• Integrating online advertising into web editorial: models and strategies
• Classroom discussion space for digital publishers
• Strategy roadmaps: Building powerful travel site: using the toolbox fully
• Strategy roadmaps: Building sustainable online audiences
• Best practice digital publishing: A blog is for life and not just for Christmas
• Research: UK Digital advertising market commentary - Market growth and evolution
• Research: US Digital advertising market commentary - Market growth and evolution
• Digital Articles: Best practice in video advertising
• Training: Public access coaching for small firms
• Training: Digital Media Sales Academy
• Training: Digital Publishing Strategy Academy
• Training: Digital Web 2.0 Academy
• Training: Digital Blogging Academy
• Training: Digital Advertising Traffickers' Academy
• Case study: BBC - Building sales capability and strategy for video advertising
• Case study: Haymarket Media - building knowledge and skills of the leadership team, changing strategy
• Case study: International Herald Tribune - building online advertising revenue
• Case study: Brand Republic - Building digital strategy and online communities in the digital marketing industry
• Case study: Nectar Loyalty Cards - online communities and digital strategy
• Revenue uplifts: ways we can help publisher businesses
• Best practice

Getting online news media to earn real revenues is a tougher challenge than many newspaper directors expect. Web advertising spend may now be larger than newspaper advertising in many countries, but that doesn’t mean newspapers can expect a big share. The search engines, portals and sales networks continue to dominate the sector, and as the next wave of revenue pours into social media like Facebook, newspaper sites need to fight to earn their share.

Danny Meadows-Klue was the publisher of one of Europe’s first online newspapers (www.telegraph.co.uk) before co-founding the UK and European Interactive Advertising Bureau trade associations, then the Digital Strategy Consulting group and the Digital Training Academy. For over ten years he has been helping online media brands boost their revenues, and in this strategy masterclass for web publishers he looks at the approaches newspapers can use to boost advertising revenues through integrating their commercial models and editorial opportunities.

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Here is the place you can discuss issues with your coach or tutor, and other Academy participants. If you have perspectives or research to share, or if there is something that was not clear during your Digital Training Academy then leave a comment. Is there a new point you would like to make? Are there any new issues that you have discovered now you are applying some of the ideas covered in the Academy? Just remember to keep the posts on-topic, be courteous to your colleagues, and that these digital coaching classrooms are not intended to carry commercial promotions or "advertorials".

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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.

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Building a successful online media property means building a sustainable and resilient audience. The dynamics of audience acquisition and engagement on the web are different from those in classic media channels and although they hinge on the delivery of great content that satisfies audience needs, marketers have to work hard to acquire the right audiences at the right price. Add to that the competitive landscape where every other site is only a click away and there are many challenges in getting the model right. In this report we collate smart tactics for getting audiences into and back to the content.

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Blogging moved from the margins to the mainstream of digital publishing around 2003, changing the way firms could relate to their customers, and offering the potential to transform the role of corporate communications. By developing their own blogs, or carefully raising discussion and comment on those run by others, brands can extend their footprint and reach wider audiences. It can be an exceptionally powerful, cost-effective and intimate way of developing a message, but comes with real risks and limitations. The digital networked society has given a voice to anyone, and this democratisation of access to discussion creates a new landscape for messaging. It’s a powerful reminder of the new era of communications we all work in, and getting it right demands strategic thinking and a sustainable plan, as well as authenticity and tenacity. This Digital Insight Report explores how and why this is the case, and gets you thinking about how you might be able to harness blogging for your brands.

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The switch to online continues to accelerate in Europe’s lead digital media market. The internet's share of all advertising swelled to almost 15% in the first half of 2007, with further record-setting leaps in real growth. Boosted in particular by massive increases in the supply of media from social networks, and the continued switch of acquisition budgets into search, the wider media sector is hurting as budgets are displaced and advertisers follow their audiences. The big changes are now starting.

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The world’s largest online ad market is still enjoying the largest annual growth in real terms. Spend surged ahead by 25.4%, crossing the $5bn mark in a single quarter. Boosted in particular by massive increases in the supply of media from social networks, and the continued switch of acquisition budgets into search, the wider media sector is hurting as budgets are displaced and advertisers follow their audiences. The big changes are now starting.

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The sudden arrival of in-stream video advertising formats presents new challenges for commercial directors, ad operations teams and media planners. Minor variations in the way video advertising messages are delivered can have a disproportionate impact on the effectiveness of the commercials and the quality of the campaign. These best practice tips for video advertising reflect techniques that have proven to be effective for both media planners and online publishers in getting more value from the media space and creative assets.

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Accelerate your team’s understanding of digital publishing, online advertising and web content with our intensive programme of courses. We’ve trained digital teams in over 20 countries and this new programme of open access digital publishing coaching will instantly boost your team’s results. Our training is practical and focused, designed to have an immediate impact on your business and change the way your organization works. Our tutors and business coaches have been teaching online media or online marketing for more than a decade and can help you get more from the investment you’ve already made in the web.

Who should attend?

If you work on a media website, then you’re the right type of web publisher for these digital publishing coaching programmes. These Digital Training Academies are specifically geared to the needs of publishers, commercial directors, editors, business strategists, and online marketers for media groups.

Need to know more?

Call us on +44 (0) 20 7244 9661 or email Admissions@DigitalTrainingAcademy.com.

Training starts a week before with research and exercises we send you and your access continues after.

Getting to grips with online media sales

Strengthening your team with the knowledge about how the online markets work is key to unlocking pent-up potential. Even a great sales person can be lost in the maze of metrics, daunted by the jargon and unclear about whether the products being pitched will meet client objectives. Get the knowledge to the right level and not only does each person's productivity increase, but the whole crew comes together to deliver better results. This practical one day course will cover the basics, answer those unanswered questions and help your team pull together to sell online media effectively.

Media planners in six countries told us the same thing: there's nothing more frustrating than having sales teams get the numbers wrong. "It wastes our time, and if they don't know the difference between impressions, uniques and reach when they're selling, how can we trust the numbers after?" Our tutor's message: get the numbers clear before taking anything out to your agency. And if you're not proud of the traffic stats, look at whether the product is really up to the job.

Visit the Digital Classroom and download resources from the Digital Media Sales Academy

Masterclasses for web publishers

With rapid development continuing to be the norm, publishers need to be able to read the landscape and work as a team to set the right direction. Familiarity with the key principles behind different generations of websites is the starting point in that navigation. This reveals implications for the site's business models and explains why some add little value and represent false paths, while others lead through the easy ground towards strong commercial growth.

Visit the Digital Classroom and download resources from the Digital Publishing Strategy Academy | Information about the Digital Publishing Strategy Academy

Understanding online communities

The digital networked society creates new models for social interaction. Online communities may have been prospering long before the web, but only in the last few years have they crossed into the mainstream. Social software has unlocked the enthusiasm to self-publish, but while every brand now aspires to owning a community, few will ever succeed.

Visit the Digital Classroom and download resources from the Digital Web 2.0 Academy

Corporate communications directors: Blogging, CSR and getting to grips with a new corporate communications channel

All you need to know, packed into an afternoon! Blogging has suddenly arrived in the world of corporate communications. Whether we like it or not people are out there talking about our brands and our businesses. They are doing it in public and, thanks to Google and those other search tools, anyone can find out what they are saying within a click of a mouse.

Visit the Digital Classroom and download resources from the Digital Blogging Academy

Getting to grips with online ad trafficking

Designed for newcomers to the world of online ad trafficking, getting you up to speed with ad traffic processes and giving you a framework you can apply to future campaigns. This hands-on course for advertising operations teams teaches the basics of advertising trafficking and scheduling. It's an orientation to the principles and theory, and a roadmap for applying them to your work-flow. You'll see how popular tool-kits work them and get a clear picture of how trafficking fits into the bigger picture.

Visit the Digital Classroom and download resources from the Digital Ad Traffic Academy

BBC - the world's largest news content brand	The new player	Digital Media Sales Academy	Digital strategy development

When the BBC began exploring the power of video delivery through the web, Digital's team were brought in as advisors on the commercial models for deployment. Long-term enthusiasts of online video programming, Digital's directors had worked with the BBC before, initially in Radio and then on the creation of BBC News 24, the rolling news network that would change the nature of news broadcasting in the UK. This time Digital's brief was to explore the structures and approaches for successful monetisation of video content and the advertising models that could deliver outside the UK. The solution was a blend of strategy and training with Digital Media Sales Academy programmes delivered around the world to boost the knowledge and skills of the whole global advertising sales teams, and a separate strand of strategy workshops for senior management and key stakeholders. Initial training waves took place in 2005, with the main global capability build following eighteen months later in the Spring and Summer of 2007.

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Leading magazine and conference firm	Award winning business and consumer titles	Digital Publishing Strategy Academy	Management coaching

Haymarket Publishing was one of the largest privately held magazine and conference businesses in the world. Their history of innovation in print had led to a rich and successful formula that had been exported into dozens of sectors in dozens of countries. But when the media industry is changing so fast, the group realised that their leadership teams needed an acceleration in their knowledge and understanding of digital publishing business models. Inside the group were some of the UK's most successful online consumer titles, like www.whatcar.com and business titles like www.BrandRepublic.com, but to maintain their leadership role in so many markets would take a change in group strategy.

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The world's business newspaper	Digital Media Sales Academy in London and Paris	Management coaching in New York

The International Herald Tribune (IHT) is one of the world’s leading newspapers, and its long established award-winning websites are among the best digital services of any newspaper in the world. However, as advertisers migrate their spend from classic channels to online environments, there are new pressures on media groups and new skills their internet teams need.

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Brand Republic	The leading site for marketers	Product Strategy Development

The UK's leading online resource for marketers needed a world class website. BrandRepublic.com is the online home for a dozen magazine titles including Media Week, Campaign and Revolution. Its news services are subscribed to by the whole UK media industry and whatever the group writes reflects the pulse of marketing and media in Britain. Their digital marketing reporting includes Revolution Magazine which has tracked the growth of the digital media sector in the UK for more than a decade, as well as dedicated sections in all of the media titles and an online television property. This is the definitive voice of British marketing and the home of the digital marketing community.

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The leading loyalty programme	Building customer relationships	Digital Community Academy

When Nectar's parent company were looking for additional input to give them the edge in online strategy and marketing, they chose Digital. The UK's market leading loyalty card programme has a reputation for cutting edge marketing, and a business model that has aligned leading high street brands behind a single transferable card scheme. Their understanding of personal data is second to none and their marketing skills are world class. That's the typical background of a firm who engages Digital's team, because together the Digital training Academy and Digital Strategy Consulting can give world leaders a commercial edge.

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Revenue Uplift 1: Technology audit

Ad-serving price rate analysis - what should they be paying.

Targeting - analysis of all form or targeting and their impact on sales and inventory.

Independent Evaluation of BT Vendors and Technologies in light of their business models.

Contextual targeting - how to create unlimited virtual ad categories.

How to increase page impressions - through associated links to content.

Revenue Uplift 2: Partners

Ad exchanges - how to monetise every impression.

Yield Management - how to work with remnant inventory providers most profitably.

Revenue Uplift 3: Knowing what you have got

Understanding your sites profitability.

Creating Bespoke management Revenue Reports and predictions.

Revenue Uplift 4: Training Audit

Online Advertising involves matching advertiser's needs to complex pieces of ad technology.

Training sales to understand the value and possibilities of the technology they use.

Advertiser experience - How to be better to work with than your competitors and gain more business

Building your e-newsletter publishing strategy

• Reviewing your content
• Working with your team on a segmentation model
• Examining the scope of what can be used from different the sections of the site
• Developing the key performance indicators you'll need to measure success
• Coaching your team on building up a list of prospective recipients

Best practice: SEO for magazines, newspapers and media sites: processes and tips

Search engine optimisation is critical for driving traffic and raising audience numbers. Every website wants to increase users and page impressions, but for media sites this is at the heart of their business model. The problem is most publishers fail to give it the attention it needs. http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2007/12/seo_for_magazines_newspapers_a.php

Best practice: Online moderation - deciding when to moderate comments in social media

As a web publisher, how do you deal with conversations between viewers that descend into a flame war? Social media tools are great ways to engage audiences and boost page traffic, but moderation needs to be taken into account from the very start. http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2008/03/best_practice_online_moderatio.php

Best practice: Video advertising duration and structures

The sudden arrival of in-stream video advertising formats presents new challenges for commercial directors, ad operations teams and media planners. http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2008/04/best_practice_in_video_adverti.php

Best practice: Dayparting – how online ads can learn a lesson from broadcast media

If you’re McDonald's and selling breakfast products, when do you want to advertise? Broadcast media has always been strong in using the times of day to talk to customers when they are most receptive, but why have web marketers missed the trick? http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2008/03/best_practice_dayparting_how_o.php

Best practice: Advertising sales structures - how to structure internet ad sales team effectively

Selling online advertising is harder than selling print. While the Google interface may have made search listings easy enough for anyone to buy off the screen, selling brand building graphical ‘display’ space is tough because it opens up so many questions, often at a time when there just isn’t the knowledge inside the client team or the sales force. http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2008/03/best_practice_sales_structures.php

Seven simple steps for getting more from your website

Every firm has a website these days, but that's only the start of internet marketing. Why do some websites do almost nothing for their companies and others change the perception of a brand or generate massive numbers of leads? Could you be getting more value from the time and money you've already invested in your site? http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2008/04/seven_simple_steps_for_getting.php

A blog is for life and not just for Christmas

What started out in a techno ghetto moved to the mainstream of digital publishing over three years ago. These days many small company websites are run entirely by blogging software and many big company CEOs are itching to write their own blog. http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2008/02/a_blog_is_for_life_and_not_jus_1.php

Creating a digital strategy for a television station, newspaper or magazine

There’s been rapid change already, but the pace will accelerate from here. http://www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/articles/2007/11/digital_strategy_for_a_televis.php