creating a successful magazine website

Setting Your Sites on Success: 12 KeysKat Tancock and Kim Pittaway

• Who is your site content for?• How do your web and print audiences

overlap?• What are your web readers looking for?• What keeps them coming back?• Where can you turn for info/insights?

– In-house analytics– Pewinternet.org– Masthead web links– Kat’s Delicious feed– Reader behaviour

1. Know your audience

• Create content you believe in, you would click on and you would read.

• Know why your audience is online– The same people approach different platforms

with different mindsets

• Develop archetypes that work for your site—and then don’t be afraid to bust out of them

• Create standards—and defend them. If you’re not proud of it, don’t post it.

2. Create excellent content

2. Create excellent content

• How will readers (current and potential) find your content? – SEO– Inbound links– Clear, easy-to-use site nav– Don’t follow the magazine blindly– Help people find what they’re looking for most– But—distract them, too– Make it so easy it’s invisible

3. Make it accessible

• How will readers share your content?– Make it easy or they won’t do it– People-friendly URLs– Share widgets– “Email a friend” tool

Compare:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090517.l-screening18/BNStory/lifeMain/home

http://www.canadianliving.com/life/pets/top_5_family_friendly_dogs.php


• Make it scannable• Make it tight—one page vs multi• Make it clickable• Make it clear—change display if necessary• Make it connected to related content• Make it easy to share (as mentioned earlier)• Make it easy to comment (more on this later)

4. Make it web-friendly

4. Make it web-friendly

• Don’t exist in a bubble• Link to others and they will link to you• Always put the reader first—what will

provide the best user experience?• Link for SEO• Create cross-linking opportunities• Look into aggregation tools

5. Link

5. Link

• Every article that can be timeless should be• Bundle evergreen into subject or seasonal

guides• Newsworthiness can “un-date” dated content• Create new evergreen content by slicing and

dicing• Watch for: ages, relative time phrases (“last

year”, “recently”), ledes that are seasonal but don’t need to be

6. Make it timeless

6. Make it timeless

• Keep your focus• Make limitations an asset• Look for cross-linking opportunities• What do you have that others want?

7. Collaborate

7. Collaborate

• Don’t slip into auto-pilot• The web is constantly changing and so

should you• Reassess regularly: What should you do

differently?• Be critical• Keep up with trends

– Pewinternet.org– Twitter

• Keep an eye on innovative sites• Look for feedback from everywhere

8. Think

• Create a monthly stats report• Watch where your traffic comes from—and

leaves from• Use this information!• Look at:

– Search traffic– New vs. returning visitors– Most popular content– Most clickable titles– Least read pages and content

9. Analyze

• Think beyond articles/beyond the printed page:– Slideshows

– Video

– Podcasts

– Blogs

– Tools

• Remix and repackage to create new content from existing elements

• Think about how your user uses the site: their behaviour may point the way to new content opportunities

10. Be creative

10. Be creative

• Be open to new ideas• Don’t be afraid to kill old projects• What works for another magazine site may

not work for you (and may not even be working for them)

• Plagiarize: steal others’ great ideas, but make them your own

• Play with new tools

11. Experiment

11. Experiment

• Allow readers to participate• It’s a conversation, not a lecture• Prompt conversation with specific questions• Give engagement tools prominence on the

page—at the top of the page!• Use social media like Twitter and Facebook

to extend the conversation• Make newsletters a priority• Engage in your own forums• Bring the conversation back to the pages of

the magazine• Reward those who are most engaged

12. Communicate and engage

12. Communicate and engage

Questions?

Download a copy of this presentation at magazinesonline.wordpress.com/magnet