Gold in the Stills: Mining Print Content for Digital Traffic and Profit

The Alberta Magazine Publishers Association presents “Gold in the Stills: Mining Print Content for Digital Traffic and Profit” featuring Joy Gugeler: 

Calgary Seminar

Date & Time: Monday, November 28, 10:30am – noon

Location: Memorial Park Library, Calgary

Cost: AMPA members & students $12; non-members $22

Online registration for the Calgary morning seminar

Province-wide Webinar

Date & Time: Monday, November 28, 2:30pm – 4:00pm MST

Cost: AMPA members & students $22; non-members $32

Online registration for the province-wide afternoon webinar 

Are you ready to get new traffic from old content by expanding your web presence, showcasing your full archive for increased views, money and brand recognition? Digital publishing expert Joy Gugeler will offer a snapshot of the options before you upload your digital content.

“Gold in the Stills: Mining Print Content for Digital Traffic and Profit” is designed for magazine staff needing a framework for approaching a site upgrade. It is intended to help you take full advantage of content you may be overlooking (ie: a return on sunk editorial investments) and offset overhead costs with online ads/subscriptions.

This presentation will run through relevant issues in a typical digital audit by assessing:

• editorial goals for the upload – brand, ad money, readers, subscriptions
• rights, volume, length, breadth, and quality of existing/archive content
• content tabs or sections for comprehensiveness and logic
• the value of adding new media or formats: video, photo, audio
• user-generated content/interactivity – comments, polls, ratings, forum posts
• social media integration – Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, YouTube
• editorial workflow to parallel print editions or stagger costs
• free/off-the-shelf vs. customized upgrades and resources 

Joy Gugeler is the former editor-in-chief of Suite101.com, NowPublic.com and Orato.com; she’s also an editorial board member of Quarry, ARC and Room magazines. She teaches publishing and digital media at VIU, Ryerson and SFU and operates Chameleon Consulting.

Twitter Analytics Coming Soon

It seems almost everyone and their dog has a Twitter account these days. I'm not much of a Tweep myself, given that I've forgotten my Twitter password since the day I opened an account eons ago, but friends of mine swear by it as a way to stay informed and connected as well as to promote themselves.

Twitter for business promotion

AMPA itself has successfully tweeted to raise awareness about a number of events and news bites. But while many folks use Twitter for more than finding out what the Kardashians are doing, it's a bit surprising to me that so many businesses have jumped on board when you don't really know if your tweets generate much if any interest back to your website, or your bottom line.

Measuring that Twitter traffic

All that's about to change. According to Audience Development, Twitter is launching an analytics tool so that developers can understand how content is being shared across Twitter; measure the traffic Twitter is sending to a site; and measure the effectiveness of the Tweet button integration. The tool is currently only available to select partners in a pilot program, but will be made available to everyone in coming weeks.

Then we'll get to see whether all this twittering is really worth all the fuss.

--- Colleen Seto
AMPA Blogger-in-Residence

The Future of Digital Publishing (Part Two)

For this second and final post summarizing AMPA’s recent “Publishing in the Digital Age” luncheon, I wanted to focus a bit more on the insight that Evan Hansen provided about the success of the Wired brand.
 
Website Fully Independent From Magazine
From the outside it’s not always evident that the digital side of Wired.com is fully editorially independent from the Wired magazine staff. The digital staff does not consult the magazine’s editorial team about their daily content (although they do interact and share information). The 43 full-time freelancers employed by Wired.com publish up to 40 original articles daily; this means that the website has a pace and an attitude more like that of a daily newspaper (short articles, short deadlines) than that of their magazine counterpart.

Adapt the Brand for Different Digital Platforms
This is the key to the Wired brand’s success: their focus is on brand development, and adapting this brand to each unique communication channel and digital platform. “Each platform requires a very tailored approach. The medium is the message” says Hansen. For Wired.com this meant investing heavily in original daily news-reporting, breaking news and investigative journalism. 

Revenues from Digital Side
It’s evident that this focus on the digital side of the brand is working: digital revenues from Wired.com account for 40% of the Wired brand (including the magazine), representing a shift towards a “Digital 51” moment when 51% of the company’s revenues will be coming from the digital side. Wired magazine is incredibly successful as a print publication and with their new app, yet on the web the magazine’s digital edition accounts for less than 5% of web traffic. If the magazine was all Wired did, the brand would be a dismal failure. 

Don't Act Like a Magazine, Act Like a Website
It was Hansen’s last piece of advice that best summarized the theme of his overall presentation: “Recast your brand for the web. The web is the web. If you want to succeed, don't act like a magazine, act like a web site.”

---Rebecca Lesser
AMPA Communications & Programs Coordinator

The Future of Digital Publishing (Part One of Two)

Photo courtesy D Molyneaux Photography

Big Picture Perspective on Digital Publishing
There are no certainties when it comes to predicting the future, especially when it comes to digital publishing. Understandably, some prefer to sit back and see how this all plays out before launching headfirst into the unknown. It can’t hurt, however, to hear the perspective of some of the bigger players, gleaning tips where they apply to your business, storing the rest as knowledge of the bigger picture.

Luncheon with Wired.com Editor in Chief
All of this is to say that there was much to be learned at the “Publishing in the Digital Age ” luncheon with Evan Hansen, editor-in-chief of Wired.com. It’s true, Hansen has a digital team that most small publishers in the audience could only dream of. There were, however, some broader themes to consider (and yes, more questions than answers).

Building Online Brand and Community
To the many magazine publishers in the audience, Hansen reassured them that print is still very much alive; that said, magazine publishers will have to start thinking of themselves as much more than print publishers in this digital era—it’s about building brand and developing community.

Questioning the Essence of the Magazine
Hansen highlighted how new forms of communications technologies are profoundly changing written culture; with the introduction of the iPad, for example, the mobile web traffic at Wired.com went from 2% to 20% in less than one year. All of this raises conceptual concerns for our industry: What is the essence of a magazine? Can it exist on a mobile app, iphone, etc? How far can we push the notion of a magazine before it becomes something else entirely? What are the core values that need to be preserved?

Mobile Devices Monetizing Content
On the business side of things, Hansen sees the advent of mobile device capabilities as revolutionary for monetizing online. With apps, people are warming up to the notion of paying for content with their mobile devices; this shift to mobile consumption suggests that publishers must turn to these platforms as a way to recapture some of their online value. Hansen’s advice is to start small, with enhanced features for paid content, for example, and see how this plays out.

Stay tuned for Part Two of "The Future of Digital Publishing"...

--- Rebecca Lesser
AMPA Communications & Programs Coordinator

Tweets from Presentation with Evan Hansen of WIRED.com

Photo courtesy D Molyneaux Photography

I'm still reeling (in a good way!) from yesterday's "Publishing in the Digital Age" luncheon with Evan Hansen, editor-in-chief of WIRED.com. I may follow-up with a more in-depth summary of presentation highlights for next week's MagaScene e-newsletter. In the meantime I thought I'd share some tweetables with those of you who weren't following along on twitter (#WiredInYYC):

• Print is still alive, but think of yourselves as something broader than publishers.
• Conceptual concern in our industry: What is the nature of a magazine? Core values to preserve?
• Shift to mobile is changing consumer behaviour to an extent we've never seen before.
• Instead of editorial decisions, it's now online metrics that determine which content rises to the top.
• The iPad is the biggest source of mobile traffic for wired.com. Everyone should start to build their mobile app.
• People are warming up to the concept of paid content on mobile devices.
• Digital revenues account for 40% of the Wired brand (including the magazine).
• Each platform requires a very tailored approach, you can't just transfer content across media.
• The Wired.com web operation is fully editorially independent of the Wired magazine staff. They have daily editorial content, with a schedule more like that of a print newspaper.
• Recast your brand for the web. Wired.com puts a premium on investigative stories, concentrating on daily content.
• Let your digital team at the magazine function independently of the magazine for their content creation.
• Future of advertising on web: people want cross-platform. Partnership, sponsorship, something unique
• The web is the web. If you want to succeed, don't act like a magazine, act like a web site

There was so much more to tweet, but alas the irony of limited cell reception prevented a better online presence on my part, so thank you to @jesspatterson, @icameforthefood, @allisonmcneely, @BridalFantasy, @Andrew_NVS and @DaveatNORTH for engaging in the twitter sharing and conversation!

--- Rebecca Lesser
AMPA Communications & Programs Coordinator

Meet Evan Hansen (The Man Behind Wired.com)

“We’re trying to one-up Google.” You know you’re in the big leagues when you aim to have your own web reputation ranking tool contend with the leading search engine. That was one of several ambitions outlined by Wired.com editor-in-chief Evan Hansen in a 2008 interview with Foliomag.com.

It certainly didn’t hurt to think big, with 2009 proving to be a landmark year for the website. It had emerged stronger than ever from the merger of three years prior, which saw Conde Nast acquire Wired.com from Lycos and re-unite the site with their magazine counterpart Wired.

There were also awards accolades aplenty for Wired.com in 2009: winners of the prestigious title of Best Magazine Website from both the MPA (The Association of Magazine Media) and AdWeek; honoured for their experiments in user-generated reporting methods by the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism; and recognized as a Finalist for Best Interactive Feature from ASME (American Society of Magazine Editors).

In other words Hansen, the man behind Wired.com for the past six years, knows a thing or two about successful online publishing.

That's why the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association decided to bring him to Calgary, as part of the Joint Marketing Initiative lecture series, in partnership with the Calgary Chapter of the Canadian Marketing Association, Digital Alberta, and the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association. Hansen will speak at the Publishing in the Digital Age luncheon event June 21st at Hotel Arts in Calgary.

[updated: This event is SOLD OUT!!!]

--- Rebecca Lesser
AMPA Communications & Programs Coordinator

Publishing in the Digital Age - Luncheon with Wired.com

These days, the lines between being a publisher, editor, and technologist are blurring. While content remains king, multiplying forms of delivery and consumption require both the ability to adapt, and the savvy to take advantage of new business models and opportunities.

At the "Publishing in the Digital Age" luncheon Evan Hansen, Editor-in-Chief of Wired.com, will provide insight into the worlds of digital, online and mobile platform publishing through his experiences as the steward of one of the world’s most innovative and viewed online sites.

For those that decry the death of print and paid content, Hansen offers an inspirational perspective—that we are on the verge of a brave new world that encourages content providers to act as brand managers, leveraging traditional print and online presences to colonize an array of growing business opportunities: including apps, e-books and digital interactive ads.

"Publishing in the Digital Age" is presented by the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association, as part of the Joint Marketing Initiative lecture series, in partnership with the Calgary Chapter of the Canadian Marketing Association, Digital Alberta, and the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association.

Register for "Publishing in the Digital Age" by Thursday June 16, 2011 at 4:00pm. Registration will close before June 16 if all available spots are sold. Space is limited, so register early!

Feature Speaker - Beverley Sinclair

Meet today's feature speaker - Beverley Sinclair.

Writer, editor and chair of the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Bachelor of Journalism program, Beverley is a self-professed word nerd. She has written many magazine articles, several of them award-winning, co-written a book (Western Journeys: Discovering the Secrets of the Land), was editor of the Georgia Straight for seven years, and is kind of fanatical about clear, sharp writing.

Intrigued? You won't want to miss her sessions at the 2011 Alberta Magazines Conference:

2A - Care and Feeding of Freelancers

3A - Online Content Dos and Don'ts

To download the conference brochure, with a full itinerary, session descriptions and speaker bios, visit www.albertamagazines.com/conference

Web & Print: Profit from Two Platforms, re-cap

Transcontinental Printing recently presented its Smart Seminar Series--sessions featuring magazine experts with the goal to nurture the industry that they do business in.

On April 30^th, speaker Martin White presented at the Calgary Italian Club. White specializes in best practices for integrating print and web. He has consulted for major Canadian media organizations including Rogers Media, Harco Publishing and Kontent Media. He has held management positions in publications ranging from Time Canada and Toronto Life to Wedding Bells and Vantage magazine.

As the world of web grows, think: social networking, user-generated content, multi-media, etc., it can admittedly get a bit overwhelming. In the past, while print and web were seen as competing mediums, White says that view has now changed. The two are more like friends, successfully working off of one another’s strengths.

While the death of print is bemoaned in headlines, White quoted famed communications theorist Marshall McLuhan to illustrate that no medium has ever completely replaced its predecessor.

By this blogger’s estimation, the web is to magazine publishers as water is to humans, that is—good and necessary.

Throughout White’s two-hour presentation, he urged attendees (made up of Alberta magazine publishers, designers, and sales people) to recall their personal experiences with websites—were they good or bad? Why? Each magazine needs to gauge what experience its website will provide to a surfer. The first step is to go through every single page and click on every link to know the website inside out. Then the following should be asked: What works? What doesn’t?

Everyone goes online to do one of three things, explains White—to learn, to do, or to buy. It follows then, that a magazine’s website should do one of those three things. The most important question to ask before any website design plans are made is: what is the magazine’s business objective? Does the magazine truly understand its readers?

Is your website meant to promote awareness of the magazine? Is it to be an expert resource for readers? Is it to build community? Surely these may overlap, but it is important to be clear what takes priority. At the end of the day, a magazine needs to know its readers and what satisfies their needs.

In fact, the customer/reader/consumer is the starting basis for any effective website. Planners must ask: How will the website impact readers? How will readers interact with it? The strength of any business-based relationships lie with the customers.

And those same customers are driving huge ad revenues. In 2007, the online realm was worth $1.25 billion in ad revenues. The breakdown is as follows:

Email: 1%

Classifieds: 25%

Display: 35% (banner ads, etc.)

Search: 38%

Video: 1%

The potential for revenue from the web grows exponentially each year. White mentioned Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit issue as an example. Four years ago, the issue saw 4% in revenue from sources other than print advertising. This year, the swimsuit issue saw that value increase to 40%.

He emphasized again the importance of knowing your own website. What are the three most popular pages? Any webmaster, publisher, or designer absolutely NEEDS to know this. What pages have a high bounce-rate (people who pop in and out in under eight seconds)? If a page has a higher than 50% bounce rate, then it has no traction and drastic changes need to be made.

For regional publishers to tap into national advertisers, it’s important to know what those national advertisers are looking for. The difference is in perspective—what can you do to create demand for your product?

He proposes a revenue checklist—these are all the things a magazine can do to generate revenue online.

It is a bit overwhelming, like going to a restaurant with a 60-page menu. It makes the most sense to start with what you need. Essentially, these are all ways to have a website generate more income.

- Contests

- Database

- Sponsorships

- Newsletters

- Micro-sites

- Licensing

- Communities

- Direct Response

- Digital Editions

White provided specific samples of each of the points on his checklist—it’s too comprehensive to detail each of those here. Essentially, free programs exist to do almost anything you might want to do online. White suggests first checking YouTube for how-to videos.

It’s about marrying print and web so that readers garner additional value and then some. It’s about extending your brand and finding multiple, endless ways to communicate with readers. It's about knowing your metrics. And, in this current economy, let’s face it: it’s about bottom line and generating additional revenue streams.

So, what are you waiting for?

Additional resources:
www.transcontinental-printing.com

Digital editions:
www.texterity.com

Websites of Alberta magazines:
www.albertamagazines.com