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What It Means to Grow: A Rare Look Into Our Clients’ Massive Success

Take a glimpse at what it means to be powered by RebelMouse.

Publishers large and small will be faced with an important question this year: Build or buy? To generate reach and revenue in the current digital landscape, every web property needs to be focused on content and hyper personalized. This leaves very little room for creativity when opting to host your site via high-maintenance, costly, and cookie-cutter solutions like WordPress and Drupal. This drives publishers to seriously consider the next option: Build.

Building custom tech not only requires more resources, but it distracts precious time and money away from what truly builds audiences: Content and, its best friend, distribution.

This new media company is a case study in how to turn a website that is severely underperforming into a massive growth engine.

Despite the rocky road that was 2018, new media and brands have plenty of opportunity to grow alongside the ever-fickle industry giants, Google and Facebook. At RebelMouse, we've perfected a full-stack platform that brings together the best of both "buy" and "build" to create something that we call lean tech.

After two years on our platform, this client continues to grow significantly, made up of enterprise B2B paywall content and free, high-traffic media.

What Is Lean Tech?

Lean tech means investing less money in an all-encompassing solution that fuels more growth. Our platform was born during the age of social back in 2012, and since then our developers, strategists, and traffic experts from all over the globe have become exceedingly good at anticipating industry changes and algorithm updates to help our clients flourish alongside each one.

This site is a tiny non-profit that has the budget to pay for our platform and use it in a very savvy way, with only light touches from us. Their growth over the past year has been impressive.

There are three pillars of lean tech that we abide by:

1. Full-Service, Enterprise Tech: With developers all around the world, RebelMouse provides Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Our cloud-based CMS operates on a centralized model, meaning every update and security patch is pushed live to all of our clients at once without interruption.

A massive year for this client with huge organic reach for an entrenched brand. Contests and content expansion led to organic growth on all platforms and deeper engagement with customers.

All of our application services are stateless and covered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) Auto Scaling groups, and we monitor our services' performance and capacity on all levels. We highly prioritize all the pivotal elements of site success such as security, ad configuration, how we code CSS and JavaScript, configure CDNs, and scale servers. It's why we're a high-performing platform that's more than just a CMS. These kinds of processes typically require massive monetary investments in third-party, managed hosting companies — often a prerequisite when you're on WordPress. They would cost even more if created and managed internally.

This client is an SEO and e-commerce case study in using our tools to effectively capture key phrases that drive purchases from users. They have had a phenomenal year.

2. Content-Focused: RebelMouse's platform and its team never rush to keep up with the industry giants. Instead, we've grown up right alongside them. We blend product and strategy before and following the launch of any site to ensure our clients' content is set up for success across search and social in the current digital ecosystem. Our product will acclimate to every algorithm change or update within days, even if it's something as simple as the new character count recommendation from Google around SEO meta descriptions. Before you even realize a change has taken place, our product has usually already adapted.

It has taken this site less than 30 days on RebelMouse to see the growth numbers you see here. They had been in significant decline before us, and the growth now isn't stopping.

Our clients enjoy a comprehensive content suite full of proprietary technology that fuels search engine optimization and influencer outreach with every publish. We also double as a creative agency with full strategy services available. Any custom feature you desire is not out of reach, and there's no product tweak that's too small for us to make if it means more organic growth and engagement.

The move from WordPress to RebelMouse has caused IMMEDIATE, mind-boggling growth in reach and loyalty for this client.

3. High Performance: It would be a little too easy if every site's success revolved only around content, however. This is why we prioritize high-performing page speed above all else. Google recently changed its rules for how it measures site performance through its PageSpeed Insights tool, and many leading sites are now failing to achieve a passing score on simple things such as server response time. We make sure every site we power is scoring high on both desktop and mobile, often outperforming other leading new media sites.

These insights are from less than a year after launch. This news property is experiencing high-depth engagement and growth behind a successful subscription model.

This is important because as digital publishing ages, so does its users. Today's users want a site experience that's unobtrusive and seamless. To us, this is the true path to securing and growing audience loyalty. We strive to create site experiences that are high-performing because it spurs audiences to consume more content more quickly. Being able to deliver this sort of experience across platforms opens up more opportunities for readers, which in turn, creates a diverse distribution strategy. And it's this strategy that fuels loyal followers who generate meaningful revenue. This has always been, and always will be, our goal.

This client is a case study for moving from a bad CMS (that was "good enough") over to RebelMouse. For more than a year they were stuck with either no growth or declining. Since moving to RebelMouse, the growth has been incredible.

The Data Does Not Lie

Our formula for growth briefly outlined above is why media powerhouses like Axios and The Dodo launched on our platform. New media properties like Motherly and The Odyssey Online trust RebelMouse to power their messages, right alongside legacy brands like PAPER Magazine and United Airlines.

This site has been on our platform for five years, and saw another record year again. In one single day, they did 21M page views alone. Although that day dwarfs other aspects of the charts shown, they also had continuous organic growth and worked on premium campaigns with notable brands.

As you can see from the screen shots above, this is what RebelMouse-driven success looks like. The images consist of raw, anonymized data showcasing just some of our clients' increased performance. You won't see this kind of information paired with this kind of traffic growth this fast anywhere else.

Request a proposal today and let's start working together.

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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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