Top Posts for Publishers from 2013 - Year in Review

As I sit at my kitchen table writing this post, Locable's network tops 50 local community websites and includes community magazines, community newspapers and a growing number of hyperlocal online-only publishers.

2013 was a year of growth and diversification, it was a year in which our technology matured and experienced some of the growing pains that comes with creating a new type of technology platform. We had publishers significantly increase their revenue and Facebook became a true profit center for some, one which also grew their engagement, traffic and even email newsletter opt-ins along the way.

2014 looks incredibly bright for Locable, our publishing partners - and our soon-to-be partners. Our training, support, and publisher sales collateral are all becoming more turnkey for publishers and early 2014 will see new and powerful technology that drive revenue in new ways while delivering new value to local businesses in the process.

With that, here's a look back at our favorite posts from 2013. We hope you enjoy the look-back and get a sense for what's to come.

Locable's 2013 Blog Year in Review

We've heard it said, "I'm in the Magazine/Newspaper business" yet that shortsighted thinking is what doomed Railroads so we wrote Audience is the New Core to highlight your true value proposition. KISS and Pause for the Applause introduced the need to include clear calls-to-action to drive audience engagement and, thus, successful ads for your advertisers and engagement with your readers.

We often hear small publishers expound on the reasons why digital activities are a waste of time, undermine profitability or are otherwise a bad idea. This is absolutely true - when you're doing the wrong things or doing things the wrong way. Throughout the year we wrote a number of posts starting with Are You Too Busy to Be Profitable that explained how publishers can get more from the things they're already doing. In fact, a viable digital solution is more profitable in the near-term than selling more print ads because of the sales-cycle and provides expanded scope for long-term growth. And when we look at the things publishers are already doing we find an incredible number of simple opportunities for 'doing it right' making Top Mistakes Publishers Make Online a must-read.

Amidst the rhetoric has been a general interest in 'digital editions' as though that was an immediate audience multiplier. As such we wrote The Problem with Your Digital Edition to highlight where a digital edition falls short and how you can easily fix it. We later wrote an Anatomy of a Good Banner Ad to highlight the nuance of a well-structured ad online, though the general findings could just as well apply to a print campaign. The final post of the year (aside from this one) was Lessons Learned from Patch where we shared more of our philosophy and lessons learned as it applies to local media - hint, success local requires authenticity and a diverse offering.

To end on a light note, I suggest you revisit What Type of Publisher Are You? - a somewhat satirical look at the different types of publishers we come across. I invite you to share what category you fall into in the comments or suggest 'types' we may have missed.

We hope you enjoy this look-back and take a moment to read something that will help position you for a more prosperous and impactful 2014.