9 Lessons From Lewis D'Vorkin's Push to Remake Forbes Online

Mediashift reporting:
...Amid its larger company struggles, Forbes has been trying to change, adapt and adjust to what Chief Product Officer Lewis D'Vorkin calls "wrenching transitions in the news business."
Online, the 95-year-old business magazine has shaken up its editorial model, revamped its technology, introduced new types of advertising, and challenged conventional wisdom in the magazine publishing world.
"The economics of journalism have changed -- forever," D'Vorkin wrote in an email to me. "Marketers will not pay for digital ads what they pay for print ads. To build a sustainable model for journalism in the digital era, new ways need to be found to produce even better journalism more efficiently."
At face value, Forbes' efforts are encouraging. Digital revenues are up 26 percent in the first half of 2012 compared with 2011, a spokesperson told me. Magazine ad pages have increased, too, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. And Forbes Digital had its best trafficked month ever in July, D'Vorkin told me on the phone.
While it's hard to say whether it all adds up to financial success -- Forbes closely guards its numbers (more on that below) -- there are lessons for entrepreneurial media managers from Forbes' efforts.

1. Be a multi-platform brand

Digital and traditional media should be seen as a conjoined whole, not separate entities with separate goals.
"The magazine helps the web. Content all over social media helps our print product," D'Vorkin said. "People are very much aware of Forbes content in a multi-platform world."
D'Vorkin has frequently written and spoken of efforts to make Forbes available on every screen, with the least friction possible. That certainly makes sense for Forbes' core community of well-to-do investors with access to multiple devices.
Staff, too, contributes to all sides, with some editors and writers contributing to both the magazine and the web. Neither print nor web is first in the pecking order. Instead, material is produced appropriate to the medium it's in.

2. Generate LOTS of Content

Forbes' rise in traffic seems to track with the increase in its number of posts. D'Vorkin wrote last October that Forbes had 250-300 posts per day and had gone to about 23 million monthly unique visits, up from 15 million in early 2010. That grew to about 400-500 posts per day and 30 million uniques by last February.

3. Focus on quality, too

4. Give contributors ownership. Really

5. Reward visits rather than page views

6. Be transparent, up to a point

7. Let marketers have an editorial voice

8. Break down traditional silos

The future?