me to continue reading the blog post. (Click here for a tutorial on how to add slide-in CTAs to your blog posts.)

4) Netflix

One big fear users have before committing to sign up for something? That it’ll be a pain to cancel their subscription if they end up not liking it. Netflix nips that fear in the bud with the “Cancel anytime” copy right above the “Join Free for a Month” CTA. I’d venture a guess that reassurance alone has boosted signups. Also, you’ll notice again that the red color of the primary and secondary CTAs here match Netflix’s logo color.

5) Square

To achieve effective CTA design, you need to consider more than just the button itself. It’s also super important to consider elements like background color, surrounding images, and surrounding text.

Mindful of these additional design components, the folks at Square used a single image to showcase the simplicity of using their product, where the hovering “Get Started” CTA awaits your click. If you look closely, the color of the credit card in the image and the color of the CTA button match, which helps the viewer connect the dots of what to expect if/when they click.

6) Prezi

The folks at Prezi are also into the minimalist design look on their website. Other than the green dinosaur and the dark brown coffee, the only other color accompanying the predominantly black-and-white design is a bright blue — the same blue from their main logo. That bright blue is strategically placed on the homepage: the main “Give Prezi a try” CTA, and the secondary “Get Started” CTA, both of which take users to the same pricing page.

7) Full Bundle

Full Bundle is another company that uses negative space to make their primary CTA pop. The white “Our Work” call-to-action stands out against the dark greys of the background. Their choice of CTA is strategic, too. Given that they primarily exist to build out clients’ online presences, it’s important for them to showcase their work — and that’s what most folks are going to their website for.

8) Panthera

The folks at Panthera are looking for users who really care about wild cats around the world and want to join a group of people who feel the same way. To target those people in particular, we love how they use language that would speak to big cat-lovers: “Join the pride today.” The page itself is super simple: an on-page form with two, simple fields, and a button asking folks to (again) “Join.”

CTA Buttons With Clickworthy Copy

9) Huemor

If you went to a website and saw a “Launch” CTA accompanied by the copy “Do Not Press” … what would you do? Let’s be honest: You’d be dying to press it. The use of harmless reverse psychology here is playful, which is very much in keeping with Huemor’s brand voice.

10) QuickSprout

No one wants to be wrong. That’s why a call-to-action button like QuickSprout’s slide-in CTA on their blog is so clickworthy. It asks the reader, “Are you doing your SEO wrong?” Well, am I? All I have to do is enter my URL to find out — seems easy enough. It’s language like that that can really entice visitors to click through.

Plus, having the CTA slide in mid-blog post is a great tactic for catching readers before they bounce off the page. Traditionally, many blogs have CTAs at the very bottom of each blog post, but research shows most readers only get 60% of the way through an article. (Click here to learn how to add slide-in CTAs to your blog posts.)

11) Grey Goose

Here’s a fun, unique call-to-action that can get people clicking. Whereas site visitors might have expected to be directed to product pages or press releases from the homepage, a CTA to “Discover a Cocktail Tailored to Your Taste” is a pleasantly surprising ask. People love personalization, and this CTA kind of feels like an enticing game. The play button icon next to the copy gives a hint that visitors will be taken to a video so they have a better idea of what to expect when they click.

12) Treehouse

A lot of company websites out there offer users the opportunity to start a free trial. But the CTA on Treehouse’s website doesn’t just say “Start a Free Trial”; it says “Claim Your Free Trial.” The difference in wording may seem subtle, but think about how much more personal “Claim Your Free Trial” is. Plus, the word “claim” suggests it may not be available for long, giving users a sense of urgency to get that free trial while they can.

13) OKCupid

OKCupid’s CTA doesn’t seem that impressive at first glance, but its brilliance is in the small details. The call-to-action button, which is bright green and stands out well on a dark blue background, says, “Continue,” which give hope that the signup process is short and does not take long. To me, this CTA feels more like I’m playing a fun game than filling out a boring form — pretty much all due to the copy.

14) Blogging.org

Nothing like a ticking timer to make someone want to take action. After spending a short amount of time on blogging.org’s homepage, new visitors are greeted with a pop-up CTA with a “limited time offer,” accompanied by a timer that counts down from two minutes. This is a classic use of a psychological tactic called scarcity, which causes us to assign more value to things we think are scarce. Limiting the time someone has to fill out a form makes people want to fill it out and claim their offer while they can.

Curious, what happens when time runs out? So was I. Hilariously, nothing happens. The pop-up CTA remains on the page when the timer gets to zero.

15) IMPACT Branding & Design

CTAs can feel really pushy and salesy if the wrong language is used. I like IMPACT’s educational approach, where they challenge visitors to learn what the company does before pushing them to take any further action. This calls-to-action is especially intriguing to me because they don’t even use an action verb, yet they still manage to entice people to click.

16) EPIC

The folks at the agency EPIC use their homepage primarily to showcase their work. When you arrive on the page, you’re greeted with animated videos showing some of the work they’ve done for clients, which rotate on a carousel. While there plenty of other places users might click on their site — including their clients’ websites — the main call-to-action stands out and always contrasts with the video that’s playing in the background. I love that it features friendly, inclusive language — “Let’s start a new project together” — which gives a hint to users looking for a creative partner that they’re an especially great team to work for.

17) APPSTEMPLATES.com

This website has a very unique call-to-action with copy that showcases the real value you’ll get after clicking. Not only does this button relay that you’ll get unlimited access for $89 (a $149 value), but also the supporting “join the club now” copy makes you feel like you’re missing out on something. This CTA also gets bonus points for having the arrow pointing to the CTA — it’s a perfect example of a proper directional cue. 

18) Humboldt County

Humboldt County’s website is gorgeous on its own: It greets you with a full-screen video of shockingly beautiful footage. But what I really love is the unconventional call-to-action button placed in the bottom center, which features a bunny icon and the words “Follow the Magic.” It enhances the sort of fantastical feel of the footage, making you feel like you’re about to step into a fairytale.

What’s more, once you click into that CTA, the website turns into a sort of choose-your-own-adventure game, which is a fun call-to-action path for users and encourages them to spend more time on the site.

Balancing Multiple Call-to-Action Buttons

19) Uber

Uber’s looking for two, very distinct types of people to sign up on their website: riders and drivers. Both personas are looking for totally different things, and yet, the website ties them together really well with the large video playing in the background showing Uber riders and drivers having a good time in locations all over the world. I love the copy of the driver CTA at the top, too: It doesn’t get much more straightforward than, “Make money driving your car.” Now that’s speaking people’s language.

20) Spotify

As soon as you reach Spotify’s homepage, it’s pretty clear that their main goal is to attract customers who are willing to pay for a premium account, while the CTA for users to sign up for free is very much secondary. It’s not just the headline that gives this away: It’s also the coloring of their CTA buttons. The “Go Premium” CTA is lime green, making it pop off the page, while the “Play Free” CTA is plain white and blends in with the rest of the copy on the page. This contrast ensures that visitors are drawn to the premium CTA.

21) Ugmonk

Exit CTAs, also known as exit intent pop-ups, are different than normal pop-ups. They detect your users’ behavior and only appear when it seems as though they’re about to leave your site. By intervening in a timely way, these pop-ups serve as a fantastic way of getting your reader’s attention while offering them a reason to stay.

Ugmonk has a great exit CTA, offering two options for users as a final plea before they leave the site. First, they offer a 15% discount on their products, followed by two options: “Yes Please: Send me the coupon” and “No Thanks: I’m not interested.” It’s super helpful that each CTA clarifies what “Yes” and “No” actually mean, and I also like that they didn’t use guilt-tripping language like “No Thanks: I hate nature” like I’ve seen on other websites. Finally, notice that the “Yes Please” button is much brighter and inviting in color than the other option.

22) Pinterest

Want to sign up for Pinterest? You have a couple options: sign up via Facebook or via email. If you have a Facebook account, Pinterest wants you to do that first. How do I know? Aesthetically, I know because the blue Facebook CTA comes first and is much more prominent, colorful, and recognizable due to the branded logo and color. Logically, I know because if you log in through Facebook, Pinterest can pull in Facebook’s API data and get more information about you than if you log in through your email address.

Although this homepage is optimized to bring in new members, you’ll notice a very subtle CTA for folks with Pinterest accounts to log in on the top right.

23) Madewell

Madewell (owned by J.Crew) has always had standout website design, taking what could be a typical ecommerce website to the next level. Their use of CTAs on their homepage is no exception.

When you first arrive on the page, you’re greeted with the headline “I’m Looking For …” followed by a category, like “Clothes That’ll Travel Anywhere.” Below this copy are two options: “Yes, Take Me There” or “Hmm… What’s Next?” The user can choose between the two CTAs to either browse clothes that are good for travel, or be taken to the next type of clothing, where they can play again. This gamification is a great way to make your site more interesting for users who come across it without having a specific idea of where they want to look.

24) Instagram

Since Instagram is a mainly mobile app, you’ll see two black CTAs of equal size: one to download Instagram in Apple’s App Store, and another to download it on Google Play. The reason these CTAs are of equal caliber is because it doesn’t matter if someone downloads the app in the App Store or on Google Play … a download is a download, which is exactly what Instagram is optimizing for. If you already have Instagram, you can also click the CTA to “Log In” if you’d prefer that option, too.

25) Barkbox

The two CTAs on Barkbox’s homepage show that the team there knows their customers: While many people visiting their site are signing up for themselves, there are a lot of people out there who want to give Barkbox as a gift. To give those people an easy path to purchase, there are two, equally sized CTAs on the page: “Get Started” and “Give a Gift.” 

As an added bonus, there’s an adorable, pop-up call-to-action on the right-hand side of the screen prompting users to leave a message if they’d like. Click into it, and a small dialogue box pops up that reads, “Woof! I’m afraid our pack is not online. Please leave us a message and we’ll bark at you as soon as pawsible.” Talk about delightful copy.

26) t.c. pharma

Turns out Red Bull isn’t its own parent company: It’s owned by Thailand-based t.c. pharma, a company that makes popular energy drinks, electrolyte beverages, and functional drinks and snacks. Their homepage features two call-to-action buttons of equal size: “Find out more” and “View products” — but it’s clear by the bright yellow color of the first button that they’d rather direct folks to “Find out more.”

27) General Assembly

As you scroll through the General Assembly website, you’ll see CTAs for various courses you may or may not want to sign up for. I’d like to point your attention to the CTA that slides in from the bottom of the page as you’re scrolling, though, which suggests that you subscribe to email updates.

Although this feels like a secondary CTA due to its location and manner, I actually think they try to sneak this in to become more of a primary CTA because it’s so much more colorful and noticeable than the CTAs for individual classes. When you create your own CTAs, try using bolder colors — even ones that clash with your regular stylings — to see if it’s effective at getting people’s attention. (Click here for a tutorial on how to add slide-in CTAs to your webpages.)

28) charity: water

Charity: water’s main goal is to get people to donate money for clean water — but they can’t assume that everyone wants to pay the same way. The CTAs featured on their homepage take a really unique approach to offering up different payment methods by pre-filling $60 into a single line form and including two equally important CTAs to pay via credit card or PayPal. Notice how both CTAs are the same size and design — this is because charity: water likely doesn’t care how you donate, as long as you’re donating.

29) Hipmunk

When you land on the Hipmunk site, your main option is to search flights. But notice there are four tabs you can flip through: flights, hotels, cars, and packages. When you click into one of these options, the form changes so you can fill out more information. To be 100% sure you know what you’re searching for, Hipmunk placed a bright orange CTA at the far right-hand side of the form. On this CTA, you’ll see a recognizable icon of a plane next to the word “Search,” so you know for sure that you’re searching for flights, not hotels. When you’re on the hotels tab, that icon changes to a hotel icon. Same goes with cars and packages.

30) MakeMyPersona

Here’s another example of a great pop-up with multiple calls-to-action — except in this case, you’ll notice the size, color, and design of the users’ two options are very different from one another. In this case, the folks at MakeMyPersona are making the “Grab the template!” CTA much more attractive and clickable than the “No, I’m OK for now, thanks” CTA — which doesn’t even look like a clickable button.

I also like how the “no” option uses polite language. I find brands that don’t guilt-trip users who don’t want to take action to be much, much more lovable.

There you have it. By now, we hope you can see just how important little CTA tweaks can be.

What other CTAs should be added to this list? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in June 2014 and has been updated and for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

How many times have you come across a new website, only to be bombarded with pop-ups for newsletters and email updates before you even learn what the product is? 

Annoying website distractions like these can cause bounce rates to skyrocket, which is why it’s important that you’re regularly reevaluating your strategy to ensure you’re getting the most value out of your site. 

If you want to make a great first impression on those visitors instead of driving them away, personalization and optimization can be used to help you better engage them. Don’t know where to start? Well, HubSpot recently teamed up with AddThis for a live webinar to teach you how to get more out of your website by personalizing it for both old and new visitors. 

On this webinar, you’ll learn:

• The signs of an interruptive website with too many distractions
• How to simplify your website and personalize content to increase conversions
• Tips for understanding your audience based on website behavior
• How to highlight your best content for new visitors and avoid the “Content Iceberg”
• Much more about getting more value from your website!

Click here to save your seat for this webinar!

Date: Tuesday, March 29th
Time: 2 p.m. ET | 11 a.m. PT
Duration: 60 minutes (including Q&A)
Hashtag: #WebsiteValueWebinar

Media companies are beginning to experience something that is akin to a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. As the Internet becomes more mainstream and global, with new populations and devices making their way online, web traffic is waning. There are many newcomers to the digital media market: brands are creating content to promote loyalty and engage their audiences. Independent writers are launching blogs and building their own followings. Audience fragmentation is the new norm, and media companies are struggling to hold on to their audiences.

Meanwhile, the loss of content distribution is inevitable. Technology ecosystems are becoming more mature, and digital audiences have more options than ever when determining where to invest their attention. Media companies shouldn’t fight these natural market forces: instead, they should prepare themselves for inevitable changes that are about to take place. Here’s how.

Come Up with a Long-Term Plan and Strategy

Whatever you do, don’t consider your company immune to the loss of content distribution. Keep in mind that a new, independent publisher may spring up at any time to sweep in and divert your audience’s attention.

Instead of trying to fight these market forces, figure out how you can build upon your approach to make improvements. Come up with a long-term plan and strategy for your business that covers the following areas:

• Alternative monetization streams that introduces your media company’s creative value proposition to new markets (i.e. maybe you’ll launch a creative consulting arm like T Brand Studio at The New York Times, which is the media leader’s internal agency).
• Content products that provide additional layers of monetization (Like HBR’s online store with books, case studies, tools, collections, and magazine issues).
• Events that bring together your most engaged audiences in an educational forum (like FastCompany’s Innovation Festival).
• Formal programs that improve community-building and loyalty (like Slate’s vibrant commenting platform).

As enticing as short-term traffic generations may seem, don’t let temptation get in the way of your better instincts. Understand that the long-term needs prioritization now, as the media ecosystem is only going to become more competitive. User behavior data, personalization, and segmentation are becoming increasingly important to publishers’ monetization equations.

Focus on Subtle Optimizations that Make an Immediate Impact

In addition to prioritizing the big picture, it’s important to focus on initiatives that will move the needle and start generating value
now. Media companies are under extreme pressure to carve out new revenue streams with the resources that they already have on hand: they may not have the flexibility to invest in experimental initiatives.

But there are a few low-hanging opportunities to generate a win. And these wins can ultimately fund new research and discovery efforts, giving your media company a lot more flexibility to generate new sources of value. Here are some steps to take:

Make more out of your email lists: Take the time to segment your lists, understand engagement patterns, and pinpoint your most loyal readers. Use this data to create new advertising offerings for your company. Double down on creating great email campaigns in the form of newsletters, exclusive offers, and interesting content.

Use smart calls to action (CTAs): When crafting CTAs, particularly for advertising campaigns, make sure that you focus the subtleties. In other words, you’ll want to reach the right audiences with the right messaging at the right time in their content consumption journeys. As you’re well-aware, this process is easier said than done. That’s why you’ll want to take the preliminary work that you’ve done with your email list to start crafting a segmentation strategy.

Increase on-site engagement: Find ways to keep audiences on your website, longer. A simple way to get started? Create a strong content recommendation system with related articles. Chances are that if someone is researching a topic, he or she will want to read more. Take advantage of the fact that you’ve piqued your audience’s interesting by continuing to deliver more relevant content and creating the most engaging experience possible. Along the way, you’ll create more value for your advertisers by identifying your most popular website elements, themes, and community features.

Uncover Alternative Sources of Revenue

Media companies need to diversify their revenue.

No matter how advanced you are in your strategy, now is an invaluable time to get started in your process. Pay attention to ways that other publishers are introducing new revenue streams. Consider offering courses, premium content, or subscription-only features. Offer sponsored webinars, native ads, and email newsletter offerings. Continuously find new ways to uncover alternative resource of revenue. The engagement-drivers outlined earlier in this article are a good starting point. Pay attention to the following:

• Organic activity
• Feature requests from audiences
• Popular themes and topics
• Strategic opportunities for advertisers

These four touch points will help you uncover ideas for new products and mechanisms to better engage your audiences. The key is to develop monetization streams around your most engaged audiences and their preferences. This way, you’ll ensure that your revenue streams have an instant customer base.

The Bottom Line

Stop focus on mass-market audiences. Instead, focus on making more out out of your existing audiences. Build products that they’re seeking out, and provide recommendations for more content. Stop fighting an uphill audience-building battle around casting your net wide and reaching mass-market audiences.