We helped develop, design, and monetize eciov.com and launched it in February 2015. When the eciov team approached us to design a news website, we were initially hesitant. Most news sites bombard their readers with ads in order to make money. We hate that. Instead of running ads, the eciov team asked us to develop a monetization strategy for their website. Since we’re much more than a web design company, we went to work and came up with ideas together.
Instead of ads, we recommended a single, site-wide sponsorship. Sponsorships aren’t intrusive to the site content. They also allow opportunities for great relationships between the site and its financiers. We also suggested maintaining a monetized YouTube channel, selling podcast sponsorships, and providing well-researched reviews with Amazon referral links. These options would prove to make the eciov team more profitable than just using number-based ad revenue.
After settling on a strategy, we got to work on the design. They wanted something simple and clean. They also wanted separate pages for articles, podcasts, videos, and forums. We integrated their comment system into their forums. Lastly, we made the design completely responsive. With a layout that adapts to any device, reading their content on an iPhone is just as awesome as reading on a desktop computer.
Scope of the Project:
- Monetization strategy
- New website build
- Category-specific layouts
- Forums for reader discussion
- Amazon referral link integration
- Podcast framework for online streaming
- YouTube video integration
- Social network integration for publishing
- SEO and performance adjustments
We continue to maintain and optimize their website to this day. It’s been a great relationship to have. We even sponsor their site every now and then. Check out their product reviews and support them via the referral links we set up.