This document discusses strategies for creating a sustainable digital presence for research in medieval studies. It provides an overview of how two websites, De Re Militari and Medievalists.net, grew their online audiences in their early years. Tips are provided on writing content optimized for search engines and engaging readers on the web, including using keywords, headlines, images, and maintaining evergreen content. The importance of analytics and technical elements like responsive design are also covered.

1. Digital Media and Medieval
Studies
How to Create a Professional and Financially
Sustainable Future for Your Research Online

2. Schedule for Today
About What I Do
Writing for the Web
Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)
Social Media
Email
Advertising
Affiliate Marketing
eBooks
Crowdfunding
Youtube
Podcasting

3. De Re Militari - www.deremilitari.org
Created in 2001 to be website for the Society for Medieval Military History
Idea was to create enough course reading - primary and secondary sources - that
a class on medieval warfare could be taught using it
Between 2003 and 2005 we were getting up to 200,000 readers per month
At the time was one of the few websites that had articles available for free

4. Medievalists.net
Created in 2008
Initially the site was designed to be an aggregator - link to articles and theses that
were difficult to find
Our initial goal was to make enough money per year to pay for trips to medieval
congress in Kalamazoo
It was in late 2009 that our social media audience began to rise rapidly

5. The Growth of Medievalists.net
January 2009
3059 Users
11204 Page Views
Average Time Spent on Site: 2 Minutes 22
Seconds
January 2011
64,211 Users
131,461 Page Views
Average Time Spent on Site: 1 Minutes 55
Seconds

6. The Growth of Medievalists.net
January 2014
373,780 Users
578,123 Page Views
Average Time Spent on Site: 1 Minute 24
Seconds
January 2016
505,704 Users
1,068,208 Page Views
Average Time Spent on Site: 1 Minute 37
Seconds

7. Our growth over the years

8. By Device
January 2010
Desktop 99%
Mobile 1%
January 2013
Desktop 75%
Mobile 13.5%
Tablet 11.5%
January 2016
Desktop 48%
Mobile 39.5%
Tablet 12.5%

9. Audience for Medievalists.net - Geography
USA - 44%
UK - 13%
Canada - 6%
Australia - 5%
Germany - 2.5%
France - 2%
Italy - 1.5%
Spain - 1.5%
Netherlands - 1.5%
Brazil - 1.5%

10. Where are we now?
Medievalists.net is up to a four-person team, all of working on a part-time basis
Two people work on the website, two people work on our digital magazine
A lot of the work related to the technical operations has been outsourced

11. Importance of Google Analytics
- Free tool from Google that allows you to track who is on
your website
- Important to track which pages readers are going to, how
they navigate through your site
- Reliable way of letting others know about your site’s
performance
- Real time is fun!

12. Writing for the web
The challenge is to get people to be engaged in your content, and want to come
back for more.
Must keep in mind that most users dont read the web, they scan - on average
28% of the words in an article are read!
“You Won’t Finish This Article”
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/06/how_people_re
ad_online_why_you_won_t_finish_this_article.html

13. The Quick Version of What a Piece should look like
Headline - by far the most important
Opening Paragraph - the second most important
Body - need to make it readable, digestible
Conclusion - try to keep the users engaged
Images - need to have at least one
Other media - great to have videos, social media interactions

14. The Types of Posts I Write
Narrative/Blog - tell a story, offer analysis
News - report on a recent event, like a conference
List - create a top 5 or 10 of something
Quiz - ask your readers to test their knowledge

15. Other Types of Posts You Can Write
- How To / Guides
- Resource Lists / Links
- “What others are saying” posts
- Case studies
- Interviews
- Profiles
- FAQ (Frequently Asked
Questions) posts
- Reviews
- Infographics
- Surveys and Polls
- Twitter Posts
- “What if” posts
- Inspirational Posts
- Curating Content
- About Yourself

16. Headlines / Clickbait
Clickbait! - headlines that made use of the "curiosity gap", providing just enough
information to make the reader curious, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity
without clicking through to the linked content.
Five Tiggers: 1) questions or riddles
2) unknown resolutions
3) violated expectations
4) access to information known by others
5) reminders of something forgotten

17. Making a Living off of Clickbait
Upworthy was the best in using this:
This Kid Just Died. What He Left Behind Is Wondtacular
17 million pageview
See Why We Have An Absolutely Ridiculous Standard Of Beauty In Just 37 Seconds
11.8 million pageviews
9 Out Of 10 Americans Are Completely Wrong About This Mind-Blowing Fact
6.3 million pageviews

18. Headline Advice
1. Make the most of current events: Tie your headline to news and newsmakers
2. Break some “rules” of headline writing, like length
3. Seek to pique the reader’s curiosity
4. Never underestimate the emotional factor of a headline
5. Call the reader to action with direct action words
6. Make bold claims
7. Sound like a human, not a robot

19. My Recommendations for Good Headlines
Between three and six words
You may need to choose between something that is eye-catching and something
that is useful for Search Engine Optimization
Write in the form of a question
Try to show it will be either interesting or helpful for the reader
Try to tell the reader that this will be something that changes what they know
Make use of numbers and figures

20. Good words to use in a headline
Tips
Reasons
Lessons
Tricks
Ideas
Ways
Beginner’s Guide
How To
Why, When, Where, Who, Which
The Most
The Best

21. Your first sentence / paragraph
This is the second most important of the article, and will determine to if your reader will keep
reading
Keep it short
Some ideas include:
Ask a question
Share a quote
Invoke the mind’s eye of your reader
Cite a statistic

22. The Main Body
Keep your paragraphs short
Include sub headlines
Look for ways to break up the text, i.e images, videos and lists
Length - no set rule, but 1000 words is a good number - need to consider your
audience, what you are talking about, have you delivered what you set out to do
Very long posts (2000 words or more) should be broken up into different posts, or
made into a PDF file

23. How to close an article
The last sentence(s) should leave the reader satisfied, or wanting more
Options
Summarize your argument/story
A Manageable call to action
End with a cliff-hanger
End with a question to contemplate

24. Images
Need to have at least one image for each post/page
Look for images that are eye-catching, and would look well on smartphones and
tablets, where the screen size is smaller
Medieval manuscript images are very good
If possible, use an image that offers extra information to the reader
Main image should be in landscape, not portrait
Great Resources: Wikimedia Commons, Flickr

25. Videos
Youtube allows you to embed videos
They should offer the reader some extra knowledge, or cover the same topic you
are
If it is very important, place it close to the top of your post; if it isnt too important,
place it at or near the bottom
Other popular video sites: Vimeo, Dailymotion

26. Evergreen Content
The idea that the post you created will remain relevant and something will want to
read next year, 5 years from now, 10 years from now
Posts dealing with history and literature have strong advantages in this
Need to look at your most consistent posts in generating traffic and make sure
they are in good shape
Figure out a schedule on how when to send them out again on social media

27. Search Engine Optimization
1) That people Google for that topic
2) That when they do your site will come up
high on the Google Search Ranking

28. Finding Keywords
Important to discover what terms people use when they search online for topics
Long Tail Keywords - three or more words i.e. ‘Castles for Sale’
While Google Keyword Tool no longer exists, you can use services Long Tail Pro
and Market Samurai and SemRush - https://www.semrush.com/

29. Google’s 23 Questions
Amit Singhal, a senior vice president and software engineer at Google, wrote a
blog post in 2011 where he gave clues on what the company sees as a high
quality website. He gave us 23 questions to ponder:
Would you trust the information presented in this article?
Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in
nature?
Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with
slightly different keyword variations?

30. Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by
attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or
original analysis?

31. Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
How much quality control is done on content?
Does the article describe both sides of a story?
Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large
network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?

32. Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?

33. Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main
content?
Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?
Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

34. Technical Tips
Make your site friendly for smartphones and tablets
Make sure your url is short and contains your keywords
Repeat your keywords in your text, and use variants as well
Have internal links to the pages on your site that are getting good SEO
Photos should be SEO-prepared too
Make use of services that help SEO

35. Exercise
Imagine you are going to write about something you saw at this year’s
International Medieval Congress:
1. Write 3 Headlines based on this title
2. Imagine the perfect image to go with your story

36. Social Media
As part of your online efforts, you need to spend between 5 and 10% of your time
on social media, to promote yourself and to learn from others about stuff in your
field
Engage with your audience, communicate and follow others
You also have to monitor for comments, be prepared to manage conversations
and arguments, and ban users
Show your personality, look for ways to engage with your audience

37. Facebook
The largest social media channel, we get the majority of our social media
audience from them
Create a page that allows you to control what you set out, get followers
You can learn a lot about your audience through page insights
Facebook is making it harder for media to get their message out
Best time to post: Saturday and Sunday 12pm-1pm; Wednesday 3-4 pm;
Thursday-Friday 1-4 pm

38. Twitter
Tendency towards immediacy
Need to send out multiple tweets about the same topic
Need to follow people, get involved in conversations, retweet others
The conversations you have on Twitter are the most rewarding intellectually
You may not want to mix your personal Twitter with your digital media Twitter
Best time to post - Monday to Friday 12-3 pm; Wednesday 5-6 pm

39. Pinterest
Audience is 90% women
Image-based
Good for selling products
Best time to post: 2-4 am; Evening hours

40. Tumblr
Some people have done really well in using this - i.e. MedievalPOC
Can include links in the images you share
It is geared for a younger audience, but also has a lot of Adult content

41. Reddit
Good place to see conversations, get ideas for writing - AskaHistorian subreddit
Can post links to the MedievalHistory subreddit

42. Other social media
LinkedIn
Google +
Instagram
Meetup
Periscope
Snapchat

43. Need help posting?
Hootsuite, Buffer allow you to schedule tweets (and other social media channels)
Pro versions cost about $10 a month

44. Email
Even more important than social media
People still engage with their emails far more often than social media, you have a
30% chance they will open your message
You should have a system for collecting emails and sending it out ones every
week or occasional
Two major providers: aweber vs MailChimp

45. Getting people to opt-in
Create a reward for signing-up - a free ebook would be a good example
You can continue this with more rewards so they continue to keep reading like
doing a Q&A, Google Hangout, small bits of premium content like a checklist,
cheetsheet, an article they only can see

46. Monetization Strategy
Can you get 1000 true fans to pay you $100 a year?
Can you get 10000 semi-true fans to pay you $2 a year?
Do you want to cover expenses of the site?

47. Revenue Streams
Passive Income models
- Advertising
- Affiliate Marketing
- Ebooks
- Online courses
- Membership website
- Donations

48. Advertising
- Income is proportional to traffic
- You can sell advertising privately - reach out to potential advertisers on your
own and do deals with them
- Need to create a Media Kit
- Advertisers will provide you with a special link so they can track how much
traffic they get from you
- Can be a flat fee or based on a number of views
- Our experience - a lot of work, little commitment

49. Advertising - Third Party Services
- Google has Adsense - by far the most used service
- Google Adwords is the service for advertisers, Adsense is for publishers
- Easy to build it into your site
- Ads are either aligned with your content, or with the user
- Negative views about advertising
- Distraction from your own content

50. Adsense Performance on Medievalists.net

51. Adsense Performance - per 1000 page views

52. What we’ve learned from using Adsense
- Rate we were earning most recently was 1.28 British pounds / 1000 page
views, or $1.65 US
- Market forces make it difficult
- Need to spend a lot of time making your website optimized for ads
- Need to balance getting ads visible to readers against annoying readers with
too many ads
- Eventually we needed more professional services to run our advertising
- Still remains an important revenue stream, likely will always be a part of our
site

53. Other Ad Networks
Infolinks - text based links
Sponsored links - Taboola and Outbrain
Media.net, Bidvertiser and thousands of other Adsense-type ad networks
Ad blocking programs will harm revenues

54. Affiliate Marketing
You are promoting and recommending other people’s products and generating an
income through commission
Quite easy to set up, you get special links to track your leads to these products
Can have a very negative perception in the public - websites tend to promote
because of the commission

55. Amazon Associates
Most popular, it is available around the world
You not only get a commission for what you sell, but whatever else the user buys
within 24 hours
Our experience - expensive items almost never sell.
Spike in buys in late November and December

56. Associates Program Advertising Fee Schedule

57. Other Affiliate Networks
- CJ.com - formerly Commision Junction
- Clickbank, ShareASale
- eBay
- iTunes

58. eBooks / Selling Your Own Stuff
Medievalists and writing books - natural fit?
Biggest question is distribution - do you go through a traditional publisher or
create your own books?
If you sell your own books, do you sell on your own website or through Amazon?
Do you just sell ebooks, or have physical copies made too? CreateSpace and
Print on Demand publishing
Being creative with your marketing - free books, combining books, audio books

59. Other Products You Can Sell
Etsy.com - make your own stuff
CafePress and Zazzle - brand yourself on mugs, shirts, bags
Create Apps, Software

60. Subscription / Membership
“Holy grail of website income”
Giving readers exclusive content for a fee
Need to continually update this content to get people to keep coming back and
renewing - users typically drop out after 3 months
Community aspect to membership - forums and connecting people

61. The Medieval Magazine
A digital magazine we started in February 2015
Our attempt to offer something that combines an ebook with a membership
Started out weekly, now twice a month
Created with Joomag, now sell through the website using Paypal

62. Donations / Crowdfunding
Asking users to donate money
Kickstarter: a platform that focuses on creative projects like art, music, film, etc.
Funding is all or nothing and fees are fairly reasonable.
GoFundMe: a crowdfunding platform designed for individuals and personal
causes. No all or nothing requirement and reasonable fees
Indiegogo: a unique platform that accommodates many, diverse campaigns. No
all or nothing requirement, but fees can be higher.

63. Successful Projects
The Viking Coloring Book - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1382432732/the-
viking-coloring-book
Stary Olsa Album - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/staryolsa/stary-olsa-
album-medieval-classic-rock/description
Tullaun Castle - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-new-dawn-for-tullaun-
castle#/

64. Patreon
- A way for fans to make recurring payments to creators
- Creators get to keep 95% of the revenue that comes in
- Think of not asking for money, but letting people pay you
- Help your audience feel more invested in you
- Develop stretch goals and rewards for support

65. Who’s Having Success on Patreon
MedievalPOC https://www.patreon.com/medievalpoc
CanadaLand https://www.patreon.com/CANADALAND
Red Letter Media https://www.patreon.com/redlettermedia

66. Youtube
Want to work with video? Lots of opportunities here!
Need to keep videos short (under 4 minutes)
Need to write a 200 word description for each
What makes a viral video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-bnM5SuQkI

67. Podcasting
Need to invest in high-quality audio recording equipment
Keep the episodes 30 minutes or less
Can earn revenue through advertising - see www.midroll.com - or through a
Patreon type

68. Have further questions
Contact me at medievalists.net@gmail.com