The support 💪 funding 💰 and tools 🔧 to grow your audience and revenue – all in one place, with an accessible pay-as-you-grow pricing model.
- 💪 Join the Indiegraf publisher community
- 💪 Responsive developer + audience strategist support via Slack
- 💪 Discounted rate on à la carte services
- 💰 Apply for funding + additional services from the News Startup Fund
- 🔧 Beautiful, optimized landing page to grow subscribers + reader revenue with your logo, fonts + URL
- 🔧 One-time + recurring payments + checkout with Stripe integration
- 🔧 Automatically tags new contributors in Mailchimp
- 🔧 Publisher can cancel recurring payments via Stripe
- 🔧 Automated thank you email + receipt
- 🔧 Google Analytics integration
- Everything in Basic
- 💪 Customized Growth Strategy developed collaboratively with Indiegraf Publisher Guide
- 💪 Quarterly strategy review
- 💪 Revenue campaign toolkit + coaching
- 💰 Apply for funding + additional services from the News Startup Fund
- 🔧 WordPress content management system
- 🔧 Fast, responsive website design templates with your logo + fonts
- 🔧 Automated welcome email series + audience survey
- 🔧 Pop-ups + on-site email capture
- 🔧 Migration from WordPress, Substack, Ghost, Squarespace, Facebook Bulletin + more
- Everything in Standard
- 💪 Minimum one audience or revenue growth sprint per quarter
- 💪 Ad + sponsorship toolkit + coaching
- 💰 Apply for funding + additional services from the News Startup Fund
- 🔧 On-site ads + reporting via Google Ad Manager integration
- 🔧 Advertiser invoicing + payments via Stripe integration
- 🔧 Advanced check out pages, Google Pay + Apple Pay)
- 🔧 Automatically sync payment information with Mailchimp
- 🔧 Contributors can update their own credit card + manage recurring payments
- 🔧 Advanced email automations: churn management, ad sales + more
- 🔧 CRM
- 🔧 User-generated event calendar
- 🔧 Commenting
- 🔧 Exclusive content paywalls
- 🔧 Aggregator integration: Flipboard, Google News, Newsbreak, Microsoft Start
- Everything in Pro
- 💪 Dedicated audience team to execute audience + membership growth strategy
- 💪 Advanced advertising + sponsorship sales services
- 💰 Apply for funding + additional services from the News Startup Fund
- 🔧 Fiscal sponsorship
Not sure where to start? Schedule a free strategy consultation to discuss your news business.
Frequently asked questions
Why revenue share?
Indiegraf is on a mission to lower the barrier to entry and democratize local news ownership. Our innovative pricing model is designed to enable news startups to access top-notch tools and services before they have a lot of revenue. By paying more as your revenue increases, you’re helping us keep our fixed monthly fees low so that the next generation of startups can afford to join the network.
What services can I access with each tier?
Having supported the growth of more than 80 publishers, we know that it takes more than tools and advice to succeed. Publishers also need the capacity to implement growth strategies. That’s where Indiegraf’s services come in.
Our audience and revenue experts roll up their sleeves to help publishers in many ways. Examples include writing and executing membership revenue campaigns, creating local advertiser media kits, implementing email marketing to move subscribers down the audience funnel, testing marketing messages via social media campaigns, producing paid advertising campaigns to grow your email list – and the list goes on.
When you sign up on the Basic tier, you join the Indiegraf Slack community where you can talk to other publishers, find resources and reach an audience or developer expert to ask questions. All Indiegraf members can hire experts à la carte for specific projects for discounted rates.
Publishers on the Standard, Pro or Specialized tiers are assigned an Indiegraf Publisher Guide, who will develop a Growth Strategy with you. Your Growth Strategy includes achievable goals and helps you determine what you need to do to grow your publication. As part of your package Indiegraf will also help you implement your Growth Strategy with toolkits, coaching, sprints and more, depending on your tier.
The revenue campaign toolkit will help you easily create a compelling reader revenue campaign that converts your audience to paying members. The advertising toolkit will equip you with a rate sheet, media kit and sales strategy to invite local businesses to fund your work. And you can always access Indiegraf experts to help you along the way.
What do you mean by a minimum of one sprint?
Your Growth Strategy will include a list of recommended “sprints” (in other words, growth projects) that will help you achieve your goals. These are tactics that you can accomplish yourself or you can ask Indiegraf to help you implement them if you don’t have the capacity. As part of the Pro package, Indiegraf experts will roll up their sleeves to implement a minimum of one sprint per quarter. Not all sprints take the same amount of work, so we may be able to provide more services than this minimum. And as you grow your revenue, you may qualify for additional sprints. Your Publisher Guide will help you determine the highest impact use of the tools and resources in your package to achieve your goals.
Is there a minimum commitment required to join Indiegraf?
No. Indiegraf used to require publishers to commit to a one-year or two-year contract. But we don’t do that anymore. We want the members of the network to stay with us because they get value from partnering with Indiegraf. As you can read in our terms of service, you can leave the network at any time with 60 days notice.
What happens if I leave the network?
If you decide to end your membership in the Indiegraf network, you can do so for any reason by providing us with 60 days notice in writing. You own your content and data, and we will facilitate a migration to your chosen platform. You will need to find a new website provider. No hard feelings.
Do I have to sign up for Indiegraf before applying for the News Startup Fund?
No. You can apply for the News Startup Fund and learn whether you’re eligible for funding before signing up. All Indie Capital and News Startup Fund recipients are required to be active members of the network before receiving their funds.
Do I have to use Indiegraf’s content management system to benefit from the network?
No. You don’t have to use Indiegraf’s content management system in order to join Indiegraf, although we recommend that you do. We find that publishers can often save money and realize more growth by using Indiegraf’s integrated tools rather than piecing together different vendors. The Basic tier is designed for folks who don’t need a CMS. Learn more about Indiegraf’s all-in-one platform here.
That said, to effectively support your growth, we need some features to be available within your tech stack. Indiegraf works best when your tech stack includes:
- Content Management System: WordPress or Ghost
- Email Service Provider: Mailchimp
- We can also work with ActiveCampaign, Letterhead or Ghost, but it may cost extra. Mailchimp is required for full-service support
- Data Analytics Tool: Google Analytics (Universal Analytics + GA4)
- Payment processor: Stripe
- The tools we definitely can’t work with are: Revue, Substack and Paypal
If you meet some, but not all, of these technical requirements, send us an email to discuss our working options.
Do I have to pay for an email service provider such as Mailchimp separately?
Yes. Indiegraf doesn’t currently offer an ESP in our bundle. Our preferred provider is Mailchimp, and you can get started with a free account. Indiegraf also integrates with Ghost, Letterhead and Active Campaign. If you’re using a different ESP and want to work with us, Indiegraf can migrate your publication to Mailchimp at no extra cost.
