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Why RebelMouse? The Best Centralized, Social CMS

RebelMouse is the best CMS for social growth, with a platform built for content creators to thrive in the age of social. See how we got here + how you can join us and start growing within days!

Chances are that the CMS you work in every day was built before social — before the idea of distributed content was even coined. Even though publishing has changed dramatically, a lot of that heavy and outdated tech still exists today.

For example, WordPress has more than 87 million sites, but each platform update still has to be pushed out individually to each and every one of those customers. By contrast, RebelMouse is a centralized CMS, meaning our updates are pushed out to all of our sites at once (and sometimes even multiple times a day). We are always updating and integrating which is why we are quickly becoming the most sought-after alternative to WordPress VIP, with a platform that features content creation tools integrated directly into social APIs.

Websites became a part of our lives long before the revelation that fans are born in the feeds. The opportunity to reach huge social audiences is now, but that doesn't mean the website is dead. Publishing has just evolved.

The Publishing Arc

2004: The Blogger.com Movement

In 2004, the world was introduced to the digital diary, aka blogging. Blogger.com launched and fueled this movement, gaining incredible traction in the marketing community. "Blog" was even declared word of the year.

When Google acquired Blogger, the importance of blogging and its position in mainstream media was solidified. It became a new outlet used to reach audiences in the ever-changing world of digital, and, soon after, a base for keywords and search engine ranking tactics.

2005: HuffPost Launches

In 2005, HuffPost launched, redefining the nature of online commentary as we knew it. Backed by some big names, HuffPost quickly began changing the way we publish and consume content online. RebelMouse CEO and founder Paul Berry was CTO of HuffPost when it launched, greatly impacting the new media world we currently live in today.

2008: WordPress Grows, a Ton

2008 was about the time when WordPress began to gain massive scale. Page views and global unique visitors grew like crazy, and millions of new blogs were being created each year. The company continued their quest for dominance with plans to continue releasing new, user-friendly updates.

During this period, 90% of traffic to websites still came from Google.

2009: The Rise of Facebook

2009 proved to be the year that social media went mainstream — the year everyone in the family jumped on board, and not just to post a status update about what they ate. Twitter + Facebook now featured breaking news and political events ... all in real time.

Businesses started to embrace the social platforms as a way to communicate directly with customers. And while new users spiked for a slew of new platforms during this time (Twitter, Reddit, YouTube), Facebook was quietly staking its claim as the dominate figure.

Facebook grew by over 200 million users in 2009. With various updates that focused on content creation, a real-time feed, and the Open Stream API, Facebook saw astronomical growth.

2011: The Shift to Social

2011 — the year web traffic began to shy away from Google and cling to Facebook instead. The social giant gradually won referral traffic market share thanks to a lack of analytics from Google, and Facebook's own ambitious effort to get content on its site.

Facebook begins taking referral traffic from Google.Business Insider

If you didn't start rethinking your content strategy to center it around social by this time, you were already behind. This is where WordPress got it wrong, taking advantage of the social movement instead of adapting with it.

That same year The Dodo launched on RebelMouse, receiving one million views within its first month.

2015: Facebook Knows What's Up

Capitalizing on the shift in traffic, Facebook began releasing more updates that pushed publishers to host content on its platform. In 2015, Facebook launched Instant Articles, which natively hosts publishers' content in Facebook's News Feed with uber-fast load times.

This, coupled with direct video upload shares surpassing YouTube, all but proved that if you're not working with Facebook, then you're on your own. The big video push proved to do wonders for engagement, so publishers adapted quickly.

2016: Native Content Is King

2016 was when we started to see native content get all sorts of engagement — the kind you'd be silly to not chase after. Websites that lacked the social integrations necessary to foster this type of engagement and native content slowly began falling off the map.

That same year, The Dodo was acquired at the best valuation of the year.

2017: Axios.com Launches on RebelMouse

After launching with RebelMouse at the beginning of 2017, Axios has yet to slow down. Axios delivers news in snackable microposts that are "driven by a style of reaching the modern (business)man in a hurry." Essentially, it mimics the social feeds with record-breaking page views and a bounce rate under 15% thanks to RebelMouse's Social UX design.

This is where we start to see the power of RebelMouse — a centralized, social platform at scale poised to be the dominant social solution by 2020.

The Solution

RebelMouse was born in 2012 as a social aggregator. Back then, our founder knew platforms would soon reign over the digital kingdom. Now, in 2017, we've evolved and created the best CMS wired for social growth. It is our mission to build a platform for content creators to build thriving businesses in the age of social. We publish to the speed of the social giants with everything under one roof:

UX/Front End/Tech

  • Social UX for Media
  • Robust Design Tool
  • Massively Scalable
  • Page Speed Optimized
  • Iterative Site Redesigns
  • Integrate any Third-Party JS
  • Insane GA Integration
  • And More...

Distributed Content

  • Social Sharing
  • Social CRM
  • Personalization
  • Google AMP
  • FB Instant Articles
  • Apple News
  • Smart Newsletters
  • And More...

Editorial Tools

  • Creation Tools
  • Listicle Tools
  • A/B Testing
  • Post Layout Config.
  • Slideshow Tools
  • Editorial Workflows
  • Native Stats
  • And More...

Monetization

  • Native Ad Tools
  • Prog. Ad Tools
  • Affiliate Partners
  • DoubleClick/DFP
  • Playbuzz
  • Outbrain
  • Taboola
  • And More...

Social Content Creation

We've made social a priority before and during publish, blurring the lines between content and social once and for all. Thinking of social and content as two different entities that have to be separately controlled and managed is not what new media means in 2017.

The features woven into our social CRM are built for audience growth, including:

  • Powerful social scheduling tools for immediate amplified reach.
  • Content creation tools directly integrated into social APIs to find potential sharing partners and influencers.
  • A series of influencer outreach tools to fuel brand awareness with every publish.
  • Easy-to-use social embeds to create multi-dimensional user-generated content layers to articles.

We believe that subscribing to the mindset of "organic social is dead" is a cop-out, because quality content optimized for social growth will succeed organically. Our community platform is built for deep engagement with content that is optimized for mobile viewing and social feeds by default — not as an afterthought.

Data

Our tech is built for repeatable success on social. At RebelMouse, we're obsessed with contagious media and repeat viral reach. One-off viral moments happen every day, but we power repeat viral events that are backed by data.

We're perfecting the next-generation audience data layer on every platform. It's a strategy so sticky that you'll see your content not only live on every platform, but also travel across platforms seamlessly.

Facebook

Our proprietary technology lets writers search for Facebook Pages that align with the content they are creating. With those search results, you are then able to engage with likeminded pages through a variety of social signals right from the platform. And we give you the data on who is sharing your content while keeping a detailed timeline of every share. It's your target audience delivered right to the palm of your hand.

Twitter

We offer the same game-changing search API for Twitter that we do for Facebook. Writers can also deconstruct articles into microposts right from our platform. You can build a listicle and tweet each item right from the RebelMouse Entry Editor in no time flat.

Instagram

With Instagram, we include all of the same functionality that we do for Facebook and Twitter to light up your community. But you can also embed Instagram posts right into your regular content to create influencer awareness and friendly user-generated content with little effort.

Whatever the social accounts, influencers, or specific platforms that will be most in sync with your content, our platform has the data tools you need to find them. With every publish, your content teams will be exposed to the social accounts they need for organic success.

The paradigm has changed, and quickly. The opportunity window to reach huge social audiences is now. Failure to move fast is causing the decline and collapse of companies.

Join RebelMouse and start growing on social — and everywhere else — within days, not months. Feel what it's like to publish new media on the best CMS in 2017.

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Rank Higher With Keyword Suggestions and Search Volume Data

Take the guesswork out of your search strategy

The art of search engine optimization (SEO) can be tricky to master. A lot of publishers adopt a trial-and-error method in hopes that their strategy happens to align with Google's fickle algorithm. At RebelMouse, we take a proactive approach to SEO, pairing the tools and best practices already available with our proprietary search technology that's designed for keyword wins with every publish.

Writers are already tasked with the responsibility of creating quality content that's shareable, searchable, and monetizable. Ranking high in search is a key factor that makes growth in all of these areas possible. This is why we've taken the guesswork out of choosing the perfect keyword or search phrase to get you onto page one of Google.

In our latest update, we've expanded our proprietary search functionality to include recommendations for keywords that are of high value. Through the creative usage of APIs, we ensure writers and editors on our platform are armed with the right information when optimizing their content for SEO.

When typing in a search phrase to target in our Entry Editor, users will now see suggested key phrases appear:

In the example above, the drop-down list is suggesting phrases that are already performing well on Google. The number next to each recommended phrase is its monthly search volume. This helps you determine which phrases are easy to win, or perhaps too competitive to strategize for, on an article-by-article basis.

At RebelMouse, we premiere game-changing product updates like this weekly in our pursuit to improve our platform and fuel growth for our clients. If you aren't publishing on RebelMouse yet and want to take advantage of features like this, request a proposal today and let's get started.

If you're already publishing on RebelMouse and have questions about this update, please email support@rebelmouse.com or contact your account manager.

Note: This update is currently in beta, but will be available on all RebelMouse-powered sites soon.

A PSA to Brands: Control Your Context

Resonate with your audience the right way

Programmatic Advertising Is a Gamble

For years, brands have relied on display ads and programmatic levers as a cheap and easy solution to spend large portions of marketing dollars. But the major frustration with programmatic advertising has always been the lack of control and transparency on where ads actually show up. And as banner blindness spreads, ad-blocking technology becomes more prevalent, and subpar or broken sites crop up at increasingly high rates, programmatic advertising will only become more expensive, unsustainable, and a huge risk.

According to a recent study from Integral Ad Science, when your programmatic ads happen to show up in high-quality environments, it could lead to a 30% lift in brand recall. But on the flip side, when your ads appear in low-quality environments, the consequences can be brutal: Ads in low-quality environments were perceived 74% less favorably, and even harshly, compared to the same ads seen on high-quality sites. Overall, users were four times less likely to think a brand cared about them after seeing the brand surface next to inappropriate content. Finding your ad in poor-quality environments creates a stronger impression among audiences, and it's not the kind of impression you want. Plus, it means that your paid marketing needs to work harder to boost your brand reputation, convert customers, and do damage control.

It's Time for Brands to Become Publishers and Take Control

As a brand marketer, you need to reclaim ownership of where and how your messaging shows up. One key way to control your context is to become a publisher. According to NewsWhip, 70% of people would rather learn about a brand through content than through ads, and 68% feel more positive about a company after engaging with the brand's content. And it's a good time for brands to go all in and create an advantage with content, too. Now, more than ever, page performance matters for audience reach, retention, and revenue. Google, along with Facebook, have explicitly made page speed a factor in search results and News Feed, while site visitors will quickly leave a page that takes more than three seconds to load. Media companies that have survived in the past with broken sites now feel the consequences of their low-performing properties due to their inability to provide solid returns to advertisers.

As a CMS platform and creative agency, RebelMouse partners with brand teams on best practices and innovative ways to build content experiences that will break through and resonate with audiences. For example, our work with United Airlines has produced a better-performing site and helped them beat out media companies to win travel search phrases for organic audience growth. Our partnership is a key reason why United Airlines' content now drives the most web engagement in their industry.

Choose Your Media Partners Wisely

If you plan to rely on media partners to place your messaging, then be selective and spend on the right context. Build direct relationships with quality publishers that prioritize the user experience and know how to pair editorial with premium advertising (in particular sponsored content) to maximize eyeballs and engagement for brands. RebelMouse powers a tight ecosystem of quality publishers, like PAPER Magazine and Motherly, that have built valuable, new media properties. We can connect brands into this network of quality sites to execute premium and effective campaigns at scale.

Build for the Future

Moving away from the inefficient world and disadvantages of programmatic advertising and creating a sustainable content marketing strategy is not easy — it takes organizational commitment, patience, and the right technologies. If you're a brand marketer, reach out and learn how RebelMouse's full-stack content marketing solution is ideal for your growth into a publishing powerhouse. If you're a media company and sell premium advertising, guide your advertising partners on how to build mutual value on your site when they're tempted to blindly toss marketing dollars on cheaper impressions.

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30 Days Post Launch: Understand the RebelMouse Growth Effect

We're giving you a glimpse into our power to fuel swift growth

For sites with heavy traffic, or even new media companies looking to spark viral growth, page speed is a do-or-die factor when it comes to building audiences and revenue. Publishers big and small are on the search for a CMS that will set them apart in a saturated ecosystem, and this means making strides on site, search, and social. Usually this translates into shelling out big bucks for custom CMS builds or heavy developer costs on other options like WordPress.

At RebelMouse, we've simplified the open web:

It Starts With Speed: We power some of the biggest new media companies to date, and their PageSpeed Scores rival big-name, legacy publishers.

Speed Brings Search Success: Prioritizing site performance gives us the keys to Google's SEO roadmap and, in turn, accelerates the search ranking of RebelMouse-powered sites. Our proprietary search technology prioritizes key phrases with every publish.

Accessible Content Encourages Engagement: Since our sites are quick to load and even easier to find, they're also naturally shareable across all social platforms. Plus, within our Entry Editor, creators can identify influencers to build organic reach before the article has even gone live.

Intuitive UX Builds Loyalty: Our CMS is an editor's dream toolbox. We create sites that look dev-heavy but really only require a few clicks. Publishing as a mobile-first platform, we offer personal user experiences that are collaborative and increase time on site.

Modern Monetization Secures Stability: Easy-to-use ad integrations provide more opportunities for revenue for publishers without sacrificing the experience of readers. Our pageview methodology has secured a sustainable content lifecycle.

The Data Speaks for Itself

But don't just take it from us. Here's a look at actual data from sites that switched to RebelMouse from other CMS platforms, just 30 days after launch:

At RebelMouse, we focus on the metrics that matter. We live close to our client's data through custom-built Google Data Studio dashboards. This allows us to identify key growth trends and adjust strategy for our clients when needed.

A lot of publishers are just getting started in the competitive digital landscape, and RebelMouse is the perfect launching pad. Here are some data snapshots from publishers who started with zero traffic, 30 days after launch:

So, how much can you grow? We support web properties of all sizes, and can even host hubs of entire content networks. For example, DanceMedia has been a wonderful partner of RebelMouse for close to three years, and in this time they've built out a healthy network of RebelMouse-powered properties that surge together around viral content. They went from a collection of scattered sites to an intelligent, self-growing site network in no time:

Launch on RebelMouse and Grow

Check out the rest of our data-focused case studies here. Experience growth on your site and social channels, too. Request a proposal today and let's start growing together.

Turn Casual Visitors Into Loyal Subscribers With Newsletters

Extend your content with a winning email strategy

For publishers, the effort that goes into creating dynamic, quality content isn't a short-term game. The goal is to always convert casual visitors into committed subscribers. This means content must not only be quick to load, but easily accessible across all platforms.

An email newsletter is a great extension of your site's content that puts the experience back in the hands of readers. After all, users prefer to read and consume content on their own time in familiar interfaces, like Gmail. Data shows that 81% of small and medium businesses rely on email as their primary customer acquisition channel. It isn't just a great idea for small businesses either — 49% of consumers say they wouldn't mind regularly receiving a promotional email from a brand they like.

But what makes a successful email campaign? According to Campaign Monitor, these are the averages you want to be seeing:

While these benchmarks may seem low at first glance, the remarkable upside to email marketing is its ability to reach a targeted audience. The users that are willing to take the extra clicks to interact with your campaign are more likely to take further steps to continue engaging with your brand. This makes content strategy around emails even trickier. Content creators need to ensure they're curating the right content for emails to maximize audience attention.

At RebelMouse, we recommend a newsletter strategy that breathes new life into your most relevant and popular articles to increase the consumption of even more content. Here's how it works.

A Winning Newsletter Strategy: Axios

RebelMouse is proud to have launched some of the biggest new media companies to date, including Axios. The news publisher has mastered the art of the newsletter, shattering industry standards with their daily email updates. According to Nieman Journalism Lab, out of the 10 million unique monthly visitors that visit their site, Axios has 1.5 million non-unique subscriptions across all 19 of their newsletters.

One way Axios is able to do this is through their daily campaigns, Axios AM and Axios PM, which feature the latest top stories of the previous 12 or so hours. Here's what's unique about their daily emails:

  • You Don't Have to Click Every Headline: Each story is summarized so the reader doesn't have to leave their email interface to get the whole story. There are, however, CTAs that allow you to go in-depth on a topic, share it to social, and/or read supplemental content. This strategy allows readers to spend more time reading the email, clicking through only when they're already engaged with a subject.
  • The Newsletters Are Stored on Site: Axios features its "Newsletter" section in the top navigation of their site. It's there that full browser versions of every email are archived and available to read at any time. This means page views and traditional web traffic data can be captured on newsletter content.

Replicate This Content Flow on RebelMouse

RebelMouse's CMS makes creating a newsletter content workflow like Axios easy to create and maintain. Our Entry Editor has functionality that can turn any post into a newsletter. So whether it's crafting daily, weekly, or even monthly emails, each newsletter can be created to replicate the experience of an article page.

By converting a RebelMouse post into a newsletter, you'll automatically get a browser version and a post permalink for the article. This means you can capture page view data and keep an easy-to-read archive of every newsletter in a dedicated section, very similar to Axios' method.

Modernize Your Email Strategy With RebelMouse

RebelMouse's Newsletter dashboard makes it easy for you to set up and manage your newsletters to keep audiences engaged with your content. We offer out-of-the-box Mailchimp, Sailthru, and WhatCounts integrations so you can customize the frequency of how often you contact your subscribers, and we make it easy to maintain your third-party email groups, lists, and template designs.

If you want to update your email marketing campaigns to grow a more loyal readership, request a proposal today and let's start working together. If you already publish on RebelMouse, email support@rebelmouse.com if you need help setting up your newsletters.

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