DailyOm is a mighty fine example of an email newsletter paired with a multi-faceted website. Observed in toto, it’s a motherlode of strategies and tactics for anyone trying to leverage their published content for online income.

Rather than appproach it as a lengthy case study (it would takes weeks, y’all!), I’ll share nibbles of DailyOm’s workings as I assess them over the next month or so. Keeping you in suspense is not my goal, but offering a thorough picture is. Tricky stuff, because every time I return to the website I spot something new—or at least new to me—so we’ll just take it as it comes, ok?

To start, something(s) I’ve appreciated since my very first email from DailyOm are the lusciously subtle labels they use for the many corners of their site.

Exactly Like That…But Different (and better)

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

~Juliet Capulet, Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Jules is right for the most part, but a just-right name may make the difference when it comes to convincing ezine readers to leave the relative safety of their Inbox to visit your website.

Like Naomi said in her post on copywriting and conversion, “The context and demographic are the differentiating factors” when it comes to writing about and labeling things, particularly for critical—and usually permanent—text such as website navigation.

If you check out the photo at the top, you’ll see labels in yesterday’s DailyOm flagged with more typical terms. The DailyOm labels aren’t shockingly different from what we normally see, but they don’t need to be. They only need to be understandable and suitable for their target market.

With that in mind, I suspect the slightly different and suitably descriptive terms at DailyOm work a treat with the touchy-feely, New Age-y folks that visit their site. Heck, I’m not (entirely) like that and they work me just fine!

As one of their market, it may be useful to share my response to these labels in comparison to how I interpret their common counterparts. As you read through these, think about whether or not your website is as effectively labeled for the folks that you’re trying to reach.

Marketplace

Like Classified Ads, DailyOm’s Marketplace includes short descriptions of stuff to buy. But while Classified Ads paints a picture of a newspaper’s cryptic abbreviations, used cars and appliances, and alarming personal ads, Marketplace conjures visions of a vast bazaar with authentic ethnic food, unfamiliar treasures, and a flurry of interesting folks.

Okay, sure, from my experience Marketplace also means painful mistranslations, thieving gypsy children, and getting shortchanged because I haven’t yet learned the currency. These remembered realities mix with my romanticism…and that’s not a bad thing.

When I clicked Marketplace with my expectation of discovery and adventure, I was rewarded with readable ads and color photos for things like Long Distance Qigong Energy Healing and Real Yoga-Pedicure Sandals. Cha-ching!

Gift Shop

I love this one. There’s not a whole lot of difference between a Store and a Gift Shop, but there definitely is one. When I read Store I think of purchasing necessities among snippy patrons, and then standing in line to meet a bored cashier leaning on an ugly cash register. Ugh.

But when I read Gift Shop I picture museum gift shop goodies or tourist gift shop oddities, the buzz of eager buyers…and standing in line to meet a bored cashier leaning on an ugly cash register.

Again, some unsexy realities seep in around the edges, including grievous overpricing. But the overall impression of Gift Shop is quite different than Store, in that I expect to find things that: 1) I probably won’t see anywhere else, 2) Are clearly themed to the gift shop’s location, and 3) Would be a suitable present for someone (or for treating myself).

And once again, my click is rewarded! The DailyOm Gift Shop offers Native American Medicine Teas, Detoxifying Foot Pads, and Aromatherapy Body Patches. Well, I surely haven’t spotted any of those in Target, they’re terrifically appropo, and I think they’re a fun treat for anyone (though the recipient might think differently!).

Notably, DailyOm distributes a big fat product advertising email once a week. I know from the headline that it’s not their daily message, but I usually archive or open it instead of deleting it. I suspect that’s because it’s titled Gifts of the Week and not Buy Now!.

Community

This one highlights the importance of context. Many ezines are just that—a periodic newsletter/magazine delivered by email. DailyOm, however, is a bit a more. It leeeeans into being a blog by posting the daily articles on the website and encouraging the subscriber/member commentary that is logged on the site as Community.

To me, Community is better than Comments because it gives a sense of conversation as opposed to a collection of blurbs. If DailyOm was a blog, we would expect dialogue on the other side of the word Comments. As a hybrid site, DailyOm needs a name that would, and does, reflect an expectation for the environment. This may also be why site members aren’t called members…they’re called nice people.

Friends

And along with a membership of nice people, DailyOm has Sponsors that are our Friends—both implicitly and explicitly. In the conspicuous top-right sponsorship spot on both the website and in the ezine, neither word is used. Instead, “brought to you by” implies that we wouldn’t have this great content for free if these folks hadn’t paid to have it delivered to us.

I feel a tug of obligation when I read that, and usually respond to the brief, clear call to action that always accompanies that spot. This time, it reads “Click here to ask 3 questions”, other times it’s “Click here to detox while you sleep” or “Click here to overcome self-sabotage in 8 weeks.”

On the flipside, Friend explicitly labels the middle-sidebar ad that could be a link exchange, a paid placement, a self-promotion, or free public service environment. It’s tough to tell, and it changes day-to-day.

Overall, I’m neutral about the commonly-used Sponsors. ‘Nuf said.

Knowing that a DailyOm Marketplace advertisement costs $75 per week, wouldn’t I also love to know how much DailyOm is earning from these subtly executed yet very prominent ad placements? Especially when DailyOm has 225,000 subscribers? Which is 9-10 times as many subscribers as Alexandria Brown, and she gets at least $167 for her classified ads? And Ali’s ads are buried at the bottom of the ezine? Whew!

Getting It Right

This is all completely subjective, of course, because everyone responds to labels differently based on their previous experiences with those labels. Expectations will differ, opinions will differ, and strength of the emotion will also differ.

So I’m wondering how we’ll know if/when we’ve got it right? Do we need to run live testing on our site and wait months for results? Or do we invest time and energy in a facilitated focus group?

Or do we save our time and effort by going with the typical: Store, Classifieds, Comments, and Sponsors… and maybe miss out on a valuable—and valued—emotional response from our target market?

Lemme know down below…