Ben Marchbanks
The development team is currently working on an upgrade to our digital workflow which will allow publishers to host all their publications from their own domain. The new Magazooms Server option is designed to be deployed for fast-track installations and will be kept in constant sync with the Publisher’s Console production system. We are glad we are finally able to deliver this new service which publishers have been requesting for years. It will be a huge benefit for those who have the resources and staff to support their own infrastructure and need greater control of their content. Target date for the release of the service is April 1.
The new native iPhone app version of Magazooms Reader is under construction and will be a huge improvement over the current web app. We’re hoping everyone will appreciate the ability to view any of the available Magazooms publications from publishers which have opted-in to the iPhone program. Basic features will include new search options and ability to send/share pages with your friends and colleages. Publications which include video clips in the online version will likewise include those same videos for viewing. Expected release date is Feb 15 !
Well we finally cranked out the first production release of the mobile reader version of Magazooms. As the use of smart phones and other mobile devices continue to grow its a no-brainer that we need to port publications to that medium and iPhone was my first target. This is the first generation of Magazooms Mobi but a milestone for us in entering into the mobile space. One of the challenges is that there is a huge variety of platforms and operating systems for mobile devices and there is limited support for Flash or Flash lite which is the platform upon which Magazooms is built. In fact one of the biggest disappointments for me and many iPhone developers and users is the absence of support for Flash on the iPhone. There is speculation that this is a purposeful omission by Apple in order to protect their App sales and control (limit) what can run on the iPhone. If iPhones were to run Flash then the world of small apps and games that can run independently in Flash would be possible on the iPhone. It will be interesting to see if Apple caves in to the pressure from users and developers clamouring for Flash support.
Anyway, sorry about the rant….
Check out the Magazooms Mobi from your iphone - Last 12 issues of Electronic Retailer.
“Googlize” - remember you heard that term here first !
Many publishers really want to make their content as widely available as possible. At Magazooms we have developed a special strategy to support Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Every edition published has the option to be made available to search engines or not. Here is a screen shot of SEO setup in the Publishers’ Console.
You can opt-in to have the all pages of the publication accessible or not.
You can also define the other meta tags for the publication that are also used as information to be indexed by the search engines. By using this option all pages are submitted to the major search engines during the regular Magazooms submission cycle, which is usually done every week. This does not necessarily guarantee that pages will be indexed but most search engines are more likely to “crawl” your pages by having been assisted by the web site “site map” submission. Keep in mind that every page in the publication is also on the web server as a PDF so your exposure to search engines can be increased dramatically as compared to a typical web page.
Publishers with the greatest success in distributing their digital versions are skillful in the art of email campaigning. Not spamming but reaching out to opted-in customers or stakeholders with newsletters. press releases, or info updates on a periodic basis.
If you really want to increase your readership its not enough to post your digital edition online - your really need to drive traffic to it. Good email campaigners kraft their messages to include a list the topics of interest in the email message and link each topic directly to their respective pages in the online publication. This is made possible through the use of the capability built-in to the digital edition referred to as “Deep Linking”. (Magazooms has this ability but beware, not all digital editions have this.)
So how does this work ? When the publication opens it interprets the page in the publication being ‘targeted’ by the URL ( web address) and will automatically turn to that page.
Magazooms’ publishers do this simply by adding “pageNum=24″ to the end of the URL of the publication - for example:
Electronic Retailer magazine did a cover story on Avon entitled:
using the URL : http://www.magazooms.com/reader/index.php?mzID=90305091520&pageNum=24
Click the link above to see how nice this works….
“Deep Linking” is definitely a must if you want to make it drop-dead easy for your reader to follow their interests.
Its a real education for me to see how publishers have used digital editions to not just reduce costs but actually increase profits. As with any good product , skillful entrepreneurs can find ways to deliver the value to the customer and be rewarded for that effort. Some of the strategies I have seen employed listed in order of profit generated:
1. Opening page ads - the space to the left of the cover. This space is designed to display custom media - Flash (SWF) animations on a rotation. Publishers can place as many ads as they want into the queue and each are displayed on a random basis.
2. Special hyperlinks on Ads. Some publishers are charging advertisers to make their URL in their ads active hyperlinks.
3. Google Map hyperlinks - content that can be enhanced by the display of information on a Google Map is activated by placing a map icon on the ad or page content. Real Estate guide is a good example of this.
Best case I have heard of from one publisher is that they are realizing a 300% return on their investment in their digital publication.
So much time and resources go into the production of even the smallest printed piece so whenever an opportunity comes along to reclaim and extend that value most publishers seize it. To some degree this explains the growth in the digital publishing world in recent years which is driven largely by the same Pre-Press files that go to press.
More and more publishers are repurposing their printed meda, magazines, brochures, and catalogs for online consumption. Content managers and programmers working together with Pre-Press departments have realized that their value stream can, and should, continue on into the realm of online publishing. Large scale newspaper and magazine publishers realized this early on in the digital revolution and so the same content that appears in ink and paper also “feeds” their websites and even gets repurposed to other publications. The magnitude of your value stream and publishing ROI is largely a function of the vision and foresight and a willingness to make those continuous improvements that can lead to greater value for all stakeholders.
Its been one of my goals for quite a while and finally the window of opportunity presented itself and I had time to do it. Google Maps. Couple of years back I worked on a project using MapQuest to display locations of campgrounds and RV Parks on state maps and it worked really well. The only hurdle to overcome was the cost - about $6000 per year just to have access to the MapQuest server and integrate the maps into my own user interface. Finally Google made their mapping API (Application Program Interface) available for Flash - the platform used for Magazooms, and the $0 price makes it a no brainer !
So now publishers have the option to insert Google Maps into their publications. Travel Guides and Real Estate Magazooms are a couple of examples of publications that can benefit from this new feature. Also Google Maps are now used in the Publishers Console (under the Stats section) to display the location of readers of your publication - great visual so the advertisers can see the depth and scale of your readership !
