Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Monday, June 2, 2014
#THEVISUALIZINGTHEDNA OF #SUCCESSFULSOCIALBUSINESSES.
Visualizing the DNA of Successful Social Businesses
What does it mean to be a social business?
A social business is more than social media and the Likes of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, et al. Yet, it’s a term that’s often confused with social media strategy. But, there’s an important difference between a social business and a social media strategy.Each represent distinct qualities where “social” is simply a qualifier. In front of media, social is an adjective that describes the nature of channels, networks, or platforms that facilitate conversations online. When placed ahead of business, social articulates a philosophy or approach.
In this case, “social business” is a philosophy; a way of business where social technologies supported by new approaches facilitate a more open, engaged, collaborative foundation for how we work.
How do you convince companies to see social media as more than just “a necessary nuisance?”
The fact that social media and social business cause debate or even confusion after all these years is understandable. Many executives see social media as a novelty or a distraction for young adults and kids. They haven’t realized the impact of social networks because they either don’t have time, can’t see the value, find it difficult to keep up with all of the networks, or a combination of all of the above.Coming back to the differences between social media and social business, it’s important for any social media or digital strategist to learn the language of the C-Suite. In the ebook, we share insights from several top executives to understand what it takes to convince them of the true opportunity that social promises. We heard time and time again that their priority and focus is driving business objectives, creating opportunities and solving problems. They don’t make decisions based on technology or trends, yet strategists tend to emphasize social media rather than business goals.
A social media strategy outlines how a business will employ social networks to engage customers or employees.
A social business strategy starts with a vision for how social media will improve customer and employee experiences and relationships and therefore aligns social media initiatives with business goals and opportunities. Technology thus becomes an enabler for a bigger mission and purpose.
Executives asked that we take into consideration a day in their life. They report to stakeholders and sometimes shareholders. They are measured on business performance. If you do your homework to understand their priorities and align social with business objectives, you’ll earn their attention. Add to that, customer expectations, preferences, and the opportunities and challenges with each and how you can help solve against them. By presenting social in this light, executives can’t help but at least support further research and ultimately pilot programs that lead to bigger initiatives.
In the end, you learn that a true social business strategy employs social as one of the primary channels, not the only channel, to deliver a consistent, connected, and additive experience online, through mobile and in the real world by modernizing and improving the complete customer and employee lifecycle.
What are some criteria that organizations should use to prioritize their social initiatives?
As mentioned earlier, social media strategies are often sparked by technology or trends. I’ve heard strategists focus on Pinterest because of its popularity not necessarily because there was a clear correlation between Pinterest users, behavior, and business opportunities. This is also true for most popular or emergent platforms.When you begin with business objectives, social technology and the communities they reach, are evaluated against bona fide priorities that already have the buy-in of executives. In this case we look at business pillars to assess the criteria that contribute to the success of any organization, which can include sales, employee and customer satisfaction, brand resonance, NPS, et al. These pillars represent the primary measures for assessing value in the social business strategy process.
For example, each initiative should be assessed at the functional, line of business, or brand level. From there, ideas must tie together value to the organization (business goals) and also consider the team’s ability to execute. Evaluating ideas this way helps prioritize opportunities while uncovering needs, training, support or assets required to properly execute.
How important is it to get the C-suite on board with social business strategy?
In our research we learned that as social media permeates the enterprise, it typically does so from the marketing or communications department. Usually a social media champion rallies adoption within the organization. As social becomes more prevalent in society, more champions arise throughout the company seeing it as an opportunity to improve how they do things today. As it gains momentum, it creates an internal groundswell that eventually requires budget, resources, training, and governance to support expansion and introduce enterprise-wide standards and goals.At this point, social usually hits a ceiling that requires executive sponsorship to truly transform how a company views social’s potential. Anyone experienced in change management will understand that systemic transformation occurs from the top-down. Earning buy-in, making the case, tying strategies to business objectives, learning the language of the C-Suite, this is how strategists can earn support and bring about the change they wish to see. This is true for more than social media of course. But in that regard, getting the C-Suite on board is imperative to launching productive social business initiatives.
Why do you recommend a three-year plan? Is that realistic, considering the rate of technology change?
If it’s one thing we can bet on, change is not only necessary, it’s slow to appreciate and ultimately unfold. A three-year plan is far enough out to plot a course for transformation but also tangible in the sense that real programs can be deployed now and over time to the benefit of customers, employees and the bottom line.
Remember, social business isn’t about technology; it’s about attaining goals and objectives by improving relationships, driving transactions, and enhancing experiences through channels of relevance. Technology and channels will always evolve and as such, they become enablers for a higher purpose. This is about the ongoing pursuit of relevance.
#THECONTINUERISE OF #BLOGGING
MORE THAN HALF WEB USERS WILL READ BLOGS THIS YEAR.
Social networks and microblogs have in recent years nudged blogging off the social media pedestal. For some consumers, who have more communication tools at their fingertips than they did a few years ago, Facebook and Twitter have supplanted blogging as life-streaming outlets.
But blogs continue to be important. eMarketer estimates that this year more than half of internet users will read blogs at least monthly. By 2014, readership will rise to more than 150 million Americans, or 60% of the internet population in the US. One reason for the rise in readership is that blogs have become an accepted part of the online media landscape.
Trends in blog reading are expected to maintain an upward course as blogs continue to gain influence in the mainstream media,” said Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report " "The Blogosphere : Colliding with Social and Mainstream media." “But there is a caveat to this forecast: Over time, blogs will continue to become indistinguishable from other media channels.”
Blog writing, by contrast, is a more niche activity. Just under 12% of the online population will update a blog at least monthly this year, eMarketer estimates. By 2014 that proportion will inch upward to 13.3%.
There are several factors driving the growth of blogging, including the ease of use of personal blogging platforms and the growing comfort level with blogs as a form of media. At the same time, social media like Twitter and Facebook are giving consumers an alternative, less-intensive way to communicate their thoughts to the world. Blogging is no longer a primary way for people to express themselves online.
#THECORPORATEBLOGS TO #INSPIREYOU
AMAZON.
Adding a notch to its social belt, Amazon is launching brand pages. This means marketers will have yet another social site to maintain and operate.
Registration for brands is free, and you can create a Facebook-type page that’s a bit more focused on products. A “hero widget” at the top of these pages looks an awful lot like a Facebook cover photo. The pages also include social links and “merchandising widgets” to highlight certain products.
According to Amazon, “You can enhance your words with an image or a product. And you can plan ahead, scheduling the release of a series of posts on successive days.”
This is one of those initiatives that will either be a step toward monetizing social, or it will fall flat and become one of those “Remember Amazon Pages” warnings. Amazon, of course, is banking on the former.
“With a personalized Amazon Page, you extend your reach to Amazon.com customers and encourage immediate sales through a familiar and trusted purchasing environment,” the company writes in its FAQ. “Link to content on Amazon.com, feature products, and lifestyle imagery about your brand.”
Amazon Analytics promises to gather “a wide variety of metrics” to help you prove increased sales and ROI.
FACEBOOK.
Once you’re aware of the rules of running a competition on Facebook, you can start creating them. You need to make sure that you run competitions within "Apps For Facebook," but there are many third-party apps that will help you run one on your Facebook page. Among the most popular is wildfire, which offers a lot of functionality, but apps such as Snap App, Votigo, Woobox, and Strutta are also useful. What functionality they provide will help you determine and shape the type of competition you’re going to run.
Once you decided upon the competition format, you need to look at promotion. You will promote it through your own channels, but you need to decide whether you will run an ad campaign to help promote it.
STARBUCKS.
Starbucks' ability to wear so many hats—corporate success, "local" favorite, and Internet sensation—warrants strategic examination. The following is a breakdown of why Starbucks is a social media marketing success story:
It has "super influencers:" Instead of solely focusing efforts on accumulating new customers, it cultivates its current relationships. This ensures more fans/followers in the long run, as well as the continued existence of brand advocates. This holds true across the board: In-store experiences are highly valued—along with online engagement—emphasizing the importance of customer service.
It encourages sharing: Those happy customers are eager to share good experiences and offers. For example, the Starbucks holiday promotion "buy 1 get 1" garnered an extraordinary amount of engagement on Facebook through comments, "likes," and shares.
It customizes the experience: Consumers want to feel like valued individuals, not disposable dollars. Starbucks provides that through programs such as My Starbucks Rewards, personalized signature drinks, and localized store experiences. Their social sites, in particular Pinterest and Instagram, encourage users to share their Starbucks moments—whether it be the return of a favorite holiday drink or just an artsy coffee cup shot.
Its causes are timely and consistent: Coffee drinkers are known for brand loyalty, and giving consumers a charitable reason to buy that steaming cup is beneficial for all. The takeaway from Starbucks is to know your customer and tie that in with what matters in the world—so, pay attention to how your brand can fit into trending topics.
It cross-promotes: When Starbucks takes a photo, it shares it on Instagram, posts it to Facebook, tweets it on Twitter, pins it on Pinterest—well, you get the idea. Social cross-promotion gains importance as the world becomes more digitally focused.
Each network provides an opportunity to reach a new audience, and integrating your strategy on each is crucial to increasing visibility. Just remember that those distinct groups respond to different marketing messages, and each message should be optimized in relation to the network.
Starbucks makes it count: Its mission is "to inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time." Taking the focus off money has helped it make more—lifting customers up will lead to loyalty. its "The way i see it" quote campaign is an inspiring example.
Starbucks is one of many businesses we can learn from. Please posts your comments below, offering questions or your own great examples of social marketing strategies.
It cross-promotes: When Starbucks takes a photo, it shares it on Instagram, posts it to Facebook, tweets it on Twitter, pins it on Pinterest—well, you get the idea. Social cross-promotion gains importance as the world becomes more digitally focused.
Each network provides an opportunity to reach a new audience, and integrating your strategy on each is crucial to increasing visibility. Just remember that those distinct groups respond to different marketing messages, and each message should be optimized in relation to the network.
Starbucks makes it count: Its mission is "to inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time." Taking the focus off money has helped it make more—lifting customers up will lead to loyalty. its "The way i see it" quote campaign is an inspiring example.
Starbucks is one of many businesses we can learn from. Please posts your comments below, offering questions or your own great examples of social marketing strategies.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
#THEINFORMATIONISBEAUTIFUL by Steven James Snyder
These days, most blogs trade in snark and wit, so it's refreshing to find one that blatantly relishes in numbers and analysis. On information is beautiful, you'll learn oodles about, say, that nasty oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico or find a topographical map of narcotics use in San Francisco or see a carbon-dioxide graphic contrasting the way America drives now vs. a possible electric-car future. Overseen by David McCandless, a writer and designer based in London, the blog's clean design, probing nature and impressive number crunching keeps us coming back.
#THEEVERYTHINGEVERYWHERE by Steven James Snyder
In 2007, Gary Arndt — onetime Internet consultant and online gaming devotee — decided to pull up his roots and set sail around the globe. Determined to travel expansively, he started posting his experiences online. The result is a widely followed blog, Everything Everywhere, that is anchored by his inimitable personality. In the three years since he left the Midwest, he has ventured to some 60 countries, posting photos, stories and recommendations along the way. It has become a full-time endeavor, and he now uses podcasts, Twitter and even Foursquare to share his tales of New Zealand glaciers, Easter Island and Egypt. Part photo album, part travel guide and part experiential public diary, his blog is best followed from a metropolitan office cubicle, so workers can fantasize about where in the world Gary Arndt is. Maybe one day we'll follow his lead on our own exploration of the wonders of the world.
#THEMOSTVALUABLEBLOGS #INAMERICA by Douglas A. McIntyre
All of the blogs here are private companies. Blogs owned by larger firms are not measured. Blogs used primarily as fronts for other businesses have also been excluded. Some of the blogs on the list have raised VC money and those sums can be used as guidelines if they are disclosed. The only worthwhile value is what an acquirer will pay, so any estimate needs to take into account the value the blog may have to an outside buyer. Several blogs from earlier versions of this list were sold, among them Ars Technica and PaidContent. Some of the largest blogs based on audience measurements do not have significant revenue and are also excluded. For instance, “The Daily Beast”, a large news commentary site controlled by IACI, takes almost no advertising.
GAWKER PROPERTIES, $300 MILLION.
This group of blogs which includes Gawker, Deadspin, Gizmodo, and Lifehacker has about 23 million monthly unique visitors and 250 million page views. Owner Nick Denton has pointed out the business is highly profitable and growing and that advertising revenue has performed better than expected. Almost all the advertising at the family of websites is premium marketing from major companies. The average CPM on a page is estimated to be $20. That would drive $60 million in annual revenue. Gawker is not expensive to run. Its writers are paid relatively low wages. Many of the blogs Gawker owns have only five or ten writers and editors. Gawker keeps at least 50% of its revenue as operating income. The valuation is based on 10x operating income.
THE HUFFINGTON POST, $112 MILLION.
The Huffington Post is ranked first among all blogs on the Technorati 100, which means it has a huge number of websites linking to it. Quantcast puts its global unique visitor audience at 20 million. The site is set up to encourage navigation from page to page and uses editor slide shows to build page views which are probably about seven per visitor. Huffington advertisers are a mix of high and middle CPM marketers. Average CPM per page is about $10. The company’s annual revenue run rate should be up to $16 million. Huffington executives say that the company does not make money. Huffington’s prestige and its strategic value to a buyer make it extremely valuable. The 24/7 figure is based on seven times revenue, a much larger-than-normal premium for a media property.
PEREZ HILTON, $44 MILLION.
The entertainment and gossip site have over 7 million unique visitors. 24/7 estimates twelve page views per visitor. The site carries very little premium advertising although its text link ads probably do well. CPM per page is $6. The site has revenue of about $6.2 million a year. Perez Hilton has very little staff and appears to have very low operating costs. The company’s margin should be 60%. This site would be very valuable to a large media company with online entertainment content.
4. Drudge Report. $42 million. Most measurements of the blog show that traffic trends are flat to down. The site has about nine million unique visitors. Page view estimates published by Drudge are absurdly high. The site carries a very modest amount of premium advertising and it is unlikely that the CPM per page is above $5. Revenue is about $8 million. Drudge appears to have very low staff levels and extremely small operating costs. Operating income should be about $6 million.
TECH-CRUNCH. $32 MILLION.
The sites that make up TechCrunch have almost 4 million unique visitors and the network has about eighteen million page views. CPMs are very high due to the quality and number of advertisers. 24/7 Wall St. estimates them to be $35 per page. Advertising revenue is about $7.5 million. Other related businesses bring in another $2 million. TechCrunch has a staff of about thirty. Company margins are about 30%, or just less than $3 million.
POP-SUGAR PROPERTIES, $26 MILLION.
The Sugar Network has 11 million unique visitors to its site which include PopSugar, FitSugar, GeekSuger, and SavvySugar. The visitors to the sites are young and predominantly female. The quality of the advertising is low and the sites probably do not get a CPM per page of much more than $6. The company has revenue of about $7.5 million a year. The sites have a very large staff, probably more than 60 people. Operating profits are no better than 25% of revenue, or $2 million. This company would have tremendous value to a media company that targets young women.
POLITICO. $23 MILLION.
The site is the largest single media property in the US devoted exclusively to national politics. It has more than 5 million unique visitors and 40 million page views a month. Politico needs a better sales operation. It carries a number of high quality advertisers from corporate image and policy marketers mixed with a number of very low CPM campaigns. Advertising CPM per page is $10. Politico has a great deal of value to a national news organization. It does, however, have very high costs and employs at least 80 people. Politico loses $5 million a year on $5 million in revenue.
MAC-RUMORS. $20 MILLION.
Mac-Rumors has 6.5 million unique visitors per month and 45 million page views. The quality of the advertising is weak. The company’s revenue is about $4.4 million. MacRumors staff is small and the publishing platform the site uses is probably very inexpensive. MacRumors margins are at least 50%. Competition in the “Apple” news website business has gotten fierce.
BOING BOING. $18 MILLION.
This leading tech and gadget site has 3 million unique visitors a month and probably over twenty-four million page views. CPMs should be relatively high–$14. Boing Boing has revenue of $4 million. The company has thirty or more people so its margins are probably only 50%.
10. Mashable. $17.5 million.This is the top blog in the country that concentrates on social media. It has 4.2 million unique visitors a month. Mashable employees about thirty people. The site has 30 million page views a month. Some of the advertising is from the tech industry and should carry high CPMS, but a fair amount of the inventory is sold to more generic marketers. Total CPM per page is $12. Total revenue for Mashable is $4.3 million. The site is in a highly competitive part of the blog market and is not the leading site in size or reputation. Margins are about 45%.
SEEKING ALPHA. $16 MILLION.
Seeking Alpha, the financial content aggregation site, is now nearly as large as some major media websites like SmartMoney and FT.com. The site has 2.5 million unique visitors and 18 million page views. Revenue is $3.5 million a year because of the high quality of the financial advertisers that the site runs. The company has a large staff in Israel and the US. Seeking Alpha has a complex publishing structure. The company makes a very small operating profit. It would be very valuable property for a large media conglomerate that has business and financial websites. Unlike some other sites on the list, SA does not rely heavily on its founder and CEO for its future success.
GIGAOM. $15 MILLION.
This network of websites, founded by Om Malik, includes Tech Insider, CleanTech, Open Source, and Mac Lovers. GigaOm also has a paid research operation and runs several conferences. The sites have about 1.7 million unique visitors and 12 million page views. CPM per page $20. Total advertising revenue is $2.8 million. Sales from other divisions are $1 million. The company has close to 35 employees and high costs of operating conferences. Operating profit is $1.7 million.
BREITBART SITES. $11 MILLION.
This family of sites includes Breitbart, Big Hollywood, Big Government, and Breitbart TV. Total unique visitors across all sites are 3.2 million and 18 million page views. The site carries a reasonable amount of premium advertisers. CPMs are $12, putting total revenue at $2.5 million. Staff levels seem to be very low and the publishing platforms are simple. Operating profit is about $1.5 million.
14. SB Nation Network. $8 million. The company has a network of about 200 relatively small sites across all major sports. The network has 4 million unique visitors. SB Nation has about twenty employees. The sites are a page view machine but the advertising is low quality. Total revenue of $2 million with very modest margins.
READWRITEWEB. $7 MILLION.
The site covers online trends. It bills itself as a site for tech innovators. The site has 1.2 million unique visitors and 10 million page views. The company has a staff of ten. CPM per page is very high with some pages carrying as many as 10 premium ads. CPM at $20 brings total revenue to $2.4 million. Margins are probably close to $1 million. ReadWriteWeb is in an extremely competitive part of the online content business.
16. The Business Insider. $7 million. The Business Insider is a family of websites covering media, the internet, business, and finance. The sites together have 1.8 million unique visitors and 14 million page views. The sites carry a large amount of premium advertising. The Business Insider revenue is about $2 million. The firm has a large staff of about 20 people and probably losses a modest amount of money.
DESTRUCTOID. $5 MILLION.
Mega-gamer site with 1.1 million unique visitors and ten million page views. The website is game reviews meets social networking. It appears to have very loyal audience. Most of the content is user-created and the staff appears to be small. There are not a lot of ads, but those that run are from the game industry and should have high CPMs. Annual revenue is $1.4 million and margins are at least 50%.
18. Apple Insider. $4.5 million. Another of the many websites about what goes on in the land of Steve Jobs and his many spectacularly successful inventions. The site has 1.2 million unique visitors and eight million page views. Advertising is a mix of high-end consumer products, which tend to pay low CPMs, and business electronics. Apple Insider appears to have a small staff. Revenue is about $1.3 million and the site should make $700,000 in operating profit.
//FILM. (SLASHFILM). $4 MILLION.
The audience for this film blogging site has dropped about 15% over the last three months, but unique visitors are still 1.3 million and eleven million page views. The site carries very little premium advertising, averaging CPMs at less than $10 per page. Revenue for //film is about $1.3 million a year. The company probably is keeping more than half of that as profit.
SEARCHENGINLAND. $4 MILLION.
This site, which covers the search engine industry, makes most of its money from conferences called the SMX Search Market Expos. The company that runs the site and conferences is Third Door Media. The main site has about 400,000 unique visitors and 3.5 million page views. That means the internet part of the company has revenue of just over $600,000. Revenue from the conferences is probably $2 million. The parent firm has a large staff.
SMASHING MAGAZINE. $3.5 MILLION.
The site is the online destination for graphics design and has 900,000 unique visitors a month and 6 million page views. The site has a huge Twitter following of over 80,000. The company has a very small staff and some outside contributors. Each page has a large number of premium online ads. Revenue of $1.9 million and 30% operating margin.
TALKING POINTS MEMO SITES. $3.5 MILLION.
This collection of sites includes political coverage site Talking Points Memo, TPMMuckracker, and TPM TV. The sites have 1 million monthly unique and 8 million page views. The company has a small staff and gets some news from wire services. TPM operates in the crowded and competitive space that includes The Huffington Post and Politico. The sites have very little high-CPM ads. Revenue is just under $1 million a year and the business does no better than breakeven.
VENTUREBEAT. $3 MILLION.
This is the class of the online venture capital news and analysis websites. The site has 800,000 unique visitors and seven million page views. There are a number of premium advertisers on VentureBeat and most pages carry multiple ads. Revenue for the company is $1.25 million. Venture Beat’s staff is large enough that it probably does not make money.
THE SUPERFICIAL. $3 MILLION.
24. The Superficial. $3 million. The Superficial is the flagship of a small number of sites run by Anticlown Media. The site is a modest version of Perez Hilton, and competes in a sector that includes websites like TMZ and the online operations of People and US magazines. The Superficial has one million monthly unique visitors and Compete shows a slight drop in audience recently. The site has 10 million page views and very little high CPM advertising. Revenue is about $1.5 million.
24/7 WALL ST. NETWORK. $???
Family of sites which includes 24/7 Wall St., Volume Spike Investor, BioHealth Investor, and Apple Financial News.
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5. What would you like to read about? We love suggestions, tips, ideas, and collaboration.
THE HUFFINGTON POST, $112 MILLION.
The Huffington Post is ranked first among all blogs on the Technorati 100, which means it has a huge number of websites linking to it. Quantcast puts its global unique visitor audience at 20 million. The site is set up to encourage navigation from page to page and uses editor slide shows to build page views which are probably about seven per visitor. Huffington advertisers are a mix of high and middle CPM marketers. Average CPM per page is about $10. The company’s annual revenue run rate should be up to $16 million. Huffington executives say that the company does not make money. Huffington’s prestige and its strategic value to a buyer make it extremely valuable. The 24/7 figure is based on seven times revenue, a much larger-than-normal premium for a media property.
PEREZ HILTON, $44 MILLION.
The entertainment and gossip site have over 7 million unique visitors. 24/7 estimates twelve page views per visitor. The site carries very little premium advertising although its text link ads probably do well. CPM per page is $6. The site has revenue of about $6.2 million a year. Perez Hilton has very little staff and appears to have very low operating costs. The company’s margin should be 60%. This site would be very valuable to a large media company with online entertainment content.
4. Drudge Report. $42 million. Most measurements of the blog show that traffic trends are flat to down. The site has about nine million unique visitors. Page view estimates published by Drudge are absurdly high. The site carries a very modest amount of premium advertising and it is unlikely that the CPM per page is above $5. Revenue is about $8 million. Drudge appears to have very low staff levels and extremely small operating costs. Operating income should be about $6 million.
TECH-CRUNCH. $32 MILLION.
The sites that make up TechCrunch have almost 4 million unique visitors and the network has about eighteen million page views. CPMs are very high due to the quality and number of advertisers. 24/7 Wall St. estimates them to be $35 per page. Advertising revenue is about $7.5 million. Other related businesses bring in another $2 million. TechCrunch has a staff of about thirty. Company margins are about 30%, or just less than $3 million.
POP-SUGAR PROPERTIES, $26 MILLION.
The Sugar Network has 11 million unique visitors to its site which include PopSugar, FitSugar, GeekSuger, and SavvySugar. The visitors to the sites are young and predominantly female. The quality of the advertising is low and the sites probably do not get a CPM per page of much more than $6. The company has revenue of about $7.5 million a year. The sites have a very large staff, probably more than 60 people. Operating profits are no better than 25% of revenue, or $2 million. This company would have tremendous value to a media company that targets young women.
POLITICO. $23 MILLION.
The site is the largest single media property in the US devoted exclusively to national politics. It has more than 5 million unique visitors and 40 million page views a month. Politico needs a better sales operation. It carries a number of high quality advertisers from corporate image and policy marketers mixed with a number of very low CPM campaigns. Advertising CPM per page is $10. Politico has a great deal of value to a national news organization. It does, however, have very high costs and employs at least 80 people. Politico loses $5 million a year on $5 million in revenue.
MAC-RUMORS. $20 MILLION.
Mac-Rumors has 6.5 million unique visitors per month and 45 million page views. The quality of the advertising is weak. The company’s revenue is about $4.4 million. MacRumors staff is small and the publishing platform the site uses is probably very inexpensive. MacRumors margins are at least 50%. Competition in the “Apple” news website business has gotten fierce.
BOING BOING. $18 MILLION.
This leading tech and gadget site has 3 million unique visitors a month and probably over twenty-four million page views. CPMs should be relatively high–$14. Boing Boing has revenue of $4 million. The company has thirty or more people so its margins are probably only 50%.
10. Mashable. $17.5 million.This is the top blog in the country that concentrates on social media. It has 4.2 million unique visitors a month. Mashable employees about thirty people. The site has 30 million page views a month. Some of the advertising is from the tech industry and should carry high CPMS, but a fair amount of the inventory is sold to more generic marketers. Total CPM per page is $12. Total revenue for Mashable is $4.3 million. The site is in a highly competitive part of the blog market and is not the leading site in size or reputation. Margins are about 45%.
SEEKING ALPHA. $16 MILLION.
Seeking Alpha, the financial content aggregation site, is now nearly as large as some major media websites like SmartMoney and FT.com. The site has 2.5 million unique visitors and 18 million page views. Revenue is $3.5 million a year because of the high quality of the financial advertisers that the site runs. The company has a large staff in Israel and the US. Seeking Alpha has a complex publishing structure. The company makes a very small operating profit. It would be very valuable property for a large media conglomerate that has business and financial websites. Unlike some other sites on the list, SA does not rely heavily on its founder and CEO for its future success.
GIGAOM. $15 MILLION.
This network of websites, founded by Om Malik, includes Tech Insider, CleanTech, Open Source, and Mac Lovers. GigaOm also has a paid research operation and runs several conferences. The sites have about 1.7 million unique visitors and 12 million page views. CPM per page $20. Total advertising revenue is $2.8 million. Sales from other divisions are $1 million. The company has close to 35 employees and high costs of operating conferences. Operating profit is $1.7 million.
BREITBART SITES. $11 MILLION.
This family of sites includes Breitbart, Big Hollywood, Big Government, and Breitbart TV. Total unique visitors across all sites are 3.2 million and 18 million page views. The site carries a reasonable amount of premium advertisers. CPMs are $12, putting total revenue at $2.5 million. Staff levels seem to be very low and the publishing platforms are simple. Operating profit is about $1.5 million.
14. SB Nation Network. $8 million. The company has a network of about 200 relatively small sites across all major sports. The network has 4 million unique visitors. SB Nation has about twenty employees. The sites are a page view machine but the advertising is low quality. Total revenue of $2 million with very modest margins.
READWRITEWEB. $7 MILLION.
The site covers online trends. It bills itself as a site for tech innovators. The site has 1.2 million unique visitors and 10 million page views. The company has a staff of ten. CPM per page is very high with some pages carrying as many as 10 premium ads. CPM at $20 brings total revenue to $2.4 million. Margins are probably close to $1 million. ReadWriteWeb is in an extremely competitive part of the online content business.
16. The Business Insider. $7 million. The Business Insider is a family of websites covering media, the internet, business, and finance. The sites together have 1.8 million unique visitors and 14 million page views. The sites carry a large amount of premium advertising. The Business Insider revenue is about $2 million. The firm has a large staff of about 20 people and probably losses a modest amount of money.
DESTRUCTOID. $5 MILLION.
Mega-gamer site with 1.1 million unique visitors and ten million page views. The website is game reviews meets social networking. It appears to have very loyal audience. Most of the content is user-created and the staff appears to be small. There are not a lot of ads, but those that run are from the game industry and should have high CPMs. Annual revenue is $1.4 million and margins are at least 50%.
18. Apple Insider. $4.5 million. Another of the many websites about what goes on in the land of Steve Jobs and his many spectacularly successful inventions. The site has 1.2 million unique visitors and eight million page views. Advertising is a mix of high-end consumer products, which tend to pay low CPMs, and business electronics. Apple Insider appears to have a small staff. Revenue is about $1.3 million and the site should make $700,000 in operating profit.
//FILM. (SLASHFILM). $4 MILLION.
The audience for this film blogging site has dropped about 15% over the last three months, but unique visitors are still 1.3 million and eleven million page views. The site carries very little premium advertising, averaging CPMs at less than $10 per page. Revenue for //film is about $1.3 million a year. The company probably is keeping more than half of that as profit.
SEARCHENGINLAND. $4 MILLION.
This site, which covers the search engine industry, makes most of its money from conferences called the SMX Search Market Expos. The company that runs the site and conferences is Third Door Media. The main site has about 400,000 unique visitors and 3.5 million page views. That means the internet part of the company has revenue of just over $600,000. Revenue from the conferences is probably $2 million. The parent firm has a large staff.
SMASHING MAGAZINE. $3.5 MILLION.
The site is the online destination for graphics design and has 900,000 unique visitors a month and 6 million page views. The site has a huge Twitter following of over 80,000. The company has a very small staff and some outside contributors. Each page has a large number of premium online ads. Revenue of $1.9 million and 30% operating margin.
TALKING POINTS MEMO SITES. $3.5 MILLION.
This collection of sites includes political coverage site Talking Points Memo, TPMMuckracker, and TPM TV. The sites have 1 million monthly unique and 8 million page views. The company has a small staff and gets some news from wire services. TPM operates in the crowded and competitive space that includes The Huffington Post and Politico. The sites have very little high-CPM ads. Revenue is just under $1 million a year and the business does no better than breakeven.
VENTUREBEAT. $3 MILLION.
This is the class of the online venture capital news and analysis websites. The site has 800,000 unique visitors and seven million page views. There are a number of premium advertisers on VentureBeat and most pages carry multiple ads. Revenue for the company is $1.25 million. Venture Beat’s staff is large enough that it probably does not make money.
THE SUPERFICIAL. $3 MILLION.
24. The Superficial. $3 million. The Superficial is the flagship of a small number of sites run by Anticlown Media. The site is a modest version of Perez Hilton, and competes in a sector that includes websites like TMZ and the online operations of People and US magazines. The Superficial has one million monthly unique visitors and Compete shows a slight drop in audience recently. The site has 10 million page views and very little high CPM advertising. Revenue is about $1.5 million.
24/7 WALL ST. NETWORK. $???
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