For media companies (or anyone with a digital business), getting past the reader’s (aka your) short attention span is a major challenge. By employing website optimization as a methodology, media companies have unparalleled opportunities to grow and engage their audience—and their bottom line.

Our Ultimate Guide to Website Optimization for Media Companies provides the most in-depth and thorough crash course that you’ll find.

While there is much discussion and data on how paywalls affect readers (e.g higher readership of free content sites like HuffPo and BuzzFeed), my concern is with the marketers at online publishers like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. How does the presence of a paywall affect a digital marketer?

Here’s how: page consumption. Paywalls can present a real barrier to pageviews—one of the most vital metrics for marketers at media sites.